The countdown to year 2016 has started, so let's look at the year which is coming to an end - here are the top posts of 2015, starting with number 10: 10. Passing on a non-native language to your child, part 1: Considerations Part 2 of this series is on choosing the...
Question Hi, I currently live and work in China. I am from Australia and English is my mother tongue. My wife is Chinese. We have a 19-month-old son, Daniel. When it came to deciding which approach to choose in order to raise Daniel as bilingual, OPOL seemed to be the...
What we need more than anything in today’s and tomorrow’s world is respect, understanding, appreciation of diversity and a global mindset. What we can do as parents to fill this need, is to ensure that our children grow up to become respectful global citizens. Knowing...
Question Hello, I'm looking for some advice on how to raise a bilingual child when one of the parents is against it. We are a mixed family. I'm Polish and my partner is English. We have a two-year-old son and live in the UK. It is very important for me to teach my son...
Children learn language best through interaction and dialogue, and singing is a great way of engaging with children long before they can speak. All babies love the voice of their mothers and fathers, so the “I can’t sing!” excuse does not fly. “If you can walk you can...
Question I have a unique situation as many bilingual families tend to have and could use some advice. Here is my background: I grew up in Latin America with a Spanish/English bilingual mother and a Spanish-speaking father. Spanish was my first language but all my...
Question Hello, My daughter is in Kindergarten in a German School, where they use the one person, one language method. Both my husband and I have Spanish as mother tongue and we live in a Spanish-speaking country. We don´t know how to speak German, so at home we only...
Question Hi coaches, I read a lot of your Q&A's and hope you have some comments for my family's current situation: I am a native Danish speaker (speak English fluently after living in the UK for 10 years, but currently living in Denmark). My partner is a native...
Grandparenthood is a very current topic for me – having grandchildren feels like all childhood Christmases coming at once! Apart from being so excited and happy to the nth degree, naturally, my thoughts also go to the language-rich environment our precious new family...
"Practical ideas on what to do" is the request I often get when I ask my readers what I should write about in my blog - so here are 21 of them to cover the different stages! Before your baby is born 1. Get used to speaking your language with your child as early as...