Critical Connections
A Multilingual Digital Storytelling Project.
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The Critical Connections Project, initiated in 2012 with funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is about enabling young people across the primary and secondary age range to create and share multilingual digital stories.
It offers an approach to language learning, literacy and citizenship which recognises that communication is enhanced when plurilingual and digital resources are drawn upon purposefully and creatively. Consistent with Project Based Language Learning (PBLL), the value of a wider cross-curricular orientation, particularly in relation to the arts (drama, music, visual art) is also viewed as highly significant.
Here is an introduction to the Critical Connections project that was created by film and media students (16–18-year-olds) at Elstree UTC during the second phase of the project:
The Critical Connections Project
All this work has relied on ongoing collaboration between teachers and researchers, and this has also led to the creation of a practical Handbook for Teachers supported by various other professional development resources and seven online workshops for teachers.
Interest in the project has continued to grow and it received recognition and support through the AHRC Language Acts and Worldmaking Project (2018-19) and MDST Museum Resources supported by the Qatar Foundation International (2018-19) and for the Deptford Storytelling Project (2019-20). Public Engagement Funding, Impact Funding and Strategic Research Funding (2020-24) from Goldsmiths has also enabled the project to develop a global reach, as well as being hosted in the Centre for Language, Culture and Learning at Goldsmiths.
Goldsmiths Research Impact Case Study REF2021
The project has brought together students (5-18-years-old) as well as community members and teachers of Languages (foreign, community/heritage, English as an Additional Language, English mother tongue) in mainstream and complementary schools in 17 countries (Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Cyprus, Egypt, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Palestine, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe) with researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Each year students have created digital stories in bi-/multi-lingual version which have been shared both online and at film award events at Goldsmiths and at the British Film Institute and Deptford Cinema, important collaborators on the project.
Although broad themes have been established each year as an overall focus (Inside Out, Journeys, Fairness, Belonging, Folk Tales, Our Planet, Care, Community and Hope), ideas for stories have been negotiated with students themselves drawing on their lifeworlds and interests and developing their sense of agency.
This has led to work across a range of genres (drama, fantasy, science fiction, traditional tales, documentary) and drawing on digital media in various ways (still and moving images, stop animation, green screen). An archive of digital stories produced through the project so far can be found under Film Awards and these represent a valuable teaching resource in themselves but also provide useful models for teachers wishing to undertake multilingual digital storytelling work with their classes.
Critical Connections Project Team 2024-25