The Cultural and Linguistic Dimensions of Metaphors in Bilingual Teacher Education

Abstract

In Europe, the number of early bilingual/multilingual or CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) programmes is increasing. They offer ideal circumstances for learners of various linguistic and cultural backgrounds, foreigners and native speakers alike. Awakening to languages, building positive attitudes toward other nations and developing openness, tolerance, and intercultural awareness can occur naturally in the early years when professional support and conditions are provided. Teachers working in bilingual or plurilingual educational contexts need a wide range of unique competencies. ELTE University, Faculty of Primary and Pre-school Education is one of the few institutions in Hungary providing early pre-service bilingual teacher training at a BA level since 2006. The article presents ELTE TÓK’s student teachers’ beliefs by investigating their metaphors of the effective CLIL practitioner, emphasising those with a linguistic and cultural dimension. Their metaphors prove that future teachers have adequate personal and professional competencies to support young learners’ plurilingual and multicultural development in the future.