In the past few weeks several minority language parents have been in contact with me and their common concern has been: “How do I improve my own language skills, so I can pass on my language to my child?” Typically these parents are second or third generation...
I can’t tell you how excited I am to announce that my book “Bringing up a Bilingual Child” will be out in June! It is a how-to-guide for parents raising bilingual children in families with more than one language. The subtitle of the book is “How to Navigate the Seven...
I often speak about making it fun when you are practicing language skills with your children, so I thought it would be only fair that I come up with some ideas for examples of word play. Below is a list of games you could engage your language learner in – I suggest...
Motivation is the key to any language learning, never more so than for a bilingual child keeping up with the minority language. 1 - Habit If you consistently stick to speaking the minority language with your children, they are less likely to want to switch to the...
This post is also available in the following languages (click on the picture to read the post). More translations to follow: [mlp_include id=4168] 1 - It doesn’t happen by magic Children do not become bilingual “by magic”. There is a persistent myth claiming that...
Happy International Mother Language Day! There could not be a more appropriate day than today to reflect on the term ‘mother tongue’ – but what does it really mean, especially if you speak more than one language? How should the term be defined in general and what...
I am so excited to share with you an interview I did earlier on this month. Thank you to Olena Centeno, one of the co-founders of Bilingual Kids Rock, who did all the hard work for this interview. [audio...
It is fascinating to observe children learning to speak, and it is mind-boggling how quickly they get skilled at using their language to get something, first by directly asking to soon finding an imaginative way of using language to manipulate their parents to act in...
To me there is no doubt that being bilingual can only be beneficial for you. Some people have challenged my view and asked me to write about situations that would have been easier had I been monolingual. Right. Hmm. OK, for the sake of balance it is only fair to take...
This is post I wish I wouldn’t have to write, and I had hoped advising parents to stick to only one language would be a thing of the past. But it isn’t. Only last week I was contacted by two worried parents from different parts of the world who had been told that...