The importance of multilingual glossaries of school-based terms

Why a multilingual glossary of school-based terms is important

This project aims to develop a multilingual glossary of school-based terminology to support partnerships and two-way communication between schools and bilingual learners and their families.

The glossary of key terms and plain-language definitions in multiple languages addresses a gap in the resources available to schools to communicate with newly-arrived students and families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

With growing CALD enrolments in schools, especially in regional areas, the glossary is a research-informed resource in five community languages: Arabic, English, Kurdish Kurmanji, Portuguese, and Swahili. The glossary has written PDF versions for download and the Kurdish Kurmanji version has an audio functionality.

The multilingual glossary covers 14 topics including People at our school, Enrolment, Curriculum, Daily schedules, and Student welfare and well-being. The multilingual translations in the glossary will enable schools and bilingual students and their families to communicate with each other about these important topics.

Student with dictionary and textbook