Bilingual children - top tips for bilingual families

Top tips
Do:

• Encourage aunts, uncles and grandparents to speak in the minority language.
• Make the “foreign” language the one used at home from the beginning.
• Minimise embarrassment for your children by speaking the local language in public and at social gatherings.
• Ensure your partner learns your language to support the process. One indifferent parent will give the wrong messages to your child.
• Offer books, games and videos in the “home” language.
  

Don’t:

• Tell off your children in public in the “foreign language”. 
  
• Worry about your child being less fluent in the local language, she will absorb this, at playgroup, at school, in other people’s homes.
• Make speaking another language a “party trick “ - kids don’t want to be seen as different and may then resist using the other language.
  

Introducing another language
Some parents are fluent in another language and would like to introduce it to their children – again the earlier the better.

In some areas language clubs operate. However these can be counter- productive if they are badly organised – for instance some are large classes that include a broad age-range.

Games and stories for one age group may not be suitable for another. If you can’t find a suitable club, consider starting a small one with friends.

At home:

• Use songs and nursery rhymes to introduce the language.
• Adapt favourite games for the other language.
• Write translations into their favourite storybooks.
• Use DVDs and audiotapes in the foreign language.
  

For further information:
Local libraries are a good staring point for foreign language resources.

The Internet is a treasure trove for hints, tips and songs and stories in other languages. Run a search on “bilingual families” for a comprehensive list.