Corey Heller
Corey Heller is the founder of Multilingual Living and the Editor-In-Chief/Publisher of Multilingual Living. Multilingual Living is the place where she shares her knowledge about raising multilingual and multicultural children. She lives in Seattle with her German husband and three children ages 8, 7 and 5.
Life and Projects:
Corey, an American, met her German husband in 1991 while on a year-long Education Abroad Program in Galway, Ireland. She then moved to Kiel, Germany in 1992 where she immersed herself in her husband’s language and culture. In 1995, she and her husband moved to Seattle, Washington, USA for graduate school – and where they have been living ever since!
After the birth of their first child in 2001, Corey and her husband decided that both of them would speak German with their son (and any future children) even though it was not Corey’s native language. Although this was an exciting and exhilirating decision, it also sparked a whole series of questions and concerns. Corey and her husband started searching for information on raising children in more than one language and culture but quickly found that support, information and resources were lacking. Thus, in 2003 they founded the Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network, an organization dedicated to bringing support, wisdom and expertise to families raising children in more than one language and culture. The Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network organized local gatherings, speakers, and with help from another bilingual mother, Karen Wegehenkel, and Corey’s brother, Thomas Spellman, they created a website packed with information.
It quickly became clear that the issues which Corey and her husband were facing were universal among families around the world raising children in more than one language and culture. The Parent Television Network, a local television production company included Corey, her husband and the Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network in a program on Raising Bilingual Children. The word was spreading like wildfire!
As more and more families around the world started contacting Corey requesting resources and information, Corey started a monthly newsletter which quickly evolved into Multilingual Living Magazine, a respected digital publication which she and Alice Lapuerta, a mother living in Austria raising children trilingually, created and published. Experts, researchers, parents and teachers all helped make the pages of Multilingual Living Magazine a resource of unparalleled value. Unfortunately, the hours needed to create such a magazine eventually took their toll on Corey and Alice and they were forced to end the publication in early 2009. There is only so much that two mothers can do as volunteers, with hours stolen between taking care of children, maintaining a household and Corey working 35 hours a week at a paying job.
Corey and her husband have three bilingual children ( ages 5, 7 and 8 ) who still consistently speak German with their parents. Corey and her husband homeschool their children in both English and German and make sure to visit family in Germany every other year.
Multilingual Living is the place where Corey, joined by multilingual experts, parents and others, shares her knowledge, inspiration and support. She hopes you will find Multilingual Living an inspirational place to visit and invites you to contact her with your stories, greetings, questions and whatever else you might wish to share about your multilingual and multicultural lives! Contact site: http://www.multilingualliving.com/contact-us/
25.05.10 | |
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