In the Reggio Emilia educational approach, founded in Italy in the aftermath of World War II, three core pillars hold up the arcs of development and education. The first is the parents, shaping their children’s world at home and as a part of the school community. The second, the classroom teachers, researching along with the students according to the processes that rise up throughout the day. Then there is the “third teacher”—the physical environment of the school, supporting relationships and engagement, encouraging ideas and expression to spark and grow. Students have the place and resources to create and investigate ideas—externally with the class, or internally to know themselves and their unique languages.
The acceptance and encouragement of many languages of expression—the hundred languages—constitutes a Reggio Emilia value for learning and communicating. I would like to offer them now, as tools for supporting self-expression, and as a part of that—language learning, specifically in a bilingual school.