DESCRIPTION

Contemporary classrooms are increasingly marked by linguistic and cultural diversity, with the presence of monolingual students, heritage speakers, and learners from immigrant backgrounds. In this context, language plays a decisive role not only as a communicative tool but also as a factor of inclusion or exclusion. Limited proficiency in the majority language can restrict access to knowledge, fundamental rights, and participation in social and educational life, placing some students at a disadvantage.

Language education, therefore, cannot be reduced to the acquisition of grammatical structures. It must also cultivate cognitive, communicative, and socio-affective strategies that enable learners to negotiate meaning, adapt to varied communicative contexts, and transfer knowledge across their different languages. In this regard, language awareness emerges as a central component, particularly for heritage and multilingual learners, as it supports the integration of their linguistic repertoires, strengthens communicative competence, and affirms linguistic diversity within the classroom. This BIP, aimed at language educators, proposes training to address these challenges in their multilingual classrooms. This BIP aligns with transformative teaching and learning, promoting critical thinking, creativity, future-oriented reflection, values-based decision-making, and compassionate, ethically grounded educational practice in line with EUGREEN Alliance principles. Specifically, it is informed by the EUGREEN priorities of inclusivity, equity, and sustainability in education. It treats multilingualism as a strength and encourages teachers to design practices that make all students—local and international—active contributors.

Together, the six modules provide an integrated pathway for developing multilingual pedagogies and inclusive classroom practices. Beginning with an exploration of CLIL’s contribution to multilingualism (Universidad de Extremadura), participants will examine the role of empathy, language awareness, and Global Englishes in fostering intercultural understanding (Universidade de Évora). They will then engage with translanguaging and code-switching as dynamic tools for reflection and communication in diverse classrooms (Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy we Wrocławiu) and explore strategies for assessing academic language across bilingual curricula (Università di Parma). The programme further broadens perspective through a focus on on-campus internationalisation and its transformative potential in higher education (ELTE TÓK), culminating in approaches to supporting linguistic diversity and international students in university contexts (Universitatea din Oradea). Collectively, these modules promote inclusive, equitable, and sustainable language education aligned with the values of the EUGREEN Alliance.