UNESCO and UNICEF webinar to address challenges of multilingual classrooms in linguistically diverse Asia-Pacific region

The Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, co-chaired by the UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok and the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, are delighted to announce the sixth instalment of its webinar series, ‘Multilingual pedagogies for all: Language-inclusive teaching and learning’.  

Multilingual pedagogies are instructional strategies that incorporate two or more languages in the teaching and learning process. In the Asia-Pacific Region, where an estimated half of the world’s languages are spoken, multilingual education can leverage existing linguistic resources and cultural backgrounds to enhance learning experiences and make more accessible, engaging and effective educational content.

By addressing language barriers and advocating linguistic diversity in education, UNESCO and UNICEF support Member States to overcome a key obstacle to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 10 on Quality Education and Reduced Inequalities.

The webinar will feature speakers who will set the scene on multilingual pedagogies and share promising practices from the region:

• Kathleen Heugh, Professor of Language Education and Multilingualism, University of South Australia, Australia
• Sangsok Son, Literacy and Education Consultant, SIL International, Thailand
• Dhir Jhingran, Founder and Executive Director, Language and Learning Foundation, India
• Maria Mercedes Arzadon, Associate Professor, College of Education, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Philippines

The target audience includes education policy-makers, project and programme implementers, administrators, teachers, and additional educators, as well as parents and community members interested in supporting multilingual learners.

• Date: Tuesday, 9 July 2024
• Time: 9.00 – 11.00 Bangkok (GMT+7)
• Location: Zoom Conferencing (online only)
• Language: English

For the webinar’s Concept Note, click here.*

For speakers’ bios and presentation teasers, please click here.*

^{* The documents are available around three months after this announcement was first published. If you have difficulties accessing the documents, please write to mlewg(at)unesco.org.}

To re-watch the session online, please click here.

For more information, please contact the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group Secretariat: mlewg(at)unesco.org.

The regional webinar series is part of the broader activities of the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, which aims to promote first language-based multilingual education and remove language barriers to promote inclusive quality education and equitable learning outcomes for all learners in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2019, the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group has functioned under the framework of the Learning and Education 2030+ Networking Group under the UN Regional Collaborative Platform. In addition to the Sustainable Development Goals and the International Decade for Indigenous Languages, the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group activities also contribute toward the realisation of the Bangkok Statement on Language and Inclusion and the Bangkok Priorities for Action on First Language-based Multilingual Education.

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