What is going on in the world?

Here are our March News Around the World Sspotlights!

We have taken some time out of our busy schedules to see what is going on out there in cyberspace with respect to language, culture, bilingual education and anything else worthy of reporting.

Here is a listing of what we found to be interesting:

• USA way back when: “English Only” Early Americans Were Worried about German - Although some dispute the claim that German would have been our official language had it not been for that one vote, the story of how early Americans felt about language is fascinating!

• US nowadays: “CED Urges Increased Investment in International Education and Foreign Language Studies” What will it take to finally make the US wake up to the need, value and joy of second language learning? To read the actual report (vs the news synopsis) click here.

• US Bilingual Education: “Why is Bilingual Education Controversial?” - For many years now the US has seen an almost frantic reaction against bilingual education - at least when it comes to Spanish bilingual education! What is it about bilingual education that is scaring this nation and what is the role of politics in bilingualism?

• Europe: “Europeans' Language Skills on the Rise” - While the US is pulling its hair out over politics and bilingualism, Europe is steadily making its way toward a bilingual population.

• Czech Republic: “Never too young if language is fun” - It goes without saying that if you make language learning fun, if you take away the outdated vocabulary grilling and if you start it with preschoolers, you have a recipe for instant success! Even the Czech Republic is participating in our new 21st century phenomenon of educating our children with a second language.

• Global: “English Language to Lose its Global Predominance" - Has the time come for English to step down from its throne of predominance? Is the world going through a language paradigm shift? Could it be that multilingualism is the next big thing to hit the marketplace?

• Asia: “China 's Latest Export: Language" - Chinese may be a difficult language to master but that doesn't seem to be stopping the world from wanting to learn it. In fact, what better language to teach a young child whose mind is simply ready to absorb the sounds of language?

• Africa: “Are indigenous languages dead?” - What is happening to the indigenous languages in Africa? As the most linguistically diverse continent in the world, what does the future hold for the African languages?

• Australia: “Towards a Bilingual Nation” - Australia, "a nation rich in language resources, yet characterised (at government and community level) by monolingual thinking". Professor Michael Clyne speaks about multilingualism in Australia and discusses his book, "Australia's Language Potential".

• Middle East: “School Breaks Down Israeli Barriers” - What does it take to bring cultures together? Our youth hold the potential for change if we let them grow without bias and preconceived notions. Perhaps the Galil Elementary school in northern Israel will help this process come about.

• India: “India 's Language Barrier to Computing” - Take a look back in 2001 when computers for the India market was just getting started. Although most of India speaks English, having computing power in a native tonge still holds sway.

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March Features & Essays

• Accenting Your Love Life - how to meet the foreigner of your dreams!

• From Breast is Best to Chicken Soup - babies and food during the first year of their life.

• Multicultural Families - Identity and Change - Harriet gives us support for blending and strengthening our family's cultures.

• My Kid Speaks Better Than Yours! - Advice for how not to let comments from others stress you out.

• Law in a Multilingual Environment - The Advantages of Cross Fertilization - a reprint of an article about law and politics in the context of bilingualism.

• Oh No! My Child Has Caught Bilingualism! - a parody on our world's fear of language and culture.

• My Half Identity - a reprint about not trying to be half this and half that; instead being two in one.

BBFN Columnists

• Multicultural Melange - Alice grew up in a bilingual/bicultural Korean-Austrian family. In this month's column, Alice shares her thoughts on raising her child trilingually.

• The Single Language Spouse - Get to know Colleen, the "single language spouse". She is married to a Russian and in this month's column shares her thoughts on raising a child bilingually when you don't speak the "other" language.

• Eurapsody - Meet Clo, an Italian native currently based in France with her Belgian partner and raising a quadrilingual child. In this month's column she helps us with finding a name for our future multilingual child.

• One Family One Language - Lilian and her husband live in the US but both are originally from Brazil. In her column, Lilian will share with us the joys and struggles of raising two boys bilingually with the minority-language-at-home approach.

• Between Grandparent and Grandchild - Corey's mother's tough questions contributed to this group actually coming into being! In this column she introduces herself to you through her experience of becoming a mother and the hopes for global understanding that came with it.

March Presentation

Raising Multicultural Children: Communication Strategies That Work!
With Harriet Cannon, M.C.

March 30th, 7:30 PM

Stay Informed

• News Around the World - Check out articles, essays and opinions about language, culture and identity around the world.

• Ages & Stages - Want to know if your child is just going through a stage or maybe prepare for the next step in your child's life?

• Tips & Advice - Check out "My Kid Speaks Better Than Yours!" and questions answered by Harriet.

• Once A Day! - Rev up your grey cells with today's tip, word, quote, wisdom, Did You Know? and activity!

• Humor & Fun - Read "Oh No, My Chil Caught Bilingualism!", test your American English vowel knowledge and learn how to bark like a dog in different languges.

Spotlights & Info

• Marketplace Spotlights - check out this month's book review, Sponge School and Magellan's Toy Shop.

• Website Spotlights - Have you heard of "Talkin About Talk" and read Maya Lin's essay on being bicultural.

• What's New at BBFN? - Ask Harriet, Interviews with people of influence, share postcards with other bilingual/bicultural families, and check out Corey's blog.

• Look Who's Talking - Harriet's presentation is coming up at the end of March and Corey will offer a seminar at the end of April.

• Mailbag- Carol in Spain shares her thoughts about our February newsletter and contrasts our American Between Worlds essay with her experiences in Spain.

Past Newsletters

• February 2006

Contact Us

Web:www.biculturalfamily.org
Email: info@biculturalfamily.org

Mailing Address:
Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network
P.O. Box 51172
Seattle , WA 98115