Practitioners
Mother Tongues supports primary school teachers in applying simple techniques to make sure that all languages and cultures are valued in the classroom.
We also work closely with heritage/minority language schools to share best practice in heritage language education.
Our Education Network is a community of practice created by Mother Tongues for teachers and practitioners in education settings who are interested in the themes of migration, inclusivity, language learning and child development in multicultural families.
With over 10 years of experience supporting teachers and educators, you can rely on Mother Tongues’ range of courses for those who want to support the linguistic development of children living with more than one language.
Our online Learning Together Labs grow your knowledge, allowing teachers to feel prepared for their multilingual classroom.
We have designed a range of training sessions for early childhood educators and primary school teachers in areas related to linguistic and cultural diversity. All workshops are tailored to your setting and include both theory and practical applications.
The training can be offered to individuals, to groups of teachers from the same school/early years settings or to clusters of schools/early years settings.
Learn about the skills and behaviours you can expect to observe in bilingual and multilingual children at every stage from birth and throughout the primary school years, download useful toolkits and lesson plans.
Language Explorers is Mother Tongues’ award-winning language awareness initiative for primary schools. Through interactive games, art-making, singing, storytelling and story writing, children become aware of their own language abilities and learn something new about each other and about the people who live in their local communities. Mother Tongues deliver Language Explorers Workshops all over Ireland.
With the Language Explorers Activity book, you can take a journey with your child and discover and learn about the wonderful world of languages!
Whether you’re part of a bilingual or multilingual family, living away from home, or want to give your child a head start on learning a new language, the Language Explorer’s Activity book is a great tool to add to your family’s bookshelves.
The Interactive Museum of Languages for Young Audiences (IMLYA) is a touring interactive exhibition for primary school children. By offering schools the opportunity to experience the exhibition on their grounds and availing of educational activities, the exhibition enables teachers to help young people learn and apply creative skills and capacities.
Explore all of our member-exclusive resources, including short videos, useful downloadable tools and practical guides for use in a variety of settings and disciplines.
Our member resources are designed to support parents and teachers who work with children from birth to 10 years of age. Our resources connect you to the latest research and know-how.
Our Learning Together Labs are virtual professional development and networking opportunities for heritage and community language teachers. They take place each month during term time. This virtual space is the only dedicated support for heritage and community language teachers in Ireland.
A Mother Tongues flyer with tips on raising multilingual children
Each year in November we host our Heritage Language Conference. We invite guest speakers, academics and teachers to share their experiences and learn about the latest pedagogical innovations. This is a unique opportunity for heritage language teachers to get to know others and create lasting collaborations.
More than 100 languages are spoken in Ireland, so we have teamed up with RTE’Jr to showcase the stories of children who speak some of these languages. In this fun children’s podcast, you will hear tales, traditions, phrases and tongue-twisters…
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Building Connections
We provide opportunities for teachers from community language schools/Saturday schools to build connections and learn new skills.
Inspiring teachers
We inspire primary school teachers to use simple techniques to make sure their students can successfully learn through English and Irish without giving up their mother tongue. When teachers are confident in their approach to welcoming all languages equally children grow confident in their identity and feel that their heritage is valued by the school.
Innovative language experiences
We create experiences for schools that make language fun, exciting and meaningful. We have developed an innovative approach to include all languages in a meaningful way by involving parents.
Projects to build connections
We provide opportunities for community language teachers to build connections and learn new skills.
Inspiring teachers
We inspire teachers to use simple techniques to make sure their students can successfully learn through English and Irish without giving up their mother tongue.
When teachers are confident in their approach to welcoming all languages equally children grow confident in their identity and feel that their heritage is valued by the school.
Innovative language experiences
Mother Tongues create experiences for children that make language fun, exciting and meaningful.
We have developed an innovative approach to make sure children fall in love with their language.
