Our Activities
Who we are and what we do
Note that we use the term “bilingual” according to Professor Emeritus François Grosjean’s definition:
Bilinguals are those who use two or more languages (or dialects) in their everyday lives.
Our aims are to
1. Help children acquire, develop, and maintain all their languages, independent of where in the world they live or which languages they speak.
2. Provide accurate, research-based information and advice on best practices on how to raise bilingual children at home and in educational settings. We aim to make our advice clear and easy to understand.
3. Advance the understanding of the benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism for children and young people among our target audience.
4. Promote language equality and diversity to give every child the chance to use their heritage language(s).
5. Advice policymakers on how to achieve language equality and diversity.
Our target audiences are
1. Bilingual and multilingual families
2. Professionals working with bilingual and multilingual families
3. Schools and other educational institutions with bilingual and multilingual children as pupils
4. Refugee and immigrant organisations
5. Policymakers
Our activities are to
1. Publish free and low-cost publications, such as guides, articles, and printable materials, as well as videos and playlists in different languages.
2. Translate our materials into additional languages to make them widely available.
3. Share our materials on our website and through social media.
4. Train a world-wide network of Bilingual Family Specialists to offer accurate, research-based advice about bilingual and multilingual children in various languages.
5. Arrange talks, workshops, and training in different languages, both online and in communities across the world.
6. Arrange conferences and other events.
7. Advise organisations, officials, and policymakers on how to ensure that their laws, regulations, and policies comply with UN’s Convention of the Rights of the Child:
Article 30
In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989. Entry into force 2 September 1990.
Bilingual Family is a charity founded on 8th of August 2024. Our headquarters are in Scotland and our founding members are former Ambassadors for the Erasmus+ PEaCH Project, which you can read more about in the Background section.
Since we rely on donations, we would very much appreciate your contribution!