The "Language Buddy - Supporting language learning of migrant children and young adults through language buddies" project, funded by the European Union's AMIF fund (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, 2021-2027) and co-financed by the European Union, has 15 partner organizations from 8 European countries (Greece, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Romania and Bulgaria).
This international consortium, of which FFCS - UCP Braga is a member, aims to improve the language learning of students - aged between 12 and 17 - from refugee/migrant families, through non-formal and informal learning, by intensifying tutoring practices and implementing a buddy/mentoring system.
Thus, the "Language Buddy", coordinated by higher education institutions (HEIs), schools/educational authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and migrant-led organizations, the buddy/mentoring system will involve matching them with students from HEIs (pedagogy/education/language/literature departments), who will be supported to act as language mentors in terms of volunteer programs and/or internships as part of their studies.
To this end, and after several months of collaborative work to review the literature, the different partners involved created a repository of "good practices", which was discussed at the Workshop: "Learning from the best: Best practices in language teaching for migrant students with the buddy/mentor system", with 6 Portuguese professionals, on June 26th.
This workshop, promoted and organized by the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences (FFCS) of the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP) - Braga, in collaboration with Casa do Professor, focused on the discussion and selection of best practices and tools in language teaching for migrant students, based on national research carried out in the 8 partner countries; and had the fundamental participation of representatives from the following Portuguese institutions: Póvoa do Lanhoso Municipality, Maximinos School Group, Martins Sarmento Secondary School, ADOLESCERE - Child and Adolescent Support Association and JRS - Portugal Jesuit Refugee Service.
Teachers Paulo Dias, Catarina Vieira da Silva, Cândido Oliveira Martins and researcher Raquel Rodrigues from FFCS - UCP Braga, along with colleagues Isabel Vieira, Ana Nunes, Matilde Torres and Patrícia Teixeira from Casa do Professor, will continue to be involved and committed to the different activities of this project. In addition to language support, this buddy/mentoring system aims to enable students to better understand the culture and educational system of society in a safe environment, where their culture is also valued. It also aims to eventually motivate them to continue their studies, while helping students from different higher education institutions to develop their intercultural skills, thus contributing to increasing their tolerance and acceptance - so necessary for working in multicultural educational environments, which are so common in our contemporary society.
