1000 Words for Belonging

A podcast about language and belonging in the classroom

How can we acknowledge the multiple languages and dialects that are present in young people's lives? And what happens if we don't? Following 6 years of creative collaboration between Neela Doležalová, an East London primary school and the School of Advanced Study, this new podcast series shares insights and questions from the multilingual classroom. Listen below, or through your podcast player of choice, here.

Episode 1: The Language Body Map

Welcome to the first episode of '1000 Words for Belonging'. In this episode Neela has conversations with some of her students, her friend Ped, and Dr. Naomi Wells about the complicated emotions that can arise in the classroom in relation to language. How do teachers feel in a multilingual classroom? Does our school system influence how young people relate to the languages in their lives? And, what is the impact of lost languages within families and between generations?

Episode 2: The Language Trade-Off: English or 'Other'?

In this second episode of '1000 Words for Belonging' Neela questions if there is a trade-off between maintaining a home language, and other academic goals. Should multilingual families 'just focus on English' for the sake of a child's education? These questions are explored with two legendary educationalists: Dan Lea, a Primary School Leader working on the London/Essex border, and Prof. Li Wei, the Director and Dean of the UCL Institute of Education (IOE).

Episode 3: Is Tech Killing Multilingualism?

In this third episode of '1000 Words for Belonging', a simple community arts project opens up a digital can of worms. Why is it so difficult to print and publish text in multiple languages? Why do some fonts shapeshift between documents and devices? In her quest to understand this technological puzzle, Neela speaks with typeface designer and researcher, Sahar Afshar, and Marie Thaut and Rezwana Uddin from the SOAS Sylheti Project.

Episode 4: The Power of Language

In this final episode of '1000 Words for Belonging', Neela reckons with the poster on her old classroom wall that instructed students to speak in English ‘at all times’. Why was it there? Is it still there? And if it troubled her so much, why didn’t she take it down? To help answer these questions Neela speaks to teachers, Dan Lea and Ro, Senior Lecturer from the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, Dr Joe Ford, and Speech and Language Therapist, Warda Farah. Plus, some fascinating new data from Teacher Tapp is discussed.

Podcast Credits

Producer and Presenter: Neela Doležalová

Consultant Script Editor: Talia Randall

Mix and Master: Jamie Payne

Cover Art: Calixte Davis

1000 WORDS FOR BELONGING is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and a grant from the University of London’s Knowledge Exchange fund.