Welcome to the BML Corner...
Welcome to the BML Corner...
...all about multilingual learning: a curated collection of resources about raising and educating bilingual/multilingual world citizens. Explore the collection by clicking on the links to the left.
It has been a busy year, and I have not kept up with this blog, but here's an article that tickled me recently. It makes some important points about the value we place on different languages. I hope you enjoy it, too.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/24/language-speak-big-slovene-english-german
Marian
Welcome to all returning and new bilingual/multilingual Cedar families. Here's to another year of multilingual learning. I look forward to chatting with you and working together to help your children achieve their potential.
Marian
Learn about opportunities to expand your or your child's exposure to and study of an additional language (or more!) at the latest LanguageBird webinars:
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Would you like to get ahead in your language studies? Are you in need of any world language Tutoring & Test Prep? Would you like to free up time in your schedule for additional activities or classes? Join us today or at an upcoming Virtual Informational Session to learn more about our accredited, LIVE, one-to-one language courses taught by native-level speakers online via video chat. We schedule your classes when it works best for YOU!
We offer 15 languages and cultures to choose from! Our language options include American Sign Language, Arabic, ESL, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
In this session, you will have the opportunity to meet members from admissions to answer your questions and hear what LanguageBird can offer your language learner this year! Parents, students, counselors, and partners are all welcome! Secure your spot by selecting a session and clicking the link below.
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Wednesday, June 21, 2:30 pm PST / 5:30 pm EST
Tuesday, June 27, 1:00 pm PST / 4:00 pm EST
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In observance of the above, here's a link to a blog published by LanguageBird with lots of short posts about various languages: https://www.languagebird.com/blog/.
Happy 2023 to all. I am looking for ways to support our students' home languages. Here are a couple of opportunities for you to consider:
Join a webinar from LanguageBird tomorrow to learn about their tutoring options, including conversational classes. This might be a good way of helping maintain home language skills. Details about the webinar are here.
Consider volunteering to host home language lunch table chats and/or extra-curricular language classes or clubs for our primary school learners.
If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please get in touch!
Even if you are not a football (aka soccer) fan, I do hope you are following the coverage of the World Cup final. While this tournament has been surrounded by much controversy, there are good things happening, too. The World Cup Daily show available on the FIFA website showcases - along with match highlights - lots of joyful fans, sharing their culture and languages with others. The focus is on fun and celebration of other teams' achievements even when one's own national team loses (or gets booted out!). This show also highlights social media posts from fans in many languages. The website is available in several languages, too, and highlights are even available with sign language commentary.
Of course, international sports competitions are also always a natural introduction to the history, culture and politics of those who share the planet with us, and can provide our children with valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of our era.
And one more shameless plug for the NPR/Futuro Studios podcast The Last Cup/La última copa, binge-worthy listening in both Spanish and English. It examines migration experiences in the context of Lionel Messi's football career with the selección nacional de Argentina.
Do you sometimes find that it is easier to express a particular idea in one language than another? I prefer French for expressions such as "Bonne rentrée" (Welcome back to school"), "Bon courage" (more than the usual translation of "Good luck", this implies to me a wish for strength in the face of a challenge) And what about the ever popular "Bon appétit"!
But I digress. On to the matter at hand: bilingual and multilingual learning at Cedar. I invite you to explore the resources collected on this website and welcome any feedback you may have. Last year, it proved most convenient for some parents if I sent a quick email if/when I posted new resources or updates. Do let me know your preference.
As we begin the well-earned summer break, may I make a small request? Please take advantage of every opportunity to support your children's language development both in their home languages and in English. On your travels, or even at home, read, read, read: stories, comics, maps, signposts, flyers, menus, etc. Make time for conversations and games with family members and friends who speak the home language. Chat with your children about all their experiences, thoughts and ideas - in any language! And most of all, have a wonderful rest and lots of fun!
It has been a while since I posted anything new! I do hope you all saw the New Year's email with the link to the video we made at school celebrating our multilingualism. Here's a link to the video, posted on the school Facebook page.
Recently, I came across this review of Jhumpa Lahiri's Translating Myself and Others. Those of you who are multilingual yourselves or whose partners are multilingual might find the review or her book of essays an interesting read.
Check your email to learn how we are planning to mark this at school next week. Please join with us!
The date 27th March was suggested by Thomas Bak, Reader in Psychology at the University of Edinburgh (find out more about him on the Healthy Linguistic Diet website), and readily taken up by Ute Limacher, owner of Ute’s International Lounge and Dr. Philology, and Cate Hamilton, languages education entrepreneur, co-founder of Babel Babies, and our team graphic designer.
Radio Garden allows you to listen to thousands of live radio stations world wide by rotating the globe.
Every green dot represents a city or town. Tap on it to tune into the radio stations broadcasting from that city.
By adding new radio stations every day and updating ones that no longer work, we hope to give you a smooth international radio listening experience.
P.S. Don't forget this afternoon's chat with the authors of Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. See my previous post for details.