Upcoming events

The Edinburgh Exchange will bring together businesses and other interested organisations with the University to stimulate dialogue and exchange ideas around the theme of multilingualism. We will explore the skills and attributes developed by people with more than one language, identifying some of the hidden benefits they can bring to your business and how businesses and the University can learn from each other about the practical opportunities and challenges of working with a multilingual workforce.

Outcomes of these discussions will inform University and industry strategies on supporting multilingualism.

Event programme

This event is organised in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Careers Service as part of a series of events promoting dialogue between University and industry.

This event is open to all parents and carers of children at Dalry primary school nursery.

Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate parents and carers of pupils at other schools.

If this topic interests you, please contact your headteacher to discuss the possibility of organising a similar session with us at your child's school.

As part of Innovative Learning week at the University of Edinburgh, Marion Geoffray from Theatre Sans Accents will deliver three bilingual theatre workshops. The sessions will focus on improving spoken skills in English and French through improvisation and games. No amateur dramatic experience required!

10:00 - 11:00 Improving your French skills - for beginners to advanced speakers, all levels welcome.
12:00 - 13:00 Improving your English skills - for speakers of English as a second language, all levels welcome.
14:00 -15:00 Improving your French skills - for beginners to advanced speakers, all levels welcome.

Cost and eligibility:The sessions are free and open to anyone who is over 18 OR a student at the University of Edinburgh.

Where: All sessions will take place in room G32, Psychology Building, 7 George Square, University of Edinburgh EH8 9JZ.

Registration: There is no need to book and places will be given on a first-come-first-served basis.

Find out more:
Visit Theatre Sans Accents Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.

See what else is on during Innovative learning week

This event is open to all parents and carers of children at the following primary schools in Edinburgh: Costorphine, Fox Covert, Hillwood, East Craigs, and Roseburn.

Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate parents and carers of pupils at other schools.

If this topic interests you, please contact your headteacher to discuss the possibility of organising a similar session with us at your child's school.

Bilingualism Matters is delighted to be attending the first Language Show Live event in Scotland, on behalf of the Advancing the European Multilingual Experience (AThEME) project. Come and meet our researchers and find out more about multilingualism in Europe - from minority languages like Gaelic, to the languages of refugees, and what happens to bilingual people's brains as they get older.

Stand - Friday 11, Saturday 12 March

Stop by to find out more about the project and chat with researchers about their latest research results.

Seminar - 13:00 - 13:45, Friday 11 March, TEFL forum.

Growing up with Two Languages: Myths, Science, and Realistic Expectations (Professor Antonella Sorace, University of Edinburgh).

There are still widespread misconceptions about what it means to learn more than one language in childhood: for example, too many people still think that early bilingualism makes children confused or puts them at a disadvantage at school. But research shows that in many cases there are no differences between bilingual and monolinguals; and that where there are differences, these are almost invariably in favour of bilinguals. In this seminar, we will discuss the main facts and benefits of growing up with two languages - and of course, the challenges that parents can encounter!

Research Presentation - 15:00 - 15:30, Friday 11 March, Piazza.

Advancing the European Multilingual Experience: Dyslexia, Specific Language Impairment and language learning in the classroom. (Professor Theo Marinis, University of Reading).

Explore some of the issues around multilingualism and language difficulties such as dyslexia and SLI.
Should children with dyslexia or Specific Language Impairment (SLI) be discouraged from using their home language in order to concentrate on English? Should they be discouraged to learn a foreign language in school? Find out the latest research findings and how to approach language teaching in these specific circumstances.

Findings from the Advancing the European Multilingual Experience (AThEME project). Funded from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 613465.

For more information about the Language Show Live in Scotland, visit their website

This event is open to all parents and carers of children at Cowgate nursery.

Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate parents and carers of pupils at other schools.

If this topic interests you, please contact your headteacher to discuss the possibility of organising a similar session with us at your child's school.

This event is part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival

Fingers on buzzers! This pub quiz with a difference will take you on a tour inside a language learner's brain with fun trivia and mind-boggling teasers, curated and delivered by stand-up comic Susan Morrison aided by our resident experts Prof Antonella Sorace and Dr Thomas Bak. Whether you're a lifelong bilingual, or struggling to remember your high school French: come and join us to learn something new about languages, and how we learn them.

Cost: £8.50/£6.50

Booking: via the Edinburgh International Science festival website

**Please note this event is now fully booked**

Workshop and information session with adult second language learners.

This is a joint event organised with YaketyYak Language cafe, and the Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.
Yaketyyak language cafe
Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology

**Please note this event is now fully booked**

Workshop and information session with adult second language learners.

This is a joint event organised with YaketyYak Language cafe, and the Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.
Yaketyyak language cafe
Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology

Les Petiots d'Edimbourg is a group for young families bringing up their children in French and English in Edinburgh and its surroundings.

Find out more about Les Petiots D'Edimbourg on their Facebook Page

For information in BSL, watch this link

This will be the last of three events at which key organisations and stakeholders meet to discuss the addition of British Sign Language as a modern languages option in Scottish schools under the current "1+2 Languages" policy initiative.

Register via eventbrite by SUNDAY 22 MAY.

The event is hosted by Scottish Government so registration is essential. If you are not registered, you will not be allowed to enter the building

For more information, see the project website.

This project is funded by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute.

Join the Bilingualism Matters team to celebrate language learning and hear about their research and outreach projects

Registration essential, via eventbrite.

Professor Antonella Sorace will be talking about bilingualism at part of the International Day at Sciennes primary school.

The event, organised by the school's Parent Council is planning the event to celebrate cultural diversity and promote language learning in the school and local community.

Join researchers from Bilingualism Matters and the University of Edinburgh at this CPD -certified training event exploring language development in children.

More information and registration via Children in Scotland

The Second Annual Conference on Chinese Language Teaching in Scotland

To register, please visit: http://www.confuciusinstitute.ac.uk/

Research shows that learning languages helps us age healthily, even if we start learning them in later life. Being able to speak two languages can delay the onset of dementia symptoms by 4-5 years (more than any available drug!) and improve how well a patient recovers their mental abilities after a stroke. So is language learning a safer, cheaper and healthier alternative to the drugs routinely prescribed on the NHS? And, if so, shouldn’t we prescribe language lessons instead? Join Thomas Bak, who has spent decades researching dementia, stroke and ageing, to debate.

£8 (£6 concession)

Buy tickets 

This event is part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas  

The first in a series of national workshops for teachers offered by SCILT (Scotland's National Centre for Languages) in collaboration with Bilingualism Matters and Glasgow City Council’s EAL Service. These workshops aim to help teachers engage bilingual learners more and support literacy skills across both languages.

The second in a series of national workshops for teachers offered by SCILT (Scotland's National Centre for Languages) in collaboration with Bilingualism Matters and Glasgow City Council’s EAL Service. These workshops aim to help teachers engage bilingual learners more and support literacy skills across both languages.

The third national workshop for teachers offered by SCILT (Scotland's National Centre for Languages) in collaboration with Bilingualism Matters and Glasgow City Council’s EAL Service, supporting teachers to engage bilingual learners more and support literacy skills across languages.

Booking available on Eventbrite.

The fourth national workshop for teachers offered by SCILT (Scotland's National Centre for Languages) in collaboration with Bilingualism Matters and Glasgow City Council’s EAL Service, supporting teachers to engage bilingual learners more and support literacy skills across languages.

Booking available on Eventbrite.

This event is open to all parents and carers of children at st David's primary and Pirniehall primary school, Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate parents and carers of pupils at other schools.

If this topic interests you, please contact your headteacher to discuss the possibility of organising a similar session with us at your child's school.

Two Languages Are Better Than One. Raising Bilingual Children.

Informal evening event for parents of children of Turkish origin, organised by Speak Turkish.  Prof Antonella Sorace from Bilingualism Matters will talk about her work and answer questions or concerns  about bilingualism. There will also be a representative from the cultural affairs section of the Turkish (TC) Consulate who will talk about provision for Turkish-speaking children in the UK. Teachers from Speak Turkish will also be on hand to talk their activities. Following the speakers there will be a Q& A session. Please note: this event is intended primarily for parents of children of Turkish origin. Priority will be give to children currently attending classes with Speak Turkish, but the event will be of interest to all parents with a Turkish background.

Prof Antonella Sorace will attend the launch of a new branch of Bilingualism Matters in Trondheim, Norway.