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The Toolbox for Multilingual Families
The Toolbox for Multilingual Families is aimed at parents who are raising their children with more than one language, and are looking for activities to foster their children’s understanding, speaking, reading and writing skills in all their languages, no matter if they acquired them from birth or added them later on.
The authors have selected 123 activities and games for 0-15+ year-olds – and adults! – that can easily be adapted to different languages, to all levels of fluency, and are suitable for two or more people. The descriptions are short and easy to follow. The activities and games in this Toolbox don't involve electronic devices and only those in the reading and writing section require a minimum of tools (paper, pen, glue etc.).
The activities and games can also be helpful to transform "face time" with grandparents, extended family and friends into enjoyable and memorable experiences with "effective language learning" as a side effect.
The authors have selected 123 activities and games for 0-15+ year-olds – and adults! – that can easily be adapted to different languages, to all levels of fluency, and are suitable for two or more people. The descriptions are short and easy to follow. The activities and games in this Toolbox don't involve electronic devices and only those in the reading and writing section require a minimum of tools (paper, pen, glue etc.).
The activities and games can also be helpful to transform "face time" with grandparents, extended family and friends into enjoyable and memorable experiences with "effective language learning" as a side effect.
- GenresParenting
Paperback
Published November 11, 2020
About the author
Ute Limacher-Riebold
5 books9 followersUte grew up in Northern Italy. She majored in Italian and French Language and Literature, and wrote her PhD in French philology (Entre Novas et Romans. Pour l'interprétation de Flamenca, Edizioni dell'Orso, 1996) at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) where she taught Italian historical linguistics and French medieval literature.
She is a multilingual language enthusiast (some say she is a polyglot), teaches German, French and Italian to adults and supports international families maintain their home languages and cultures while embracing new ones at Ute's International Lounge.
Ute lived in Italy (twice), Switzerland, France and now calls the Netherlands her home with her Swiss husband and three teenage children (and a dog).
She is a multilingual language enthusiast (some say she is a polyglot), teaches German, French and Italian to adults and supports international families maintain their home languages and cultures while embracing new ones at Ute's International Lounge.
Ute lived in Italy (twice), Switzerland, France and now calls the Netherlands her home with her Swiss husband and three teenage children (and a dog).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 12, 2020
I've been following Ute Limacher-Riebold for many years now, ever since my family and I found ourselves 'in a strange land' - in Bangladesh, many moons ago - trying to get a handle on a language so alien it didn't remotely resemble any language we'd encountered before. Ute's writings were remarkably helpful in that respect. Her blog posts were always full of interesting ideas and lovely encouragement.
I wish, then, that we'd had 'The Toolbox' available to use as our young children battled both learning their birth language, English, and the host language of Bangladesh, Bangla.
The Toolbox is a super collection of over a hundred fun and fascinating ideas for parents wanting to help their children with language acquisition. The activities span the age range from birth through to 15-year-olds and are grouped in sections according to skill sets - understanding and speaking, motor skills, reading and writing, and various subdivisions of these. Ute Limacher-Riebold and Ana Elisa Miranda have done an excellent job presenting these resources in short, snappy, easy-to-read chapters making this the perfect book for parents to just pick up and try a new game or activity.
Although the primary goal of the book is for bilingual families, actually the activities described are almost always applicable for acquisition of children's birth language. So, any parent wanting to help their child to develop language skills, of any sort, will find this book tremendously helpful. Indeed, many of the activities are well-known games and will be familiar. The new spin is the way these games could be used for developing a second language.
If there was any criticism at all, it would be that from time to time, the authors suggest website resources to use for the purposes of the activities but don't give any links to suggested ones. I can guess that this is because websites have a habit of coming and going; so links may well fail to work after a few years of publication. Plus, we're all google-savvy these days and it isn't hard to go and search for recommended places. However, books can be updated from time to time too and, these days, websites disappear from view far less often, especially if they are highly-valued sites. I personally would recommend the authors consider suggested links for future editions.
Nevertheless, the book is an excellent resource for every parent and an absolute must-buy for any family living in a bilingual world, whether because the parents speak different languages, or the family are situated in a country which speaks a language separate to their own. Highly recommended.
I wish, then, that we'd had 'The Toolbox' available to use as our young children battled both learning their birth language, English, and the host language of Bangladesh, Bangla.
The Toolbox is a super collection of over a hundred fun and fascinating ideas for parents wanting to help their children with language acquisition. The activities span the age range from birth through to 15-year-olds and are grouped in sections according to skill sets - understanding and speaking, motor skills, reading and writing, and various subdivisions of these. Ute Limacher-Riebold and Ana Elisa Miranda have done an excellent job presenting these resources in short, snappy, easy-to-read chapters making this the perfect book for parents to just pick up and try a new game or activity.
Although the primary goal of the book is for bilingual families, actually the activities described are almost always applicable for acquisition of children's birth language. So, any parent wanting to help their child to develop language skills, of any sort, will find this book tremendously helpful. Indeed, many of the activities are well-known games and will be familiar. The new spin is the way these games could be used for developing a second language.
If there was any criticism at all, it would be that from time to time, the authors suggest website resources to use for the purposes of the activities but don't give any links to suggested ones. I can guess that this is because websites have a habit of coming and going; so links may well fail to work after a few years of publication. Plus, we're all google-savvy these days and it isn't hard to go and search for recommended places. However, books can be updated from time to time too and, these days, websites disappear from view far less often, especially if they are highly-valued sites. I personally would recommend the authors consider suggested links for future editions.
Nevertheless, the book is an excellent resource for every parent and an absolute must-buy for any family living in a bilingual world, whether because the parents speak different languages, or the family are situated in a country which speaks a language separate to their own. Highly recommended.
December 1, 2020
This book is full of lots of practical and fun activities for multilingual families to do with their children to use their languages. I wish I'd had it when my own bilingual children were younger but it is useful to me now as an EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher in a primary school with many multilingual students.
The 123 ideas are grouped in different sections depending on the area you want to focus on, whether speaking or developing an interest in reading or finding reasons to write. The layout is very clear. It shows which age-group an activity is suited for, outlines which materials are needed and describes the activity in concise terms. It is something you can pick up and dip into. The table of contents is very detailed so it's easy to find an activity to suit. Definitely recommended!
The 123 ideas are grouped in different sections depending on the area you want to focus on, whether speaking or developing an interest in reading or finding reasons to write. The layout is very clear. It shows which age-group an activity is suited for, outlines which materials are needed and describes the activity in concise terms. It is something you can pick up and dip into. The table of contents is very detailed so it's easy to find an activity to suit. Definitely recommended!
March 15, 2022
I love the Toolbox for Multilingual Families. It is exactly what it claims to be - a toolbox of activities that can be used by parents to help their children make progress with speaking, vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, and many other linguistic skills.
One thing I liked about the book was that the authors clearly were not native English speakers. Many activities were refreshingly new, or a different take on something that clearly came from another European culture. Several times a common game from my childhood would be left out and instead something similar would be suggested, which simultaneously brought to mind the familiar game and gave an idea of how to do it differently.
One thing I didn't like was the very strange and random use of the word 'Chinese' in the name of some of the activities. I remember the well-known whispering game 'Telephone' was called in the book 'Chinese whispers' -- despite the game having nothing to do with China -- and there was at least one other 'Chinese' game. It definitely felt out of place and inappropriate for a book celebrating different languages and cultures.
There were a few times where I found the instructions confusing, which was I think because of the non-native English (for example: activity number 99, which I read through a few times but still did not understand), but overall I thought the activities were laid out clearly and helpfully and were generally easy to understand and followed a logical progression.
In the end I would recommend it, even to families with only one language. Looking forward to trying some of these out!
One thing I liked about the book was that the authors clearly were not native English speakers. Many activities were refreshingly new, or a different take on something that clearly came from another European culture. Several times a common game from my childhood would be left out and instead something similar would be suggested, which simultaneously brought to mind the familiar game and gave an idea of how to do it differently.
One thing I didn't like was the very strange and random use of the word 'Chinese' in the name of some of the activities. I remember the well-known whispering game 'Telephone' was called in the book 'Chinese whispers' -- despite the game having nothing to do with China -- and there was at least one other 'Chinese' game. It definitely felt out of place and inappropriate for a book celebrating different languages and cultures.
There were a few times where I found the instructions confusing, which was I think because of the non-native English (for example: activity number 99, which I read through a few times but still did not understand), but overall I thought the activities were laid out clearly and helpfully and were generally easy to understand and followed a logical progression.
In the end I would recommend it, even to families with only one language. Looking forward to trying some of these out!
March 28, 2021
Very interesting
I wish I had this book a few years ago, as my kids are a bit older for some games, but I will adapt and try some of them, the situation here is that they are all interested in learning different languages, that makes it harder for me.
I wish I had this book a few years ago, as my kids are a bit older for some games, but I will adapt and try some of them, the situation here is that they are all interested in learning different languages, that makes it harder for me.
August 30, 2021
I'll start off with my complaints and then finish off on a happy note.
This book is best applied to Latin-based (European) languages, which is not surprising as the authors are only familiar with such. It may require significant effort from the reader to implement ideas for other language systems, such as many Asian languages. It would have been nice for the authors to involve a colleague who was fluent in at least one non-European language, for content input, examples and feedback.
I was also disturbed by the fact that one of the games in the book was called 'Chinese Portraits' while the game itself had absolutely nothing to do with any Chinese languages or dialects. Confusing at best. Surely the multilingual (and thus more culturally aware? apparently not) authors could have given this game an updated and more globally appropriate name? I've played the game myself before and never heard it called that. Yes, I am tired of the Western world naming things 'Chinese' just to make something seem 'other'. Just, why? It literally has nothing specifically Chinese about it. A much more sensible name would be 'Portraits' or 'If I were...'.
The book uses the terms 'minority language', 'target language', 'additional language' and sometimes it's not clear whether they're meant to mean the same or different things - surely a 'minority language' IS a 'target language'?
I bought the physical book off Amazon and was surprised to find that the book itself was printed by Amazon, which would not be a problem in itself except that the quality of the book was rather mediocre - a blurred cover, the pages inside look like they're straight from a MS Word document (Times New Roman, my friends), and the word spacing is visibly uneven across lines due to the way the paragraphs have been justified.
I would have appreciated a few more activities and suggestions for lower age groups (toddler age) as this is a critical language-acquisition phase.
To end on a happy note as promised, there are some nice suggestions in here and it is certainly useful in supporting multilingual families (especially those of European languages ;) ). Activities are suggested across a wide range of age groups, with many different activity ideas for school-aged kids.
This book is best applied to Latin-based (European) languages, which is not surprising as the authors are only familiar with such. It may require significant effort from the reader to implement ideas for other language systems, such as many Asian languages. It would have been nice for the authors to involve a colleague who was fluent in at least one non-European language, for content input, examples and feedback.
I was also disturbed by the fact that one of the games in the book was called 'Chinese Portraits' while the game itself had absolutely nothing to do with any Chinese languages or dialects. Confusing at best. Surely the multilingual (and thus more culturally aware? apparently not) authors could have given this game an updated and more globally appropriate name? I've played the game myself before and never heard it called that. Yes, I am tired of the Western world naming things 'Chinese' just to make something seem 'other'. Just, why? It literally has nothing specifically Chinese about it. A much more sensible name would be 'Portraits' or 'If I were...'.
The book uses the terms 'minority language', 'target language', 'additional language' and sometimes it's not clear whether they're meant to mean the same or different things - surely a 'minority language' IS a 'target language'?
I bought the physical book off Amazon and was surprised to find that the book itself was printed by Amazon, which would not be a problem in itself except that the quality of the book was rather mediocre - a blurred cover, the pages inside look like they're straight from a MS Word document (Times New Roman, my friends), and the word spacing is visibly uneven across lines due to the way the paragraphs have been justified.
I would have appreciated a few more activities and suggestions for lower age groups (toddler age) as this is a critical language-acquisition phase.
To end on a happy note as promised, there are some nice suggestions in here and it is certainly useful in supporting multilingual families (especially those of European languages ;) ). Activities are suggested across a wide range of age groups, with many different activity ideas for school-aged kids.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews