Australia's present and future is multilingual.
Every child in Australia should grow up at least bilingual.
Languages education starts before school life and should continue throughout.
The Melbourne Language Picnic - 2010
The Melbourne Language Picnic is on again!
Date: Sunday, 21st March, National Harmony Day 2010, from 9 am to 5 pm.
Venue: Collingwood Children’s Farm, St. Heliers Street, Abbotsford.
Bring your family and friends, your lingo and share in some multilingual fun and games.
For further information, follow this link:
http://www.melbournelanguagepicnic.wordpress.com/
One of the presentations at last year’s seminar on raising bilingual children at Melbourne University discussed Languages Activism and the different ways in which parents can contribute to enhancing language learning in the wider community. Kimmba Bilingual Learning Playgroups are an outstanding example of such an initiative, and here is the story of the person behind its success.
Marisha Theeboom is an experienced, trained Mandarin teacher and volunteer community worker since 1987. She has worked with a variety of ages, cultures and in different continents whilst involved with a large charitable organisation that spans Taiwan, America and South Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree from University of Cape Town, R.S.A.,1996.
She married an Australian Pilot in 2000, migrated to Melbourne and has three daughters. As a migrant herself, she is aware of the difficulties involved in settling within the local community. Thus she has turned her love of teaching and community work into establishing Kimmba Bilingual Learning Playgroup Inc. Kimmba has been established for migrants and local residents to be able to gather together and understand each other through a fun and loving playgroup environment. In doing so, she hopes the establishment of Kimmba Bilingual Learning Playgroup enables more migrants from differing cultures to benefit by retaining their self-identity and at the same time develop proficiency in English language skills.
Marisha has developed her own bilingual education program for young children, called Jo Jo Bilingual Education Program and started the first Mandarin bilingual learning playgroup at Taiwanese School of Melbourne in July 2006. She has further studied and obtained a Certificate in the Professional Development Program in Second Language Teaching Methodology for Teachers in Ethnic Schools (Chinese Phase I) from RMIT University November, 2006.
This year Marisha is expanding Kimmba so that more children and families can be exposed to wide range of languages and cultures. She is opening a new Center in Prahran that will be available for students ranging from 0-6 years old to come from 1 hour- 15 hours a week to learn either Mandarin, German or Spanish. The Prahran center is set up as an early learning center with two fully qualified and trained teachers in every room. This center is hopefully the first of many to come as Marisha is passionate about exposing children and families to different languages and cultures to help build positive relationships with everyone in the community.
To find out more , please visit http://www.kimmba.com.au/
For those not able to attend the recent RUMACCC (University of Melbourne) seminar on raising bilingual children, the link below will take you to the handouts for the sessions on what parents can do to encourage language learning beyond the home, for their children and community alike.
You are invited to a FREE seminar for parents, early childhood and pre-school workers, grandparents, teachers and others interested in bilingual education.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 12:45pm – 5pm
Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Cnr Swanston St and Monash Rd, University of Melbourne
THE SEMINAR IS FREE BUT REGISTRATION IS ESSENTIAL by November 23rd.
You are invited to attend a free public forum to explore the advantages of educating children bilingually, with focus on establishing an Italian Bilingual School.
When: Sunday, 11 October 2009, 2pm
Where: Co As It, 189 Faraday St, Carlton
Prof Joe Lo Bianco, from the University of Melbourne will give the keynote address.
This forum is being organised by a group of parents who are members of the Italian Bilingual School Project (a not-for-profit unincorporated association).
Tags: bilingual education, Italian
Public Meeting on this issue
Monday 24 August, 7.30pm
Multicultural Hub
506 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
(Opposite Queen Victoria Market, Melway Map 1E J2)
Speakers include:
RSVP Christine 03 9474 0531
Following on from the successful Multilingual Picnic in Canberra in December last year, the first ever Melbourne Language Picnic attracted families associated with the following languages: Arabic, Chollo, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Swedish and Vietnamese.
While not everyone was able to come on the day, there was plenty of feedback and interest in supporting this kind of event in the future.
The presence of a Japanese exchange student provided an opportunity for the children with Japanese LOTEs to try out their skills, and prompted a similar exchange for those with Italian LOTE. A highlight of the day was some basic formalized language activity, and it was a joy to observe the enthusiasm with which all the children joined in.
Alessandro, one of the video stars below, gave us this spontaneous vote of approval: ‘The language picnic is cool!’
Some linguistic potential who could be persuaded to pose for a photo
Video clips:
Language bites in
If anyone would like to offer ideas, suggestions or become involved in organizing language-focused social events in their locality, please contact Angela or Brigitte.
Sunday 1 March 2009
Jells Park, Wheelers Hill – 11.00 am to 2.00 pm
Do you have an interest in language? Come along to Melbourne’s first-ever Language Picnic – to be held on Sunday 1 March at Jells Park, Wheelers Hill, near the playground behind the café (Entry Waverley Rd – Melways Ref: 71, J5)
Bring family and friends, some goodies, a rug, a chair – and
• Share your language experiences
• Swap ideas on raising children in more than one language
• Find out more about language learning
• Celebrate Australia’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
Everyone welcome! To register your attendance – and specific language of interest – email Angela (dacafarella@optusnet.com.au) or ring Brigitte on 0408 991 894
This event is a non-profit initiative of the Languages Action Alliance.
