Tapas bar Samsara Strolling in Barcelona’s city center reveals an astounding variety of spoken languages: there are the languages used by the throngs of visitors coming from literally everywhere, and…
Nizaqete Bislimi (Source: DuMont Verlag / Franz Brück) Some of the most striking images from the refugees who have been trekking across Europe are of families and children. Beyond the…
Benz, Victoria. 2015. Dynamics of bilingual early childhood education: Parental attitudes and institutional realisation. PhD. Macquarie University. Victoria Benz recently completed her PhD thesis about “Dynamics of bilingual early childhood education: Parental…
Tetteh, Vera W. 2015. Language, Education and Settlement: A Sociolinguistic Ethnography on, with, and for Africans in Australia. PhD thesis, Macquarie University. Vera Williams Tetteh has just completed her PhD…
"How bad is your cultural cringe?" (Source: Jenna Guillaume, BuzzFeed) Keith: I’m still really shit at pronouncing Lisa’s surname. With the umlaut o. Hanna: What is Lisa’s surname? (laughter) Keith:…
"Naughty boys" in the media: image from the Channel 4 gangs and drugs drama "Top Boy" Teacher expectations can constitute a self-fulfilling prophecy: teachers behave differently towards children depending on…
Bilingualism has a gender A while ago, I reported on the findings of a US study that demonstrated that children of immigrants who achieve high-level bilingual proficiency in both English…
'Soaking up English like a sponge:' The researcher's young son engrossed in a Thesaurus If someone cannot now learn their native language, adding a couple of foerign (sic) dead languages…
Nanai/Hezhe children (Source: Wikipedia) We have often examined here on Language on the Move how ‘English for all’ educational policies entrench inequality rather than alleviate disadvantage (e.g., here or here).…
Meat workers, Fletcher Abattoir (Source: SheepCRC) One of the most famous research subjects to ever have participated in second language learning research is a man known in the literature as…
Australia-China Youth Dialogue 2014 I recently returned from the Australia China Youth Dialogue in Beijing, my head buzzing with new ideas. The Dialogue promotes “more sophisticated cross-cultural understanding among Australian…
2012 workshop on 'Linguistic Diversity and Social Inclusion in Australia' at Macquarie University How does language intersect with social inclusion in contemporary Australia? Do social inclusion policies address linguistic diversity?…
Livia and her classmates at a crossroads the year before entering (or not) Gymnasium (Switzerland, 2004) Secondary education as a monolingual fork in the road Let me bust a prevalent…
Visit the Bilingual Avenue! Bilingual Avenue is an insightful and entertaining new website devoted to bilingual parenting and bilingual education. Bilingual Avenue features weekly podcasts, a blog and a resources…
Christmas party at an International High School in Yunnan Over the past few decades, an increasing number of Burmese international students have enrolled in high schools in Yunnan, a province…
PASCH Schools: Partners for the future Last week I was privileged to attend the 3rd Conference of School Principals of PASCH Schools in Southeast Asia. A ‘PASCH school’ is a regular…