RED HOUSE hosts lecture with Brazil’s leading bilingualism expert
In the latest edition of the RedEd Coffee Talk event, which hosts both in-person and online lectures for the RED HOUSE school community, the focus was on bilingualism. Held on September 27th, the lecture was conducted by PhD Marcello Marcelino, one of Brazil’s foremost experts in bilingualism. Marcello also serves as a consultant for RED HOUSE and was instrumental in developing the school’s language development program.
Under the theme “Bilingualism: What Families Want to Know,” Marcello addressed the most common and critical questions parents typically have about bilingual education. This included topics such as the dual-language literacy process, the use of English at home, and its impact on academic development, among others. He stated, ” A bilingual student will develop two linguistic systems that interact within a single linguistic repertoire. As a result, bilingual students have more possibilities: greater lexical access, broader vocabulary knowledge, enhanced grasp of linguistic structures, exposure to different sounds, and so forth.”
“It’s common for a child not to speak English at home if their family is Brazilian and unintentionally assume that English should be spoken only at school, while at home, Portuguese is the language of choice. However, we’ve had cases where parents expressed concerns about their children not speaking English, only to be pleasantly surprised by their kids’ language proficiency and fluency when they traveled to the United States for vacation,” Marcello shared. “Students realize when it makes sense to speak English, when it’s not a showy situation that might make them uncomfortable. If they find themselves in an environment where the majority of people are speaking English, they will switch,” added Denise Lam, Pedagogical Director and Founder of RED HOUSE.
“We base everything on scientific evidence. Outside of Brazil, studies on literacy are thriving, while here they have remained stagnant for 50 years. We have completely revamped the RED HOUSE literacy and biliteracy project as a response to this. It may seem like we ‘re going against the grain of what’s happening in Brazil, but we are aligned with international practices and employ cutting-edge methods,” explained Marcello. At the end of the lecture, Marcello also addressed live questions from parents.
Who is Marcello Marcelino?
With a postdoctoral degree in Linguistics from New York University, a Ph.D. in Linguistics from UNICAMP, a Master’s in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies, and a Bachelor’s in English Language and Literature from PUC-SP, Marcello currently serves as an associate professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in the Department of Languages.
He has been the coordinator of the extension course “Bilingualism: Review of Theories and Data Analysis” at PUC-COGEAE. Marcello conducts research in the field of English Linguistics and serves as the coordinator of the Formal Investigations in Language and Cognition Research Group, supported by CNPq.
He has been the coordinator of the extension course “Bilingualism: Review of Theories and Data Analysis” at PUC-COGEAE. Marcello conducts research in the field of English Linguistics and serves as the coordinator of the Formal Investigations in Language and Cognition Research Group, supported by CNPq.
