Training Teachers and Public Social Workers in Linguistic

Diversity: the Case of Catalonia Mercè Solé & Vicent Climent

SOAS. LONDON FEBRUARY 2010

GOAL OF THIS PRESENTATION

Offer a bird’s-eye view on the different practices being currently

carried in Catalonia aimed at promoting intercultural skills among Catalan civil servants

Presentation will be divided as follows: About us: Linguamón-House of Languages 1. Context: Immigration in Catalonia. Facts and Figures2. Goals 3. Structure and content4. Assessment5. Road ahead

Linguamón-House of Languages: 7000 m2 devoted to linguistic diversity

Presentation will be divided as follows: About us: Linguamón-House of Languages 1. Context: Immigration in Catalonia. Facts and Figures2. Goals 3. Structure and content4. Assessesment5. Road ahead

Immigration in Catalonia: Facts and Figures (I)

Immigration in Catalonia: Facts and Figures (II)

Result? Catalan society composed of a whole array of new cultures and languagesExamples of some municipalities:

Ulldecona: 6.987 residents. 29.07% of foreign origin Salt: 28.763 residents 39.20% of foreign originGuissona: 5.683 residents. 43.46% of foreign origin Manlleu: 20.505 residents. 23,00% of

foreign origin

CATALONIA: more than 16% of foreign origin

New reality new needs. Training public officials such as social workers or immigration officials on cultural and linguistic issues

GOALS: 1. Raise awareness among public officials on the languages and cultures of the newly- arrived

2. Know more about their languages

3. Put forward some guidelines on how to manage cultural and linguistic diversity

Structure of course: 1. Linguistic diversity: what is it about?

2. The languages spoken by the newly-arrived in Catalonia.

3. Some guidelines on how to manage the new languages in the integration process

4. Communication techniques

Languages covered:Languages in the Maghreb: Tamazight and Arabic

Languages of Eastern Countries: Bulgarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian.

Languages of South America: Aymara, Guarani and Quechua

Languages of Africa: Bambara, Manding, Soninke, Wolof.

Languages of Asia: Hindi/ Urdu, Panjabi,

Mandarin, Cantonese and Wu.

Who participated in these courses?

1. Civil servants working in the field of migration and integration, more specifically from City councils and municipalities

2. Immigration experts at hospitals

3. Members of institutions working in the field of cooperation and development

2010. The Road Ahead:Assessment: highly positive

Courses to be implemented in more municipalities throughout Catalonia

More in-depth knowledge of the different immigrant communities residing in Catalonia

More emphasis on intercultural communication techniques

More information available at

www.linguamon.cat