The Quilt of Welcome: Feeling Happy, Welcome and Safe
The Quilt of Welcome is a community project, where hundreds of Sheffield's children contributed words that make them feel happy, welcome, and safe, in all their languages.
Through Professor Little's research, we know that making multilingualism visible has a positive effect on children's sense of identity and belonging at school. For the Quilt of Welcome, over a dozen of Sheffield's schools and hospital settings came together to show children that all their languages are welcome in formal spaces and contexts.
The Quilt of Welcome opens doors to multilingual pedagogy, and supports inclusive teaching and public environments. Following its creation as part of the Festival of Social Science, the quilt is now going on tour, to schools, museums, libraries and other settings around the country.
Find out more about this project.
Credits
- Research by: Professor Sabine Little (Professor of Literacy and Multilingualism at the University of Sheffield)
- Film by: Toby Little
- Interviewee: Chris Biggs (Arbourthorne School)
- Interviewee: Steven Fawkes (Co-President at Association for Language Learning)