Talking about language and emotions at home


Talking about language and emotions at home

Hilde de Smedt Foyer, vzw, Brussels

ccCC BY 4.0

Cite as: de Smedt Foyer, H. (2017, December). Talking about language and emotions at home. Paper presented at the Third UC Intergenerational Transmission of Minority Languages Symposium: Challenges and Benefits. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5620570


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Talking about Language and Emotions at home

Parents are the first to introduce children in the world of sounds and words. While this is evident in a monolingual situation,  multilingual families are often confronted with a lot of doubts and critics.

These parents need to be sustained in two roles.

  • In their role as manager they should be able to make the right choices about languages spoken at home. They should know how to manage choices with a long time view. A lot of programs and accessible literature sustain this role.
  • In their role as coach they should know how to improve skills taking into account well-being and motivation, helping to overcome obstacles. There is an absence of tools that take this up in an explicit way.

Tales at Home is a European project developing a digital tool that professionals can use to sustain parents in their role as coach this by:

–              Making emotions, ideas and motivations visible

–              Stimulating family communication

The tool is now in an experimental phase and will be presented May 2018. Afterwards it will be available for free use by professionals with sustaining online training. First results are available. www.talesathome.eu

 




COMMENTS (2)


Hilde, it was wonderful to hear more about this project. I can see how this tool could also be useful in endangered language situations. In New Zealand, language planners talk about the importance of making people aware of the endangered status of the Māori language, with the idea being that this awareness will motivate speakers more. But my research indicates that the primary reason people learn and speak Māori is not principally to save the language but rather to fulfil their own identity needs. What I like about this tool is that it is family focussed and starts from how family members feel about the languages in their environment and gives people a safe and helpful way of articulating feelings about languages. I think this tool would be helpful to raise a different sort of awareness, an awareness within a family about their individual and collective feelings, needs and desires. I think this tool could be helpful in the New Zealand situation so I’m keen to hear more about it when you make the final presentation in May. Congratulations again on this wonderful work!

Thanks for your reaction!
I surely let you know when the tool is ready and integrated on the project website.
Kind regards
Hilde

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