Lingua Franca Foundation » first steps

Official stamping – A STEP AHEAD !

Suziana Salleh — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:16:02 +0000

On the 4th of March 2010, The Stichting Lingua Franca Foundation has received an official Piccolingo Campaign for early foreign language learning certificate. This Foundation has shown great interest in supporting and encouraging parents in exposing their children to language diversity! We believe that at a very early age, children are able to enjoy learning diverse languages and at the same time, gaining knowledge of other cultures and belief – hopefully this will create a new perspective over tolerance, acceptance and mutual respect amongst the younger generation.

Because of this great interest, the Foundation has created a club for kids – which one of the objectives is – to also initiate such project among children. It is also another approach to reach out to all types of children despite their nationality, race and religion. What more of a better way than children reaching out to other children? They can learn to encourage and support each other – giving hand to-hand guidance – while having fun together and getting to know one another more thoroughly and put aside their differences to find a common ground between them so that they can live in a more harmonious way.

So, there it is! It’s now OFFICIAL ! The Stichting Lingua Franca Foundation is now a member and supporter of the Piccolingo Campaign. For your information, the Piccolingo Campaign is an initiative from the European Union under Education and Culture DG.

Marco Bertolini, the co-Founder of Lingua Franca Foundation, has been appointed as a supporter for the Piccolingo Campaign for Belgium from PICCOLINGO.

Uuhh?? Uuuhh?? Mama, I can read..??!

Suziana Salleh — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:21:19 +0000

Have you ever witness little children who are able to read without having to teach them how to read the language in the first place? This is without sending them to a specific language school, or send them to special language class to enable them to learn to grasp the language and to fully understand the concept of the language itself. I am talking about literally putting a book in front of them and they start reading simultaneously, and surprisingly with almost no fault nor correction! I am not saying that you shouldn’t teach any language just by speaking alone, but believe me! It helps a lot in grasping the meaning and pronouncing the words faster than usual.

boy reading a book

I have been speaking English with my children since they were born. It’s not their only language since we speak more than three languages in the house. But to my astonishment, my children are able to recognise words and sentences from any English book and are able to read them fluently. All I know is that, all these years we never stop talking and practising the language. We speak English every single day.

One thing here that I feel the urge to mention is that I make sure the children speak proper English. Not any ‘broken’ English as most people put it. I have the tendency to keep correcting their sentences whenever there is the need for correction. This is because I know for a fact that it is crucial to speak the language correctly so that the person receiving the information will benefit from understanding fully what you want to relay in the first place – hopefully without having to repeat over and over again for clarity.

boy and girl reading a book

Now, it seems that my hard work has been paid off – slowly (I am waiting for a big fat cheque at the end of all this! Haha, just kidding…) Honestly, I am genuinely happy to see that my children are benefiting our endless effort all these years. There are a lot of sweat and tears along the journey, however, I am more than satisfied with the fruitful result. Imagine that throughout the years, it was I who read the books to the children almost every night. And now? Now, it’s totally a different story altogether. It’s a total opposite, really! The children are the ones who read pirate adventures books, or stories about beautiful princesses and the ever lasting Prince Charming. Or stories about little boys and girls, or stories about frogs and swans, gnomes and fairies and even funny comic books to me instead! You should have seen the look in their eyes once they start reading on their own. As if they have found the long lost treasure from Treasure Island. They are so proud to tell me, ” I can read, mama…. I can read!”

With this, I am now teaching the children the proper structure of the language through writing. I do not have to start at the very beginning since this is no longer an unfamiliar territory. I am sure that the children will have more pleasure in learning the language thoroughly since I am already seeing signs of ‘having so much fun‘ while they are reading and writing English. I am entirely convinced that the children will be able to read, write, speak and hear the language in full gear in the very near future! Never under estimate the power of the mind of a child….

Piccolingo in the Netherlands?

Suziana Salleh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:43:26 +0000

The Piccolingo logo

As you have read about the Piccolingo – an European program aimed to promote early language learning for preschool children; I am wondering and strongly hoping that this sort of project is achievable and manageable in the Dutch region.

The Lingua Franca Foundation (Lingua Franca Academy) – is seriously promoting such cause – wanting full exposure for very young children to adapt to more than one language. Having to master more than one language is considered a skill – and to be able to learn and sharpen one skill at a very tender age is a long lasting investment! Not many children having this unique advantage, but those who do, should be given full boost to further their knowledge in this field.

From my understanding and observation all these years, I can conclude that foreigners come to settle in this land of tulips for plenty of reasons. Some for work and business opportunity, some for furthering their education and knowledge, others for private reasons; for example wanting to re-connect to families who migrated to the the Netherlands long ago, and most of them come to this country for the sake of love. Here in the Netherlands, it is common to see many ‘mixed’ couple with ‘mixed’ children strolling down the street. Seeing that many children come from a ‘mixed’ environment – having families coming from diverse backgrounds and speak with more than one language – this environment should be more encouraging – and not being oppressed nor ignored! – to suit the need of the present and the future. It is proven worldwide that people who possess and practice more than one language can benefit more in life.

Most pre-schools here in the Netherlands only stress the importance of one language; the Dutch language. Learning another language is only stressed upon after the age of 10 in the dutch school system. This is definitely not an ideal learning environment since brain stimulation for languages starts at a very tender age. It is not a complicated manner. It’s rather simple actually. The younger you are, the easier and faster your brain capacity to absorb all information – ESPECIALLY when it comes to language. The brain works as a sponge – absorbing every word and store them all. The understanding of the word comes a bit later, but the very least is that the brain has been exposed to a ‘new’ word every time permissible!

It would be an idealistic world if you could see all generations able to socialize respectfully and with tolerance. Can this be possible? I surely think it is! If so, how? Well, personally, I think having knowledge of more than one language can break that barrier that keeps us apart and being ignorant. Language is a means of communicating; and to know more languages brings people closer and open their minds to the differences they have and learn to understand how to live with one another respectfully and harmoniously.

Everything has to start from somewhere. So, I think it is extremely crucial to start to learn another language from a very tender age. Not only the children learn another language and having fun by doing it, in addition and most importantly, they also learn that the world do not only revolve around them and they have to learn to live together and respect each other’s differences despite colour, race, religion etc. After all, at that tender age, children see pass the differences and the colour of the skin due to their purified souls. Then, perhaps, this idealistic world I mentioned before can actually exist…. Don’t you think so?

You can give us your opinion by completing the poll below…

You can also contribute to the discussion on our FaceBook Page here.

We appreciate your collaboration and we are really thankful for any ideas or suggestions, so don’t hesitate to make your opinion known to us. Thank you.

It’s done ! The Lingua Franca Foundation is on track now!

Marco Bertolini — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:43:57 +0000

Yes !

We have been waiting that moment for a (too long) while, now, and it is done !

What ? The Lingua Franca Foundation is born! It was yesterday, in a notary office somewhere near Maastricht. The baby is well and the happy parent are overwhelmed with emotion, of course.

The statutes have been signed at a little more than 4 PM, local time. And the Lingua Franca Foundation is now a reality! A reality of which we’ll regularly inform you on this very blog.

So we hope too see you soon. For fresh and stunning good news about the Lingua Franca Foundation, its projects and the people who, everyday, make it a fascinating experience.