By Helen Absalom, English Language Acquisition Teacher and multilingualism specialist.
Although ISU has long been an advocate of multilingualism, last academic year we started working with an external consultant, Dr Eowyn Crisfield, who is teaching us how we can better support the full linguistic repertoire for all our multilingual learners.
As well as working with teachers, a big part of Dr Crisfield’s contribution to language development in schools around the world has been to work closely with and support parents. We are extremely fortunate to be able to host Dr Crisfield for a parent evening on Wednesday 1 October. She will deliver a custom-made presentation to our ISU parents and help us all investigate how we can better support our multilingual children in and out of school. All our parents are invited!
Background on Dr Crisfield
Dr Eowyn Crisfield is a Canadian-educated applied linguist and educator specialising in multilingualism, bilingual development, and English language acquisition. She began her career teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Canada and later worked extensively in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and the UK, where she has advised international schools, universities, and families.
With over 25 years of experience, she has become a leading voice in Multilingualism and English Language Acquisition, Family Language Planning and multilingual education policy. Alongside her consultancy, Crisfield Educational Consultancy, she is also a fellow at Oxford University, England where she teaches on the teacher education post graduate programmes. She is the author of, ‘Bilingual Families: A Practical Language Planning Guide (2021)’, which bridges research with hands-on strategies for parents and educators.
Session Content
In her talk, Dr Crisfield will be discussing the importance of not just letting things simply ‘happen’ regarding multilingual development but to have a clear plan defined by the family itself. It is really important that the family is proactive in deciding who speaks what, when and why. In addition, the Family Language Plan should include goals, strategies of implementation, and a reviewing process. We will be looking at what implications these pillars have for you as multilingual families: looking at how a Family Language Plan should be a dynamic process which involves the children, is balanced and provides deliberate protection for our languages.
Emotional and cultural dimension of language
Dr Crisfield will also be looking at the emotional and cultural dimension of our language acquisition journeys. Family Language Planning should not merely be a technical exercise, it should be an act of cultural and emotional connection.
We look forward to welcoming you on Wednesday evening 1 October. Let us all connect linguistically to better provide for our multilingual children at ISU.