Raising Bilingual Children Part I

Twin Parks Montessori Schools has many bilingual and trilingual families. As part of our Coffee Chat series, Dr. Anne Colantuoni and I did a presentation on Raising Bilingual Children. We both had an interest and enjoyed researching the topic. This blog post will be one of two in a series to give more information. First I wanted to present some facts gathered from research.

• Bilingualism is a process, not a product. To be totally bilingual takes 9 years
• Each child is different in their ability to learn multiple languages, some take longer
• Home language is spoken in the home since birth (and before)
• You have to be a talker to teach a language
• The child’s dominate language is the one they play in and self-talk in
• Bilingualism happens naturally when the community is bilingual
• 1^st language before the age of 1, not necessarily spoken in the home
• Must have a personal connection – TV and iPad programs are not as successful as person to person
• The third or additional languages should be introduced between 4 and 7 years of age
• they will not develop either well
• Make sure they are strong in 2 languages before adding a third
• The dominate language can change over time depending on circumstances
• Children are not sponges. After 1 year of not hearing a second language, they become language learners just like the rest of us
• Under 6 years of age, children do not complain about a second language
• Around 6 years of age, children may complain about the extra work
• Children migrate to the language of their school setting
• Learning another language is very positive for cognitive, linguistics, educational and social development
• Bilingual and trilingual children demonstrate more empathy in social situations
• Multilingual children can find meaning in other languages and other cultures
• Reading books that are print-rich in a second language, while asking questions and making predictions increases children’s capacity to learn
• The quality of their home language will help develop a second language in school
• Never stop using home language at home – if you drop home language at home when they go to school
• If there is a different alphabet system like Russian or Chinese it takes longer to read and write
• Teachers need to know about the languages spoken at home