News
On this page you find a selection of items about our members, activities, bilingual development, and bilingualism.
Songs To Promote Home Languages
このウェブサイトは、バイリンガル・マルチリンガル子どもネットの啓発グループが集めた、手遊び歌の紹介サイトです。
手遊び歌は、親が赤ちゃんに話しかける絶好のチャンス。自信のあることばで赤ちゃんを育てる養育者のみなさんを応援します。
Das Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit im Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften: ein kurzer Zwischenbericht
einen kurzen Bericht zu den Aktivitäten aus der Arbeit des Fachzentrums im Jahr 2022.
De cursus Taalanalist in een nieuw jasje
Taalanalisten zijn tolken die opgeleid zijn voor het uitvoeren van spontane taalanalyse in een andere taal dan het Nederlands. Ze ondersteunen logopedisten bij het beoordelen van de taalvaardigheid in de moedertaal van meertalige kinderen. Thomas More in Antwerpen biedt als enige een cursus aan voor tolken om taalanalist te worden. Met de steun van HaBilNet, en in samenwerking met HaBilNet partner Foyer v.z.w., past Thomas More de huidige cursus aan recent wetenschappelijke inzichten aan, rekening houdend met nieuwe werkvormen voor e-learning. Lees hier de samenvatting.
HaBilNet ondersteunt de advieswerking van Partners In Meertaligheid bij Foyer
Ik breng mijn taal mee naar school
Lees hier de projectbeschrijving.
Deutsch-Ukrainischer Sprachschatz für die Kita-Praxis
Why Study Harmonious Bilingualism?
The talk was part of a bilingual session honoring Dr. De Houwer's work in the context of her recent retirement from the University of Erfurt, Germany. This explains why the talk was in both German and English. When Annick spoke English, the accompanying slide was in German; when she spoke German, the relevant slide was in English. In case you do not understand German or just want to see the slides, find them here.
Annick takes this opportunity to once again thank the other speakers at the special session: Professors Jürgen Meisel and Lourdes Ortega, both HaBilNet members, and Csaba Földes of the University of Erfurt.
The Second HaBilNet Colloquium
The Second HaBilNet Colloquium (HaBilNet2) took place in Frankfurt, Germany, in May 2022. The colloquium theme was "Supporting well-being as it relates to growing up and living in a language contact setting". HaBilNet2 follows in the footsteps of the First HaBilNet Colloquium that took place in Belgium in May 2018. HaBilNet1 included practitioners working with bilingual populations as well as bilingualism researchers. HaBilNet2 aimed to strengthen this collaboration even more, and wanted to bring together insights as they are gained through working with bilingual populations in a variety of settings and from both research and day-to-day life perspectives. Read all about how it went in a blog article in two parts.
The role of language and multilingualism in custody cases: An interview with Bente Ailin Svendsen
Onze partner Foyer vzw onthaalde Oekraïense gezinnen in Brussel
hier een leuk verslag. HaBilNet is heel dankbaar voor het initiatief van Foyer en blij dat het dit mee kon ondersteunen.
Dr. Meagan Driver's new Multilingual Lab
Ouders met een recente migratie-achtergrond: wat is er nodig om een kind tweetalig op te laten opgroeien?
Hoe kunnen leerkrachten bijdragen tot een succesvolle meertalige opvoeding – en dus Harmonische Tweetaligheid?
Lourdes Ortega interviews Sharon Armon-Lotem
Sharon Armon-Lotem is well known for her tireless work on developmental language disorders in bilingual preschoolers and on the role of the input in early second language acquisition. In this engaged interview recorded at the occasion of the First HaBilNet colloquium in Belgium in May 2018, colloquium co-organizer and HaBilNet Member Lourdes Ortega asks her about her work and how she sees the role of age and exposure in early bilingualism. Dr. Ortega's question about what Dr. Armon-Lotem encourages in her staff allows the latter to stress that it is important to "understand about language", to understand the nature of children, and to have empathy for children. She stresses that parents are "an important part of the bilingual ecosystem" and a real asset for researchers because "parents know so much about their children". Dr. Ortega also asks about what would be Dr. Armon-Lotem's "dream study". Watch the video to find out!
The importance of language choice, input, and discourse strategies for Harmonious Bilingualism
The combined influence of parental language choice patterns, input characteristics, and discourse strategies used by parents can increase their children's chances of speaking two languages within the family and thus contribute to Harmonious Bilingualism. This talk by Annick De Houwer explains the research behind this finding.
HaBilNet feiert das neue Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit des Verbandes binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften, iaf e.V.
Für viele Familien in Deutschland gehören mehrere Sprachen selbstverständlich zu ihrem Alltag. Diese gelebte Mehrsprachigkeit ist nicht nur eine besondere individuelle Fähigkeit, sondern auch eine wertvolle gesellschaftliche Ressource.
Es fehlt jedoch an Wissen und Informationen über Vorteile mehrsprachigen Aufwachsens, insbesondere in den Bildungseinrichtungen Kita und Schule, in Beratungsstellen, in Ämtern und Organisationen. Eltern werden verunsichert, ihre Sprache(n) und damit sie selbst werden mit ihrem sprachlich-kulturellem Hintergrund in Frage gestellt.
Mit der Einrichtung eines Fachzentrums Mehrsprachigkeit ab Januar 2022 will der Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften, iaf e.V. unter Leitung von Chrysovalantou Vangeltziki, Bundesgeschäftsführerin, zum Ausdruck bringen, dass es in einem mehrsprachigen Lebensumfeld Anlaufstellen braucht, die zum Umgang mit sprachlicher Vielfalt informieren, qualifizieren und weiterhelfen.
Mehrsprachige Eltern, Kinder und Jugendliche finden hier einen „Raum" für den Austausch untereinander, für gemeinsames sprachliches Lernen und Reflektieren sowie für das eigene Empowerment. Beratung und begleitende Angebote informieren und qualifizieren sowohl Familien als auch Fachkräfte.
Das Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit leistet einen Beitrag für das sprachbezogene Wohlbefinden von mehrsprachigen Familien und für ein sprachen-gerechteres gesellschaftliches Zusammenleben.
HaBilNet freut sich sehr darüber, dieses Vorhaben unterstützen zu können und steht dem Verband als starker Partner zur Seite.
Mehrsprachigkeit leben!
"Jeder Schritt zählt" – der 2. Praxistag im Modellprojekt „Mehrsprachigkeit leben!" wurde von HaBilNet und der Stadt Waren unterstützt und hat am 22.09.2021 in Waren (Müritz, MV) stattgefunden. Lesen Sie hier einen kleinen Bericht zur Veranstaltung, auf der HaBilNet Direktorin Annick De Houwer einen Vortrag gehalten hat.
Trois membres de HaBilNet à Toulouse (de g. à dr.): Ekaterina Tiulkova, Annick De Houwer, et Barbara Köpke.
Une conférence sur « Le bilinguisme au sein de la famille » par Annick De Houwer
Finalement c'était possible de donner une conférence « en vrai » ! La directrice de HaBilNet, Annick De Houwer, s'est rendue à Toulouse pour y donner une conférence sur les obstacles et opportunités que peuvent rencontrer les familles bilingues.
Elle y était invitée par Mme la professeure Barbara Köpke du Laboratoire de NeuroPsychoLinguistique de l'Université de Toulouse, elle-même membre de soutien de HaBilNet. Visionnez la vidéo ici.
Mehrsprachige Kinder in unseren Einrichtungen: Hürden, Bedürfnisse und Chancen
Ein Vortrag beim Kita-Verbund in Kleinmachnow
HaBilNet Direktorin Annick De Houwer hat Ende September 2021 einen Vortrag in Kleinmachnow, Brandenburg, beim Kita-Verbund gehalten. Der Verbund hat einen kleinen Rückblick zur Veranstaltung auf seiner Internetseite veröffentlicht, der wichtige inhaltliche Punkte und Impressionen teilt. Lesen Sie selbst!
HaBiLNet hat einen neuen Partner!
Als interkultureller Familienverband bietet er Workshops, Beratungen und Mitmachprojekte für Paare und Familien mit und ohne Migrationsgeschichte an. Die Angebote und ebenso die Lobbyarbeit des Verbandes liegen an den Schnittstellen Familien-, Bildungs- und Migrationspolitik.
Lesen Sie mehr über den Verband im HaBilNet Interview oder auf deren Webseite.
Adam Beck's New Book is Out
Congratulations!
Bilingual Success Stories Around the World: Parents Raising Multilingual Kids Share Their Experiences and Encouragement is a real-life roadmap to greater success and joy for any parent raising bilingual or multilingual children. Written by Adam Beck, in the same empowering spirit as his influential first book Maximize Your Child's Bilingual Ability, this practical, worldly-wise guide features the success stories of a wide range of families and details the kinds of attitudes and actions that can enable your family to enjoy the same sort of rewarding success. The focus of this book is on the actual practice of raising children to acquire active ability in more than one language, conveyed through the revealing experiences of parents who are now succeeding admirably at their bilingual or multilingual aim. Read this book for ideas and inspiration to help you realize your own family's joyful success story!
Bilingual Success Stories Around the World is 252 reader-friendly pages and is available worldwide, in both paperback and Kindle e-book, at Amazon, the global Amazon sites, and other booksellers.
Why Speaking a Foreign Language to Your Child May Not Be a Good Idea
Online Connections with Young Children
Grandparents can be of great support to young bilingual children, even if they cannot be physically present. This article gives some very useful tips on how to effectively communicate with very young children through digital means. Parents need to lend a helping hand, of course, but the benefits for language learning and human closeness will make up for this extra "work"!
New Book on Bilingual Children
HaBilNet is delighted and proud to announce the publication of Bilingual Development in Childhood, a new book by HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer. It covers the first decade of life and, of course, pays plenty of attention to harmonious bilingualism. Read more about it in this blog article.
Entre Dos Podcast: a Great Resource for Bilingual Parenting
New episode with Annick De Houwer
Entre Dos Podcast brings stories of real bilingual families, conversations with experts, important research and resources on bilingual parenting. The two founders, Monika Leal and Paula Niño Kehr, journalists and moms of young bilingual daughters, started Entre Dos Podcast to help dispel myths and misinformation around bilingualism that may discourage parents or make them feel lonely in their pursuit.
The latest episode of Entre Dos Podcast focuses on why some children who grow up hearing two languages only use one. HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer has done research on this question for decades. In this episode, you can hear about her findings and about ways to foster harmonious bilingualism in the family. You also find out about how Dr. De Houwer came to be interested in the question.
Bilingual Teaching Materials for Schools
Wouldn't it be amazing to have bilingual teaching materials? Now schools and parents have free access to bilingual teaching materials through AVIOR.
AVIOR is an Erasmus+ project carried out by a number of European partners that aims at improving the basic numeracy and literacy skills of children in Europe who have an immigration background.
This lovely video shows how parents, teachers and students can benefit from the AVIOR materials and how the use of children's home languages makes them excited to learn.
NIE Excellence in Research Award
Awarded to Sun He
HaBilNet Supporting Member He Sun has been conferred the NIE Excellence in Research Award in 2020. This award accords the highest recognition within Singapore's National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, to individuals or teams who have made outstanding contributions in extending the frontiers of research and knowledge. Big congratulations to Dr. He Sun for this well deserved recognition!
Bilingual Children in Early Childhood Education and Care
HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer and HaBilNet Active Member Mareen Pascall published a new article on challenges and chances for bilingual children in early childhood education and care.
The article explains how bilingual children's well-being in early education can be enhanced if staff embraces all children's languages and their developing bilingualism. Openness towards the languages children bring to the classroom can be shown through a pedagogical approach that actively recognizes and thus values all children's languages.
The article gives several concrete tips for early education staff that will help create such a language friendly pedagogical approach and can be found in the online handbook Das Kita-Handbuch (in German).
Four Decades of Service
A Publishing House Dedicated to Bilingualism
Imagine, a publishing house founded because pediatricians told a family to speak only a single language to children rather than two! For 4 decades now, Multilingual Matters has served bilingual families, educators of bilingual children, and bilingualism scholars. Discover its story through this video.
The Journal of Home Language Research has a New Website!
Wilhelm von Humboldt Prize 2020
Awarded to Jürgen M. Meisel
The German Society for Linguistics has awarded HaBilNet Advisory Board Member Professor Jürgen M. Meisel the prestigious Wilhelm von Humboldt Prize 2020 for his lifetime achievement. The award ceremony took place on March 4, 2020, as part of the annual DGfS conference at the University of Hamburg. HaBilnet congratulates Dr. Meisel on this well deserved recognition.
Gerald M. Mara Faculty Mentoring Award
Awarded to Lourdes Ortega
HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer gave this talk on Febr. 12, 2020 at the invitation of Dr. Lourdes Ortega at the Initiative for Multilingual Studies, Georgetown University, USA. Thanks to Rima Elabdali for the video recording.
Harmonious Bilingualism in Bilingual Families
A Talk in Two Parts
In this talk Dr. Annick De Houwer offers the framework of bilingual well-being and its associated Harmonious Bilingualism as a window into understanding the experiences of young families who find themselves in bilingual settings in today's diversified world.
In this first part she defines what she means by Harmonious Bilingualism and outlines its two main hallmarks.
In this second part she explains some of the possible ill effects that can occur when children do not speak the language their parents speak with them. She discusses what happens when young children's home languages are ignored at (pre)school and explains the importance of actively valuing all children's languages at (pre)school.
Intergenerational Language Transmission and Social Identity
Not only Love at First Sight but also Love at First Sounds
Why do some parents decide to speak their own language(s) to their children, and other parents don't? Find out about it in this recent blog by Dr. Ruth Kircher.
only online
Georgetown University Round Table colloquium
March 13-15, 2020
HaBilNet was proud to sponsor an invited colloquium at this year's Georgetown University
Round Table (GURT), a prestigious linguistics conference.
This year's GURT was co-hosted by the IMS and MultiLing.
HaBilNet director Annick De Houwer is a member of MultiLing's Scientific Advisory Board.
We are sad and disappointed, but thank the organizers for their tremendous work in preparing the conference.
Only virtual GURT this year
by Dr. Annick De Houwer
Read More
Unfortunately, the global COVID-19 crisis led to the "live" GURT 2020, scheduled for March 13-15, to be cancelled. Instead, the GURT 2020 organizers set up a closed FaceBook page, GURT 2020 Virtual, to allow registered participants to post their contributions. HaBilNet and the speakers who were invited for the HaBilNet FLP colloquium on Finding Universal Patterns in Family Language Policies and Their Effects on Children: Evidence from Different World Regions and Different Disciplines are grateful to the organizers for this enormous effort.
You can see more about the FLP colloquium here.
March 13, 2020
Telling stories, writing bilingual picture books, and more adventures with the Book Pirates
by Mareen Pascall | 10/06/2021 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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.
HaBilNet2 – HaBilNet's Second Colloquium Part II
by Nina Schwöbel | 04/08/2022 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
This is Part II of the Blog post about HaBilNet's second Colloquium which was held in May (2022) in Frankfurt, Germany. 55 participants from around the world had a great time and found the colloquium truly inspiring. Here, you can read all about the posters which early career professionals showed at the colloquium.
This Is the Secret to Success in Raising a Bilingual Child
by Adam Beck | 27/08/2020 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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.
Emergent multilingual literacy in early childhood education and care
by Mareen Pascall | 04/01/2022 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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.
What's it like to request a HaBilNet consultation?
by Nina Schwöbel | 27/05/2021 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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.
Taking advantage of staying at home with your children during the COVID-19 crisis
by Annick De Houwer | 26/03/2020 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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.
HaBilNet Travel Awards to attend GURT
by Annick De Houwer | 26/03/2020 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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.
Supporting Bilingualism in Families, Day Care Centers and Schools
by Mareen Pascall | 17/02/2021 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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
by Theresa Bloder | 14/10/2022 | Uncategorized, Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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
by Annick De Houwer | 25/03/2020 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
Emergent multilingual literacy in early childhood education and care
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.
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.
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.
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.
HaBilNet2 – HaBilNet's Second Colloquium Part II
This is Part II of the Blog post about HaBilNet's second Colloquium which was held in May (2022) in Frankfurt, Germany. 55 participants from around the world had a great time and found the colloquium truly inspiring. Here, you can read all about the posters which early career professionals showed at the colloquium.
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.