Bilingual Education / Spotlight: Bilingual Education, a Hundred Research Report

This research paper examines successful bilingual and multilingual pedagogy methods used in other countries in order to better address the Finnish context of teaching Swedish in Finish public schools. The authors feel that students, not just in Finland but all over the world, are becoming disinterested in learning foreign languages. Presented here is a colourful collection of pedagogical innovations for learning languages that can be implemented by anyone and in any context. Some methods build on cooperation between home and school, others are about students inspiring each other to learn languages. There are some good examples that require digital tools but also highlighting methods that do not require any technology at all.
Having a range of language skills and an awareness of other cultures is becoming increasingly important in our global world. At the same time, several trends in society point in the opposite direction and suggest that young people and students are becoming disinterested in learning foreign languages. For the Swedish Cultural Foundation, whose sole purpose is to promote Swedish in Finland, it is therefore important to support bilingualism and multilingualism and to endorse projects that cross borders in different ways. This report examines successful pedagogical methods employed for educating bi- and multilingual children and youths in a number of countries.