Tag Archives: OPOL

OPOL on the Beach

July 29, 2009 in Bilingualism by Bilingual For Fun
I recently landed on a beach, together with A. of course, like most Italians this time of the year and I want to share some reflections on the experience of using the One Parent One Language technique (OPOL), outside of one’s habitat .

Bilingual children, grandparents and extended family

July 2, 2009 in Bilingualism by L.
Quite often in OPOL families parents give up using the minority language in presence of the extended family, a sign of respect towards those who don’t understand the language. It is certainly a very good thing to involve the whole family, but it doesn’t necessarily need to happen at the minority language’s expenses. And by [...]

The expert answers: Does Trilingualism cause Confusion or Delays?

May 27, 2009 in Real Life, Research by Bilingual For Fun
In order to better answer your questions Bilingual for Fun is hosting some experts on Bilingualism. Today Professor Sorace answers the question Giovanni sent us, Giovanni has a trilingual child and some real concerns about his linguistic development. Antonella Sorace is professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of Edimburgh, and together with her team created Bilingualism [...]

5 ways to react when Bilingual Children mix languages

May 10, 2009 in Bilingualism by L.
Does your child start a sentence with one langue and finish it with another? Yes, that happens a lot, but what this really means strongly depends on how you react to that. If you think you just react normal, keep reading, there are at least 5 different ways of reacting normal, they are all normal, [...]

What the OPOL are you saying?

April 26, 2009 in Bilingualism by L.
OPOL (One Parent One Language) is one of the most used techniques by bilingual families. It’s very easy to explain (each parent speaks his/her language to the children) but it’s not easy to implement with rigour, so everybody finds his/her own way of implementing it, deciding when and how to make exceptions to the rule. Managing [...]

Lisa's recipe for trilingualism

April 26, 2009 in Real Life by L.
Lisa has three children, and she has succefully raised them trilingual. Her recipe is simple: each parents speaks his/her own language, the third language is learnt at school.  However she does have a secret ingredient: the whole family follows the (OPOL) rule, always and without exceptions. That’s not easy to do, but it seems to pay off… I am [...]

I'm raising my child bilingual, or am I?

April 26, 2009 in Bilingualism by L.
All bilingual families from time to time should try to find the time to stop and think, to check how they are doing and whether the method they are following is the right one. All families raising bilingual children have a technique, irrespective of whether it is an explicit one supported by rules, or an implicit [...]