As a primary teacher in Hackney for 17 years I developed a special interest in working with bilingual pupils, parents and communities. I was part of the Schools’ Council Language in the Multicultural Primary Classroom Project in the early 1980s. Since that time I have has been involved in the in-service training of teachers throughout the London area and in developing parental involvement and support networks in and out of school. From 1993 to 2004 I was responsible for the English programme on the Primary PGCE and for ensuring that bilingualism and equal opportunities had a high profile in the course. During that time I also developed courses on bilingualism and literacy at undergraduate and Masters level. Both my M.A. and my Ph.D., in the department of Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck, studied bilingualism in the home, the school and the community. I have a particular interest in community languages and complementary schools and was a founder trustee of the Resource Unit for Supplementary and Mother Tongue Schools (now the National Resource Unit) until 2006. I am currently a part-time research fellow in the Cass School of Education and I represent UEL on the management board of Multiverse where I am London Region co-ordinator and responsible for the Bilingualism strand.

I have been appointed an Honorary Research Fellow of Birkbeck College, in the Departmnent of Applied Linguistics and Communication (from January 2010).

Supervision of post-graduate students. Developing research into multilingualism and multiliteracy. Developing web-based resources for supporting ITE tutors and trainee teachers in the areas of English as an additional language for the TDA funded website Multiverse (http://www.multiverse.ac.uk) and the ITE section of NALDIC (http://www.naldic.org/ITTSEAL2)

My main areas of interest are in the field of bilingualism, multilingualism, parental involvement in education, community languages, complementary education, multilingual publishing and multilingual arts projects.

I am a member of the Community Languages Research Group. I am currently researching language use in families and communities, among bilingual undergraduate students, the role of teachers in complementary schools and the use of dual-language books in the primary classroom. Website: Using and researching dual language books for children www.uel.ac.uk/duallanguagebooks

Most recent publications:

Sneddon, R. 2012. Telling the Story of the Computer Geek- children becoming authors and translators. Language and Education, 2012, 1, p1-16

Sneddon, R. and Martin, P. 2012. Alternative spaces of learning in east London: opportunities and challenges. In Diaspora, Indigenous and Minority Education. Vol.6,1,p34-49.

Sneddon, R. 2011. 21 years in east London: issues in policy, research and practice. Papers presented at the IPSE seminar at London Metropolitan University - Educating Communities, teachers in supplementary schools. 1st June 2011. http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/fms/MRSite/Research/ipse/Sneddon%2021%20years%20in%20East%20London%Working%20paper.pdf

 Sneddon,R. 2011. Le dragon dans la jungle/ the dragon in the jungle. 2011. Race Equality Teaching, 30, 1 p 16-20

·Sneddon,R. 2011 Two Languages - Two voices: Magda and Albana become authors. 2011. In Czerniawski, G. and Kidd, W. The Student Voice Handbook: Bridging the Aacademic/Practitioner Divide. Bingley: Emerald.

Sneddon,R. 2011 A twenty-year journey. The Bulletin of the National resource Centre for Supplementary Education.  Spring: 14

• Sneddon, R. 2010. What language do you speak at home? Linguistic journeys in school. With a 2010 update. In Safford, K., Hancock, R. and Stacey, M. (eds) Learning Through Enquiry in Primary Schools: a Reader for Classroom Support Staff. Open University Press
• Sneddon, R.2010. ABETARE and Dancing. In Lytra, V and Martin, P (eds) Sites of Multilingualism: complementary schools in Britain to-day. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books
• Sneddon, R. 2009. Bilingual Books - Biliterate Children. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books

• Sneddon,R. 2008. Young Children Learning to Read with Dual Language Books. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, Vol7, n.2. pp.71-81. http://education.waikato.ac.nz/research/journal/view.php?article=true&id=523&p=1
• Sneddon, R. 2008. Magda and Albana: Learning to Read using Dual Language Books. Language and Education
• Sneddon R. 2007. Learning in Three Languages in Home and Community.  In Conteh,J., Martin,P. and Robertson, L.H. Multilingual Learning Stories in Schools and Communities in Britain. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.
• Sneddon,R. and Malik,F. Now We Are Talking – Stories my Elders Told Me. London: Lynkreach http://www.multiverse.ac.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?ContentId=13239
• Sneddon,R. and Patel,K. 2003. The Raja’s Big Ears: the Journey of a Story across Cultures. Language and Education 17 (5), 371-384.
• Sneddon,R. 2003. Every Teacher has a Story to Tell: a Pilot Study of Teachers in Supplementary and Mother Tongue Schools. Bulletin of the Resource Unit for Supplementary and Mother Tongue Schools, June 2003. (Available on http://www.multiverse.ac.uk/viewArticle.aspx?subCategoryId=611&categoryId=608&qts=false&resource=false&contentId=274)

• Sneddon,R. 2000. Language and Literacy: Children’s Experiences in Multilingual environments. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 3 (4),265-282. See abstract and http://www.multilingual-matters.net/beb/003/0265/beb0030265.pdf
• neddon,R. 2000. Language and Literacy Practices in Gujerati Muslim Families. In Martin-Jones,M. and Jones,K. (Eds) Multilingual literacies. Reading and Writing Different Worlds. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Sneddon,R. 1997. Working towards partnership: parents, teachers and community organisations. In Bastiani,J. (Ed) Home-School Work in Multicultural Settings. London: David Fulton.
• Sneddon R. 1997. Teaching in a Multicultural Society. In Sharing Practice in Intercultural Education:tThe Professional Development of Teachers. London: Intercultural Education Partnership.
• 1997 "What language do you speak at home?" Language Matters 1996/97 n.1
• 1993 "Beyond the National Curriculum", a community project to support bilingualism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 14 (3).
• 1993 "Allwrite in Hackney" I.L.E.C.C. Journal. Spring 1
• 1993 "Supporting children’s literacies at home" Language Matters, C.L.P.E. 1993/94 N.1
• 1986 "The mother and child writing group". Language Matters, C.L.P.E. N.2.
• 1984 "Through the Rainbow", sharing languages in the classroom. Schools Council, L.M.C.P.C.
• 1984 "It won’t stick on fishing nets" Schools Council, L.M.C.P.C.

• Steering Group: the (M)Other Tongue Project, Arvon Foundation
• Management Board: Multiverse
• Management Board: NALDIC ITTSEAL
• Advisory Board DCSF/CILT Our Languages Project (from December 2007)
• Advisory Board Centre for Language, Culture and Learning, Goldsmiths College (from February 2008)
• Advisory Board Developing Bilingual Learning through partnership between primary teachers and community language teachers, Goldsmiths College,
• Associate Member Centre for Bilingualism in Education, London Metropolitan University (from February 2008)
• Advisory Board of National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education (from 2008)

Keynotes / Conference papers

The impact of policy on language learning in complementary schools: the experience of young campaigners. Paper presented at the Urban Multilingualism in Education conference at the University of Ghent on 8^th March 2013. [Link to presentation to follow.]

Promoting Language Learning in Mainstream and Complementary Schools. The Language Cauldron: Making the most of Multilingual Britain. British Academy, London. 22nd November 2012. http://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/Resources/CumberlandLodge2011/Documents/Programme/Speaker%20Resources/Language%20Cauldron/2%20-%20Sneddon.pdf

Children becoming biliterate. North West EMA Conference. Stockport. 23rd November 2012.

Journeys in Biliteracy. Barking \nd Dagenham EMA Conference. Westbury Centre, Barking. 2nd December.

Hope, Literacy and Dancing. BERA. University of Manchester. 2/5 September 2009

Reading and Writing with Dual Language Books. Community Languages National Show, Chilworth Manor, Southampton, 15th July 2009

Children's Journeys in Home, School and Community. Making Multilingualism Meaningful Conference. London Metropolitan University. 19/20 June 2009

Creating Spaces for Maintaining/Developing Languages, Literacies and Identities in East London (with Peter Martin). AILA, Essen, Germany. 24/29 August 2008

New Opportunities in the 21st Century. Wandsworth EMA Conference. Wandsworth Teachers' Centre, London . 5th June 2008

Empowering Pupils, Language and Identity. NALDIC East London Conference. Redbridge Teachers' Centre, Ilford. 14th March 2008

• Multiverse
• NALDIC
• Our Languages, CILT
• The independent, 9th October 2003: The language of success
• Using and Researching Dual Language Books for Children