You Be the Linguist: Activity for Emergent Bilinguals

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Transcript:

As an emergent bilingual or multilingual--you are a linguist. You are an expert at language. One of your chief skills as a bilingual is understanding word nuances--or the complexity of words. This is why it is common for bilinguals to start a sentence in one language and sprinkle on words from another--bilinguals instinctively reach for the most appropriate word for a situation, regardless of the language.

As a person who has studied multiple languages, your task is to think of words that are unique to your first language, and do not translate into English. If you think about it, there are many words that don’t translate from one language to another--not well anyways. Your mission is to think of 5 words that you think are unique to your first language--and write your own definition of them in English. Be prepared to share your words and definitions with the class.

Teacher Notes: A variety of studies demonstrate that bilinguals have enhanced metalinguistic awareness--at least compared with monolinguals. This includes knowing and feeling word differences and their nuances. This activity is created to tap into that skillset. The purpose is to get students thinking about and playing with language in complex ways--and ways that builds on their prior knowledge.