Living languages at museums II

Abstract

Autres musées, autres approches ! Alors que le 1er numéro sur les musées (2022/3) s’intéressait en priorité à l’enseignement des langues et des cultures locales ou aux « langages faciles », ce nouveau numéro se penche sur l’enseignement des langues étrangères, notamment en milieu scolaire, et propose des idées didactiques concrètes.  

We start with an interview with the curators of the exhibit at the LandesMuseum in Zurich where Swiss dialects and languages can be experienced and many curiosities explored. Then we turn creative – Guiliana Santoro tells us a story of when pieces of art come alive and have a heated discussion – don’t worry, there’s no fat-shaming involved. After this, Sinje Steinmann and Lynn Williams dialogue with us on how curators and language teachers can work together for the best possible synergy.  

After these creative introductory articles, we turn to the classroom and get time travelling! Debora Gay takes us on virtual visits to archeological museums. Antje Kolde and Catherine Fidanza show us how the world of Latin teaching can come alive. Carlamaria Lucci helps us learn how to decipher text on ancient Greek vases.  

Back to the present, we travel to Uruguay where Raquel Carinhas, Daniele Moore, and Maria Helena Araújo e Sá encourage us to profit from and create family-school museum partnerships. After these adventures, we return to Switzerland where Sabine Christopher and Barbara Somenzi introduce us to their secondary school project where Italian speakers prepare for German lessons through museum visits. Then with Jutta Rymarczyk we also get concrete ideas for creative writing activities at a museum and Tom Meyer and Beth Clark Gareca share concrete examples of how Visual Thinking Strategies can be used with works of art in multilingual settings.  

Finally, we conclude this issue with the introductory pages to our new SMILE (Swiss Museums in Language Education) project which showcases specific Swiss museums and provides you with concrete language teaching ideas. 

So a second Babylonia issue on museums in language teaching is like visiting a completely different exhibit where nothing is the same and inspiration can be found anew! We encourage you, dear readers, to get out there and explore (with a copy of Babylonia in hand, of course)!