Childhood Bilingualism/Multilingualism: Heritage language maintenance

Testimonials

The workshop on bilingualism confirmed what I have observed during my EAL teaching practice over the past decade: literacy in the first language only benefits a child's literacy skills in English. The skills are transferable and parents should encourage the use of first language as much as possible, because it is usually minimized in comparison to English, as soon as the child enters education. What a lot of parents do not realize until it's too late, is that their child will not be able to switch between languages just as easily as they can, if she grows up in an English environment; just because they are bilingual, their child won't automatically become one. Biliteracy is the only way forward preserving a bicultural life.

Best wishes

Krisztina Fogarasi, an EAL teacher

Thank you for the great workshop on childhood bilingualism/multilingualism at the Hungarian Cultural Centre! I hope that there will be more workshops like these in future - it was informative, thought-provoking and very practical, too. Thank you so much again!

Best wishes, Henrietta Cser