News and FAQs
10 January 2024: Professor Paola Escudero was honoured to be a keynote speaker for the fourth International Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone World Conference at Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Puebla, Mexico and presented Little multilingual minds- Spanish: Children’s language maintenance and enhancement in the Australian context.
3 December 2023: Professor Paola Escudero presented preliminary findings from our LMM 2022 Primary program and our LMM 2022 Early Learning program to the Amigoss’ Board Meeting. Amigoss is a valued partner with the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant. This opportunity allows the LMM team to directly disseminate our research findings within the community that we aim to support and allows for community participation for our future research avenues.
1 December 2023: LMM Director, Paola Escudero presented Nurturing Australia’s Little Multilingual Minds: Preliminary findings from a Vietnamese preschool immersion program (Paola Escudero, Gloria Pino Escobar and Chloé Diskin-Holdaway) at the Annual Linguistic Society 2023 conference at the University of Sydney, NSW. Click the following link for the full program details: https://als.asn.au/Conference/2023/Program2023D3
1 December 2023: LMM Director, Paola Escudero presented Nurturing Australia’s Little Multilingual Minds: A solution for the NSW language learning dilemma in primary school (Paola Escudero, Chloé Diskin-Holdaway and Gloria Pino Escobar) at the Annual Linguistic Society 2023 conference at the University of Sydney, NSW. Click the following link for the full program details: https://als.asn.au/Conference/2023/Program2023D3
29 November 2023: Following the practical component of the workshop component at the Annual Linguistic Society 2023, our LMM Director, Paola Escudero was honoured to present a deeper dive into LMM session, themes, session plans and activities that go into making our language learning program a fun, enjoyable and educational experience for every age group in our LMM classrooms. Click the following link to view the full program guide: https://als.asn.au/Conference/2023/Workshops2023
29 November 2023: The LMM and VietSpeech teams co-presented a practical workshop at the Annual Linguistic Society 2023 conference held at the University of Sydney, NSW for Home language maintenance: Connecting children, families, and classrooms (Paola Escudero, Western Sydney, Sharynee McLeod, Charles Sturt). The workshop highlighted the importance of fun, evidence-based, interactive language learning delivery for young people in learning a second language and in supporting home language maintenance. Click the following link to view the full program guide: https://als.asn.au/Conference/2023/Workshops2023
2 August 2023: Join Professor Paola Escudero, our LMM director, as she chats with Emma Watkins from the Wiggles in a special MARCS BabyLab podcast on Gender, toys and uniting pink and blue. Professor Paola gives an insight into her research on infant cognition, toy preferences and gender stereotypes. Follow this link to listen to this episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/gender-toys-and-uniting-pink-and-blue/id1438580828?i=1000623095999
7 July 2023: Professor Paola Escudero presented our LMM program in her talk: "Nurturing Little Multilingual Minds in Australia and the world: Research program motivation, presentation, evaluation and more" at the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication from the University of Amsterdam.
27 June 2023: Professor Paola Escudero along with team members from LMM will be presenting at the International Symposium on Bilingualism, hosted by Macquarie University, in Sydney, NSW. LMM is proud to be contributing two presentations; Nurturing Australia’s Little Multilingual Minds: Research program presentation and evaluation and Nurturing Australia’s Little Multilingual Minds; A novel Mandarin program for early childhood education. Click the link to learn more about times and sessions: https://www.isb14.com/program/program-for-poster-presentations
26 June 2023: The LMM team, along with VietSpeech, will be delivering a Workshop; Home language maintenance: Connecting children, families and classrooms. This workshop will highlight the applied research benefits of LMM sessions for the International Symposium on Bilingualism, hosted by Macquarie University, in Sydney NSW. For more information on our workshop times and location, please click the link: https://www.isb14.com/program/workshops/home-language-maintenance
15 April 2023: On behalf of LMM, Dr Gloria Pino Escobar will lead a 1-hour practical workshop for the annual Community Languages Conference 2023. The workshop will include the opportunity for Community Language teachers to align their session plans following the LMM method and guidelines for Early Stage 1 and Stage 1.
21 February 2023: Professor Paola Escudero was interviewed by Mar Diaz from SBS Español for International Mother Language Day. Professor Paola Escudero addressed the SBS Australian Spanish speaking audience about the factors that affect Heritage Language (HL) loss and how our Little Multilingual Minds (LMM) program is helping to counteract the problem. Click the following link to read the full article or watch the recorded interview: La pérdida generacional del lenguaje es un problema que afecta a muchas familias migrantes, pero hay profesionales que se encargan de poner solución desde edad temprana a estas dificultades lingüísticas.
11 December 2022: Professor Paola Escudero presented the Little Multilingual Minds (LMM) method for Early Learning and pilot study for Primary School at the Amigoss' Board Meeting. Amigoss is a valued partner of the new ARC Linkage Project, and this outreach activity secures the continuity of our partnership and explores further research avenues.
20 October 2022: Western Sydney University has showcased our LMM program in a media release. Please click this link to know how Western Sydney University and The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Development help nurture Australia’s little multilingual minds.
18 October 2022: LMM welcomes our new pilot program for Mandarin sessions in two childcare centres in South Australia with Dr Hong Cai's collaboration. We thank the great work of our two new facilitators and three volunteers who deliver the Mandarin sessions. This is an expansive step for LMM into a new language and our first time delivering in South Australia. Please check out the Facilitator tab to read more about our new and growing team.
27 September- 4 October 2022: Over the last two weeks the LMM team lead by Professor Paola Escudero held a series of training and methods workshops which was attended by early learning educators, students from the University of Adelaide and volunteers in Melbourne online via Zoom.
24 August 2022: The LMM team led by Professor Paola Escudero has been awarded the highly competitive ARC Linkage Grant. This grant will help further research into heritage language learning programs for early education. LMM has also partnered with three language learning industry partners; Goodstart Learning Ltd and VietSpeak to deliver Vietnamese sessions in Melbourne and Amigoss Spanish Bilingual Childcare to deliver Spanish sessions in Sydney. With this amazing opportunity, the LMM program will support heritage languages and enhance children’s well-being.
22 June 2022: Gloria Pino Escobar and LMM facilitator Anyela Tarifeño presented a workshop curated by Professor Paola Escudero titled 'Little Multilingual Minds (LMM), an evidence-based method for young children's love of languages: Introduction, masterclass, and workshop'. Organised by the NSW Federation of Community Languages Schools, including the South Asian Language Schools Early Learners. The workshop was held at the Park Royal Hotel, Parramatta.
23 April 2022: Professor Paola Escudero presented a keynote address at the Annual State Community Language Teachers Conference and Professional Development Training Day, titled 'Little Multilingual Minds: An innovative research program for nurturing Australia's multilingualism' . Organised by the NSW Federation of Community Languages Schools.
11 March 2022: It is with great pleasure that LMM announces our new collaborator, Dr Hong Cai, who joins us from the University of Adelaide. Dr Hong Cai is an Education Specialist and has a PhD in Linguists and is also a NAATI-certified translator. Please head over to our Team page to read more about Dr Hong Cai, her outstanding accomplishments and recent publications.
February 2022: Little Multilingual Minds have launched a full immersive Spanish pilot Program for Primary School in conjunction with Amigos Early Learning Centre. This new step will help LMM reach more children and continue to aid in heritage language maintenance.
12 November 2021: Professor Paola Escudero presented our Little Multilingual Minds program at the International Conference on Community/Heritage Languages Education (SICLE) as part of the Symposium “Home language and multilingual support to preschoolers in early childhood education settings and community language schools”.
21 October 2021: Professor Paola Escudero hosted a presentation introducing our Little Multilingual Minds - bilingual primary school program. The event had a great response from families and parents.
22 September 2021: Professor Paola Escudero was interviewed by Care for Kids, for their article on the benefits of multilingualism: Teaching Multiple Languages to Under Fives! “Our ultimate goal is to empower Australians to embrace this country’s rich linguistic diversity to change the monolingual mindset to a multilingual and multicultural view, which supports greater empathy, social awareness, and a better ability to understand and know about the world.” View the full interview (opens in a new window) here.
20 September 2021: Professor Escudero hosted a presentation and Q&A of the LMM program with our first partner.
August 2021: LMM has a new group of children at our first partner. We now provide LMM for 2- to 4- year-old children.
July 2021: LMM sessions have been moved to online and hybrid delivery to help families during this COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney. Our first partner is very happy with this new delivery mode.
17 June 2021: LMM Developer and CI Professor Paola Escudero was a panellist in the successful webinar The Benefits of Multilingualism (opens in a new window) organised by BabyLab and the MARCS Institute for Brain Behaviour and Development at Western Sydney University. You can find the webinar information and useful resources at this link (opens in a new window).
May 2021: LMM onsite sessions at our Early Childhood Centre partner in Sydney are in full swing. We have started with a group of 4- to 6-year-old children. They are extending their Spanish skills while playing, creating and having fun. We are receiving great feedback from the families.... Very soon we will be sharing our first LMM results.
8 February 2021: Dr Chloé Diskin-Holdaway and Professor Paola Escudero co-authored an article published in The Conversation (opens in a new window), a leading publisher of research-based news and analysis regarding multilingualism and accents diversity.
The article was a success and it was republished in many international outlets including SBS and the European Commission newsletter (opens in a new window).
July 2020: If you are interested in how to improve video communication with grandchildren, nephews or nieces under the age of 5, check out our recent article in The Conversation (opens in a new window).
Useful resources
Find a Community Language School for school-aged children (opens in a new window).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is a Heritage Language?
A heritage language (HL) is a language spoken at home that is different from the majority or dominant language. In Australia, the majority language is English, and a heritage language might be, for example, Chinese, Arabic, or Spanish. Children from migrant families are often raised speaking a HL or a mix of a HL and the majority language. The varied input of the HL and the lack of community support results in a range of HL proficiencies among children.
You can find more information about heritage languages in Professor Paola Escudero’s recent paper “Probability of heritage language use at a supportive early childhood setting in Australia” (opens in a new window)
More FAQs to come soon!
