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...
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...
"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...
Today I want to share with you an interview which the lovely Marianna Du Bosq from Bilingual Avenue invited me to. If you haven't already checked out her site, I warmly recommend her podcasts on the topic of raising bilingual children. We chatted about my book and the...
Further diary entries from the 100% fictional but totally real mother living with the ups and downs of raising bilingual children in a new home country. Monday Only two weeks to go now! All the gifts have been ordered - fingers crossed everything arrives in time –...
Another installment from the totally fictional, but still real diary of a bilingual mother. Monday Only less than a month to Christmas! When did that happen? Last year I promised myself to be organised and arrange all presents well in time … and here we go again. I...
Bringing up a child to speak more than one language is not an easy task. There are days when we need all the encouragement we can find to keep going. So I asked parents what they would like to say to other mothers and fathers of bilingual children – and here is a...
Monday I really can’t sing … but I want my daughter to hear the songs my mum sung to me when I was little, so I do it anyway. D does fall asleep a lot quicker when I sing to her, but maybe she just pretends to sleep so she doesn’t have to listen that long … That said...