Annick De Houwer (University of Erfurt, Germany, and HaBilNet Director) and Simona Montanari (California State University, USA) were invited to organize a colloquium at GURT 2020, the 2020 Georgetown University Round Table. GURT's theme for 2020 was "Multilingualism: Global South and Global North Perspectives". It was organized by Lourdes Ortega and Anna De Fina, both at Georgetown University, USA. Dr. Ortega is on the HaBilNet Advisory Board.

Drs. De Houwer and Montanari wanted to break new ground with their GURT 2020 Colloquium in bringing together perspectives on family language policies from different parts of the world and from different disciplines. Their colloquium on Finding Universal Patterns in Family Language Policies and Their Effects on Children: Evidence from Different World Regions and Different Disciplines (for short: FLP colloquium) was originally based on the discussion of several questions for a panel consisting of:

• Dr. Michelle Mingyue Gu, 香港教育大學 | Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• Dr. Simona Montanari, California State University, United States of America
• Dr. Janice Nakamura, formerly at 相模女子大学 | Sagami Women's University, Japan (as of April 1, 2020: Kanagawa University, Japan)
• Dr. Nikolay Slavkov, Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, Canada

After a discussion with the audience, Dr. Maria Obojska, Université de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, was slated to provide a summarizing statement.

Unfortunately, the global COVID-19 crisis led to the "live" GURT 2020, scheduled for March 13-15, to be cancelled (listen to Dr De Houwer's response to this cancellation here). 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 FLP colloquium invited speakers are grateful to the organizers for this enormous effort.

The FLP colloquium took place virtually, in a reduced form. We posted short videos and speaker information online around the time the colloquium had originally been scheduled for (Saturday March 14, between 10:15 and 12:15 EST). Thanks to all speakers for making this possible!

Rather than the 7 questions which had been prepared, the panelists now addressed just the following two:

• What sociopolitical and sociocultural factors promote or hinder child bilingualism and/or multilingualism through Family Language Policies in the region(s) you have studied?
• Do language policies in education in your region hinder or support Family Language Policies for bi/multilingual families?

We have put this virtual Family Language Policies (FLP) colloquium online for you.

1Introduction by Annick De Houwer to the GURT Family Language Policies colloquium organized by herself and Simona Montanari

Introduction to the invited GURT colloquium on Finding Universal Patterns in Family Language Policies and Their Effects on Children: Evidence from Different World Regions and Different Disciplines, by Annick De Houwer (co-organizer: Simona Montanari).

To find out more about work Annick De Houwer did that relates to FLP, check out her new chapter on Harmonious Bilingualism: Well-being for families in bilingual settings. This earlier chapter by Annick De Houwer entitled Minority Language Parenting in Europe and Children's Well-Being also relates to FLP.

2Michelle Gu Mingyue talks about generations of multilingual families in Hong Kong

This video by Michelle Gu Mingyue from Hong Kong documents the across-generation development of family language policy in immigrant families with South Asian backgrounds and presents a picture of how individuals from different generations have responded to marginalization, accumulated linguistic and cultural resources, developed different acculturation strategies and FLP.

3Simona Montanari highlights positive attitudes towards bilingualism in California

This video by Simona Montanari from California highlights how the traditional monoglossic ideology of the Unites States is being changed in California by increasing positive attitudes towards bilingualism. These attitudes have resulted in legislative changes in educational language policies, promoting bilingualism and biliteracy in the classroom through dual language immersion programs.

4Janice Nakamura explains how it is difficult to raise bilingual families in Japan

This video by Janice Nakamura from Japan highlights how the dominance of the Japanese language, the negative evaluation of minority languages and the geographic dispersion of minority language speakers hinder family language practices that support child bilingualism in Japan.

5Nikolay Slavkov talks about harmonious relationships between family language policies and the language(s) of schooling in Canada

Set in a Canadian context, this video by Nikolay Slavkov discusses the importance of establishing positive and harmonious relationships between family language policies and the language(s) of schooling.