Multilingual Early Language Transmission

MELT Projectwww.meltproject.eu

dr. Alex Riemersma

Brussels, 27 October, 2010

MELT project (2009-2011)

• Initiated by NPLD• Grant by European Commission

(Comenius)• Research activities• Development schemes & materials• Expert seminar & evaluation workshop• Local events• Closing conference (Brussels, 2011)

MELT project partnerss

• Mercator / Fryske Akademy & SFBO (Fryslân, Netherlands)

• Folkhälsen (Swedish community Finland)

• Welsh Language Board & MYM (Wales, UK)

• Conseil Régional de Bretagne &

• Divskouarn (Brittany, France)

MELT affiliated project partners

• Project partners co-operate with affiliated partners in carrying out various tasks, including local events:- half day event for parents- one day event for practitioners

• Financing by sub-contracting for special tasks

MELT associate partners

• All NPLD members c.q. partners linked to NPLD through their regional authorities and NGO’s

• Associate partners to attend: - expert seminar (Fryslân, April 2010)- conference (Brussels, October 2011)

MELT Goals

Goals (quoted from the EU application):1) Development of teaching methodology and

language transmission process

2) Raising parents’ awareness about multilingualism

3) Encouraging practitioners to foster language learning

4) Raising policy awareness across Europe

MELT further goals

• Language is not merely a tool of communication, but also a value.

• Mother tongue and father tongue are of equal value for the child.

Pursued results

• EITHER: “full bilingualism, full bi-literacy” (Joshua Fishman) / additive bilingualism = command of two languages at mother-tongue level

• OR: subtractive bilingualism (oral bilingualism, mono-literacy)

MELT Research 1

• Summary of relevant scientific research on early language acquisition: “state of the art” regarding bi- and plurilingual language acquisition at an early age.

• Summary of theories on sequential language acquisition versus bilingualism at the same time, and the critical period of second language awareness and acquisition.

MELT Research 2

• Inventory of teaching methods applied in the various pre-school sectors: total immersion, various bilingual approaches

• Inventory of teacher-training schemes (initial training, in-service training) and qualifications (and certification)

• Inventory of qualification / certification systems of day care provisions, and strategies towards the improvement of the quality

MELT Pedagogical materials 1 (Folkhälsan)

• Toolkit for practitioners full of “best practices” – to start with extending the best practices of Lillemor Gammelgård, Language Strategy.NB: stress on “learning through playing”;

• Topics of special interest:- visibility of the language in the classroom - songs and music, dance- thematic work- exposure to rich language expressions of good quality

MELT Local Events

• Toolkit for practitioners: how to inform young parents (in mixed-language families) and how to guide them regarding their concerns.

• Toolkit for pre-school practitioners and primary school teachers together, aimed towards the “informed choice” on multilingual / immersion education.

MELT Quality Plan & Dissemination (Welsh Language Board)

• “Marketing” of the concept of multilingual early language transmission; c.q. various models of early immersion / bilingual teaching

• Dissemination by means of:- project flyer & NPLD website - seminar & conference & local events- publications in scientific journals and pedagogical journals like “Parents Today”, “Journal of Bilingual Families”

Website and Facebook

MELT Expert seminar(Mercator, 15-16 April 2010)

• Themes: models of teaching

• Preparation of toolkits:- practitioners’ own work- parents’ “informed choice”- enhancing parents’ support for the child’s development linguistically

Expert meeting April 2010

MELT Awareness Raising & Closing Conference (Conseil Régional de Bretagne)

• Conference (Brussels, October 2011)hopefully in co-operation with the EUPlatform Civil Society on Multilingualism

• Presentation of Toolkit in 8 languages• Presentation of research results• Recommendations on methodology,

materials and immersion training

• Eskerrik asko

• Mange Takk

• Diolch

Tankewol

• Trugarez

• Grazia

• Graciis

• Dankscheen • Mercé plan

• Kiitos

• Dz'akuju so

Köszönöm

• Hvala

• Multumesc

• Spassi Ba