Starting early, getting into the habit and staying positive are some of the vital components for getting your...
How to motivate a bilingual / multilingual child to speak a family language
In this section, you can find articles on how to motivate your child to speak a language.
One of the biggest challenges parents of bilingual children encounter is finding ways to motivate their children to speak the family’s minority language. Children are pragmatic, so they use the language they feel most comfortable with. When they realize that they can choose their language and still be understood, they often pick their strongest language if they know that the other person understands it. This is when parents should find ways to motivate children to use the family language, to make sure that the child maintains and develops his or her multilingual skills. For a child to choose to speak a language, the child must WANT and NEED to use it. The motivators differ depending on the age, personality, and fluency of the child. These motivators can and do occur naturally, but parents have the possibility to create or enhance these motivators for their children to encourage them to speak a family language
How to use “monolingual toys” to motivate bilingual children
“How do I introduce another language for my toddler?” “How can I motivate my little one to speak my language?” “How to have fun when practicing the kids’ minority language?” These are questions I often get in the queries sent to our team of Family Language...
![8 tips to boost your family’s multilingual journey [guest post]](https://multilingualparenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/8-tips-to-boost-your-familys-multilingual-journey.jpg)
8 tips to boost your family’s multilingual journey [guest post]
Today I am delighted to introduce you to our new Family Language Coach, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, a.k.a, Miss Panda Chinese. Amanda is a successful language instructor with over 15 years’ teaching experience in Taiwan, the U.S., Morocco, Canada, and Ecuador. She now...
Grandparents as language support for bilingual children
As parents raising bilingual children we know how important it is to give our kids as varied an exposure to their languages as possible. This becomes even more crucial if we are passing on a minority language. Building a network of people who can support us in this...
40 ways to motivate bilingual children to speak the minority language
Babies and toddlers During the early years of your child’s “talking career” you may be holding a monologue for much of the time, but this is when you set the foundation for the language and there is a lot you can do to encourage your little one to start talking. Make...
Bilingual children: how to boost language skills during holidays
This is the time of the year when our social media feeds get filled with pictures of families holidaying – either on a relaxing staycation in their own home or out and about in the country or abroad. Whatever way you decide to spend your family holidays, it is always...
Pen pals open the world, keep friends close and bring joy
I remember it like yesterday, the first letter I received from my South Korean pen friend Yong-Suk. I was 14 and it felt like a miracle: A young boy, on the other side of the world had sat down, picked out his writing pad, put pen to paper and talked to me about who...
Top tips for motivating bilingual children to speak their languages
Choosing the topic for this month’s Raising Multilingual Children blogging carnival was actually very easy. “What do parents ask me most about?” I pondered and instantly I thought “How to motivate my child to speak the minority language?” My fellow bloggers – who all...
Motivating a bilingual child: Pricken the Swedish-speaking kitten
“How to motivate my child to speak the minority language?” is one of the most frequently asked questions to our panel of Family Language Coaches. This challenge will also be the topic of the up-coming Raising Multilingual Children blogging carnival, which I will host...
Receptive bilingualism – understanding but not speaking a language
When discussing the language skills of children in multilingual families, you occasionally come across the situation where a child has learnt to understand a language, but is unable (or unwilling) to speak it. Quite often you will find this described as passive...