Back by popular demand, May 31, 20:00-22:00 at the Jacaranda Tree Montessori in Amsterdam! My “Raising Bilingual Children” seminar is one of my favourites; I’ve been working on it for years, and each family I meet contributes to my understanding on bilingual/multilingual families and adds to my “book learning” and research background. I pack as … Continue reading Raising Bilingual Children: Six building blocks for success (Amsterdam)
Tag: family language planning
Seminar: Raising bilingual (and multilingual!) children: Six building blocks for success (April 12)
My "Raising Bilingual Children" seminar is one of my favourites; I've been working on it for years, and each family I meet contributes to my understanding on bilingual/multilingual families and adds to my "book learning" and research background. I pack as much good information as possible into the 2-hour session, along with some moments … Continue reading Seminar: Raising bilingual (and multilingual!) children: Six building blocks for success (April 12)
Local language versus English education?
Q. Should we choose a local school for our children, or an English-language international school? A. This is a common question, as more families are faced with choices of living locally or holding on to international possibilities. It's also a complicated question, as there are many factors that determine the right answer for any family, … Continue reading Local language versus English education?
2018: The Year of the Q&A
I made my first blog post here exactly 6.5 years ago today, and since then I have posted 195 times (not all original content), for an average of not quite 2 posts a month. I've had periods when I posted more frequently, and periods when I posted less, always of course linked to how busy … Continue reading 2018: The Year of the Q&A
When Family Languages are in Conflict
A different language is a different vision of life. Federico Fellini The vast majority of families I have worked with over the years have been in agreement about the decision to raise their children as bilingual/multilingual. Usually they come to me for family language planning advice because they want to "get it right" and ensure … Continue reading When Family Languages are in Conflict
Family Language Plan: When and why?
Every family raising bilingual children needs to have, at the very least, one family language plan. Ideally, they should start the planning process at the same time as they start all the other planning for baby preparations - during pregnancy. A family language plan is a longitudinal plan that follows a child from birth (or … Continue reading Family Language Plan: When and why?
#IMLD: Top 5 (now 6) Reasons to Choose Bilingualism for your Child v2.0
Hire more multilingual employees, because these employees can communicate better, have better intercultural sensitivity, are better at co-operating, negotiating, compromising. But they can also think more efficiently. Antonella Sorace Every once in a while I meet someone who makes me consider this point again. It's usually (as it was this time) someone who says to … Continue reading #IMLD: Top 5 (now 6) Reasons to Choose Bilingualism for your Child v2.0
New Workshop: Family Language Planning
A quick note to announce that the first edition of the new two-part parenting series will be held in The Hague on September 22 and October 2, 2014. The first event is the popular "Raising Bilingual Children: Six building blocks for success" seminar, which is an evening packed with theoretical and practical knowledge on raising … Continue reading New Workshop: Family Language Planning
“But she won’t speak *my* language…”
Unfortunately, most bilingual families go through this crisis at some point; despite best efforts to provide good and consistent input, despite the ability to use the language if necessary... most bilingual kids, at some point, figure out which language gets them the most effect for the least effort, and choose to use that language, all … Continue reading “But she won’t speak *my* language…”
Whole-family support for (very minor) minority languages
Last night I had the pleasure of spending the evening with a very diverse group of parents. All of them had children who will grow up with two languages, and many had children growing up with three or more languages. A few of the families are lucky enough to have multilingual partners, who speak each … Continue reading Whole-family support for (very minor) minority languages
