The Multilingual Mind: Issues Discussed By, For, and about People Living with Many Languages

by Tokuhama-Espinosa, Tracey

• ISBN13: 9780897899192
• ISBN10: 0897899199
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

The bulk of the world's population is multilingual, and one in seven Americans speak a language other than English at home. Multilinguals crave answers to questions both basic and profound, questions relating to linguistic identity, schools, multiliteracy, how languages are actually learned, and why there are so many variations on individual success. Tokuhama-Espinosa combines solid research, humor, and real-life examples into 21 informative and entertaining essays about people who experience the world with multiple languages. This book tackles common misconceptions about polyglots ("too many languages can cause brain overload," "some languages are easier to learn than others," "an adult cannot learn a foreign language as fast as a child," etc.). Other topics include: BLCurriculum choice BLTeaching languages using the multiple intelligences BLHow different education systems can influence multilingual skills BLLanguage's relationship to mental tasks such as music and math BLLanguages from the womb and bilingualism from birth BLThe growth of the trilingual family BL The societal situation of "third culture kids" (those growing outside of their parents' native country) BLA special case for foreign language development BLThe emerging cross-area study of multilingualism and cosmopolitanism BLQuestions of linguistic identity BLChallenges to normal foreign language learning, such as dyslexia, Downs Syndrome, and deafness

Author Biography

TRACEY TOKUHAMA-ESPINOSA is a native of California who received her Master's of Education at Harvard University and has taught in international schools in Japan, Ecuador, France, and Ecuador. She is currently Professor of Education, Psychology, and Cognitive Sciences at the University of San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. Tracey has given numerous workshops on raising multilingual children to schools and families in Australia, Norway, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Ecuador, and England. She speaks and writes in English and Spanish fluently, knows conversational French, some Japanese, and is studying basic German. She and her husband are raising their three children in four languages.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	ix
Preface: Individual Bilingualism	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction	xvii
Myths About Multilingualism	1	(12)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
I. SCHOOLING AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES	13	(50)
Teaching Languages Using the Multiple Intelligences and the Senses	15	(6)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
The Role of the Sense of Smell in Language Learning	21	(10)
Sara Ackerman Aoyama
Multiliteracy Skills	31	(16)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Two-Way Immersion Programs in the United States	47	(16)
Jennifer Frengel
II. MATH, MUSIC, AND MULTILINGUALS	63	(36)
The Relationship Between Musical Ability and Foreign Languages: Communication via Sounds and via Words	65	(16)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Language, Math, and Thought: Vygotsky's Concept of Inner Speech	81	(10)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Multilingual Mathematics	91	(8)
Marie Petraitis
III. DEGREES OF MULTILINGUALISM	99	(64)
In the Beginning Was the Word: Language and the Womb	101	(8)
Andrea Bader-Rusch
First Choice Option: From Birth	109	(6)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Bilingualism from Birth	115	(14)
Manuela Gonzalez-Bueno
Trilingualism: A Study of Children Growing Up with Three Languages	129	(22)
Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert
What, You Speak Only One Language!? A Trilingual Family's Story	151	(12)
Nicola Kupelikilinc
IV. SOCIETY AND LANGUAGES	163	(70)
Third Culture Kids: A Special Case for Foreign Language Learning	165	(6)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
The Yellow Streetcar: Shaping a Polyphonic Identity	171	(18)
Cristina Allemann-Ghionda
Linguistic Hegemony: Is There a Superior Language?	189	(8)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Foreign Adoption and Bilingualism	197	(10)
Nicola Kupelikilinc
Bringing Up Bilingual Children in Scarce Language Environments: How the Internet Can Help	207	(6)
Maria Johnson
Multilingualism and Cosmopolitanism	213	(20)
Konrad Gunesch
V. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES	233	(22)
A Voice within a Voice: Federman Translating/Translating Federman	235	(8)
Raymond Federman
Challenges to Normal Bilingualism: Down's Syndrome, Deafness, and Dyslexia	243	(12)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Conclusion	255	(2)
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa
Bibliography	257	(20)
Subject Index	277	(6)
Name Index	283	(10)
About the Editor and Contributors	293