Independent learning unit
Language, multilingualism and language policy
Activities on first languages, dialects, plurilingualism and language policy, for readers working on their own.
Based on: Kostoulas, A. (2026). Every Language Is Someone's World: Reflections on International Mother Language Day 2026. Keep the post open in another tab while you work.
Who this is for
Student teachers, practising teachers and anyone studying language education who wants to work through the post independently. You do not need a tutor or a group. The post grew out of a lecture for students in Greece, but the activities work for readers from anywhere.
How it works
- There are two routes through the unit. Choose one below; you can change route at any time without losing your answers.
- Each activity has its own page. Use the contents list to move between them.
- Activities 3 to 8 each follow one section of the post. Read the section, then do its activity before moving on.
- Every activity ends with a Self-check. Sometimes it gives an answer. More often it tells you how to know you have done enough, because many tasks are about your own experience and have no single right answer.
- You do not have to finish in one sitting. Before you stop, use "Save progress file" in the contents panel; next time, "Load progress file" puts your answers back.
Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. Your answers live only in this browser tab and disappear when you close or reload it. To keep them, enter your name under "Your work". Save a progress file if you want to continue later, and a Word document or a text file when you want something to read, print or hand in. All of these are saved to your own device.
- Wherever an activity says "Greece" or "Greek", you can substitute your own country and its main language, or do both and compare.
- When the post lists communities in Greece (Pomak, Romani, Arvanite, Vlach and others), you do not need to know them. The point is how long the list is in a country that presents itself as monolingual.
- "Idioma" is explained in the post itself, and the Greek phrase in footnote 7 is translated there.
- You have one advantage: you are living the post's distinctions right now. Look for boxes like this one, which carry an extra prompt for you.
About Kostoulas
Achilleas Kostoulas is an applied linguist and language teacher educator at the University of Thessaly, Greece. More resources like this one are listed in the collection.
Copyright and reuse
© 2026 Achilleas Kostoulas. These activities are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). You may share and adapt them for non-commercial purposes, provided you credit Kostoulas and link to the original post.
Before anything else
Warm-up
About 5 minutes
Think of one word or expression from the way people spoke at home when you were small that you cannot translate well into any other language you know. Say it aloud.
Self-check
You are ready to go on when you have one word and one person in mind. Keep both; you will need them at the end.
Before you read
Activity 1. My languages
About 15 minutes
List every way of speaking you have ever used, including school languages, home varieties, regional speech, and languages you only understand. For each one, note where you learned it, with whom you use it, and how it feels.
If you are stuck: think of a grandparent, a holiday, a song, a job, a prayer, a game.
Self-check
Does your list contain at least one item that is not a named national language? If not, look again at how you speak at home, with old friends, or online.
You will return to this list in Activities 3 and 6.
Before you read
Activity 2. What do I think?
About 5 minutes
Mark each statement. Do not look anything up.
Self-check
You have marked all six, honestly, including the ones where you suspect the "expected" answer differs from yours. You will come back to them in Activity 9.
While you read
Activity 3. Whose first language?
Read the section "What Even Is a 'Mother Language'?" first
The post gives four criteria for a first language: heritage, early acquisition, proficiency and identity. Tick the criteria that each case meets. Use the third-generation Greek American from the post, and two varieties from your own listways of speaking that you use yourself.
Self-check
Can you state, without looking, the two reasons the post gives for preferring "first language" to "mother language"? If only one comes to mind, reread the subsection on rethinking the term.
While you read
Activity 4. Who drew the line?
Read the section "The Language/Dialect Problem" first
For each case in the post, note three things: whether speakers can understand each other, whether we speak of one language or several, and what explanation the post gives for the label.
Your own case
Self-check
Your notes should show intelligibility and labels pulling in opposite directions in at least two cases. If they do, you have found the section's argument.
You should also be able to explain the Weinreich line and the term "variety" in your own words.
While you read
Activity 5. Under the surface
Read the section "The Myth of the Monolingual Society" first
Self-check
Have you named at least one language or variety that official descriptions of the place or family would leave out?
Can you say, using the post's words, why the monolingual society is called a "political construction"?
While you read
Activity 6. Getting the terms straight
Read the section "The languages we speak" first
Label each situation, using the post's definitions.
From list to repertoire
Return to your Activity 1 list and turn it into a repertoire. Add registers, professional vocabularies, and moments when you mix.
List the ways of speaking you use, then turn the list into a repertoire. Add registers, professional vocabularies, and moments when you mix.
Self-check
Use "Check my answers" above for situations (a) to (e). For (f), apply the same test as (a) and (c): is this the dominant language of the community you are living in?
Your repertoire is complete enough when it includes at least one thing that is not a "language" at all, such as a register or a habit of switching.
While you read
Activity 7. Three lenses
Read the section "Language Policy: Who Decides?" first
Choose a setting you know from the inside, such as a school, a workplace or your family. Describe it through the post's three dimensions.
Self-check
You have one sentence per dimension and at least one point where they conflict.
If your ideology and management sentences say the same thing, remember that ideology is belief and management is formal decision.
While you read
Activity 8. Deficit or resource?
Read the section "The World We're Actually Living In" first
Rewrite each statement so that it treats the child's language as a resource.
"He has no language yet."
"She can't join in until her Greek improves."
"They should speak only Greek at home."
Self-check
The last paragraph of this section of the post answers the third statement directly; your rewrite should agree with it.
For the other two, check that your new sentence names something the child can do.
After you read
Activity 9. Looking back
About 20 minutes
Here are the six statements from Activity 2, with what you said then. For each, write: "I used to think… Now I think… because the post says…" It is fine to remain unconvinced; say what would change your mind.
A language is a world
0 words
Self-check
Compare your six answers with the Summary and the questions-and-answers section at the bottom of the post.
Each of your "because" clauses should point to something the post says, not only to your own opinion.
To finish
Closing reflection
About 15 minutes
The word
Go back to the word from the warm-up, and reread the last two lines of the post.
The change
The next step
The post ends by asking us to take seriously the languages of the people around us. Name one person, one place and one concrete thing you will do differently, as a teacher, a student or a neighbour.
Self-check
Your next step is concrete enough if someone else could tell, a month from now, whether you did it.
To finish
Self-assessment and reading on
What can I do now?
Tick what you can now do without the post in front of you.
Reading on
Choose your own path. Follow what interests you, stop reading anything that doesn't, and skim where you like. All of these are linked from the post.
Kostoulas's International Mother Language Day posts from 2014 and 2019. What has changed in how he writes about the day?
Start with the summary Raising children to speak many languages. If you want more, go on to the full article it summarises (Kostoulas & Motsiou, 2020).
The post on schoolscapes, linked where the post discusses language ideology.
The post on wild children and first language acquisition.
The post on critical linguistics, linked from footnote 6.
The LocalLing project launch post, and the video linked where the post says communities "are determined" to keep a language alive.
Find and read something for pleasure in, or about, one of the less dominant varieties in your repertoire: a story, song lyrics, a recipe, a community page.
Tips for reading alone: start with the shortest text on your trail. If an academic article feels heavy, read the abstract, introduction and conclusion, then decide. Do not look up every unknown word.
Reading log
After each text, write three lines only.
Self-check
There is no target number of texts. Ask yourself only two things: did I read at least one text to the end because I wanted to, and does my log contain a question I did not have before?
When you are done, enter your name under "Your work" and save your answers.