Multilingual Children - Going Beyond Language in the Home
By Barcelona Women's Network (BWN)
Date and time
Wednesday, May 6, 2015 · 11am - 2pm CEST
Location
Instituto de Estudios Norteamericanos
123 Via Augusta, atico 08006 Barcelona SpainDescription
The Barcelona Women’s Network (BWN) and the English Language Association of Catalonia(ELACAT) have joined together to organize an informative and interactive event that explores the challenges of raising multilingual children in Barcelona, such as enriching their colloquial and formal lanugage and expanding their cultural knowledge.
TOPICS COVERED
- The advantages of sending your children to study abroad.
- Personal stories about spending time in your home country with your children.
- Insight into language transmission and erosion.
- A Q&A session will immediately follow the presentations.
PRESENTERS:
Carmen Pérez-Vidal is an associate professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and holds both an MA (U Reading) and a PhD (U Barcelona). She has published widely on bilingualism and multilingualism in educational and family settings, as well as language learning in study abroad contexts. She coordinates an official research group based at the UPF which looks into multilingualism in Catalonia in terms of both linguistic processes and policy.
Helena Roquet-Pugès is an adjunct professor in the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF, Barcelona) and a teacher of English and German in Secondary Education since 2001. She holds a PhD in Second Language Acquisition and collaborates with the consolidated research group, ALLENCAM (Language Acquisition from Multilingual Catalonia) in UPF, a project granted by the Catalonian Government. Her research interests focus on second and third language acquisition, Content and Language Integrated Learning, bilingualism, and study abroad.
Michelle Courtright’s interest in bilingualism and language policy began as a student at the University of California at San Diego where she earned a BA in Linguistics and a double minor in Teaching and Spanish Literature. In 2008, Michelle founded Mother Tongue, an educational and publishing company whose comprehensive language learning materials for adult learners are popular in both Spain and Latin America. She lives in Barcelona with her partner and their two trilingual children.
Francesca Walls is a PhD student in Applied Linguistics at the University of Barcelona who also works with the University Centre for Sociolinguistics and Communication and as a part-time English teacher at Merit School, where she enjoys assisting Spanish students in their process of learning English. Her doctoral thesis investigates the languages used by families in which at least one of the parents is an English speaker. She hopes that her research in this area will help her counsel parents on the best ways to achieve their desired linguistic outcomes for their children.
CONCESSIONS
A snack bar will be open from 11am-2pm (cash only). All proceeds go to the charities supported by BWN: Casal dels Infants, Xamfra, Maggie's.
EVENT SPONSORS:
EVENT ORGANIZERS:
- BWN is Barcelona's premier social club for women. www.bcnwomensnetwork.com
- ELACAT is a Barcelona based advocacy group working on heritage langague issues. www.facebook.com/groups/ESCPAC/
QUESTIONS?
contact: secretary@bcnwomensnetwork.com