Share, reflect, and discuss – HaBilNet2 was a hit!

The Second HaBilNet Colloquium Part II

Nina Schwöbel & Team

Introduction
This past May (2022) HaBilNet organized its second Colloquium in Frankfurt, Germany. About 55 people from various backgrounds and 14 countries (from Canada over Sweden to South Africa and Singapore) met in order to talk about "Supporting well-being as it relates to growing up and living in a language contact setting". Researchers and practitioners, senior and early career professionals alike accepted their invitation to join and share their experiences, ideas and challenges with regard to bilingualism. HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer and HaBilNet Advisory Board Member Lourdes Ortega were the conference chairs.

Focus on early careers professionals

One of the main aims of HaBilNet2 was to offer support and networking opportunities to early career professionals working in research and outreach through mentoring sessions with seniors, an exclusive early career participant Happy Hour, and poster sessions focused mainly on work by the early career participants. Here you will find pdf copies of 17 of the 27 posters that participants kindly sent to us for featuring here. Click on the titles below to see and download the pdf!

You can find a list of all the 27 posters and more information about the colloquium in Part I of Share, reflect, and discuss – HaBilNet2 was a hit!

Thank You!

Dr. Till Woerfel (U. of Cologne, Germany), one of the early career participants, made some great sketches during the meeting. We are grateful he allowed us to share them here! They give a great impression of our unforgettable colloquium.

Till's Twitter profile

Sketch Note #1 © Till Woerfel
© Till Woerfel

The Posters

Xavier Aparicio (Laboratory CHArt, University of Paris Est, France)
What role could learning-to-read software play in the learning of French as a language of instruction for emergent bilingual pupils?
This research project examines the impact of the use of reading training software on the acquisition of French as a second language by emergent bilingual immigrant children with learning difficulties

Frederik Bissinger (Stockholm University, Sweden)
Children's heritage language experiences and language use: Insights from a Lithuanian-Swedish patchwork family
The poster focuses on how two girls experience their heritage language. It illustrates how negative experiences greatly decrease children's motivation to use the language and emphasizes the importance of positive experiences for a harmonious bilingual development.

Sally Cook (Dept. of Applied Linguistics & Communication, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK)
From feeling broken to the road to empowerment: lived experience of using a second language in the healing journey of survivors of torture and organized violence.
This qualitative and ethnographic study explores the meanings survivors of torture and
organized violence ascribe to using a later-learned language. It focuses on rehabilitation and second language acquisition and use within a unique London-based therapeutic community.

Hilde De Smedt & Sofie Verrijkt (Foyer v.z.w. / PIM, Belgium)
Engage with multilingual families
Partners In Multilingualism (PIM) is a team that works with multilingual families with specific attention to low SES families. We support parents with advice on language choices and use and screen multilingual children for language delays and disorders in their home language.

Andrew Fogarty (Queens University, Belfast, UK)
An exploratory study into home minority language usage and maintenance in bilingual primary school children in Northern Ireland's growing multicultural community
This study details how parents at home and globally are attempting to maintain their home minority language in their children. It also highlights the lack of literature available for children that actively promotes the concept of being bilingual and its benefits.

Sketch Note #1 © Till Woerfel
© Till Woerfel

Inga Hilbig, Vitalija Kazlauskienė & Eglė Kačkutė (Vilnius University, Lithuania)
Non-harmonious early bilingualism and mothers' well-being
This study explores Lithuanian migrant mothers' experiences with what they call "unsuccessful bilingualism" in their families, showing that parental psychological and emotional well-being plays an important but often overlooked role in minority language transmission.

Nishita Grace Isaac (Georgetown University, USA)
"It's not good for us": Teachers responding to online education during covid-19 in rural and tribal India
This study explores how teachers working with rural, tribal and first-generation school goers navigated the shift to online education during covid-19 in primary Hindi-medium schools in central India.

Valérie Kemp (Université du Luxembourg, Luxemburg)
Young children's multiliteracy meaning-making: A case study in non-formal ECEC in Luxembourg
This poster illustrates different ways in which three-year-old Etienne uses his whole semiotic repertoire to make meaning in multiliteracy activities, and the multiliteracy practices in a forest-based ECEC facility in Luxembourg.

Marie Leroy & Maria Ringler (Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit, Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften, iaf e.V., Germany)
Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit für Familien und Fachkräfte
Das Poster soll Ziele und Arbeit des Fachzentrums Mehrsprachigkeit vorstellen. Von welchen Erkenntnissen und Bedürfnissen gehen wir aus? Was sind unsere Ziele, unsere Zielgruppen und unsere Maßnahmen?

Mareen Pascall, Nina Schwöbel & Annick De Houwer (HaBilNet, Germany & Belgium)
HaBilNet – the Harmonious Bilingualism Network
HaBilNet is a philanthropic organization that promotes research on Harmonious Bilingualism. It aims at making sure the results of that research are widely disseminated both within and outside of academia. This poster explains how we try to accomplish this mission.

Yeşim Sevinç (Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Language mindsets and negative emotions in multilingual families
This study examines the role of family language pressure, language mindsets (e.g., fixed language mindsets and/or fixed monolingual mindsets) and negative emotions (e.g., anger, blame and anxiety) in family language practices and language development.

He (Sabrina) Sun (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Harmonious bilingual experience and family wellbeing
This study explores the relations between maternal language use, children's language use and competence, and maternal and children's social-emotional wellbeing and discusses the significance of a harmonious bilingual experience for children's and mothers' wellbeing.

Crissa Stephens (Georgetown University, USA)
Gathering the pieces: Narratives of bilingual identity across schools, hospitals, and home
This ethnographic case study traces a mother's experience of navigating the
competing and often conflicting characterizations of one bilingual child's language-related needs with a focus on harmonious bilingualism.

Veronika Timpe-Laughlin (Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ and Bilingual Babies, USA)
From bilingual babies to plurilingual education in preschools
The poster outlines how personal experiences with raising bilingual children can impact and inform a research agenda and ultimately lead to new studies in areas that are very much under-researched.

Ekaterina Tiulkova, Vanda Marijanovic, & Barbara Köpke (University of Toulouse 2, France)
Family attitudes and well-being in bilingual development in Russian-French children
This investigation of the relation between family attitudes to language use and bilingual
development in 37 Russian-French 5-year-olds hopes to furnish a better understanding of harmonious bilingual development in young children growing up in multilingual families.

Marga van Mil (1801 jeugd & onderwijsadvies [1801 Youth and Education Advice], the Netherlands in cooperation with Hilde De Smedt, Foyer, Belgium)
Planting Languages, seeds of success.
This poster describes practical tools for supporting multilingual parents in developing their family languages plan and for stimulating kids' multilingual development and wellbeing from the start. These tools were developed in an international Erasmus+ project.

Katie Von Holzen (English Linguistics, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany)
doyouunderstandwhatimsaying : How learners break into the speech stream
This project investigates the cues that support speech segmentation in ab initio and L2-learners and is subdivided into three themes: 1) speech modifications, specifically in infant- and foreigner-directed speech, 2) phonotactic cues, and 3) lexical transparency.

Till Julian Nesta Woerfel (Mercator Institute of Literacy and Language education, University of
Cologne, Germany)
The potentials of using digital tools for home language education and multilingual pedagogies.
The poster presents examples of how the digital transformation offers new opportunities for maintaining and promoting students' L1 skills in a multilingual pedagogy that also meets the needs of 21st century students.

Welcome Flowers and Brochures

 

Final words

The small scale of the colloquium allowed for intense contacts amongst more junior and more senior scholars, and amongst practitioners and researchers. We thank all our participants for making HaBilNet2 into a fun and stimulating academic event!

 

HaBilNet2 – HaBilNet's Second Colloquium Part I

This past May (2022) HaBilNet organized its second Colloquium in Frankfurt, Germany. The 55 participants from around the world had a great time and found the colloquium truly inspiring. Read all about it in our blog article, divided into two parts: this first one about the colloquium as a whole.

Learning how to Read and Write in Two Languages

Yes, it is important to talk a lot to children in two languages to support their bilingualism. But what about reading and writing in two languages? Find out in this blog by HaBilNet member and consultant Janice Nakamura.

What's it like to request a HaBilNet consultation?

HaBilNet offers a consultation service to families who have questions or doubts about their bilingual journey or just need someone with expertise in this field to talk things through. If you wonder what a consultation might look like, get to know the team and read some feedback we've received in this blog post.

This Is the Secret to Success in Raising a Bilingual Child

Want to know the secret to success in raising a child that is actively bilingual? Find out in this blog post by HaBilNet member and consultant Adam Beck.

The Need for a Language-Considerate Approach in Early Childhood Education

This article is part of a series by HaBilNet, the Harmonious Bilingualism Network. It considers research results about young children's bilingual language development and discusses how these results can be applied in early childhood education and care so that all children may benefit from harmonious bilingual development.

The HaBilNet Family Language Policies colloquium at GURT 2020

This colloquium brings together perspectives on family language policies from different parts of the world and from different disciplines. Check out its virtual format here (featuring Annick De Houwer, Michelle Mingyue Gu, Simona Montanari, Janice Nakamura, and Nikolay Slavkov).

HaBilNet Travel Awards to attend GURT

Congratulations to Sally Rachel Cook and Nishita Grace Isaac for receiving HaBilNet Travel Awards to attend the 2020 Georgetown University Round Table, even though it ended up taking place virtually.

Answers to the three most common parental questions on raising bilingual children

A HaBilNet consultation allows parents or other family members
to discuss specific questions and/or share their current situation. In this article we would like to share the three most frequently asked questions and outline the advice that HaBilNet consultants Janice Nakamura and Annick De Houwer provide in response.

Telling stories, writing bilingual picture books, and more adventures with the Book Pirates

The projects of the Book Pirates aim at enabling children and young people to experience literature creatively and independently. One of their numerous projects is about bilingual picture books written by children and for children.

Supporting Bilingualism in Families, Day Care Centers and Schools

Bilingualism is one of four major themes that the Association for Binational Families and Partnerships deals with. In this inspiring interview, Maria Ringler speaks from the Association's headquarters about supporting multilingual families, an exciting reading project for day care centers, and about her experiences with political lobbying for bilingual education.

Supporting bilingual children's socio-emotional wellbeing

Read an interview with supporting HaBilNet member Dr. He Sun on how bilingual children's socio-emotional wellbeing can be supported in the home and school contexts.

The HaBilNet Family Language Policies colloquium at GURT 2020

This colloquium brings together perspectives on family language policies from different parts of the world and from different disciplines. Check out its virtual format here (featuring Annick De Houwer, Michelle Mingyue Gu, Simona Montanari, Janice Nakamura, and Nikolay Slavkov).

The Need for a Language-Considerate Approach in Early Childhood Education

This article is part of a series by HaBilNet, the Harmonious Bilingualism Network. It considers research results about young children's bilingual language development and discusses how these results can be applied in early childhood education and care so that all children may benefit from harmonious bilingual development.

Learning how to Read and Write in Two Languages

Yes, it is important to talk a lot to children in two languages to support their bilingualism. But what about reading and writing in two languages? Find out in this blog by HaBilNet member and consultant Janice Nakamura.

Raising Trilingual Children in a Monolingual Society

Multilingual families face a language management dilemma when attempting to cultivate and support trilingualism in monolingual societies. The maintenance and development of heritage languages (HLs) for trilingual children is daunting compared to bilingual families. However, there are ways to prevent and overcome language maintenance challenges and raise trilingual children in monolingual societies.

Supporting Bilingualism in Families, Day Care Centers and Schools

Bilingualism is one of four major themes that the Association for Binational Families and Partnerships deals with. In this inspiring interview, Maria Ringler speaks from the Association's headquarters about supporting multilingual families, an exciting reading project for day care centers, and about her experiences with political lobbying for bilingual education.

Answers to the three most common parental questions on raising bilingual children

A HaBilNet consultation allows parents or other family members
to discuss specific questions and/or share their current situation. In this article we would like to share the three most frequently asked questions and outline the advice that HaBilNet consultants Janice Nakamura and Annick De Houwer provide in response.

This Is the Secret to Success in Raising a Bilingual Child

Want to know the secret to success in raising a child that is actively bilingual? Find out in this blog post by HaBilNet member and consultant Adam Beck.

Telling stories, writing bilingual picture books, and more adventures with the Book Pirates

The projects of the Book Pirates aim at enabling children and young people to experience literature creatively and independently. One of their numerous projects is about bilingual picture books written by children and for children.

Taking advantage of staying at home with your children during the COVID-19 crisis

Like so many other parents world wide, you are probably stuck at home with your children during the current COVID-19 crisis. It is a difficult time for everyone. Check out this blog article to learn how this may be also be a time of opportunity for your bilingual family.

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