Helping to foster the next bilingual/bi-cultural generation

Professor Li Wei, Director of the Centre for Applied Linguistics at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE), will chair an event on the theme: "Learning a home language" on Saturday 1 April.

The event will focus on Newham's Sikh Ramgarhia Panjabi School, which has been operating for 35 years and is just one reflection of Newham's diversity in a borough where more than 100 languages and major dialects are spoken.

84% of Newham's residents are of minority ethnic origin and over half its young people speak a language in addition to English.

Lyn Brown, MP for West Ham, will open the event, and it will be closed by Vice-Chancellor Professor John Joughin, from the University of East London (UEL). Other university and local speakers will also contribute. 

Professor Li Wei is a leading researcher in the field of bilingualism and multilingualism. He has carried out numerous research projects on community language education in the UK and abroad, and is currently co-leading a British Academy funded project on the cognitive benefits of language learning.

This free community event is open to the general public.

Time and date: 11:00-13:25, Saturday 1 April 2017
Location: Ramgarhia Community Centre, 270 Neville Road, Forest Gate, Newham, E7 9QN 
Parking: available public car park, 3 mins walk away, Shaftesbury Road, E7 8PL (off Green Street) Tube: Upton Park (5 mins walk away) Buses:   58, 104, 330, (Plashet Road stop) 376 (Plashet Road or Green Street stops).

Links

• Centre for Applied Linguistics
• Q&A with Professor Li Wei

Image

• Bengali street sign (courtesy of Francisco Anzola via Flickr). (Bengali is the most common second language in Newham).