We started the first workshop of the Creative Practices: Exploring Translanguaging Research in Pedagogical Contexts and Beyond project playing with toys borrowed from a child’s drawer. Erasers, Lego blocks, tiny boxes and metal balls, transformers, miniature cars, keys, strings… what wasn’t there… Whilst doing it, we tried to imagine language as a physical object and considered the metaphors used to describe it.
This introductory activity engaged us to think out of the box. In fact, we started with a box and ended up with the metaphors that we use whenever we speak about our languages. Language as a container, language as a fluid, language as a tool — all these metaphors made their way onto the table via real objects. Looking at language in this way made us think more carefully about what we’re truly saying when we’re saying: I use my language… I have a language, My languages are… (more on this activity will be included in the upcoming Resources section of our website).
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