Pixel International Conferences

In a globalized era people possess transnational and fluid identities. This is particularly true for migrants, refugees, foreign children that "navigate" constantly between the world of the origin and the host country: they belong to both social universes. Since social indentities are created and maintained through interaction with other people, transnational identities can be developed only among those who not only master both languages but also have the social skills to establish connections with people from both worlds.

Moreover, if we consider schools as social microcosms, we can easily observe that in a multilingual classroom there are normally several languages that coexist: the language of schooling (normally it coincides with the official national language), foreign languages taught at school, minority languages, dialects, children's mother tongues. Nowadays the real challenge is to transform multilingual classrooms in plurilingual spaces where all languages and cultures play an equal role in the educational ecosystem, in order to create the presuppositions for accepting and co-integrating cultural and language diversities.

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the outcomes of an action research project carried out in primary schools in Italy (2011-2015) devoted to the integration of all children (native speakers, migrants, refugees, etc) through the development of plurilingual and intercultural policies. Data were collected through teachers' reports, daily class diaries, multimedia products, interviews, working groups.

A particular focus will be given on the creation of collective, pluricultural stories based on elements (characters, settings, ect) from fairy tales of children's cultures of origin. Results showed the particular, sensitive nature of this activity was able to enhance children's self-esteem and motivation for learning the language of schooling and the culture of the host country through the validation of their language and culture. At the same time, results showed the proactive participation of parents that spontaneously took part in this learning path. In this way they were involved in school life as official members of local communities.

Key words: integration, pluralingualism, intercultural education, diversity