Raising Multilinguals LIVE! - Ute's International Lounge & Academy

Since 2020 we interview experts in the field of raising children with multiple languages and maintaining languages across the lifespan at the live broadcast Raising Multilinguals LIVE.
Through our interviews with experts in the field our aim is to spread information on raising multilingual children and bridge between research and practice.

Our VISION is to give everyone access to fact-based, practical informaiton on raising bilingual and multilingual children.

Our MISSION is that children across the world thrive through languages. By interviewing experts and experienced people in the field of bilingualism and multilingualism, our LIVE platform provides parents, educators, other professionals and anyone interested in the topic with relevant advice and hands-on tips on how to raise children in more than one language.

By covering topics ranging from common family language strategies, through insights on the neuroscience of languages and all the way to multilingualism in formal education, Raising Multilinguals LIVE strives to bring you to the cutting edge on this subject, so that you can find the best language strategies for your family.

Join our free Raising Multilinguals LIVE events and ask your questions to the experts during the live sessions that are streamed on our facebook page , LinkedIn page and our Youtube Channel!

The sessions are aired on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 1 pm New York / 6 pm London / 7 pm Amsterdam time – exceptions can be made to accommodate guests from other time zones, and considering daylight saving time.

Starting from July 2024 we are on a sabbatical until 2025

Click on the images here below to access the recordings on Youtube.

In this session our guest is Stuart Jay Raj, a multilingual facilitator and cross cultural communication expert, specialising in internal and external business negotiations across several industries including Aerospace, Oil and Gas, Modern Trade / FMCG, Hospitality and Cyber Security in Asia.

Many parents are not aware of the many advantages of raising mulitlingual children. Stuard Jay Raj is actively using his languages in his profession, which, incidentally, is not at all related to languages, such as interpreters, translators, teachers, etc.

0:00 Introduction
3:10 What made you realize that your cultural and linguistic skills were your superpower?
20:05 How do you use languages in your profession(s), and how has it evolved over time?
35:31 What do you enjoy the most about being a polyglot in your line of work (and what is a polyglot, vs multilingual)
45:37 How to do you see your work evolving into the future? AI translators have come a long way: is this a threat to your work?
49:59 How do you use languages in your private life?
51:00 Did you or do you plan on raising your kids into multilingua, and if so, how?
56:00 What does the future hold for Raj family?

Ute (@Ute's International Lounge)
Tetsu (@AskTetsu)
Feedback: https://bit.ly/RML-Feedback

*****
As the Managing Director of a Tech company in Thailand, Stuart Jay Raj leads the company's operations in Thailand and Indonesia, focusing on strategic business development and entrepreneurship. With over 25 years of experience managing global teams in diverse sectors such as Aerospace, Oil & Gas, FMCG, Automotive, and Cyber Security, Stuart combines his deep understanding of language, linguistics, and technology with a keen insight into the cultural and political landscapes of Asia. His expertise lies in facilitating effective cross-cultural communication, building robust networks, and executing strategic plans with a nuanced local approach.

In his role, Stuart is instrumental in integrating multilingual and cross-cultural human elements with technological advancements, particularly in Supply Chain Management and ERP solution implementations. His approach to leadership and business strategy is grounded in leveraging linguistic skills and cultural insights to enhance operational efficiency and foster meaningful collaborations across borders.

Stuart holds a degree in Cognitive and Applied Linguistics from Griffith University, Australia. He is also a prolific author, with "Cracking Thai Fundamentals - A Thai Operating System for the Mind" among his notable publications. As a regular keynote speaker, he shares his insights on the intersection of technology, language, and business in Asia, contributing significantly to the discourse on international business strategy and cross-cultural management.

Find Stuart's work here:
https://www.youtube.com/@StuartJayRaj
https://mindkraft.me/
https://Jcademy.com
https://Kognisens.org

Setting up a quality bilingual education program is not as easy as it seems, and requires a level of dedication that only comes with total conviction. One pro who has been involved in the creation of multiple bilingual/multilingual programs for many decades is Dr. Fabrice Jaumont.

In this interview, Dr. Jaumont walks us through why's, what's, and the how's of integrating bilingualism/multilingualism into the education system in order for our next generation of global citizens to thrive in the ever-connected world of tomorrow.

0:00 Introduction
2:11 About Fabrice Jaumont's background and how he got involved in the world of languages and bilingual education
7:17 Advantages of bilingualism and bilingual education
10:27 About immersion schools and bilingual schools – and their advantages
11:25 Public full immersion schools
11:27 Fabrice Jaumont's work to open bilingual schools that focus on a variety of languages
18:00 What "Bilingual Revolution" means and symbolizes for Fabrice Jaumont
19:44 Focusing on the development of the heritage language
20:00 The importance to make public education bilingual
23:03 The advantages of bilingual schools for local children
26:00 How to start a bilingual or heritage language school
33:40 The Dual Language Movement beneficial solution for newcomers
38:19 How immersion schools build bridges and foster mutual understanding
39:16 The relevance of multilinguailsm for the education systems and resources
42:05 About "The Bilingual Revolution" (the title) and Ofelia Garcia's words from the preface of the book
44:10 The importance of intergenerational bonds
44:33 Some of Fabrice Jaumont's activities for the French communities
49:50 How to contribute to the efforts of the "Bilingual Revolution" and the power of community
54:30 Closing message from Fabrice Jaumont

Ute (@Ute's International Lounge)
Tetsu (@AskTetsu)
Feedback: https://bit.ly/RML-Feedback

*****
Fabrice Jaumont is a scholar-practitioner, award-winning author, non-profit leader, and education advisor based in New York. He currently serves as Education Attaché for the Embassy of France to the United States, a Research Fellow at Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris, and an adjunct professor both at New York University and Baruch College. He is President of the Center for the Advancement of Languages, Education, and Communities, a nonprofit publishing organization based in New York and Paris. He has published nine books on education, language, and development. Jaumont holds a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education from New York University.

Please find out more about Dr. Fabrice Jaumont's "Bilingual Revolution" and other books and initiatives: https://fabricejaumont.net/

Raising children with multiple languages and making sure they understand and speak them is already a great challenge for many. When the home languages are not the school languages, many parents wonder what to do when they want their children to also learn how to read and write in their languages.

How we parents teach our children to read and /or write in our home languages when they have different scripts of what our children learn at school?
How proficient should we be in the target language, if we want to teach our children how to read and write?
What are alternative solutions?

Please join our conversation on
Tuesday 16 April 2024 at 10:30am New York / 3:30pm London / 4:30pm Amsterdam / 10:30pm Singapore,
on Facebook, YouTube and/or LinkedIn!

You are very welcome to share your questions, experience, doubts and suggestions in the comment sections and we'll share them right on screen with our guest!

Ute (@Ute's International Lounge)
Tetsu (@AskTetsu) Feedback: https://bit.ly/RML-Feedback

Claudia Kimura is an experienced educator with a profound love for language teaching and learning. Holding an M.Ed in English Language Teaching, she has dedicated 19 impactful years to nurturing students' language skills. She currently lives in Singapore with her family and teachers at an American International School. Over the past decade, her professional journey has been centered around homeroom teaching in English, collaborating closely with Chinese educators within bilingual programs situated in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Additionally, she has had experience as a technology coordinator, specialising in training staff and guiding students in leveraging technology to enhance their language learning experiences.

Claudia is proficient in four languages- Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, and English and her journey spans diverse teaching environments, from English/Chinese dual-language schools to immersive programs in Hong Kong and Singapore. As a passionate advocate for the Science of Reading, she is committed to fostering evidence-based literacy instruction. Her blog claude.wordpress.com is a testimony of dedication and hard work, where each crafted post reflects her commitment to sharing valuable insights and information with teachers and parents.

Beyond the classroom, she is a homeschooling mom to two wonderful children. This role adds a personal dimension to her teaching philosophy, allowing her to connect with students and parents on a deeper level.

We know that when we raise our children with multiple languages, it is important to find effective strategies to manage those languages. It is not only about determining "who speaks what language with whom and when". Parents' language beliefs, their experiences and expectations play a crucial role too. Mila Schwartz defined home language strategies as "deliberate strategies aimed to manage "language input, and to control its quality and quantity in each family context and practice" (Schwartz 2020, 196).

How does proactive home language maintenance look like?
How can we efficiently use multiple languages at home and all keep motivated to use them? What is the parent's agency when it comes to our children's early language learning?
What should parents be aware of when supporting the children's home language skills?

*****
Mila Schwartz is a Professor in Language and Education and a Vice-Rector for Research at Oranim College of Education (Israel). Her research interests include studying language education policy and models of early language education, family language policy, language teachers' language-conducive strategies and pedagogical development, and linguistic, cognitive, and socio-cultural development of early sequential bilinguals/multilingualism.
Her academic distinction at the international level is based on 22 years of extensive research and exemplary achievements in academia and at top-tier research organizations such as the International Symposium of Bilingualism, where she held the position of Secretary of the Steering Committee from 2015 to 2019, the European Early Childhood Education Research Association network and Multilingual Childhoods, where she acted as Convenor from 2019 to 2022. She is now a Convenor of a new international network called ELLMEnet ("Future Challenges in Early Language Learning and Multilingual Education").
She edited seven books and has recently completed an editing of the First Handbook of Early Language Education. Her publications have appeared in leading academic journals, such as Modern Language Journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, Applied Linguistic Review; International Journal of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education; Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development; Linguistics and Education; and Language, Culture and Curriculum, etc.
Recently, she has proposed and elaborated on the following theoretical concepts: language-conducive context, language-conducive strategies, and child language-based agency in the book “Ecological perspectives in early language education: Parent, teacher, peer, and child agency in interaction" (https://www.routledge.com/Ecological-Perspectives-in-Early-Language-Education-Parent-Teacher-Peer-and-Child-Agency-in-Interaction/Schwartz/p/book/9781032193083)

Ute (@Ute's International Lounge)
Tetsu (@AskTetsu)
Feedback: https://bit.ly/RML-Feedback

#parenting #learning #language

When we raise our children abroad and want to transmit our languages to them, we sometimes become aware of our own limits. If we have already lived abroad for a while, i.e. outside of the country where our language is spoken, we can feel "not fluent enough" to transmit our language to our children.
–How fluent should we be in the main language we transmit to our children?
–How can we maintain our heritage languages whilst living abroad?
–What impact does it have on our own language proficiency when we use our language only with our children?
–Is there a correlation between SES and children's language skills?
Dr. He Sun shares insights into this topic based on her research and experience.

0:15 Introduction
2:17 What made Dr. He Sun focus on research about parental proficiency in the heritage language (HL)?
4:44 What is the link between parent's HL proficiency and children's HL learning?
16:37 Some more insights into what aspects of parent's proficiency are important – quantity and quality of language input (with the latter having many different aspects!) [she mentions M. Rowe's study, see the link here below]
20:15 He Sun's project on multilingual children in Singapore with English as the most dominant language, and how to strengthen the mother tongue language (Mandarin Chinese)
(26:40 The importance for parents to have a high level of proficiency in the primary, the first language they transmit to their children)
30:32 What are the most important aspects to consider when fostering children's language skills in the HL?
(33.52 Correlation between parent's proficiency and children's outputs)
40:05 How does ideal exposure to adult speech look like?
44:00 What can parents expect if they use an additional language as the primary/main language with their children?
52:16 Talking about accents...

You can find Dr. He Sun's article mentioned in the interview here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364190322_Maternal_heritage_language_proficiency_and_child_bilingual_heritage_language_learning

She also mentioned this study:
Rowe, M. L. 2012. “A Longitudinal Investigation of the Role of Quantity and Quality of Child-Directed Speech inVocabulary Development.” Child Development 83: 1762–1774. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01805.x.

(17) (PDF) Maternal heritage language proficiency and child bilingual heritage language learning. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364190322_Maternal_heritage_language_proficiency_and_child_bilingual_heritage_language_learning?fbclid=IwAR3cFaqQo-7iMYyHRoe1agEo-pdWnhsGfjzVujLH4ZDtwaEy1HEclgWucCQ [accessed Feb 21 2024].
***************
Dr. He Sun
SUN He is a senior education research scientist at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her major interests are 1) child bilingualism and eBook reading, 2) individual differences in early bilingualism/second/foreign language acquisition, and 3) harmonious bilingual experience. Her work has appeared in journals such as Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Child Development, and International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and has been featured by media, such as Straits Times and CNA. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Child Language.

#parenting #languageproficiency #learning

When our children attend school in an additional language, we want them to have the best support to quickly attain the required proficiency in the school language. Often times, the home languages shift into the background. Research shows that welcoming home languages at school, has a positive effect on the children's academic performance.

What can teachers do to support children learn the school language as additional language and foster also the home language at school?
What are practices that allow teachers to efficiently teach the subjects whilst also allowing children to use their other languages?
What can parents expect from EAL teachers* and how long should children get their support?

In this interview, Kuldeep Matharu and Deborah Perrin share insights into the work of EAL teachers and teacher trainers, and the ways multilingualism can be embraced at school.

**********

Deborah Perrin has worked with multilingual learners for over three decades. She is experienced in introducing and developing provision for Emergent Multilinguals in new schools. Deborah believes in partnership and collaboration as essential in developing inclusive school communities. Her teaching is across the age range of 3 - 16 years old. She advocates for multilingualism in schools and the inclusion of translanguaging as a learning tool.
You can connect with Deborah Perrin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-perrin/

Kuldeep Matharu is a skilled EAL teacher for primary school age range at an International School in the Netherlands. As an internationally-minded, multilingual, she values fostering positive relationships with the parent community. As an educator she puts students in the limelight, nurturing a love for learning in every unique child. Translanguaging is at the forefront of her practice, She loves to learn from her students about their linguistic backgrounds, cultures and life experiences around the globe. Student wellbeing is also at the core of her classroom ethos. Happy, well rounded individuals generally means her students are motivated to learn.
You can connect with Kuldeep Matharu here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuldeep-matharu-9893571a/

Deborah and Kuldeep both work for the British School in the Netherlands.

* When the school language is English (EAL=English as Additional Language), but this applies to all school languages children receive support in.

Ute (@Ute's International Lounge)
Tetsu (@AskTetsu)

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S2: Prof. Antonella Sorace – Common methods to raise multilingual children

S3: Dr. Dina Mehmedbegovic-Smith – How is a Healthy Linguistic Diet beneficial for our children?

S4: Dr. Thomas H Bak – Bilingualism and the brain

S5: Prof. Ellen Bialystok – Why is speaking more than one language good for your child?

S6: Jonty Yamisha – Raising multilingual children in endangered and less accessible languages

S7: Prof. Mila Schwartz – Importance of the role of children when choosing a right language strategy

S8: Dr. Mary Pat O'Malley – When Your Bilingual Child Seems Late To Talk

S9: Prof. Arturo Hernandez – How do children and adults learn languages differently

S10: Ellen Rose Kambel – The Language Friendly School: Creating a Global Community

S11: Parents Session – Passing on an additional language in a different script

S12: Round up session of 2020

S13: Dr. Shereen Sharaan – Impact of bilingualism on autistic children

S14: Prof. Elizabeth Lanza – Family language policies and practices

S15: Prof. Annick De Houwer – How to speak effectively with a bilingual child

S16: Prof. Janice Nakamura – Bilingual children who understand but only speak one language?

S17: Parent's Session

S18: Dr. Francesca La Morgia & Dr. Sharon Unsworth – Podcasts about raising multilinguals

S19: Prof. Dean D'Souza – The cognitive development of bilingual babies

S20: Prof. Ludovica Serratrice – Home languages during lockdown

S21: Prof. Fred Genesee – Code-Mixing: What does it tell us about bilingual acquisition?

S22: Dr. Yesim Sevinç – Let's talk about Heritage Language Anxiety

S23: Dr. Karin Martin – Multilingualism and Dyslexia

S24: Dr. Sabine Little – Children and parents collaborating in home language maintenance

S25: Prof. Li Wei – Multi-Competence in multilinguals

S26: Young adults who were raised multilingual

S27: Grandparenting multilinguals

S28: Dr. Nayr Ibrahim – Negotiating identity in multilingual contexts: person, place and experience

S29: Dr. Larissa Aronin – How to see, feel and connect our languages

S30: Prof. Dr. Piet Van Avermaet – The role of teachers in supporting multilingual children

S31: Maximizing the Value of Weekend Language Schools

S32: Dr. Liquan Liu – Effect of Bilingualism in Infancy and Early Childhood

S33: Dr. Erika Hoff – What to expect when your child is a developing bilingual

S35: Prof. Stephen Krashen – Comprehensible Input and Multilingual Children

S36: Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein – Bilingualism and Babies

S37: Prof. Jean-Marc Dewaele –The emotional resonance of multilingual's languages

S38: Dr. Beniko Mason - Storytelling and language acquisition in young children

S39: Dr. Sun He – Language Experience and Early Heritage Language Learning

S40: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Jessner - Multilingual awareness as a cognitive benefit

S41: Dr. Raees Calafato - Multilingual identity & language policy in transnational multilingual families

S42: Dr. Alice Fiorentino – Learning related languages: And if we understood more than we thought?

S43: Richard Simcott – Raising Multilingual Kids. Perspectives of a Hyperpolyglot

S44: Adam Beck - Maximize Your Success and Joy at Raising Bilingual Kids

S45: Prof. Shiro Ojima - Critical Period Hypothesis: It's deeper than you think!

S46: Dr. Carlos Yebra López - Multilingual learning: empowering children without stigmatizing adults

S47: Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori - How useful are comic books to develop our children's multi-literacy?

S48: Steve Kaufmann – Thoughts on raising multilingual children

S49: Prof. Catherine McBride – How being multilingual can be a benefit for children with dyslexia

S40: Dr. Sabine Little – Asynchronous Literacy

S51: Prof. Annick De Houwer – Why it's a bad idea to constantly compare bilinguals to monolinguals

S52: Prof. Dr. Britta Hufeisen - Educational initiatives to integrate more languages for cognitive benefits

S53: Prof. Nayr Ibrahim - Learning to read and write en plusieurs langues: mitos y fakten

S54: Janny Perez - The challenges of raising Spanish/English bilingual kids in the US

S55: Lena Lee - Growing up between East and West

S56: Prof. Jean-Marc Dewaele - The mythical native speaker has mud on its face

S57: Prof. Tim Keeley - A Native-Like Accent is Achievable at Any Age

S58: Dr. Thomas H Bak - How to encourage children to love learning languages

S59: Mrs. Kuldeep Matharu & Mrs. Deborah Perrin – Supporting multilingualism at school and at home

S60: Dr. He Sun – Parent's Proficiency in the Target Language

S61: Prof. Mila Schwartz – Parents' agency in children's language learning

S62: Claudia Kimura – Supporting parents and children in immersion programs

S63: Dr. Fabrice Jaumont – The Bilingual Revolution

S64: Mr. Stuart Jay Raj – Language as a Professional Superpower

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