FinDuLi is a platform mainly writing about financial news and encourage independent thinking. The idea came to me after attending my daughter’s pre-school meeting earlier this year, which was mainly about encouraging children to be independent.
So here I am in April, another meeting I went for today was all about “Raising Bilingual Children”. A 1 hour coffee workshop session on a Wednesday morning. I am not representing an opinion here but truly sharing the notes I had for the session. I found the workshop very useful and wanted to share my thoughts and notes, especially for those busy working parents who couldn’t make it.
Here they refer “Majority Language” as English as that’s what’s been used in school. The “Minority Language” is referring to a non-English language.
· The What: First of all, be proud of your language and your culture! At the same time respect for other languages and cultures of the world. Lili’s school has 48 nationalities and 52 languages were spoken. You can’t get more international that that! Children need to understand and parents should encourage them to understand that the “Minority Language” has a special place in the community.
· The How: Encourage the child to speak the “Minority Language” at home. How? For example, play certain games only in “Minority Language”. Or explain them grandparents can only understand you in “Minority Language” so there’s a purpose for speaking that language. Even try speaking to them in Minority Language and they reply in English is better than nothing.
· The What: Bilingual children need a little extra time to process information when they learn to read and write, but once they have mastered the languages, they have a clear advantage to their monolingual peers. So slow start but huge long term benefits. As parents, we need to be patient and also not be afraid – most children are not confused by learning more than one language at the same time.
· The How: When they’re learning and trying to speak “Minority Language”, sometimes they make mistakes or mix 2 languages in one sentence. What was not a good idea to say to them is “you said that wrong”. As parents, we must be very carful when correcting our children, especially in front of other people. Alternately, you could repeat it and model the right way and explain what error was made then ask them to repeat it or repeat it together.
There were some Q&As at the end of the workshop which I find is equally useful. I wouldn’t say it’s Question and Answer but rather discussion and sharing experiences.
Q: My wife speaks Russian and I speak English, sometimes she pretends that she doesn’t understand what our daughter was saying to encourage her to speak Russian to her. Is that a good idea?
A: Children can become frustrated when they cannot express themselves and they tend to use the language they are most comfortable with. Remember what we kept saying to our children? Mummy and Daddy will always there for you. Same with learning a language. We need patience and not “I don’t listen to you if you don’t speak X”. An alternative could be just remind your child that you speak X language each time and tell them that you will help them express that they want to say.
Q: I speak German and French and my husband speak Italian. English is neither of our first language. What’s your advice for multilingual children?
A: Depends on how well both of your English are? As children need a strong foundation/first language at home. If both of your English vocabulary is very limited then it’s best to speak to mummy in German/French and Italian to Daddy. But statistically ,multilingual children, who have more than one languages at home and English at school run the risk of having a slightly reduced vocabulary in all 3 languages.
Q: I have the time and patience to take the time to explain at home. But when we are in public areas for example the airport and if my daughter is not behaving well then I often find myself under the pressure of telling her off in English not Chinese as she don’t quite understand what I was saying.
A: Correct her behaviour first then explain it in Chinese later.
Q: I find it easier with my 1st child to be disciplined to speak Greek. But once he had his brother it’s very difficult not to letting them to speak English to each other.
A: Speaking of siblings, we must try not to compare our child to anyone else especially their sibling. No child should be made to feel that they are not good enough. This is not just for language but for everything. If you think that your child isn’t at the level that you think they should be, there are many things that you can do to give your child more exposure to the language. For example, again you can play some certain games or have some certain family occasions for example “Greece Family Meals” when you can only speak Greek. Some children go to a language club where everyone speaks that language for a couple of hours – which is not a bad idea.
Q: My son now has an English accent, every time we travel back to India, some of the relatives would say “show me how you talk in English accent”.
A: First of all, study shows that children who acquire a second language before the age of 7 may not have an accent, whereas children who acquire it after that age may well have an accent. It is tempting to show your child off when people ask to see how they speak “X” language, but asking them to show off to others just because they can, is never a good idea. Alternatively, you would say “can you teach them how to speak some English” or “ Can you teach him/her how to say this in English”. Asking them to teach is giving them a feeling or responsibility instead of having to perform.
It is never too late to change!
Towards the end of the workshop, the message was clear: It is never too late to change the way we speak to our children. By making an effort and thinking before we speak, we can make a positive impact in the way they view languages, and in the way they learn.
“Doing is better than not doing, and if you do something badly, you’ll learn to do it better!-- Twyla Tharp (American Dancer and Author of The Creative Habit)
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