Theme: Welcoming and Teaching Refugees
Convenor/s: Gail Forey
Host: NALDIC Zoom
Anyone interested in attending must contact the convenor to register in advance.
Agenda
A focus on Afghan New Arrivals
Catherine Brennan will share a case study of how the Better Bilingual team collaborated with a South Bristol primary school to welcome, assess and teach a group of 20 newly arrived pupils from Afghanistan in Autumn 2021. Successes and challenges will be reflected upon, with attendees encouraged to critically evaluate the approaches used and to propose further ideas.
Biography
Catherine is Director of Better Bilingual, an independent education consultancy based in Bristol, UK, which she co-founded in October 2016; September 2020 saw the creation of Better Bilingual CIC as a social enterprise. Catherine also works as an Associate for the EAL Academy and is an active member of NALDIC.
A passionate advocate for multilingualism and race equality, Catherine has collaborated with a variety of educational settings and professionals to secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people of BAME heritage – and those with English as an Additional Language (EAL) in particular. She has over 20 years’ experience of working with learners across the age range, 3-18.
On The Verge of Inclusion: Respecting Refugee Voices
Tom Avery ill share the stories of 5 refugee children he worked with during his PhD fieldwork. He uses these stories to demonstrate the boundaries of “inclusive practices” and show how our ideologies about language and culture can unintentionally create gated communities. He reflects on the value of asset-based and critical pedagogies to help schools and students to see what their refugee students see.
Biography
Tom is a final year PhD student at the University of Bath. He taught English as a Second Language in South Korea for a decade before returning to the UK with his bilingual family to study. His research focuses on the educational inclusion of migrants, multilingualism, and the ideological nature of languages. He has chaired a Student Action for Refugees group, is an active volunteer with Bath Welcomes Refugees, and tries to be a vocal advocate for refugee rights.
RSVP Gail Forey (University of Bath)
South West RIG Convenor – southwestrig@naldic.org.uk
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