Raising bilingual children: a practical course for parents (Malahide)

This unique half day course equips parents with the knowledge and skills they need to support the successful development of two or more languages in their children. The class is ideal for expectant families and for parents of children under the age of 6. Through small group discussions and exercises with videos and worksheets parents will learn about bilingualism/multilingualism, how to overcome difficulties and how to support the development of their child's languages. The classes have a limited number of participants to allow time for discussion and questions.

Programme

9.30: registration and welcome

9.45 to 10.45: understanding bilingual language development in the early years

10.45 to 11.00: coffee break (light refreshments provided)

11.00 to 11.30: language exposure, language use and language need

11.30 to 12.30: games, activities and techniques to support the home language throughout childhood

12.30 to 1: conclusions

About the speakers

Dr Francesca La Morgia is assistant professor in Clinical Speech and Language Studies in Trinity College Dublin. She has been involved in research on child language acquisition since 2008 and she has published in international journals. After many years working in research and in the community, in 2017 Dr La Morgia founded Mother Tongues to share her knowledge and experience. Since then she has delivered courses on bilingualism all over Ireland to more than 1000 families.

Karina Pereira, speech and language therapist, graduated in speech language disorders by University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), where she carried out research in child language disorders. She is currently working in Dublin with Brazilian families and their children through activities and workshops to promote bilingualism in Ireland. She also runs a project called “Brazil Clowning Project” that aims to connect children and the elderly throught clowning, in a joyful and empathetic way.

+ Note + Mother Tongues is a non for profit organisation. All proceeds from this course will go towards Mother Tongues's activities in 2019/2020.