Read with MEE presents:
A day filled with inspiration and insights on reading and multilingualism in young children
Join us on 19 October 2026 at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, for a day of sharing knowledge and exchanging experiences on reading with young multilingual children.
Many children in Europe grow up in a multilingual environment, surrounded by minority, majority, refugee, and migrant languages. This brings unique challenges for parents, caregivers, and teachers. The Reading as a Superpower event explores how these challenges surface across various European countries and dives into how we can best support multilingual children and their full repertoire of languages.
The event is for anyone who has an interest in children’s multilingual language learning or a passion for storytelling or reading with children. Library staff, language policy officers, linguistics and pedagogy students, parents and caregivers, and any other interested parties are welcome to join the event!
.
Programme
The event will showcase some of latest insights into research regarding multilingual literacy as well as creative examples from practice, with speakers from Ireland, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands:
- Dr Rory Mc Daid (Marino Institute of Education; Ireland)
- Eline Decraene (Ghent University; Belgium)
- Dr Diana Lindsay (teacher trainer and materials writer; Basque Country, Spain)
- Lida Dijkstra (author; Fryslân)
Moreover, the event will feature contributions by international Read with MEE team members, who will present on the various materials they have developed over the past three years. These include a handbook on early language development, videos showcasing best practices across Europe, and an interactive reading game.
./
Registration
Participation in the event is completely free of charge, and includes lunch, tea, and coffee. Registration beforehand is required.
The event will be held in English; audience questions are also welcomed in Frisian and Dutch.
Date: Monday 19 October
Doors open: 10:30
Programme: 11:00-15:30
Location: NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences – Rengerslaan 10, Leeuwarden (NL)
.
Due to high demand, there are currently no more spots available. More spots may become available in the near future – sign up to the wait list below to be notified.
Reading ourselves into Belonging – Language, Literacy and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe
Rory McDaid
Across multilingual classrooms, the languages children bring with them can be framed as a problem to be overcome, a right to be protected and/or a resource for learning. This keynote asks what changes when we take the latter seriously: how reading can draw upon children’s full linguistic repertoires while creating opportunities for recognition, participation and belonging. Drawing on Read with MEE and wider European and Irish evidence, it explores the role of educators in making multilingualism an everyday educational resource rather than simply an aspiration.
Interactive book reading with multilingual children – More languages, more opportunities
What happens when multilingual children use different languages during interactive book reading? This talk explores how this approach can support their vocabulary development and participation. It also considers how introducing key words before reading can help children learn new vocabulary.
Eline Decraene
The story as ‘format’ – Building language and literacy through shared storytelling
Diana Lindsay
What happens when children do not simply listen to a story in a new language, but step inside it and give every character a voice? This talk explores how dramatised storytelling can provide young learners with a meaningful and embodied way into a new language, enabling them to participate in interaction from the very beginning. By collectively performing repeated narrative formats, children draw on gesture, facial expression, movement, context, shared experience and, of course, words to construct meaning — using language as they live the story and building language and literacy together.
Sharing the joy of language – A personal journey
Lida Dijkstra (1961) is an art historian who has been writing children’s books for all ages in both Frisian and Dutch for over thirty years. As the first Frisian Children’s Book Ambassador, she visited more than 150 schools in Fryslân to promote the joy of reading and spread the love for books. In 2025, she received the prestigious Gouden Griffel (Golden Stylus), the most important children’s book award in the Dutch language area, for her book De wonderverteller (The teller of wonders, about the explorer Marco Polo).
In this lecture, Lida shares how her own experiences as a bilingual child still resonate in her books and her work with children, and how she uses her multilingualism as a superpower.
Lida Dijkstra
photographer: Chris van Houts