Some things parents of bilingual children experience seem to be universal. As a parent of a bilingual or multilingual child, you become more aware of your native language and you may also consciously try to improve your own skills. In today’s world, there is an infinite number of things parents can potentially worry about or feel pressure for. Adding another language to that brings a new dimension to parenthood. You have to ensure that your child gets enough exposure to all languages and be on a constant look-out for language resources. To make up for the lack of materials, you probably end up being more creative than you thought you would ever be.
Many bilingual children have at least one side of their extended family living fairly far away, often on the “other side of the world”. Visits are possible perhaps only once a year, or even more seldom if at all, so it is essential to find other ways to connect....
After taking into consideration all the points raised in the first part of this series, you have decided that you want to give your child the gift of another language. My presumption is that you have discussed this with the rest of the family and everybody agrees that...
One of the most common questions we get to our panel of Family Language Coaches is from parents thinking about teaching their child a language of which the mother and/or father is not a native speaker, and whether this is a good idea. My short answer to this question...
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I am delighted to have Marianna Du Bosq from Bilingual Avenue write today's guest post about the importance of books in supporting children's language development. Marianna has taught dual language learners for several years and is one of our Family Language Coaches....
If we want to change any injustice in the world, we first have to question why it exists in the first place. By asking the right questions we can understand the underlying reasons and together with other like-minded people become the trigger for change. When we are...
When someone asks me who I would like to share a meal with if I could choose anyone (dead or alive), I say: Mahatma Gandhi. Not only would I meet my all-time hero and be able to soak in his grace, wisdom and vision, but I am sure we would also be served a lovely...
When you are raising your child to speak more than one language, it is important to know how to go about it – this is the raison d'être of my blog! It is however equally important to be aware of the things you should avoid when bringing up a bilingual child....
Getting an answer in the "wrong" language is something which especially minority language parents dread, and which gives rise to question such as: – Is it the start of a slippery slope which may end in the majority language taking over as the language of communication...
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...
"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...