Q&A-events “Raising bilingual children” by the Bilingualism Matter group at University Milan-Bicocca
MultiMind ESRs Jasmijn Bosch and Maren Eikerling organized four Q&A events (2 in English, 2 in Italian) on raising bilingual children, in which parents could ask their questions on bilingualism and share their experience in raising bilingual children.
These Q&A events were organized for small groups of 10 people maximum. They took place on the International Mother Tongue Day (21.02.2021) to acknowledge bilingualism as an enriching factor for society and on the European Day of Speech and Language Therapy (06.03.2021) to raise awareness for a careful distinction between a language disorder and language difficulties due to unbalanced, bilingual language exposure. After a short introduction of the group and general information on bilingualism and bilingual child language acquisition, participants asked questions regarding the situation in their families. The participants appreciated the chance to exchange thoughts and experiences with other parents in similar situations and were reassured by the presenters about the positive impact of bilingualism.
These events were motivated by many questions received by the Bilingualism Matters group at the University of Milan-Bicocca during the European Researchers’ Night in November 2020. A leaflet answering these most frequently asked questions on bilingualism has been published in Italian and English.
