The Hundred Languages of Children in preschools in Reggio Emilia. Overcoming the hegemony of verbal language in children’s learning process

Abstract

The paper presents the idea of the hundred languages of children interpreted by Reggio Emilia educators as “the different ways used by human beings to express themselves” (Vecchi 2010: 9). It also discusses the role of different languages (verbal, visual, mathematical, scientific language, etc.) in children’s learning. By using various symbolic representations, children have the opportunities to show the same concept in different media. This process is described on the basis of short description of project conducted in Reggio Emilia preschools.