Background 38 pupils in the 4th grade 18 had Swedish as a second language small teaching groups no major progress time to think in a new way

My thoughts Strengthening of the mother tongue - a positive effect? Are the pupils literate in their mother tongue? I started a project. Performance analysis – 14 pupils participated 13 of them were at the beginners’ level in Swedish as a second languge.

Intensions to strengthen the mother tongue to make pupils proud of their native language to establish cooperation with parents to establish cooperation with mother tongue teachers

Schedule Project started in October 2007 – ended in May 2008 Daily access to Somali and Arabic/Kurdish speaking teachers

Approach Meeting with parents - importance of being able to read and write in their mother tongue - introduction of the language book - Cultural differences. - illiterate parents - homework Close contact with mother tongue teachers - they commented on the language book - and gave material to me. - classrooms

Observations during the project Improvement of the classroom climate - energy and willingness - arabic book Language awareness - pupils compared alphabets - swedish pupils admired their classmates The house - library Cognitive development - mathematics - talking about languages

Result May of 14 pupils could read and write in their mother tongue 3 pupils left the ”small teaching group” in mathematics and are now enrolled in the mathematics profile of their secondary school (year 6) 11 pupils had improved their Swedish as a second language skills and were on the next level according to performance analysis.

Meet the students Short film where some of the pupils who participated in the projcet discuss language.

Follow-up A report of this project was sent school administrators and local politicians. It was met with silence.