News

On this page you find a selection of items about our members, activities, bilingual development, and bilingualism.

Jauna grāmata par latviešu kā mantotās valodas uzturēšanu un jauns latviešu podkāsts!

2024. gada vasarā Latvijā iznāca Ingas Sindi grāmata "Mamma saka ābols, papa saka Apfel". Tā ir par latviešu kā mantotās valodas apguvi un uzturēšanu daudzvalodīgās ģimenēs ārpus Latvijas, un ir pirmā latviešu autora Latvijā izdota grāmata par šo tēmu. Grāmata uzrunā latviešu vecākus pasaulē, valodu pasniedzējus un studentus Latvijā. Autore desmit gadus dokumentējusi savu trīsvalodīgo bērnu valodas attīstību. Līdz ar to zinātniskās atziņas par agrīno bilingvismu, kas latviski līdz šim nebija plašāk aprakstītas, bagātīgi papildinātas ar bērnu valodas piemēriem. Tāpat grāmatā lasāmi vairāku citu diasporas latviešu vecāku novērojumi par bērnu latviešu valodas attīstību un viņu pašu sajūtām attiecībā uz valodu. Tajā tiek rosināts, kā vecākiem rīkoties, lai stiprinātu latviešu valodas prasmes un arī lai pašiem nezustu motivācija turpināt: latviešu vecāks nereti ir vienīgā persona, ko bērns ikdienā dzird runājam latviski. Tomēr grāmata arī apliecina, ka mantotās valodas uzturēšana var kļūt par radošu un iedvesmojošu procesu, kas sniedz prieku un gandarījumu gan vecākiem, gan pašiem bērniem. Grāmatas trešajā daļā ietvertas četras intervijas par bērnu daudzvalodības un arī latviešu valodas diasporā apguves jautājumiem. Vienā no tām I. Sindi sarunājas ar HaBilNet direktori prof. Annick De Houwer. Lejupielādējiet satura rādītāju šeit.
Pēc grāmatas iznākšanas viņa kopā ar vairākiem domubiedriem sāka veidot raidierakstu "Vārti". Tas uzrunā latviešu ģimenes visā pasaulē, lai palīdzētu uzturēt mantoto valodu diasporā. Tajā ir intervijas ar ekspertiem par daudzvalodību, ģimenes valodu politiku un mantoto valodu, kā arī dzirdamas diasporas vecāku un bērnu atziņas. 3.sērijas viese ir HaBilNet dalībniece Inga Hilbig. Raidieraksts ir latviski un pieejams galvenajās tiešsaistes platformās: Spotify, Apple, Youtube.
Projektu atbalsta Latviešu valodas aģentūra un Amerikas Latviešu apvienība.

Liels apsveikums no HaBilNet!

Inga Sindi, Dr. art, ir studējusi literatūru un teātra zinātni Latvijā un Vācijā, strādājusi augstskolās un kultūras iestādēs un ar ģimeni dzīvojusi dažādās valstīs.

A new book on maintaining Latvian as a heritage language and a new Latvian podcast!

In the summer of 2024, Inga Sindi's book "Mamma saka ābols, papa saka Apfel" ("Mom says ābols, dad says Apfel") was published in Latvia. The book focuses on learning and maintaining Latvian as a heritage language in multilingual families outside Latvia and is the first on this topic published by a Latvian author in Latvia. It is aimed at Latvian parents worldwide, as well as language teachers and students in Latvia. The author has documented the language development of her trilingual children for ten years. Therefore, the scientific insights on early bilingualism, which had not been extensively described in Latvian before, are richly supplemented with examples from her children's language use in everyday communication. The book also includes observations from other Latvian parents living in different countries, focusing on both the development of the Latvian language in their children and their personal feelings about language-related topics. It offers suggestions for parents on supporting their child's acquisition of the Latvian language and maintaining their own motivation: the Latvian parent is often the only person the child hears speaking Latvian on a daily basis. Dr. Sindi also demonstrates that maintaining a heritage language can be a creative and inspiring process, bringing joy and satisfaction to parents and children alike. The third part of the book includes four interviews on the topics of bilingualism and Latvian as a heritage language. In one of these, Dr. Sindi speaks with HaBilNet director Dr. Annick De Houwer. Download the table of contents here.
After the publication of her book, Dr. Sindi began creating the podcast "Vārti" (in Latvian) along with a team of volunteers and researchers. It reaches out to Latvian families around the world to help maintain their heritage language in the diaspora. It features interviews with experts in bilingualism, family language policy and heritage language maintenance, along with insights from diaspora parents and children. The guest of Episode 3 is HaBilNet member Inga Hilbig. The podcast is in Latvian and is available on major streaming platforms: Spotify, Apple, Youtube.
The project is supported by the Latvian Language Agency and the American Latvian Association.

Many congratulations from HaBilNet!

Dr. Inga Sindi studied literature and theatre science in Latvia and Germany, worked in universities and cultural institutions, and has lived in several countries with her family.

Why early WORDS are so fundamental

Why early WORDS are so fundamental, regardless of whether they are in one, two, or more languages

Babies are born without words. Yet they will need a lot of them soon in order to understand and create their world. Read this excellent article by Matthew McArthur and Margaret Friend to learn about their incredible importance, and how we can all help infants learn a lot of words from very early on.

First HaBilNet doctoral grant recipient gets doctoral degree

Many congratulations to the new Dr. Ekaterina Tiulkova! She just obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Toulouse, France, based on her dissertation entitled "Harmonious bilingual development in 5-year-old Franco-Russian children: exploring the mutual relationships between input, well-being, and fluency in oral production." (our translation from the original French). Find a first publication on her project here. Katia was HaBilNet's first doctoral grant recipient. We wish her all the best for her career.

Mehrsprachigkeit im logopädischen Alltag: eine online Tagung mit Workshops

Am 29.11.2024 findet eine in der Schweiz organisierte online Tagung mit Workshops statt. Es gibt Vorträge zu den neurofunktionellen und linguistischen Grundlagen der Mehrsprachigkeit, und die Logopädie-spezifischen Herausforderungen und Besonderheiten in Diagnostik und Therapie werden von anerkannten Expertinnen beleuchtet. HaBilNet Direktorin Annick De Houwer ist eine der Refererierenden. Darüber hinaus gibt es Workshops zu spezifischen Aspekten, wie z.B. der Elternberatung bei Mehrsprachigkeit oder dem Umgang mit Autismus und Mehrsprachigkeit. Hier finden Sie das Programm. Sie können sich bis zum 11.11 anmelden.

Het Europees Talenlabel voor Liba Lingua van Foyer!

HaBilNet feliciteert het PIM-team van zijn partner Foyer vzw van harte! Op 6 november nl. mocht PIM het Europees talenlabel 2024 in ontvangst nemen voor het ganzenbordspel van Foyer, Liba Lingua. Liba Lingua wil een warme transitie tussen thuis en school bewerkstelligen. Het doel is om ouders bewust maken van hun rol in de ontwikkeling van de thuis- en schooltaal bij een meertalige opvoeding. Het spel werd ontwikkeld met de financiële steun van Habilnet. Meer info over Liba Lingua vindt u hier.
Het Europees Talenlabel wordt in Vlaanderen jaarlijks uitgereikt door Epos vzw. Het label geeft aandacht en erkenning aan innovatieve initiatieven rond talen en taaldiversiteit.

Een infosessie bij Foyer: Voorlezen op school en thuis in verschillende talen

HaBilNet-partner Foyer engageert zich ten volle voor de Vlaamse voorleesweek 2024 (16 tot 24 november). Het thema dit jaar is 'Voorlezen verrijkt je wereld'. Voorgelezen worden in allerlei talen past volgens Foyer en HaBilNet perfect in dit plaatje! Je kan voorlezen in je thuistaal of zelfs in een taal die je nooit eerder hoorde…

Hoe kan je hiermee aan de slag in je klas? Hoe kan je ouders aanzetten om (meer) te gaan voorlezen? Ben je nog op zoek naar boeken, voorlezers en leuke voorleesactiviteiten?

Op vrijdag 18 oktober kan je aan een inspirerende sessie bij Foyer deelnemen. Lees er hier meer over.

An update on the project by Wei Mao

An update on the project by Wei Mao: Supporting Young Children's Bilingual or Multilingual Development Through Storybook Reading

The dissertation project by Wei Mao at Concordia University, Canada, and supported by HaBilNet is making good progress. The project comprises two studies which aim to empower parents in Chinese immigrant families to foster their children's bilingual or multilingual development in ways that are meaningful and enjoyable to them and their child, and that can be integrated into daily life. Read more about it here.

Grand Multi-literacy Event

Multilingual families and educators teaching multilingual students, you may want to participate in a unique online event focusing on supporting multilingual literacy. It will be taking place live on YouTube September 27-29 and is free. Find out more here.

HaBilNet3

In 2025 the Harmonious Bilingualism Network (HaBilNet) will be holding its third colloquium, HaBilNet3. Our previous two colloquia were by invitation only but for 2025 we decided to have a mix of invited participants and participants whose abstract was accepted.

The HaBilNet colloquia aim to give center stage to bilinguals' well-being as it relates to language. Their focus therefore is more socio-psychological rather than purely neurological or cognitive, although, of course, everything is connected. Specifically, the aim of HaBilNet3 is to focus on bilingual individuals of all ages as people living in and affected by social context.

Therefore next year's theme will be: Bilinguals in context.
(At HaBilNet, the term "bilingual" is inclusive, and covers the use of multiple language varieties.)

HaBilNet3 will take place in Donostia/San Sebastián, Spain, June 4-6, 2025.

Submission deadline for posters relating to Harmonious Bilingualism was November 15, 2024. A decision about acceptance will be sent out in the second half of January, 2025.

All accepted participants will be receiving a grant-in-kind, with HaBilNet funding all costs between arrival at the colloquium venue (a 4-star hotel) in the afternoon of June 4 and departure after 5:30 pm on June 6, 2025.

Best wishes,

Annick De Houwer & Lourdes Ortega, Colloquium Chairs

Annick directs HaBilNet; Lourdes is at Georgetown University and is a member of the HaBilNet Advisory Board. They co-chaired the first 2 HaBilNet colloquia.

Neuigkeiten vom Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit

Im 2. Jahresdrittel 2024 hat das Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit (gefördert von HaBilNet) seinen dynamischen Kurs fortgesetzt und sich auf das Schwerpunktthema „Jugendliche und ihre Mehrsprachigkeit" konzentriert. Lesen Sie hier den aktuellen Bericht!

Fachtagung am 22. Mai in Frankfurt

Das Team des Fachzentrums Mehrsprachigkeit vom Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften hat am 22. Mai 2024 in Frankfurt eine offene Konferenz zum Thema „Zwischen Mehrsprachigkeit, Jugendsprache und Kreativität – Jugendliche und ihre Sprachen" organisiert. Die Fachtagung passt zum diesjährigen Fokus auf Jugendliche. Hier finden Sie den Flyer zur Veranstaltung. Sie können die Fachtagung auf Youtube anschauen.

Taalanalyse en taaladvies bij meertalige kinderen in Brugge: van harte gefeliciteerd!

HaBilNet gaf steun aan de ViVes Hogeschool in Brugge, België, i.v.m. een project met tot doel het opleiden van taalanalisten voor de thuistaal zodat er nagegaan kan worden of meertalige kinderen eventueel een taalleerprobleem hebben. Alhoewel de financiering van HaBilNet is afgelopen, is het rapport over het project opgesteld in de tegenwoordige tijd – hopelijk kan het nog verder lopen, met bijkomende steun van elders! Alvast gefeliciteerd met het gedane werk!

Het VIVES-team met ondersteuning van Foyer v.z.w.

A symposium sponsored by HaBilNet

A symposium sponsored by HaBilNet at the XVIth Congress of the International Association for the Study of Child Language

The XVIth Congress of the International Association for the Study of Child Language will feature a symposium on "The intersection of socio-emotional well-being and bilingual development". While HaBilNet did not sponsor the research presented here (except for a contribution by Ekaterina Tiulkova), it is sponsoring the participants' registration fees. HaBilNet Supporting Member He Sun is chairing the symposium and giving a presentation, HaBilNet Board Member Adam Winsler is contributing a talk, and HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer is the Discussant. A further talk is presented by Andrea Schalley and Susana Eisenchlas.

The XVIth IASCL Congress

HaBilNet is sponsoring the XVIth Congress of the International Association for the Study of Child Language

From July 15-19, 2024, the International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL) will see its XVIth Congress taking place in the beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic. HaBilNet is a major sponsor of the Congress, with a large amount of money donated in 2023 to help cover organizational costs. In addition, HaBilNet is helping the IASCL by funding more than a quarter of the IASCL Travel Awards for child language scholars from across the globe.
Why did HaBilNet decide to give this much support to the IASCL? Basically, to promote HaBilNet and its goals within a community of scholars that has been working more and more on bilingual development, but not necessarily from a well-being perspective, which is central to HaBilNet. The hope is that more and more child language scholars will be looking at the sociolinguistic and psychological aspects of bilingual development, in addition to its psycholinguistic ones.

Connected through HaBilNet!

HaBilNet's network was quite visible at the March 2024 conference of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL). HaBilNet Advisory Board member Lourdes Ortega attended a presentation by two researchers (Jayoung Choi and Mihaela Gazioglu) who are working on a HaBilNet-funded project, and were joined by another researcher (Chan Lü) who leads yet another HaBilNet-funded project.

Multilingual Question Time

A very special school in London that uses a language considerate approach in education is hosting an event at which three researchers will briefly discuss issues pertaining to multilingualism for families and in education. The speakers are Bonnie Wing-Yin Chow, HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer, and Roberto Fillipi. There is plenty of time for audience questions. Come and join us at Kensington Primary School in Manor Park, E12 6NN, on May 22, 2024, at 4 pm.
Everybody welcome!

Une association importante en France

L'association DuLaLa en France a comme vision « Faire du multilinguisme de notre société un levier pour favoriser l'égalité des chances et lutter contre les discriminations », et « L'association s'attache à créer les conditions permettant la construction d'un plurilinguisme harmonieux ». Certainement, ici chez HaBilNet, on partage cette vision. DuLaLa est une association qui est surtout active sur le plan de l'enseignement, et qui offre de nombreux outils de gestion du multilinguisme. Découvrez ici son site web très riche.

Ein neuer Fokus auf Jugendliche und vieles mehr

Im Jahr 2024 geht das Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit des Verbands binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften, finanziert von HaBilNet, mit innovativen Schritten voran. Seine Mission bleibt, mehrsprachige Familien zu unterstützen, Bildungsfachkräfte zu qualifizieren und die Vielfalt der Mehrsprachigkeit öffentlich zu würdigen. Es wird neue Beratungsformate geben, die mehrsprachige Bibliothek wird größer, digitaler und mobiler, und Dokumentationsressourcen und Informationen werden jetzt in vier Sprachen verfügbar sein (auf Deutsch, Englisch, Türkisch und Französisch). Vor Allem werden Jugendliche im Fokus stehen mit u.a. Kreativ-Workshops und Mehrsprachigen Poetry Slam-Abenden. Laden Sie hier den Flyer mit allen Neuigkeiten runter!

Beaucoup de choses à apprécier dans ce podcast…

…mais il n'est pas vrai que les jeunes enfants sont comme des "éponges". Quoi qu'il en soit, un podcast amusant avec des idées importantes pour la France ! Écoutez le podcast ici.

A great new video channel with resources for bilingual families

HaBilNet active member Adam Beck has launched a new YouTube channel! The videos here are invaluable to bilingual families. Dive in by checking out Adam's video explaining how he successfully managed to teach his two children, now young adults, a minority language (English) in Japan.

Raising Bilingual Babies in Talk (RaBBiT)

A new initiative for bilingual families out of Singapore has just launched this video. Congratulations to Yvonne Tse Crepaldi for this initiative!

Liba Lingua: een leuk bordspel dat meertaligheid ondersteunt

Liba Lingua: een leuk bordspel dat meertaligheid ondersteunt en ouders inschakelt bij het leren van het Nederlands

HaBilNet partner Foyer v.z.w. lanceerde in december 2023 Liba Lingua, een interactief spel dat ouders bewuster wil maken van het belang van het Nederlands, zonder daarbij de thuistaal te vergeten. De balans tussen thuistaal en schooltaal is namelijk van groot belang. Dit leuke, niet kinderachtige spel voor groepjes ouders o.l.v. een leerkracht of andere professional wordt gespeeld op een klassiek ganzenbord. Er zijn 28 kaarten met opdrachten die de deelnemers samen kunnen uitvoeren. Het kan gaan om actieve opdrachten, maar er zitten ook open vragen en stellingen tussen die in groep worden besproken. Hier kan u er meer over te weten komen.
Deze video met de motor achter het spel, Hilde De Smedt, legt de motivatie voor Liba Lingua uit, en in deze video verklaart HaBilNet directrice Annick De Houwer waarom HaBilNet er als de kippen bij was om dit fantastische spel te ondersteunen. Geen wonder dat het spel nu al, zo kort na de lancering, zoveel succes heeft!

De cursus Taalanalist in een nieuw jasje

Thomas More ontwikkelde een cursus voor tolken om taalanalist te worden. Taalanalisten ondersteunen logopedisten bij het beoordelen van de taalvaardigheid van meertalige kinderen in hun moedertaal. Met de steun van HaBilNet, en in samenwerking met HaBilNet-partner Foyer v.z.w., voerde Thomas More een grondig update uit van de huidige cursus. Inhoudelijk werden recente wetenschappelijke inzichten over taalontwikkeling en taalanalyse toegevoegd. Vormelijk voldoet de nieuwe cursus aan de hedendaagse visie op blended leren. Lees hier meer over de cursus.

Le Centre d'expertise sur le plurilinguisme au sein de l'Association des familles et partenariats binationaux en Allemagne

Depuis janvier 2022, le Centre d'expertise sur le plurilinguisme au sein de l'Association des familles et partenariats binationaux en Allemagne propose des informations, des conseils et des ateliers d'autonomisation aux parents qui élèvent leurs enfants dans plusieurs langues. En outre, le Centre spécialisé informe et qualifie les professionnels sur les aspects de l'éducation linguistique dans le contexte de la migration et du plurilinguisme. Vous pouvez lire ici un bref rapport sur les activités du centre spécialisé en 2023.

Das Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit im Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften

Seit Januar 2022 bietet das Fachzentrum Mehrsprachigkeit im Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften Information, Beratung und Empowerment-Workshops für Eltern, die ihre Kinder mehrsprachig erziehen. Darüber hinaus informiert und qualifiziert das Fachzentrum Fachkräfte zu Aspekten der sprachlichen Bildung im Kontext Migration und Mehrsprachigkeit. Lesen Sie hier einen kurzen Bericht zu den Aktivitäten aus der Arbeit des Fachzentrums im Jahr 2023.

Talk in Japan

HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer will be giving several talks in Japan sponsored by HaBilNet. You may be interested in the hybrid event on Nov. 7 at Rikkyo University, at which Dr. De Houwer will be talking about: "Well-Being for Bilinguals: A Focus on Bilingual Language Development". Check out the details and how you can participate online (and in person) through this poster.

Familiensprachenstark!

Zum Europäischen Tag der Sprachen am 26.09.2023 fand in Berlin eine Transferveranstaltung mit dem Titel „Familiensprachenstark — Fragen & Antworten zu einer mehrsprachigen Gesellschaft" statt. HaBilNet und ein HaBilNet-Partner (der Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften e.V.) waren auch dabei – vertreten von HaBilNet-Direktorin Annick De Houwer, HaBilNet-Mitarbeiterin Nina Schwöbel, und Marie Leroy und Maria Ringler vom Verband.
Im Rahmen der Transferveranstaltung gab es spannende Interviews und Diskussionsrunden mit Expert:innen aus der Politik, aus der pädagogischen und schulischen Praxis und Weiterbildung, aus Elternverbänden und der Mehrsprachigkeitsforschung. Unter anderem ging es darum, typische Missverständnisse auszuräumen, die sich immer noch um das Thema Mehrsprachigkeit ranken, und zu erörtern, wie wir das Potential von Herkunftssprachen in unseren Bildungsinstitutionen nutzen können.

Polish in the UK and Germany

In recent times, people of Polish descent have fanned out all over Europe and have settled in countries that use another language. What does this mean for Polish as a family language? In pre-Brexit UK, a survey found quite positive attitudes towards Polish as a family language amongst Polish immigrants. A majority of respondents with children reported that they spoke mainly Polish with their offspring. 2020 Census data in Germany show that people of Polish descent represent the second largest group of people with a migration background and Polish is widely spoken in Germany. Annick De Houwer had no problems finding Polish-speaking families for her study of early Polish-German bilingualism. And perhaps you'd be interested in viewing these videos (one in Polish, one in German) of parents in a Polish-German family in Germany reflecting on their family's bilingualism.

Family language loss

What happens when your parents did not speak their language to you? And how does it make you feel if you cannot speak your parents' language? Find out in this BBC article by Mithu Sanyal, who did not learn either her father's or her mother's language. Ms. Sanyal interviewed two scholars for this fascinating article, including HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer. Read it here.

Migration and what it can mean for language use

In other posts on our website we refer a lot to intergenerational language loss, that is, to children not speaking their parents' language(s). Such loss can happen in all bilingual settings, but it is particularly challenging when parents who have moved to another country, often as a result of war, find that their children do not want to speak their language. Read about it in this moving blog article by Dr. Mehmedbegovic-Smith.

Study of Polish-German preschoolers in Germany and Austria

This study by HabilNet Director Annick De Houwer is the first to report on monolingual Polish-speaking and bilingual Polish-German-speaking families with preschoolers in Germany and Austria. It shows how already at age 3.5 children's development of a non-societal language (Polish) is influenced by whether they hear the societal language (German) at home or not. Children do relatively better in the non-societal language if that is the only language parents usually speak to them. Read about it in this open access research article. You can also take a look at the questionnaires used for data collection on our science page.

Project PIM_Brugge: taalanalyse/taaladvies bij meertalige kinderen

HaBilNet is blij zijn steun te kunnen verlenen aan dit project van de ViVes Hogeschool in Brugge, België. Het project heeft tot doel om taalanalisten op te leiden zodat er nagegaan kan worden of meertalige kinderen eventueel een taalleerprobleem hebben. Hier vindt u meer informatie over het project.

Songs To Promote Home Languages

This website focuses on action songs that parents can use with their babies to promote their home languages. The website is run out of Japan by the Bilingual/Multilingual Child Network and its goals align very well with those of HaBilNet. The Bilingual/Multilingual Child Network wants to encourage non-Japanese parents in Japan to use their own languages with their children. Action songs can be a great help.
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。

HaBilNet ondersteunt de advieswerking van Partners In Meertaligheid bij Foyer

Partners In Meertaligheid (PIM) is een werking van het integratiecentrum Foyer v.z.w. te Brussel, dat een partner is van HaBilNet. Als team willen PIM echt partners zijn in het samen nadenken met gezinnen en professionelen over de manier waarop kinderen optimaal meertalig opgroeien. Door de financiële steun van HaBilNet kan PIM meertalige gezinnen verder ondersteunen. De nieuwe projectsteun biedt meer ruimte voor het zo broodnodige taaladvies. Lees er hier meer over.

Ik breng mijn taal mee naar school

Het team PIM (Partners In Meertaligheid) van HaBilNet-partner Foyer v.z.w. biedt een ondersteunende werking voor meertalige ouders in het Brusselse. Met een nieuw project in samenwerking met Brusselse kleuterscholen wil het PIM-team ouders en kleuters ondersteunen in de thuistaal zodat ze een betere basis hebben om te beginnen met de schooltaal en hun thuistaal kunnen blijven ontwikkelen. HaBilNet is blij dit project financieel te kunnen ondersteunen.
Lees hier de projectbeschrijving.

Deutsch-Ukrainischer Sprachschatz für die Kita-Praxis

Aufgrund der ansteigenden Zahlen ukrainisch-sprachigen Kinder in deutschen Kitas hat die Landesstelle Nachbarsprachen den Deutsch-Ukrainischen Sprachschatz für die Kita-Praxis veröffentlicht. Der Sprachschatz enthält für die Alltagskommunikation in Kitas relevante Wörter und Redewendungen auf Deutsch und Ukrainisch (inklusive Aussprachehilfen), sowie Signalkarten, die die Kommunikation visuell unterstützen können. Die Print- und Audioinhalten stehen online kostenlos zum Download zur Verfügung.

Why Study Harmonious Bilingualism?

HaBilNet Director Annick De Houwer gave a talk at the May 2022 Second HaBilNet colloquium in which she traced her academic trajectory that led to the establishment of the Harmonious Bilingualism Network. The talk is entitled Why Study Harmonious Bilingualism? A Personal Account. The recording is now available on our VIMEO-channel!
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

The role of language and multilingualism in custody cases: An interview with Bente Ailin Svendsen

Multilingualism scholars are sometimes asked to testify as expert witnesses in court. Dr. Bente Ailin Svendsen, Professor of Multilingualism and Second Language Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway, talks about her experiences in that role. Her testimonies have been crucial in getting social services to review their child custody decisions. Only with relentless outreach efforts can we as researchers help support families everywhere so they are not victimized because of issues relating to multilingualism. View a video interview that Dr. Annick De Houwer did with Dr. Svendsen here.

Onze partner Foyer vzw onthaalde Oekraïense gezinnen in Brussel

Tijdens de paasvakantie 2022 heeft Foyer met de steun van HaBilNet een 25-tal kinderen en ouders die kort voordien gevlucht waren voor de vreselijke oorlog in Oekraïne een week lang warm onthaald. U vindt hier een dagboek met impressies. Ook in de zomer van 2022 heeft Foyer een soortgelijk initiatief gelanceerd, weer met financiële steun van HaBilNet. Van de zomeractiviteiten vindt u
hier een leuk verslag. HaBilNet is heel dankbaar voor het initiatief van Foyer en blij dat het dit mee kon ondersteunen.

Ouders met een recente migratie-achtergrond: wat is er nodig om een kind tweetalig op te laten opgroeien?

HaBilNet directrice Annick De Houwer gaf deze lezing in januari 2022 voor het Online mini-symposium over "Meertaligheid in het gezin: wetenschap en praktijk", ter afsluiting van het project Erasmus+ project Planting Languages – Seeds of Success. Ze werd ingeleid door Carien Deutman van Onderwijsadvies, die samen met Marga van Mil het symposium organiseerde. Planting Languages wil o.a. professionals informatie en tools aanbieden om meertalige gezinnen te helpen. De lezing hoopt hiertoe bij te dragen, door te focusen op een specifieke groep van ouders die wellicht nog meer dan andere nood hebben aan wetenschappelijk onderbouwde ondersteuning die kan bijdragen tot Harmonische Tweetaligheid. Eerst belicht de lezing de grote variatie binnen gezinnen waarvan tenminste één ouder een migratie-achtergrond heeft, om daarna stil te staan bij belangrijke elementen van taalkeuze en taalwisseling in de dagelijkse omgang met kinderen.

Hoe kunnen leerkrachten bijdragen tot een succesvolle meertalige opvoeding?

Hoe kunnen leerkrachten bijdragen tot een succesvolle meertalige opvoeding – en dus Harmonische Tweetaligheid?

Sharon Unsworth publiceerde een erg belangwekkend artikel waarin ze leerkrachten vertelt hoe ze ouders die thuis (ook) een andere taal dan het Nederlands praten kunnen adviseren. Het artikel bevat ook links naar enkele filmpjes in 4 talen waarin meertaligheid kort en krachtig wordt voorgesteld (Unsworth, S. & Kootstra, G.J. 2018. Meertaligheid in beeld. Drie informatieve animatieclips over meertaligheid voor basisschoolleerlingen). Lees het artikel via deze link.

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.

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!

HaBilNet freut sich einen Kooperationsvertrag mit dem Verband Binationaler Familien und Patnerschaften unterzeichnet zu haben.
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.

Why Speaking a Foreign Language to Your Child May Not Be a Good Idea

Many parents want their children to know English and start exposing them to English at home from a young age. Many even start speaking English to their children, even if English is a foreign language for the family. HaBilNet member Janice Nakamura has written about this issue, with special reference to parents in Japan. Read her article here.

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"!

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.

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.

If you have any questions or contributions, please use the contact form.

In this section you find a selection of archived news items.

Dr. Meagan Driver's new Multilingual Lab

HaBilNet Follower Dr. Meagan Driver is Assistant Professor at Michigan State University and recently opened a new Multilingual Lab. The aim of the Lab is to study multilingualism from interdisciplinary perspectives on the one hand and to make the findings accessible to a wider audience by various forms of dissemination on the other. Amongst the topics are benefits of multilingualism, the challenges many multilingual and marginalized communities face, but also the support for multilingual initiatives across all fields of research. Read the full article here.

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!

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.

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.

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!

The Journal of Home Language Research is an open access international journal that focuses on home languages. These are languages that are not used in local public life.

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 Advisory Board Member Lourdes Ortega was awarded the 2019-2020 Gerald M. Mara Faculty Mentoring Award by Georgetown University Graduate students. HaBilNet congratulates Dr. Ortega with this well deserved recognition!

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.

Unfortunately we heard on March 6 2020 that due to the international crisis in response to the new coronavirus this year's GURT had to be cancelled.
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

en,https://www.habilnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Habilnet-Podcast-Virtual-Gurt-01.mp3

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.

March 13, 2020

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.

Multilingualism fact check

by Till Woerfel | 07/03/2023 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

In education, language competencies are undoubtedly key. However, multilingualism is repeatedly and erroneously cited as a risk factor for educational achievement.
In a "Fact check", Dr. Till Woerfel therefore attempted to compare established international research with current scientific findings from German-speaking countries in order to answer the most frequently and controversially discussed questions on this topic.

Learning how to Read and Write in Two Languages

by Janice Nakamura | 27/08/2020 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

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.

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.

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

by Nina Schwöbel, Annick De Houwer & Janice Nakamura | 14/03/2024 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

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.

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.

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.

Raising Trilingual Children in a Monolingual Society

by Mihaela Gazioglu & Jayoung Choi | 15/02/2023 | Uncategorized | 0 Comments

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.

Bilingual children do not start speaking later than monolingual ones

by Annick De Houwer & Mareen Pascall | 28/06/2023 | 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.

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.