Global Citizenship in the Young Learner Classroom

Guest Speaker: Mónica Lourenço, University of Coimbra (Portugal)

In this webinar, Dr. Mónica Lourenço demonstrates how Awakening to Languages, a pluralistic approach with a long tradition in Europe, fits especially well as a pedagogy for global citizenship in early childhood. She provides an overview of the evolution of Awakening to Languages in Europe and presents concrete examples from practice, which show how Awakening to Languages can develop children’s curiosity and respect for other languages, foster empathy towards otherness, and cultivate a broader sense of belonging. Finally, she offers recommendations for teachers and stakeholders concerning the integration of multilingual pedagogies into early childhood education.