About Us
Last June the ELLME 2022 conference "Future Challenges in Early Language Learning and Multilingual Education" took place, which brought together researchers, educators, policy makers, students, etc. from all over the world for the first time to discuss multilingualism at an early age. We think that this interest and success cannot expire and we want to present ELLMEnet, a new international and free network, conceived as an open space for sharing and discussing with the purpose of consolidating the area of very early multilingual education around the world.
Aims of the network:
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to encourage research and cooperation between researchers and other educational agents in the field of very early multilingual education (early childhood education, 0 to 6/7 years old approximately).
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to provide online spaces to promote debate and facilitate connections between researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders from across the globe.
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to cover issues concerning research and teacher education regarding mother tongue, heritage languages, endangered languages, foreign languages, additional languages, etc. covering school, home and community contexts.
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to encourage research that explores developments in early language policies and practices that promote justice, inclusion and social cohesion.
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to fill an existing gap in the international panorama, since, on the one hand, the network focuses concretely on early childhood, and, on the other, it aims to be international and inclusive, not giving primacy to English, but including all kinds of languages and multilingual contexts, not only formal schooling.
The network will be based for the moment at the University of Granada, and will be coordinated by Prof. Mila Schwartz (Oranim College Education, Israel) and Dr. Beatriz Cortina-Pérez (University of Granada, Spain). We intend to have 3 online events annually, one of them to promote doctoral students' research, as well as 1 face-to-face event in Granada every two years, following the ELLME conference.