Latest newsJune 16, 2010 We can finally share our long-expected first results with you. We have written a research report for parents and teachers. Please click here to read the research report. If you have any questions about this report, please do not hesitate to contact us at ecb@childbilingualism.org. Please note, however, that our project leader, Sharon Unsworth, is on maternity leave until October. A research assistant will answer your e-mails until 30th June, but during the summer all research assistants will be away. From October we will continue analysing the data and we will share more research reports on our website. If you would like to receive future research reports by e-mail, please let us know by sending an e-mail to ecb@childbilingualism.org. Best wishes, the Early Child Bilingualism team June 14, 2010 The summer holidays are approaching and we almost finished collecting data. We have seen almost 300 children and we would like to thank all the parents, children and schools for their time and for their cooperation. Unfortunately, we were not able to test all the children (we have been overwhelmed by the number of registrations!). Nevertheless, we would like to thank the parents of the children who could not participate in our project for their interest in our project and for their willingness to cooperate.
Best wishes, the Early Child Bilingualism team
January 27, 2010 A group of new research assistants has started working for the project. They will be traveling through The Netherlands to see bilingual children until the end of May. In this picture are old and new research assistants. From left to right: Marinka van Holten, Gillian Groenen, Janna Brummel, Floris de Vries, Heleen Jones, Eline Reinders, Laura Tejedor, Tineke Prins, Sharon Unsworth, Aafke Hulk, Irini Toufexes and Leonie Cornips.  November 30, 2009 Our principal investigator, Sharon Unsworth, gave a talk at the Onze Taal congress in Utrecht on November 21st. The congress takes place every two years and this time it was about the interaction between Dutch and other languages and cultures. There were no less than 1,300 persons at the congress. Sharon's talk was about bilingualism and integration in another language.  November 3, 2009 In a few weeks, there will be two workshops on bilingualism and bilingual children. The workshops will be in English and they will both take place in Utrecht. More information (in Dutch and English) follows below. Workshops over tweetaligheid en tweetalige kinderen Het Utrechts instituut voor Linguïstiek organiseert twee workshopssessies over tweetaligheid en tweetalige kinderen. Deze workshops zijn bestemd voor een breed publiek van ouders, opvoeders, expats, taaltherapeuten, enz. die zich vragen stellen over het tweetalige opvoeden van kinderen. De workshops worden in het Engels gegeven en vinden plaats op 24 november (19.30 – 21.00 in Ruppert gebouw kamer 134, Leuvenlaan 21 (Uithof)) en nogmaals op 1 december (17u30-19.00 in de Sweelinckzaal, Drift 21) in Utrecht. De deelname is gratis. Gelieve u op voorhand in te schrijven. Zie voor meer informatie onze website: www.workshops-nl.childbilingualism.org Mail/inschrijving: workshops@childbilingualism.org
Workshops on bilingualism and bilingual children Utrecht institute of Linguistics is organising two workshop sessions on bilingualism and bilingual children. These workshops are intended for a broad audience of parents, educators, expats, speech language therapists, etc. who have questions on raising children bilingually. The workshops are in English and will take place in Utrecht on November 24th (19.30 -21.00, Ruppert building room 134, Leuvenlaan 21 (Uithof)) and again on December 1st (17.30 - 19.00, Sweelinckzaal, Drift 21). Attendance is free, but we kindly ask you to register in advance. Please see our website for more information: www.workshops-en.childbilingualism.org Email/registration: workshops@childbilingualism.org October 20, 2009 We have seen a lot of children last year, but will continue our project this year with a new team! Eline Reinders, Diane Heuvelman, Heleen Jones and Gillian Groenen are our new research assistants and they will introduce themselves here. They have already started testing last week and will travel through The Netherlands the coming months to see a lot of children who have signed up for our project. They will also test some children we have already tested half a year ago. This makes it possible for us to see what progress their language development has made. The Early Child Bilingualism team October 20, 2009 In the academic year 2008-2009 we've seen over 150 children all across the country. We've made a map to show you where we have been:  October 20, 2009 NWO has included the Early Child Bilingualism in its brochure! You can view the brochure at http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOA_7Q9K9W. September 18, 2009 The University of Amsterdam is hosting a day of talks and workshops on the topic of growing up multilingually, in which members of our team are also involved. More information concerning the programme, location and costs are given below. Please contact the University of Amsterdam directly at the email address given below with any enquiries. Please note that most (if not all) of the talks will be held in Dutch. We are currently working on setting up similar sessions in English at Utrecht University. If you would like us to keep you informed about this, please let us know and we'll put you on the mailing list. Geachte heer, mevrouw, De Illustere School (Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Universiteit van Amsterdam) organiseert op vrijdag 27 november een studiedag over meertalig opgroeien. Verschillende sprekers van deze dag zijn onderzoekers van het Early Child Bilingualism Project. Ouders en docenten die hebben meegewerkt aan dit project, kunnen aansparaak maken op 10% korting op de deelnameprijs. U dient u zich daarvoor per mail (illustereschool-fgw@uva.nl) aan te melden voor deze dag en aan te geven dat u hebt meegedaan aan het Early Child Bilingualism Project. Studiedag Meertalig opgroeien (vrijdag 27 november) De meerderheid van de wereldbevolking is meertalig. In veel landen bestaan er meerdere officiële talen, in andere is er één officiële taal en bestaan er daarnaast één of meerdere minderheidstalen. Nederland kent twee officiële talen (het Nederlands en het Fries), maar daarnaast worden er in Nederland tientallen andere talen gesproken. Naast traditionele streektalen, zoals het Limburgs, zijn dat talen van de nieuwe minderheden in ons land. In een stad als Amsterdam worden naar schatting meer dan 150 verschillende talen gesproken. Ook binnen gezinnen komt meertaligheid steeds vaker voor, vooral als beide ouders niet dezelfde moedertaal hebben. Hoe kinderen succesvol tweetalig kunnen worden opgevoed is een van de vragen die tijdens deze studiedag aan de orde komt. In het ochtendprogramma wordt in een aantal lezingen uiteengezet welke vormen van meertaligheid er in Nederland in gezinnen en op scholen voorkomen en welke rol meertaligheid kan spelen bij andere vaardigheden, bij taalverandering en bij groepsgedrag. In het middagprogramma is er aandacht voor de politieke kant van meertaligheid in het onderwijs en is er een aantal workshops waarin door de deelnemers wordt gediscussieerd over een thema met betrekking tot meertaligheid. Aan bod komen o.a. de voor- en nadelen van een meertalige opvoeding in het gezin, de rol van meertaligheid in het onderwijs, de diagnostiek van taalachterstand en de politieke en maatschappelijke kanten van meertaligheid in het onderwijs. Programma 09.45 - 10.00 uur Ontvangst met koffie en thee 10.00 - 10.10 uur Welkom en introductie van de sprekers door prof. dr. Aafke Hulk 10.10 - 10.50 uur Lezing door prof. dr. Folkert Kuiken 10.50 - 11.30 uur Lezing door dr. Sharon Unsworth 11.30 - 11.50 uur Pauze 11.50 - 12.30 uur Lezing door dr. Leonie Cornips 12.30 - 13.30 uur Lunchpauze 13.30 - 14.15 uur Lezing door dr. Elisabeth van der Linden 14.15 - 14.30 uur Introductie workshops door prof. dr. Aafke Hulk 14.30 - 15.45 uur Keuze uit drie workshops: 1. Meertaligheid in het gezin door dr. Elisabeth van der Linden en dr. Sharon Unsworth 2. Meertaligheid en jongerentaal door dr. Leonie Cornips 3. Diagnostiek van taalontwikkeling door dr. Jan de Jong 15.45 - 16.30 uur Afsluiting met borrel Doelgroep Deze bijeenkomst is bedoeld voor iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in meertaligheid en de rol ervan in gezin, op school en in de maatschappij. Specifieke doelgroepen zijn ouders die hun kinderen tweetalig opvoeden, logopedisten, docenten uit het basis- en voortgezet onderwijs, expatriates, pabostudenten en -docenten, geïnteresseerden vanuit politiek perspectief op het onderwerp en alumni. Docenten Prof. dr. A. (Aafke) Hulk is als hoogleraar Franse taalkunde verbonden aan de UvA. Haar huidige onderzoek betreft vroege tweetaligheid, met name de syntactische en morfologische ontwikkeling van kinderen die meertalig opgroeien. Dr. E.H. (Elisabeth) van der Linden was tot 2009 als universitair hoofddocent verbonden aan de opleidingen Frans en Roemeens van de UvA. Haar onderzoek betreft tweedetaalverwerving, voornamelijk woordverwerving en daarnaast vroege tweetaligheid, met name de syntactische en lexicale ontwikkeling van kinderen die gelijktijdig Nederlands en een Romaanse taal verwerven. Prof. dr. F. (Folkert) Kuiken is bijzonder hoogleraar Nederlands als tweede taal vanwege de gemeente Amsterdam. Hij coördineert de duale master Nederlands als tweede taal en is (mede-)auteur van diverse leermiddelen en handboeken. Daarnaast doet hij onderzoek op het gebied van taalbeleid en taalproductie. Kuiken is bestuurslid van de Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée (AILA). Dr. J. (Jan) de Jong is universitair docent bij de leerstoelgroep Psycholinguistiek en Taalpathologie aan de UvA. Zijn onderzoek concentreert zich op specifieke taalstoornissen bij kinderen. In de afgelopen jaren nam hij deel aan het project Distentangling bilingualism and SLI, waarin de relatie tussen taalstoornis en tweetaligheid centraal stond. Dr. L.M.E.A. (Leonie) Cornips werkt als taalkundig onderzoeker aan het Meertens Instituut. Doet onderzoek naar regionaal Nederlands en andere niet-standaardtaalvarieteiten zoals Surinaams-Nederlands en jeugdtaal bv 'straattaal'. Op dit moment is zij projectleider van het NWO-project Vroege tweede taalverwerving waarin onderzoek plaatsvindt naar Engelse kinderen die in Nederland meertalig opgroeien. Dr. S. (Sharon) Unsworth studeerde Language Acquisition aan de University of Durham. Daarna promoveerde ze in Linguistics aan de Universiteit Utrecht. Ze is werkzaam als onderzoeker aan de Universiteit Utrecht en het Meertens Instituut te Amsterdam en houdt zich vooral bezig met onderzoek naar meertaligheid onder kinderen. Studiemateriaal Burkhardt Montanari, E., J.Aarsen, P. Bos en E. Wagenaar 2004 Hoe kinderen meertalig opgroeien. Planplanproducties Praktische informatie Datum vrijdag 27 november Tijd 10.00 - 16.30 uur Prijs € 35,- / deelnemers aan het Early Child Bilingualism Project € 31,50 Met vriendelijke groet, Annemieke van Manen en Rixt Polder Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen - UvA Illustere School / In- en externe communicatie Spuistraat 210 1012 VT Amsterdam Telefoon: 020-525 5337 E-mail: illustereschool-fgw@uva.nl Aanwezig: maandag, dinsdag en donderdag June 15, 2009 May and June have seen us criss-cross the country --- from Assen in the east to Brielle in the south --- as testing continues at full pace. It feels like our testers will soon have travelled on virtually every train line in the country (well, in the Randstad at least)! At the moment, we're seeing children at the International School of the Hague and the Arnhem International School, and towards the end of the month, we'll be in Rotterdam at De Blijberg international primary school. We've already seen children at two international schools in Hilversum (the International School and the Violenschool) as well as the American School of the Hague. We're very grateful to these and all of the other schools who have so generously given us their time and welcomed us so warmly. Without the enthusiasm of the staff and the willingness of the parents to allow their children to participate, our project would simply not be feasible. So far, we have seen just over 100 children and played language games with them in both English and Dutch. Testing will stop temporarily over the summer, to be replaced by data entry and analysis, and a new team of assistants will join the team in the autumn. We plan to publish the first results by the end of the year. In the meantime, we wish everyone a relaxing and enjoyable summer holiday! June 5, 2009 It was celebration time at the Early Child Bilingualism project when principal investigator, Sharon Unsworth, received the Keetje Hodshon prize 2009 at a festive ceremony in Haarlem. The prize is awarded every year by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities to a young researcher working in the field of humanities and once every 4 years to a linguist. Unsworth received the award for her 2005 PhD dissertation, which compared English-speaking children acquiring Dutch as second language with on the one hand, English-speaking adults acquiring Dutch as a second language, and on the other, monolingual Dutch children learning their first language, and for her further publications since then. The jury praised her originality and productivity as well as the breadth of her academic activities. More details can be found (in Dutch) at the Society's webpage here: http://www.hollmij.nl/nieuws/keetje-hodshon-prijs-en-j-c-ruigrok-prijs-toegekend/30 April 15, 2009 We're off ! After months of preparation, reading, writing and scheduling we finally started the sessions with the children in March 2009. In just this first month, we have criss-crossed the country and already seen about thirty children. We have visited Den Bosch, Oegstgeest, Delft, Voorschoten and The Hague and many more cities, towns and villages. Quite a lot of travelling for the team, but we are very glad that the Netherlands is filled with enthusiastic bilingual children! We are touched by the kind people we have met so far and the lovely children we have seen. It is really inspiring to see the enthusiasm of the parents and teachers. The ECB project started in May 2008. During the first couple of months, you may not have heard from us, since our main activities were reading scientific literature and developing the theoretical framework of the project. It took us most of the autumn and winter to develop the language games we’re playing with the children. To make sure that these are accurate and above all, fun for the children, we first piloted them in January 2009. A very exciting moment for all of us, since this was the first time we could see if the tests actually measured what we wanted them to. There were a few hiccups along the way, but in March we were able to add the final touches and start collecting data for real. In the sessions we run with the children, we play various language games, one session in English and one session in Dutch. Sometimes, with younger children, we like to split the session into two, so that it doesn’t become too tiring for them. We use a laptop to show children several pictures of objects from every day life and ask them describe them. During the meetings, we use handpuppets to make the children feel more at ease and to make sure that they feel that they have played a couple of games rather than been tested. Of course, with older children, we can often explain what the purpose of the task is without necessarily using the puppet – although we’ve been finding that the puppets are proving to be popular, even with them! We will continue to collect data until 2011, so it will take a while before we can provide any conclusions. However, in the meantime, we will update this news section regularly to keep you informed of what’s going on. At the moment, we are busy testing children and scheduling our visits. This month Jetske Blonk , Marlous Neleman and Laura Tejedor Timomor came to join the Early Child Bilingualism team. Jetske and Laura will be conducting the Dutch sessions, Jetske with the bilingual children and Laura with our monolingual control group, and Marlous will be carrying out the English sessions. Finally, if you’ve registered to take part but haven't heard of us yet, you will receive an e-mail with further details about your personal participation the project in the near future! The Early Child Bilingualism team  From left to right: Liv Persson, Linda van Meel, Marlous Neleman, Jetske Blonk & Marije Brugman (not in this picture: Laura Tejedor) |
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