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Belingual Language Clubs are not just language clubs, they are community spaces where multilingual families can meet and give their children the opportunity to experience and use their home language and cultures in a community. Running a Belingual club is rewarding, but it does take some work. Luckily we have developed the Belingual Language Club Toolkit - a play-based approach that can be used to help support children's language and identity devlopment in any language by creating warm and positivie language communities where children can play and learn in their own home language.
ABOUT THIS TOOLKIT This toolkit will help every club facilitator make the most of their club. It provides information on supporting the development of children's multilingualism and identity, the pedagogical background of club activities and will hle you plan and implement your club. You will also find various materials and resources for brainstorming club activities in the Belingual Material Bank. This toolkit will help you:
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Helpful links
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Belingual LANGUAGE Club APPROACH Supporting CHILDRENS MULTILINGUALISM AND IDENTITY THROUGH PLAY AND COMMUNITY
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Child-centered
Learning and exploring language and culture through play Belingual clubs use play as a central component of activities. Play promotes a child's development, learning and well-being. Play combines the key factors that promote learning: enthusiasm, working together and challenging your own skills. Through play, children are active agents: they structure and explore the world around them, build social relationships and make meaning of their experiences. During play, children build a sense of themselves and of other people. It is safe to experiment, try and make mistakes. They also develop a sense of belonging through play and reinforce positive self-concepts. Parents are active participants of all our clubs, so they are also important participants in play and fun! As a facilitator your main job is to make sure the club is a safe space for everyone and encourage eveyone to take part in play and fun. You are also there to encourage parents to create a language environment by sharing their home language with all the children at the club. Read more about supporting children's language learning through play - LINK TO BLOG |
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Respect for diversity of families and experiences
All the activities that families take part in in our Belingual Club are based on this idea of play as as safe space to learn. Our guidance and material bank full of activity suggestions, provide helpful tips fro including play in your club when planning your own club sessions! Our suggested club structure that you can read about below is designed to provide time for unrushed exploration and fun together. Safe, inlusive and accessible A safer space is a supportive, non-threatening environment where all participants can feel comfortable to express themselves and share experiences without fear of discrimination or reprisal. We use the word safer to acknowledge that safety is relative: not everyone feels safe under the same conditions. By acknowledging the experiences of each person in the room, we hope to create an environment as safe as possible. LANGUAGE ACCSSSABILITY |
belingual club structure
- A club meets one or twice a month in the spring and fall ( Agu - Dec / Jan - June).
- Each club meeting is two hours during which families play, sing, craft and learn together.
- The activities are designed for children between 2-6 but the whole family is welcome.
- Clubs are run by volunteers, and children must always attend with at least one adult.
- All our activities are free for families.
CLUB ACTIVITY BLOCSArrival and introductions (30 mins)
Planned activities - Time to have fun! (30 -60 mins)
Free play and mingle (30mins) |
Club facilitators can choose how to structure their club. We have tested many different ways of running the club and we have foun that having a relaxed strucrture that allows for free play time as well as for parents to mingle, works best. Below is a suggested club flow. You can change the order of the activity blocks to suit your clubs needs, no club is exaclty the same, but is is important to remember:
Click on the links below for more tips and suggestion on how to structure the start and end your club as well as how to help with managing your club flow and keeping things on track
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Belingual Club Facilitator Promise
PLANNING YOUR CLUB
As a club facilitator, you are at the heart of your club, working with the families and children to make the club just right for your group, listening to the families needs, considering the ages of the children taking part, the size of your club and the children's and parents language capacities.
There are lots of different themese to choose from and you can use your creativity to plan your club programme, but there are also a variety of tools such as the Belingual Material Bank and ready-made club materials.
MAKING A SEASON PLAN
It is easy to plan a club if the club leader has an idea or a framework of themes for the club season. Plan your club at the start of the season with your volunteer team using the club planning template. Having a plan for the whole season will also make it easier to manage the clubs. The club season runs from end of January - June and Aug to start of December. You can arrange club meetings during the summer, but there is no additional budget for the summer activities.
REMEMBER: Its good to plan for a start of the season club and end of the season club. In the start of the season club, rememeber to spend some time getting to know each other, and explaining the Belingual principles. You can also put together your own club rules, using the Club Rules Template (ADD TEMPLATE). At the end of season club, remember to colect feedback from your participants in preparation from the next season.
PLANNING A CLUB MEETING
Each club takes 2 hours. The first 30 minutes is for everyone arriving and getting settled (introduction), then we have approximately an hour of FUN activities together, followed by 30 mins of free play and time for parents to chat. The clubs are divided into three themes: Communality, Exploring Language, and Identity. Each theme has 5 club sessions. We recommend you complete these in the suggested order, but you can make adaptions according to your club’s needs.
USING THE BELINGUAL MATERIAL BANK
Material bank is a good source of activities and inspiration for your club session. you can access to in HERE. On the right side of the page you can see different categories which makes it easy to find the right activity. the categories are included active play, crafting, cultural celebration, games, outdoor activities and start of the club activity.
There are lots of different themese to choose from and you can use your creativity to plan your club programme, but there are also a variety of tools such as the Belingual Material Bank and ready-made club materials.
MAKING A SEASON PLAN
It is easy to plan a club if the club leader has an idea or a framework of themes for the club season. Plan your club at the start of the season with your volunteer team using the club planning template. Having a plan for the whole season will also make it easier to manage the clubs. The club season runs from end of January - June and Aug to start of December. You can arrange club meetings during the summer, but there is no additional budget for the summer activities.
- Check you calendar, availability of volunteers and public holidays or celebrations so you can include these in your plan.
- Confirm the dates making sure there is always at least one volunteer available to take responsability for the club
- Using the Material Bank select a theme for each club session, select a few activities - remember you only need a few planned activities per club session
- Remember to think about different types of activities, we reccomend at least one outside club and one cultural celebration per season. Don't forget to consult you participants. You can use the Club Planning Tool (LINK) at the start of the season to gather ideas from parents and children.
- Fill in the Belingual Club Plan. You can also use the Canva design if you have access to canva.
- Share your plan with your Club members via WhatsApp, on the Belingual Instragram channel and the Belingula team
REMEMBER: Its good to plan for a start of the season club and end of the season club. In the start of the season club, rememeber to spend some time getting to know each other, and explaining the Belingual principles. You can also put together your own club rules, using the Club Rules Template (ADD TEMPLATE). At the end of season club, remember to colect feedback from your participants in preparation from the next season.
PLANNING A CLUB MEETING
- Reserve about 30mins - 1 hour for planning and prepping for your club. Split the tasks among volunteers if you can
- You need to buy materials for the club, use your budget to buy coffee, tea and some small snacks. Remember you can always ask parents to bring snacks as well
- Make sure you have the needed materials for your activities. If you are doing crafting, if is good to do some of the preparation before hand. Think about the ages of the children attending, the smaller they are, the more you need to think abou thow to prep activities so they can take part.
- When a club session is well planned and prepared, it makes the club leader's job easier. The children will also get to know the routines and avoid unnecessary fuss.
Each club takes 2 hours. The first 30 minutes is for everyone arriving and getting settled (introduction), then we have approximately an hour of FUN activities together, followed by 30 mins of free play and time for parents to chat. The clubs are divided into three themes: Communality, Exploring Language, and Identity. Each theme has 5 club sessions. We recommend you complete these in the suggested order, but you can make adaptions according to your club’s needs.
USING THE BELINGUAL MATERIAL BANK
Material bank is a good source of activities and inspiration for your club session. you can access to in HERE. On the right side of the page you can see different categories which makes it easy to find the right activity. the categories are included active play, crafting, cultural celebration, games, outdoor activities and start of the club activity.
RUNNING YOUR CLUB
Belingual clubs run from January to June and Septempber to Dec. During that time clubs meet 10 - 24 times, depending of whether your club meets once or twice a month. We reccormend meeting twice a month. As the volunteer facilitator you are responsible for:
You can use the templates in canva to create you own club's advertisements and share it with Belingual to put it in the Familia and Belingual social media.
Using your whatsApp groups?
Keep a register for your clubIt is voluneer's decision to use online register form or printed form. At the end of the season, it is recomended to share it with belingual. You can find the more detailed information by following the link.
FILLING IN YOUR CLUB REPORT
Each club must complete club report after each club session. This is the only reporting club volunteers are required to do and provides us with important information about how many club meetings there are in total during each season, how many families attend and what topics and activities are covered. Filling in the report only take a few minutes and it is mandatory. Club compensations for the season will only be paid once all club reports are completed.
Apply for complensation of funds spent
- Making sure the club is safe space for parents and children
- That it is open and welcoming to everyone
- That you follow the Belingual Language club methodogy
You can use the templates in canva to create you own club's advertisements and share it with Belingual to put it in the Familia and Belingual social media.
Using your whatsApp groups?
Keep a register for your clubIt is voluneer's decision to use online register form or printed form. At the end of the season, it is recomended to share it with belingual. You can find the more detailed information by following the link.
FILLING IN YOUR CLUB REPORT
Each club must complete club report after each club session. This is the only reporting club volunteers are required to do and provides us with important information about how many club meetings there are in total during each season, how many families attend and what topics and activities are covered. Filling in the report only take a few minutes and it is mandatory. Club compensations for the season will only be paid once all club reports are completed.
Apply for complensation of funds spent
CLUB SAFETY AND CHALLENGING SITUATIONS
In Belingual language club, we want everyone feel safe and included. we suggest before stating club go through the link and documents precisely and try to practice it in your club.
DEVELOPING YOUR CLUB AND COLLECTING FEEDBACK
Developing your skills as a Belingual Club facilitator
- Safer space and inclusive space guidelines
- Videos + skills building video write ups
