1 - To nie jest magia Dzieci nie stają się dwujęzyczne za pomocą magii. Nadal mamy do czynienia z mitem, że “dzieci są jak gąbki, jeżeli chodzi o naukę języków” i wchłoną wszystkie języki, które słyszą na co dzień. To nie jest prawda. Oczywiście, przy odpowiednich...
Merħba! (‘welcome’ in Maltese) I am currently in Malta an enjoying myself immensely on so many levels – it is my first trip to this gorgeous island with its jovial, friendly people (and slightly nutty drivers), and I am also attending the International Conference on...
Finding resources to support your child’s language development is something most parents of future bilinguals find themselves doing on a regular basis. It is also the question which is most frequently asked in parents’ forums. Therefore I have decided to start a...
A minority language parent’s attitude to his or her own language can be the deciding factor for how fluently the child will learn to speak the language. This is an interesting find from an on-going small-scale study of bilingual children. According to the study, a...
Today, having helped my younger daughter pack for her trip to the other side of the world, I was again reminded of how travelling has been important, in so many ways, for her and her sister. Apart from the obvious of visiting new and revisiting familiar places,...
How to prepare your little bilingual for school? What to do if you get a response in the wrong language? Should you follow the teacher's advice to drop your home language? These are some of the questions that Marianna Du Bosq from Bilingual Avenue and I answered...
"We are expecting a baby and would want her/him to become bilingual. What are the things we should consider and what could we do in preparation for our new arrival?" This is something parents-to-be often ask me, so for this month’s Raising Multilingual Children...
This Saturday, 21st of February, is UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day. Those of you who follow me in social media know that I have been actively campaigning to raise awareness for this day, to make it celebrated more widely across the world. It warms my heart...
1 - Nestane sa zázrak Deti sa nestanú bilingválnymi „zázrakom“ samé od seba. V spoločnosti prevláda mýtus, že čo sa týka jazykov, „deti sú ako špongia“ a naučia sa všetky jazyky, ktoré pravidelne počujú – toto nie je celkom pravda. Za správnych okolností si síce deti...
I don’t remember teaching my elder daughter to read … because I never did. I do however remember when a carer at her nursery told me that my 5-year-old used to read Finnish story books to other children. They found that she loved reading aloud to others and was able...