Message from Jane Keith, Executive Director, Canadian Parents for French:
On May 14, 2008, Dr. Fred Genesee will be giving a free, public talk in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The title of his lecture is “Early childhood bilingualism: Perils and possibilities”. We believe this presentation will appeal to anyone interested in issues pertaining to bilingualism in education, second language learners, immersion, and the challenges associated with accommodating the varied needs of learners from varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Dr. Genesee is a world-renowned scholar of bilingualism, language development and language immersion programs, a Professor of Psychology at McGill University and the author of numerous scientific research books and reports on language learning in children.
We would be grateful for your assistance in circulating this message to your members, colleagues, and staff who might benefit from attending this event. Teachers, in particular, might be able to count this event toward mandated professional development requirements.
May 14, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (in English)
Wu Conference Centre, UNB Fredericton
Kent Auditorium, 6 Duffie Drive, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3Local Contact Info – Jane Keith, Executive Director
Tel.: 506.432.6584For additional information on Dr. Genesee’s talk, please visit the Minerva Lecture Series page on the Canadian Council on Learning’s website.
Update (May 26/08): Here is the podcast of Dr. Genesee’s talk.



Dear Sir/Madam,
I am working as Language Services Officer with the Language Planning Centre in North Wales, Uk.
Can you give me name of any contact details, book or website that would be useful regarding research into the advantages of bringing up (pre school) child bilingually, please. I would appreciate any help.
Regards,
Sian
Sian,
This is not a subject I know a lot about professionally — I became interested because my child is enrolled in early French immersion — but following are a couple of links:
http://www.lingref.com/isb/4/100ISB4.PDF
http://ilkogretim-online.org.tr/vol6say3/v6s3m32.pdf
http://www.csnsw.org.au/userdata/downloads/s/Bilingsheet.pdf
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainbriefings_thebilingualbrain
http://positivepractices.com/BilingualEducation/BenefitsofTwo-wayBilingua.html
http://books.google.ca/books?id=_sAaZfuI2zQC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=bilingualism%2Bearly+childhood&source=web&ots=yRD2wJHGEV&sig=56fIwN1cCCZOko2jq0OgwLC7wFw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPP1,M1
http://www.cal.org/resources/Digest/earlychild.html
http://home.sprintmail.com/~peggyriehl/prbilang.htm