Upcoming events

Prof Antonella Sorace is delivering a special public lecture at the Brown Institute for Brain Science.

Tanja Rinker, Director of the Bilingualism Matters Konstanz branch, is giving a talk entitled "The role of input in early multilingualism" to the Linguistic Circle at the University of Edinburgh.

Abstract
Many studies have observed a relationship between the lexicon and input in early multilingualism (De Houwer, 2014; Hoff et al., 2012), but the relationship between input and morpho-syntax or phonology is less clear (Carroll, 2017; Paradis & Grüter, 2014; Unsworth, 2013). In this talk, I will present evidence from the phonological, lexical and morpho-syntactic domain using event-related potentials (ERPs), grammaticality judgments, as well as lexical assessments (such as the Cross-Linguistic Lexical Task (CLT, Rinker & Gagarina, 2014)) in different multilingual groups of different ages. In all these studies, detailed input information was collected via parental questionnaires, thus providing insight into intra- and extrafamilial input variables. Statistical analyses in fact suggest a differential role of input across linguistic domains. Further implications will be discussed.

Join us at Scotland's largest language celebration event. It's free to attend and is aimed at anyone with an interest in languages.

Bilingualism Matters will have a stand and be involved in the programme of seminars and talks, with our partners from the European AThEME (Advancing the European Multilingual Experience) project.

More details coming soon! Like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter to get the latest updates.

The University of Edinburgh & Bilingualism Matters in collaboration with Children in Scotland are organising a round table with the theme "Universal Health Visiting pathway: promoting knowledge of bilingual development”. The purpose of this meeting is to bring together stakeholders from the academic, health and government sectors to discuss and identify the current needs, practices and training offered to health visitors in Scotland regarding bilingual children and their families, that is children and families who grow up with and use languages other than English in the home or the immediate community. Outcomes of this meeting will feed into a larger survey targeting health visitors and allied health professionals (AHP) about these issues, with the view to later develop more specialised training and information materials for AHP to more effectively engage with bilingual families and children.

Register now on Eventbrite

Join us in celebrating our 8th year at Bilingualism Matters working WITH & FOR families, professionals, and businesses in Edinburgh, Scotland, Europe and beyond.

Meet our team and other professionals from education, policy, health, research and local communities who share our passion for languages across the lifespan.

The event is an opportunity to learn about what Bilingualism Matters Centre does in the areas of research, knowledge exchange and public engagement. It is also an invitation for you to share your views with us on what we and our wider network should focus on in the future.

Wine reception with music & theatre will follow a series of short, interactive presentations from Bilingualism Matters experts and collaborators.

Register your place now on Eventbrite.

Prof Antonella Sorace is giving a presentation to parents and supporters of Kensington Wade School in London, which is the first Prep School in the United Kingdom to offer a dual-language English-Chinese education from ages 3–11.

Due to clashing commitments and difficulty securing a venue we've had to postpone our planned Bilingualism Matters Family Day, which we'd hoped to hold on 3rd June. We will announce the rescheduled date shortly.

It will be day of language exploration and fun for bilingual families in the Edinburgh area - more details coming soon!

As part of the 2017 International Symposium on Bilingualism, Antonella Sorace and Vicky Chondrogianni will deliver a talk and workshop on the work of Bilingualism Matters.

Full programme available here.

As part of the Refugee Festival Scotland 2017, Bilingualism Matters at the University of Edinburgh presents talks by our Deputy Directors, Dr Vicky Chondrogianni and Dr Thomas Bak, on the latest findings on bilingualism and how it relates to the resettlement of refugees. Talks will be followed by a question and answer session, plus activities for members of the community and other organisations to bring ideas together.

Register now on Eventbrite.

Prof Antonella Sorace is giving a keynote presentation as part of The Celtic Knot Conference 2017, which is the first Wikipedia Language conference organised in collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and Wikimedia UK focusing on supporting Celtic & Indigenous Languages.

Full details on her talk can be found here.

We often hear people classify languages as useful or useless depending on how many people currently use them. However, is the value of a language determined solely by the political or economic power associated with it? Research on bilingualism over the lifespan shows that knowing more than one language – any language – can benefit the mind. From this point of view, our Director Prof Antonella Sorace presents the idea that all languages are worth learning and minority languages, such as Gaelic and Sardinian, are a particularly precious resource.

Part of the 2017 Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas at the Edinburgh Fringe - tickets at Edfringe

Originally, our brains were designed to be multilingual, managing two or more languages easily. Our Deputy Director, neuroscientist Thomas Bak reckons that, like sedentary lifestyles and an unhealthy diet, the monolingualism that’s come with modern society has its consequences. Research has shown that speaking only one language makes our thinking skills decline faster as we age and can actually make us more vulnerable to dementia in later life. So why aren’t public health campaigns addressing this? Should Fitbits be monitoring our speech as well as our steps?

Part of the 2017 Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas at the Edinburgh Fringe - tickets at Edfringe

If you think monolingualism might be making you ill or you need to know about the hidden talents of minority languages, but can’t make along to our fantastic Edinburgh Fringe Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas shows this year, you can join our live Twitter Q&A on Friday 25th August 2017 from 4pm to 5pm (BST).

Professor Antonella Sorace and Dr Thomas Bak will be on hand to answer your questions. Use the hashtag #askbiling to leave your questions.

Follow Bilingualism Matters on Twitter: @bilingmatters
Follow Thomas Bak on Twitter: @thbaketal

Prof Antonella Sorace is giving a talk at the workshop 'Using Social Media to Promote Professional Development, Networking, Scientific Dissemination, and Public Awareness' at Potsdam Universität (Germany) by Skype.
http://memory.ugr.es/wics/WICS-social-media.html

Workshop is part of series organised by Revitalise research network. More details here:

http://revitalise.aber.ac.uk/en/events/workshop-2/

This is an event for parents, carers and teachers at George Watson's College. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate parents and carers of pupils at other schools.

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

We'll be celebrating Explorathon, European Researchers’ Night, with Leith Labs at Ocean Terminal. Expect lots of fun activities and interesting information for bilingual families and all families with an interest in language learning!

Antonella Sorace guest speaker at graduation ceremony.

Dr Thomas Bak giving talk and answering questions from parents and teachers. This event is open to all parents and carers of children from the above nursery. We are unable to accommodate parents and carers of pupils from other schools, but if you are interested in a similar session at your own school please contact your headteacher.

Thomas H Bak, Co-director of Bilingualism Matters

Public engagement (PE) and knowledge exchange (KE) are increasingly seen as an integral part of academic work. They disseminate research findings, produce impact, strengthen universities’ reputation and attract future students. And they can undoubtedly be a lot of fun. But I will argue that they can also improve our teaching.

In this seminar I will discuss, in a series of practical tips and recommendations, how PE/KE experience can change the way in which we interact with students, making our lectures more engaging, our assessments more relevant and, last but not least, increasing our own satisfaction with our role as teachers.

Prof Antonella Sorace launches 17th international branch of Bilingualism Matters at University of California, Riverside, which will be co-directed by Judith Kroll and Cova Lamar Prieto.

UCR Multilingualism Research Conference

Multilingualism Conference Program

We're pleased to host this two-day workshop “The selectivity of native language attrition” as part of the ESRC-funded First Language Attrition Seminar Series (ES/M001776/1) led by Monika Schmid (University of Essex).

Full details can be found here.

Our Co-director Dr Thomas Bak joins other national experts to discuss pressing language issues.

Can Brexit work for Britain?  Will future success depend on stronger language skills?  How can languages and cultural understanding improve our health, wealth and happiness? Join award-winning journalist, Rosie Goldsmith, in conversation with government officials, national leaders and international experts to find out.

Speak to the Future, the national campaign for languages invites you to its fifth annual symposium addressing key issues of language policy relating to education, employment and wider society.  As the country prepares for a global future, we are facing uncertainties affecting all areas of public life.  Can challenges become opportunities?  What should be our next steps?

Speak to the Future welcomes the following influential and inspiring figures to share their insights and unique perspectives on the importance of languages and intercultural understanding to Britain’s progress. The symposium will include major talks, panel discussion and live question and answer sessions where delegates can share their views and put their questions to  the panel.

Speakers include -

• Caroline Wilson, Director Europe, Europe Directorate, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Dr Adam Marshall, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce
• Charles Clark, Partner Consultant Linklaters LLP
• Richard Hardie, Senior Adviser, UBS Ltd
• Ann Carlisle, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Linguists
• Panos Kraniotis, Regional Director Europe, Rosetta Stone
• Dr. Thomas Bak, University of Edinburgh
• Dr. Dina Mehmedbegovic, University College London
• Dr. James Anderson, Goldsmiths University
• Dr. Vicky Macleroy, Goldsmiths University
• Professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett, University of Cambridge
• Professor Katrin Kohl, University of Oxford
• Pascale Vassie, Executive  Director, National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education
• Teresa Tinsley, Director Alcantara Communications
• Vicky Gough, Languages Adviser, British Council
• Bernardette Holmes MBE, Campaign Director, Speak to the Future
• British Council Language Ambassadors

Prof. Antonella Sorace and Katarzyna Przybycien present this workshop as part of the Kite and Trumpet Festival of Polish Art for Children. The workshop will engage both children (pre-school and primary ages) and their parents on the topic of bilingualism and code mixing. Through creative collective writing, illustrations and physical theatre will explore myths, facts and creative potential of growing up with two or more languages. Both bilingual and English-only children will learn new words in Polish and English while celebrating the linguistic diversity of Scotland.

Tickets available on Eventbrite

This is an event for EAL Parent Forum in South Ayrshire.

If this topic interests you, please contact your headteacher or parent forum and ask them get in touch with us to discuss the possibility of organising a similar session at your child's school.

Talk by Antonella Sorace at event organised by Ragged University.  Full details here.

Antonella Sorace at the ALTRAM Conference on Irish medium education.

Conference organised by the Polish Embassy in Rome

Talk by our Co-director Dr Vicky Chondrogianni as part of the Edinburgh Gaelic Festival.

Although there is no scientific evidence that bilingualism makes language disorders worse, parents, teachers and clinicians are still concerned whether children with language problems can or should become bilingual. In the present talk, we will discuss how these challenges and potential opportunities will be addressed in a new project aiming to support children with developmental language disorders in Gaelic-medium education in Scotland.

A’ toirt taic ri clann la mì-rianan cànain ann am bun-sgoiltean Gàidhlig: Duilgheadasan agus cothroman

Ged nach eil fianais ann gu bheil dà-chànanachas a’ dèanamh crìonadh air mì-rianan cànain, tha dragh air pàrantan, tidsearan is dotairean fhathast nach eil e math airson clann le duilgheadasan cànan ma dh’ionnsaicheas iad dà chànan. San òraid seo, bruidhnidh sinn mu phròiseact ùr a choimheadas air taic a thoirt gu clann le mì-rianan cànain ann am foghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig ann an Alba, agus mar a dhèilgeas sinn ris na duilgheadasan is cothroman seo sa phròiseact.

leis an Dr Vicky Chondrogianni, Bilingualism Matters

This event is part of the 2017 ESRC Festival of Social Science and will be hosted by Birkbeck’s Centre for Multilingual and Multicultural Research and organised in collaboration between the Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan at the University of Essex (LaDeLi), the Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication at Birkbeck College, Mothertongue and Bilingualism Matters. The event is part of an ESRC-funded seminar series on language attrition, awarded to Prof. Monika Schmid (University of Essex, grant ES/M001776/1)

Participation is free, but for catering and planning purposes, please register here.

More details here.

Meeting of EU-funded AThEME project partners, which is studying multilingualism in Europe and for which Bilingualism Matters is key dissemination partner.

Antonella Sorace joins this workshop, which aims to illustrate how research into bi-/ multilingualism can generate positive change in policy and practice with an emphasis on education, and to invite ECRs to develop ideas on how their work can generate pathways to such types of impact.

Full details here.