Language Friendly School

On 13th May 2026, we held our 18th Language Friendly School Network Meeting, a virtual gathering of approximately 30 teachers and Language Friendly Coordinators from across the globe. Network meetings like this one are at the heart of what makes the Language Friendly School initiative powerful: they create a space where educators are not working in isolation, but learning from one another, finding inspiration in each other's practice, and building the kinds of connections that sustain long-term commitment to multilingual, inclusive education.

At this meeting, we heard how St. Janschool () and Optimist International School () in the Netherlands built a whole-school culture around multilingualism; from language portraits on day one, to parents teaching lessons in their home languages, to students researching topics in their home language before the lesson even begins. We celebrated our April Language Friendly Teacher of the Month (Meghan Jeffery-Schalkwijk - .school.breda), and heard the remarkable story of how a connection made at a past network meeting grew into a full student exchange between schools in Curaçao (Marnix College) and Canada ( ). Lastly, we welcomed three new schools (Taalschool Amersfoort, Passe-Partout & Lukasschool - ) into the network, each bringing fresh energy to the network that continues to grow.

🌟Meet Our Language Friendly Teacher of the Month: Meghan Jeffery-Schalkwijk 🌟

We are delighted to introduce Meghan Jeffery-Schalkwijk, our Language Friendly Teacher of April! Meghan works at International School Breda as an Individuals and Societies teacher. In her work, she inspires and encourages students in research, inquiry-based learning, collaboration, and creative language friendly ideas.

In this post you can learn more about Meghan and how she incorporates multilingualism in the classroom! Discover the many ways she involves her students’ diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds and how Language Friendliness has meaningful impact in her classroom.

Meghan’s nomination is part of our “Language Friendly Teacher of the Month” campaign, where we highlight teachers who are making a real impact in our Language Friendly Schools. Do you know an educator who deserves to be recognized? Nominations are still open! 🌟 Help us celebrate those who create inclusive, welcoming, and language-friendly spaces for their students!

Visit the link in our bio to submit your nomination!

🌟 Meet Our Language Friendly Teacher of the Month: Meghan Jeffery-Schalkwijk🌟

We are delighted to introduce Meghan Jeffery-Schalkwijk, our Language Friendly Teacher of April! Meghan works at International School Breda as an Individuals and Societies teacher. In her work, she inspires and encourages students in research, inquiry-based learning, collaboration, and creative language friendly ideas. 🌍📚

In this post you can learn more about Meghan and how she incorporates multilingualism in the classroom! Discover the many ways she involves her students’ diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds and how Language Friendliness has meaningful impact in her classroom.

Meghan’s nomination is part of our “Language Friendly Teacher of the Month” campaign, where we highlight teachers who are making a real impact in our Language Friendly Schools. Do you know an educator who deserves to be recognized? Nominations are still open! ✨ Help us celebrate those who create inclusive, welcoming, and language-friendly spaces for their students!

Visit the link in our bio to submit your nomination!

Only 22% of recently trained teachers in the Netherlands feel their initial education prepared them for teaching in a multilingual classroom (TALIS 2024).

This is partly structural: better teacher training and stronger policy frameworks are needed.

But part of it is already in the classroom: in the hands of teachers who have spent careers building expertise in multilingual pedagogy.

Helen Absalom is one of these teachers. We met Helen when we visited the International School Utrecht, a Language Friendly School, last year. We were so impressed by what the team has built to welcome and improve learning of their multilingual students.

A multilingual learning specialist with 35 years of experience across international contexts, Helen has recently written a precise and practical account of how translanguaging works in Grade 2 (group 4).

Based on a coherent theoretical framework (the ISU translanguaging matrix), these practices includes:
- Morning greetings in the language of the week.
- Spontaneous multilingual dictionaries co-constructed by children in real time.
- And a Plurilingual Parental Partnership (PPP) that brings families in before each new unit of inquiry.

The ISU approach resonates clearly with Jim Cummins’ book ‘Rethinking the Education of Multilingual Learners’(2021), in which he argues that the most powerful multilingual pedagogy combines three things: expert teaching, a whole-school initiative, and genuine partnership with families and communities. He calls teachers who do this ‘knowledge generators’. They are not passive recipients of research, but active producers of it. Helen’s article is a textbook illustration of exactly that formula.

With the Language Friendly School network we want to make sure this kind of knowledge can travel from a classroom in Utrecht to teachers across our 70+ international private and public schools in 12 countries who are navigating the same challenges.

Read Helen’s article here: https://lnkd.in/e_8NWetf

Inspired? Request a brochure to find out about becoming a Language Friendly School in our bio!

A village celebrating its language. A school shaping its future. 🌿✨

During our recent visit to Galibi, an Indigenous Kari’na community in northeast Suriname, we joined the local school for a vibrant celebration of International Mother Language Day. Children and teachers paraded through the village, singing proudly in Kari’na — one of the few places in the world where the language is still spoken by young and old.

After the parade, elders shared stories in Kari’na around a village gathering, with translation into Dutch. These moments reflect exactly what our project in Galibi is working toward: strengthening education by bringing children’s own language, knowledge and identity into the classroom.

and Ellen-Rose, the co-founders of Language Friendly School, were there to assess the impact of the project, and to see how multilingual education is taking shape in practice. Over the past year, the school has adopted new multilingual methods — from storytelling to interactive word webs to the creative use of AI and refurbished tablets — helping children learn in ways that honour who they are.

More stories to come as the project continues. 💛

Interested in getting to know useful digital tools for your multilingual classroom?
Read our report on the LFS Website now. Link in bio!

We had our 17th Network Meeting on Tuesday, 13th January 2026 with the topic of “Digital Tools for Multilingual Learners”.

First, we had the LFS Minute of Scientific Insight about the benefits of using mother tongues in STEM education by Dr. Emmanuelle Le Pichon. Following that, we were given interesting research insights as well as practical insights into digital tools that are used in our Language Friendly Schools.

Special thanks for these insights to İrem Bezcioğlu-Göktolga from Tilburg University, and teachers Melek Kileci from SALTO International School I-St@rt and Indie Reijnierse from International School Breda!

Interested in joining the Language Friendly School? Request the free brochure with all the info on how to join (link in bio)!