Cora van der Koppel receives the colleagues from Brussels. She is a policy officer and advisor at the Alsare Academy, a Dutch non-formal language school for adults. In addition to alpha and NT2 classes, they teach classes in community centers and have a "Language and Development" module for parents in elementary schools.  

Presentation by Nathalie Cheu-Choi, the founder of the small but very sympathic Stichting Proteas. She launched in 2021 an online bookclub for children between 9 and 12 years old. Main goal is to increase children's reading pleasure and motivation. Young and diverse volunteers guide the sessions, and in addition to reading and speaking together, live field trips around the neighborhood are scheduled.  

How can we work on parent involvement in schools in an interactive way, for example when organizing parent meetings? What are possible pitfalls and barriers, how do we ensure the right setting and good interaction? Annette Diender taught us "by doing so" some good tips and tricks. 

Workshop by Saskia Ten Houten en Reint van der Vlis of the Stichting Lezen en Schrijven about broad low literacy, recognising literacy needs and working on literacy with the target group and professionals. We also tried out the Escape Suitcase, a game that allows players to experience what it is like to have difficulty reading and writing.

Ilona van den Boogert of Stichting Aanzet shows us the materials and methods they use to coach teachers as part of the At Home in Language approach. 

We join the At Home in Languages learning circle with teachers from different schools of the region of Vlaardingen. Four times a year they come together to learn from each other and they exchange experiences and suggestions.

As icing on the cake, Stichting Aanzet demonstrates their book bike to us. This cargo bike full of reading material goes around from school to school telling stories to children and their parents in an interactive way. 

Save the Date, on Thursday the 18th of April we bring together all our ideas and knowledge gained over the past 2 years in the free inspiration festival of Together Strong in Languages in Brussels!