National Year of Reading: exploring "spaces" for multilingualism (Webinar)

In this webinar, we welcome Professor Sabine Little to look at the research she has collaborated on around multilingual reading, and how the positioning of school as a monolingual or multilingual space affects the child's ability to bring their whole plurilingual selves to their reading development.

Sabine’s research, conducted in partnership with the National Literacy Trust shows that multilingual children are more likely to enjoy reading than their monolingual peers, but also that many multilingual children wish schools recognised their multilingualism more (Teravainen-Goff et al, 2021). Research funded by the UK Literacy Association (Little, 2024) highlights the power of multilingual artefacts in breaking down linguistic barriers between home and school.

As well as exploring underlying theoretical concepts, the webinar will include practical ideas for schools, including low/no budget options for:

• Ideas on how to integrate multilingualism into shared reading and storytelling.

• Events and activities that can help foreground multilingual reading at class or school level.

• Starting a multilingual library in your setting.

• Rivers of Multilingual Reading as a linguistically inclusive artefact exploring children's reading journey.

• Supporting children's agency as creators of multilingual stories, poems, etc.

We will also hear more about how The Bell Foundation is helping educators to bring multilingualism into the National Year of Reading.

Speakers:

• Glynis Lloyd - Trainer, The Bell Foundation;

• Sabine Little - Professor of Literacy and Multilingualism at the University of Sheffield and Vice President of the UK Literacy Association.