It’s all Bahnhof to me: engaging beginning language learners in the planetarium as a dominant language user

Presentation themes: inclusion diversity equity accessibility, educaitonal advances in planetariums

Planetariums have become gateways to exploring more than just the subject of astronomy. One area of study where the planetarium is an asset is in the acquisition of a new world language. The opportunity for input and output in the target language (TL) outside of the classroom while focusing on other subjects, provides the additional benefits of being a positive and relevant real-world experience using the TL. There is, however, a difference between providing TL-input as a non-dominant TL-user and as a dominant TL-user. This paper will take a deeper look into the challenges of providing meaningful input as a dominant TL-user when presenting a planetarium program for new TL-learners. It will also look at the benefits of presenting to beginning TL-learners in both a large permanent planetarium, as well as in a smaller mobile dome.

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