Raising a bilingual child is not difficult,, provided the family has identified the right method, the approach that will work for that family given their circumstances.
Below we are sharing some ideas and techniques, have a look and see what fits best your personal situation.
- One Person One language (OPOL): basically one person will always talk the minority language with the child, in most cases that means that a parent will use his/her native language. It’s one of the most popular techniques, however it should be pointed out that the child to learn effectively needs to hear the language for a substantial amount of time every day (difficult if Daddy is seldom home for instance) but also he needs to hear it from few people and in different circumstances
- Minority Language At Home (MLAH): the whole family speaks at home the minority language, i.e. for people living in Italy, any language but Italian. This techniques works well in helping learn the minority language, the only drawback can be that the child might be slower than his peers in learning the majority language. This is just a temporary problem, when they start going to school kids bridge the gap easily and fast, yet it could be reason for concern for some parents.
- Create a format that works for your own family. Many families have used techniques that were specific for their needs and circumstances. In these cases the golden rule is to choose one methodology and then stick to it. Some examples could be: have a language for holidays and one for the rest of the year, a language for weekdays and one for weekend, the first who talks chooses the language, a language is used in specific places or circumstances, family organizes every week a dinner say Japanese (to eat and talk Japanese), etc. etc.
When deciding which way to go each family will have to consider its own resources and limitations, for instance how much time each parent can spend with the children, if there are other people who can talk the minority language with the kids, what’s the language spoken in the country where they live, etc. etc.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
If you need some help or tips to identify the right method or strategy for your family write to:
bilinguepergioco AT yahoo DOT com.
If you feel that your question or situation is particularly complex, you can also ask the opinion of our Experts, also by writing to bilinguepergioco AT yahoo DOT com.
Raising a bilingual child is not difficult,, provided the family has identified the right method, the approach that will work for that family given their circumstances.
Below we are sharing some ideas and techniques, have a look and see what fits best your personal situation.
When deciding which way to go each family will have to consider its own resources and limitations, for instance how much time each parent can spend with the children, if there are other people who can talk the minority language with the kids, what’s the language spoken in the country where they live, etc. etc.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
If you need some help or tips to identify the right method or strategy for your family write to:
bilinguepergioco AT yahoo DOT com.
If you feel that your question or situation is particularly complex, you can also ask the opinion of our Experts, also by writing to bilinguepergioco AT yahoo DOT com.