EYSEND National Seminar: Loving all languages
This virtual seminar, which comes as part of the EYSEND partnership with Speech and Language UK, aims to empower you to support children and their families when they speak more than one language. This session is suitable for anyone who works in early years education, as well as Family Hubs and preschool settings.
Join the session to learn more about the research, evidence base and practicalities behind early language development for bilingual children, the importance of valuing all family languages, and considerations for bilingual children when identifying speech and language challenges.
Speaker Profiles:
Napoleon Katsos is Professor of Experimental Pragmatics at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge, UK. He received his doctorate in semantics, pragmatics and psycholinguistics from the University of Cambridge and conducted post-doctoral research in language acquisition at the University of Oxford under Professor Dorothy Bishop’s mentorship. In 2010 Napoleon co-founded the Cambridge Bilingualism Network, a partnership between researchers, teachers, clinicians and parents of bilingual children that promotes research-informed practice. Napoleon’s research focuses on understanding the processes of language learning by monolingual and bilingual neurotypical and neurodivergent children, using mixed-methods and participant-informed research.
Denise Amankwah is a PhD student whose research interests centre around the recognition and integration of multilingual students and their families within educational settings. Her academic background includes an undergraduate degree in Linguistics and a Masters in Education with a focus on Language and Literacy – her Masters thesis titled “English on a pedestal” is now a published paper in the English in Education journal. Her professional background involves hands-on experience in delivering language-focused training to educators and workshops to parents. She has predominantly worked in and with the Early Years sector. Her work bridges theory and practice, aiming to foster inclusive, linguistically responsive environments that support diverse learners and their families. Passionate about language, equity, and education, Denise continues to contribute to the field through research, advocacy, and professional development initiative.
Dr Nafsika Smith is a Greek-American bilingual paediatric speech and language therapist with a diverse profile, combining clinical, research, academic and teaching experience. She has practiced in the UK since 2003, having obtained a PhD in Developmental Language Disorder in Greek-speaking children from the University of Reading. Nafsika has worked in a range of settings in the NHS and private sector, and in early years and specialist provision, and is currently Lead Clinician at Papworth Hall School – a specialist school for autistic pupils in Cambridge. Nafsika is a founding member of the Cambridge Bilingualism Network. She feels passionately about supporting and encouraging families to make their own decisions about raising their children in their home languages. She is herself a parent of two children who have been brought up bilingually.
