Bilingual

The impact of bilingualism on lateralized brain functions such as praxis – the control of skilled actions – and language representations themselves, particularly in the auditory domain, is still largely unknown. Recent studies suggest that bilingualism affects both basic (fundamental frequency) sound and action-related speech processing. Whether it can impact non-verbal action sound processing is a question of debate. Here we examined twenty bilinguals using a dichotic listening paradigm, in which in addition to repeating the just heard action words, participants named – in Polish or English – one of two simultaneously presented tool sounds from attended ears. The results were compared with data from these same participants tested with reading the same words in a visual-half field paradigm. In contrast to typical outcomes from monolinguals, the laterality indices of action-related sound processing (verbal and non-verbal) were not left lateralized but hemispherically balanced. Notably, despite similar organization of tool- and action-word sound processing, their auditory (balanced) and visual-language (left-lateralized) representations might be independent because there were no significant correlations between any of their laterality indices. This indicates that bilingualism might involve reshuffling/reorganization of typically lateralized brain functions and such plasticity will have consequences for second language learning strategies, as well as for neurorehabilitation.

Las ciudades en la literatura han sido empleadas infinidad de veces, a través de múltiples voces; muchos autores se convierten involuntariamente en sociólogos y urbanistas, determinados a reflejar el alma o esencia de la ciudad misma, sus habitantes y cada partícula de humanidad que hay en ellas. Exponer un tema tan empleado bajo una calidad estética apropiada, que mereciera la pena resaltar entre esas grandes obras de la literatura; sería un exceso y abuso de ego de mí parte; así que partiendo de la idea (y con la suficiente seguridad como para asentar un registro de ella), desarrollé la estructura necesaria para crear una obra que no desmerezca del valor de la urbe (acorde a mi época y medio de percepción), su entorno y principalmente su atmósfera, un asomo a la modernización y sus inminentes secuelas en el espíritu del que la habita.

Esta serie de micro ficciones; encuentra bajo la temática de una urbe imaginaria, la reinterpretación de la sensación como símbolo, y visceversa; este libro es más un mapa que halla la conexión oculta entre cada hora y personaje, con cada barrio y paisaje, para crear así, una arquitectura de la percepción a través de las sensaciones que están por debajo; donde las diferentes voces que descubren y describen a la misma, son la capacidad inherente en el ser para recrear un sueño y principalmente para poder plasmarlo con la congruencia suficiente

Les villes dans la littérature ont été utilisées à de nombreuses reprises, à travers de multiples voix; De nombreux auteurs sont involontairement devenus sociologues et urbanistes, déterminés à refléter l’âme ou l’essence de la ville elle-même, ses habitants et toutes les particules de l’humanité en elles Pour exposer un sujet ainsi employé selon une qualité esthétique appropriée, qu’il vaut la peine de souligner parmi ces grandes oeuvres de la littérature; Ce serait un excès et un abus d’ego de ma part; Ainsi, à partir de l’idée (et avec une sécurité suffisante pour en établir un enregistrement), j’ai développé la structure nécessaire pour créer un travail qui ne nuise pas à la valeur de la ville (selon mon temps et mes moyens de perception), son environnement et surtout son atmosphère, un aspect de la modernisation et ses séquelles imminentes dans l’esprit de l’habitant.
Cette série de microfictions; Trouve sous le thème d’une ville imaginaire, la réinterprétation de la sensation comme symbole et visceversa; Ce livre est plus une carte qui trouve la connexion cachée entre chaque heure et le personnage, avec chaque voisinage et paysage, pour créer ainsi une architecture de perception à travers les sensations qui sont ci-dessous; Où les différentes voix qui le décrivent et décrivent, sont la capacité inhérente à recréer un rêve et surtout à pouvoir le traduire avec une congruence suffisante.

The BILIUM project was initiated in August 2012 for the purpose of exploring the basis for creating an education module and possibly a curriculum for pedagogic professionals
working with bilingual children at pre-school in transition to primary school. These include pedagogic staff in local authority schools, kindergartens and supplementary heritage language schools, and also freelance pedagogues working with children in the field of language development.
The project is considered necessary in order to improve the competitiveness of the education sector of Germany and other European Countries and to achieve the goals of the EU on
language diversity, as well as to overcome the generation gap. We need to support children’s language development and the qualifications of people working with them, irrespective of
whether they are natives or migrants. The challenge for the future is to re-organise work programmes in kindergartens with regards to what effect the special communication and
interaction needs of bilinguals have on the professional education of staff, and to change organisations’ attitudes to IVT and VET programmes. Therefore, the project will create a
competence programme for the purpose of increasing the willingness for cross-cultural learning.
The project seeks to embed the topic of bilingualism and the development of skills and competences in vocational and professional education. Methods and didactic techniques
will be extracted from various approaches in order to improve the qualifications and career development of pedagogic staff in their professional duties and to support their employers
in assisting them by using what has been learned.
Multilingual ability is becoming increasingly a key skill in terms of personal development opportunities, inter-cultural understanding and the global consciousness of people in Europe and throughout the world. The process of the socialisation of young children is traditionally associated with the system of pre-school education. Developing the child’s individual characteristics should involve preparing him or her for the demands of a dynamic, globalised world.

Working with bilingual children requires teachers, firstly, to be aware that a particular language is inextricably linked with the culture of the people who speak it, and, secondly, to be able to transfer this knowledge to children in a vibrant, exciting and accessible way. “Discoveries” in education that await us in our work with natural bilinguals may help us to raise artificial bilinguals.
The Council of Europe is actively developing the concept of multilingualism. Its essence is not in declaring that people need to know several languages, but in raising the number of languages it proposes should be learned, in increasing opportunities to study more languages, and in limiting the dominant role of English in international communication. In this respect, it is important that the individual does not “store” new languages and cultures apart from one another, but develops a multi-language communicative competence with the help of the system of formal and informal education.
Teaching a language as a non-state language in communities is crucial for solving the problems of education in the multicultural expanse of Europe. The higher the level of linguistic and communicative competence of the teacher working with bilingual pre-school children in groups that differ in age and ethnic composition, and the more knowledgeable the teacher is about the specific features of a bilingual child’s mastering a language as non-native/another native, the better the child’s education and speech development will be. Therefore, the training of kindergarten teachers requires them to have an extensive professional outlook, knowledge of current trends in socio-linguistic situations, an understanding of the role of languages and cultures in a multi-ethnic society, and a command of the methodology fundamentals of teaching a language as a non-native (another native) language.
The purpose of this concept is to provide further training for educators in bilingual and multicultural kindergartens and similar educational organisations teaching bilingual children aged from 1.5 to 5 years, by means of developing their professional competence in teaching the language as a non-native (another native) language.
The programme also aims to broaden the professional horizons of participants, to enable them to attain a shared understanding, and to resolve educational problems related to the specificities of the bilingual/multicultural educational centre and the region of residence, as well as to secure special conditions for training, teaching and the formation of a multi-cultural linguistic identity.
The objectives of the concept are defined by its purpose and the specificity of the group of  participants - pre-school teachers and teachers in early primary education (for example, in Spain from the age of 3 years) with basic general and specific professional competence in the subject areas “native language” and “native language methodology” (less frequently “foreign language” and “foreign language methodology”).
The tasks of this concept are to provide participants with the tools for developing existing competencies and for mastering the full range of professional skills and knowledge that would prepare and enable them to teach and develop a bilingual, bicultural individual.