Page 7 - Second language development of newly arrived migrant kindergarteners - Frederike Groothoff

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- Like newly arrived migrant pupils, I needed interaction with many different people in order to develop my skills as a PhD-student. I would like to start with mentioning Sanne Kuijper and Gisi Cannizzaro: You showed me back in 2007 at the University of Groningen that science is also for ‘cool chicks’. Thanks for the inspiration and the continuing friendship. Gisi, besides my inspiration you were also my editor and paranimf. You definitely made the world a little better by teaching me the Oxford comma! The idea of doing a PhD could only be executed next to my job as a primary school teacher because of Jan Bak, Karlijn de Jonge, and Annemieke Van der Krift. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to apply for the Lerarenpromotiebeurs. And thank you Jenny Olsthoorn and Esther van Zoest for the continuing support. All former colleagues at Taalschool Utrecht need to be thanked for their patience with me during all these years of me being only their part-time colleague. A special thanks has to go to Maud Bringmann, Floris van der Berg, Fransje van Dongen, Esther Hoving, and Inge Vernooij. I loved being your duo! After the permission of my principals at Taalschool Utrecht I needed a professor at a university to be my (co)promotor. Thank you Sharon Unsworth for introducing me to Rick de Graaff. Rick, thank you for accepting me as a buitenpromovenda and for all your encouragements these last six years. Thank you Emmanuelle le Pichon-Vorstman and Paul Leseman for all your critiques and support. Emmanuelle, it was a privilege to be part of your family that week in Toronto, merci beaucoup! At Utrecht University there are many more people that need to be mentioned: Huub van der Bergh, thank you for your precious time, I loved taking the seat behind your desk! Thank you Kirsten Schutter, Frank Wijnen, Maaike Schoorlemmer, Elma Blom, Tessel Boerma, Lotte Henrichs, Marike Kempen and all the people from the Uil-OTS, especially from the Uil-OTS labs and the Language and Education group. Thank you Suzanne Bogaerds-Hazenberg and Jiska Malschaert for being my assistants. During my PhD I got the chance to meet a lot of interesting people at conferences and meetings in the Netherlands and abroad. Thanks to the people from the NWO, ORD, NRO, LOWAN, RUTU Foundation, EDINA, SLO, ECER, YLL, DRONGO, HOLM, SIRIUS, and the European Centre for Modern Languages for organizing such great meetings. It was a privilege to meet Natalia Gagarina, Ute Bohnacker, Andrea Young, Latisha Mary, Josefin Lindgren, Johanne Paradis, Elena Nicoladis, Anna Kirova, Annina Hessel, and so many others in Oxford, Graz, Rotterdam, Edmonton, Toronto, Dublin, Berlin, Groningen, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Bolzano.