This is a collection of methods, activities and strategies that were done during art workshops with emergent multilingual children* in the Wereldschool, a school for children from 4 to 12 years old who do not yet have sufficient command of Dutch to keep up in a regular school. The activities are aiming to encourage reflection in and through the arts in spaces where we don't share a fluency in a common language.

This collection emerged through the realisation that when working with children that we don't share a common language that we can fluently communicate in, reflection is many times hindered because of the language barrier we experience. While in another spaces discussions can take place, in this case, language does not easily allow for exchange. Goals behind the activities were:

-supporting thoughtful, deep learning—in the arts and through the arts
-allowing students to experience art in a personal way
So that they learn from art – not about art? 
-engage students in thinking deeply about an artwork or topic at hand. 
-inviting pupils to ask creative questions, make diverse observations, explore multiple viewpoints, and seek personal connections. 

*As a move towards recognizing the capacities
and talents of the children and to go against labelling,
I decided through this research to refer to the children
as ‘emergent multilinguals’. I chose the term emergent
multilinguals because it allows us to refrain from viewing
them from a perspective that highlights what they are
lacking in, which in this case it concerns a possible
barrier in communication due to a limited knowledge of
a dominant language. Instead, they are already, or they
are in the process of becoming, multilinguals, individuals
who able to navigate the world through many languages
and perspectives.