Digital storytelling project celebrates success at BFI
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A global Goldsmiths project to boost 21st-century literacy in schools is to have its showcase at the British Film Institute (BFI) this week.
Croatian students from The International School of London (Surrey) using shadow puppetry to make their film.
The Critical Connections II scheme is hosting the Multilingual Digital Storytelling Awards 2016 at the world-renowned film centre in central London.
The event on Thursday 16 June celebrates the work of schoolchildren from the UK, Algeria, Luxembourg, Palestine, Taiwan and the United States among other countries.
It is part of the project which uses film-making as a means to encourage students to engage with language learning and embrace intercultural literacy as well as digital literacy.
All dedicated to the theme of Fairness, more than 20 films made by the students will be shown throughout the day-long celebration which is being attended by representatives from the Taiwanese and Croatian Embassies.
The celebration comes halfway through the two-year Critical Connections II scheme, which has seen researchers working with community-based “complementary” and mainstream schools as part of the multi-lingual programme.
The project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation extends the work of Dr Jim Anderson and Dr Vicky Macleroy from the Department of Educational Studies. It follows their two-year Critical Connections project which ended two years ago.
The academics said: “This work has demonstrated how creating and sharing digital stories in multiple languages can offer a rich context for school students to develop the plurilingual, intercultural and digital skills that represent an essential part of 21st century literacy.
“The project is about an integrated and inclusive approach to language learning involving English mother tongue, English as an Additional Language (EAL), foreign and community languages.
“It challenges the view that growing up with more than one language in the home is a disadvantage and provides a space in which bilingual/multilingual skills are nurtured and celebrated and where bridges are built between learning in school and in out-of-school contexts.”
If you wish to attend the event on Thursday please book your ticket here.