The Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) is proud to host a week of celebratory events from Monday 19 June to Friday 23 June. Events across the week are open to families as well as professionals working with bilingual families and will mark the official launch for CeLM, an interdisciplinary research institute based at the University of Reading.

Take a look at our events below:

ART EXHIBITION ‘POINT OF ENTRY’ BY DUNCAN SWANN

The Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism is proud to present an exhibition with Artist Duncan Swann. A display of his work exploring the themes of identity and humanity in the context of migration, will be open to the public. Admission is free.

OPENING EVENT

Date: Thursday 15 June
Time: 18:30 – 20:30
Location: Studios, building L04, London Road campus

Public opening times (Booking is not required)

Date: 15 – 23 June
Time: 10:00 – 16:00 and 18:00 – 20:30
Location: Studios, building L04, London Road campus

PUBLIC LECTURE: LITERACY DEVELOPMENT IN MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Professor Rhona Stainthorp will be giving a public lecture about multilingual literacy development. The event, hosted by the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM), aims to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities multilingual children face when they learn how to read and write in more than one language.

Successful reading and writing involves coordinating word reading and spelling processes with language comprehension processes including vocabulary knowledge. Multilingual literacy involves coordinating these processes in at least two languages and two writing systems. We need to understand how the writing systems work to appreciate the challenges and opportunities faced by young literacy learners.

The public lecture will be followed by a roundtable discussion with Q&A with Professor Rhona Stainthorp, Professor Ludovica Serratrice, Dr Naomi Flynn, and education practitioners. Before the public lecture, guests can attend our art exhibition titled ‘Point of Entry’ by Duncan Swann.

Admission is free, but booking is required.

Date: 19 June 19:00
Time: 19:00
Location: L022 G01, London Road campus

WORKSHOP: BI-/MULTILINGUALISM AND THE DECLINING BRAIN: CURRENT EVIDENCE AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

This free event will look into contemporary suggestions about the neuroprotective effects of bi-/multilingualism against brain decline in healthy and patient populations. It will bring together early career and established researchers in the fields of second language acquisition and cognitive/clinical neuroscience, and will comprise a state-of-the-art snapshot in the field, as well as discuss potential future directions for research.

Date: 21 June
Time: 9:00 – 16:30
Location: L022 G01, London Road campus

WORKSHOP: LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT IN BILINGUAL CHILDREN: RESEARCH & CLINICAL PRACTICE IN FRANCE, THE UK, AND THE USA

This free event organised by the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) will bring together researchers and practitioners from France, the UK, and the USA who work with bilingual children with language impairment. The workshop will address the challenge of identifying language impairment in bilingual children. It will illustrate assessment material for bilingual children, explore the use of parent and teacher interviews, standardized tests, and narrative language sampling to support clinical decision making regarding diagnosis and intervention processes. Attendees will interpret standardized test data and use assessment protocols for making decisions based on language sampling that can be employed in everyday practice with bilingual children.

Maximum number of attendees: 40

Date: 23 June
Time: 10:00-16:00
Location: Building L022, Lecturing Theatre G01, London Road campus