It happens, we’ve all heard the stories. Bilingualism comes easily to some, and in some situations, and for other families and situations, it’s a struggle. So if you are a few years down your bilingualism road and you feel like you are not getting the “results” you expected with your child, what can you do? In many cases, professionals will tell you to just drop the “extra” languages and be happy with having a monolingual child. I think that is very rarely good advice (see this post: Dropping a language?). If you are dedicated to your languages (and in most cases you should be!) what are your options if things just aren’t working?
Basically, you can look for help in one of three areas.
Firstly, if your child is showing delays in all languages, it would be a good idea to have an evaluation with a Speech Language Therapist (SLP). Ideally, a child should be evaluated in both/all languages, in order to get a clear picture of language development in each. If that is not possible, it’s very important to work with an SLP who understands bilingual development and who will work with the parents to understand the child’s global language development.
A second option is to work with a professional in bilingual development. This is useful if you feel that your child is really only using one language, and isn’t developing the second/other language alongside. A professional with training in bilingual development may be able to help you identify ways and means to adjust your family language plan in order to better work towards your goals. This can be as simple as identifying input needs, or helping to plan for a structured enhanced input for a lesser used language. In all cases, they can help parents understand what elements are within their control in terms of maximizing their children’s potential.
Finally, in more complex cases, an educational psychologist can help parents identify learning issues that may be impacting language use or development. Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders struggle with different aspects of language development, and other educational challenges also impact language or involve language use. While children who have special educational needs may struggle more, they can certainly, with the help of their parents and a dedicated and knowledgeable professional, successfully learn to use more than one language.
In all cases, I advise parents to reach out for help as soon as they start to have concerns. The right professional can either put your mind at ease, or get your child immediate and accurate help if needed. In either case, parents are saved the stress of worrying “what if”, and of trying to figure things out themselves.
Tag Archives: family language plan
So this bilingualism thing isn’t really working… now what?
Filed under Introduction
OPOL: Does it always work?
Over the last decade or so, the OPOL method of raising bilingual children has gotten a lot of positive press. It sounds pretty simple – One parent, one language. So I speak French to my kids and my husband speaks English to them, and they will grow up bilingual. Sounds easy, yes? But the reality, as with anything to do with families or children, is not as simple or clear cut.
Just employing the OPOL method can produce bilingual children, but over my years of working with bilingual families, I have seen that it doesn’t guarantee success. Here are what I find to be the most common complications or limitations of OPOL:
1) Lack of minority language development.
Realistically, if a couple in the Netherlands, for example, have one English-speaking and one Dutch-speaking parent, their children are going to grow up hearing *far* more Dutch than English. By the time the kids are in school (or earlier if they are in child care in Dutch) they will be spending the majority of their time in Dutch, even more so if the English speaking parent works full time. Realistically then, one parent speaking English with the kids for an hour or so every day is possibly not going to be enough to produce “bilingual” children.
What can you do? In this situation, the family needs to find more time for English, whether that means English-speaking child care, or both parents using English at home, some or all of the time.
2) The slide towards the majority language….
In many bilingual families, the minority language speaking partner also speaks the majority language. This happens a lot in the English-speaking world (or other immigrant paradigms) where, for example, a Spanish/English speaking American marries an English-speaking American. Often, the Spanish-speaking parent sets out with the bet of intentions, determined to pass on Spanish to the children. But then they use a lot of English too, to be inclusive with friends and family, and to talk to child minders/teachers… and the kids very quickly pick up on the fact that Spanish is not *necessary* to communicate with that parent, or with anyone. They can use English all the time, and be just fine. So the children start speaking to the parent in English, and while the parent makes a valiant effort to keep speaking Spanish, eventually the use of Spanish dwindles… and the children are not bilingual at all, or anymore.
What can you do? From the beginning, if you are the minority speaking parent, know that your job will not be easy, and you will have to work at it. I meet parents all the time who tell me that they thought raising bilingual children with OPOL would be easy. It’s not, for many of us. If you are serious about passing your language on to your children, set your goals (what kind of language do I want them to have, what do I want them to be able to do?) and then make a plan. Activate all the resources in your network or find a new network that provides you, and your children with the language input and support they need to achieve bilingualism.
3) Lack of cohesion and consistency
Sometimes a parent who speaks both languages (and possibly other languages) in an OPOL family can have problems choosing what language to speak. So, they use a little of this, and a little of that. A lot of the OPOL literature stresses consistency, and I believe it to be true that consistency is desirable, primarily in the early years when the language system is being formed. Also, the early years are the time that the parents have the most influence over their children, so if you are passing on a minority language, it’s important to use these years to transmit as much language you can – there will be lots of time for #1 and 2 above to happen… but if you did a great job of building a language foundation before your kids start to only use the majority language, they have a better chance of coming back to the language later. Does it really mess kids up if a parent uses two languages, intermixed? I don’t think we really know the answer to this yet, as there are too many variations in family language use. But I do think that it’s best to be consistent, as much as possible, in the early years, if only to make your children’s task easier. Once the children are older, and have well-developed language systems, you can be more fluid in your language use. I use English, French and Dutch with my kids all in the same day, and sometimes even in the same conversation, and it’s a way of developing their linguistic abilities, and using translanguaging to deepen knowledge.
What can you do? This comes down to what motivates each parent, personally. You can do some reading on how to best use OPOL, or just make a resolution to only use “your” language with your children. It’s helpful for both parents to be on the same page about this, and to see the benefits of consistent language input for young children.
This post was inspired by a question on a Facebook group I belong to – I’ll be back, hopefully next week, with a post about translanguaging, and also one about a seminar I attended with Jim Cummins last week.
Filed under Content
Heritage languages: Fighting a losing battle?
I’ve been thinking about this issue for a while, and was finally motivated to write about it by a post on a parenting board. A Spanish-speaking American mother was considering her language use with her children, and how much Spanish she does or should use with her children. This sparked a discussion with some other children of immigrants, and even from that small sample, the trends of language use in the US came through. Statistically, by the third generation, Americans have lost the language that came to the country with their grandparents. Despite the recent increase in xenophobic panic and “English only” movements, this trend is still firmly in place (Source). First generation immigrants tend to arrive with limited English, so they continue to speak to their children in their own language (Mother Tongue, heritage language, first language, community language…). The second generation grows up bilingual, in their parents’ language and in English, but they raise their own children, the third generation, to be English monolinguals.
Why is this? Is it something we should be worried about? Is there anything that can be done? The answers to the first and last questions are quite clear-cut. The answer to the second one, however, is much more personal.
The reasons for the shift away from bilingualism can’t be described in one short post, but in a nutshell, I think the most important elements are language status and lack of information. You can read more about language status here but basically, home languages in the US are viewed as unnecessary and not worthy of serious effort to sustain. On the flip side, in Canada, where “Heritage Languages” receive government support, in policy and in funding, the results are quite different. Over the last 50 years, the number of immigrants succeeding in transferring their language through three generations has increased greatly (Source. The difference in perceived value and institutional support helps immigrants maintain their language, and pass it on to their children. So, that’s the “why”, in brief (and only for a certain situation).
Now let’s look at what can be done. Firstly, every immigrant, migrant, refugee needs to understand the value of the language and the culture they bring with them. You can be American, or Canadian, and be bilingual, or not speak English perfectly. After all, the first languages of these countries were hugely diverse, and none of them were English. Secondly, there needs to be a better transmission of knowledge about the benefits of bilingualism. There are so many potential cognitive, linguistic and social benefits to bilingualism that people don’t always know about, or understand. There needs to be a better societal and educational understanding of why bilingualism is beneficial, to refute the on-going discussions about bilingualism being a threat. This starts with everyone who works with parents and small children – doctors, nurses, health clinics, social workers, teachers – these people all need a better understanding of why bilingualism should be encouraged, and how to do so.
And now the stickier question – should we be worried? In my opinion, absolutely, but of course I am going to say that. In reality, every family facing the choice of moving to a new monolingual standard after immigration, or keeping bilingualism alive in their family has to make their own choice. For families who arrive in a new language location with young children, the best choice is to maintain bilingualism. The potential risks of “dropping” a language for a child are great – these populations are at risk of not “mastering” any language and therefore suffering academically. But for families who are raising the third generation, parents who can speak English (or the main language of their new home) fluently, is there an imperative to pass on the “old” language and aim for bilingualism? And if this choice is made, is it possible to pass on another language when faced with the juggernaut of English in the US (or Canada, or the UK…)? Yes, it is possible, but it takes dedication and planning. Do some research, and understand first all of the really great things your kids will take away from being bilingual. Consider how hard it will be for them to try and learn another language later, through an imperfect education system. Consider also the benefits that you, yourself, have had from being bilingual- linguistic benefits, but also the contact with your culture and your heritage. If all of these combine to make you sure that you want to pass your language on, then make a plan that will get you there. You need to consistently expose your children to the other language, you need to have resources for reading, and encourage other family members and friends to use the language with your children. You need to bring the language alive for your children, so that they can understand and communicate and feel a part of the people represented by the language.
For more information on Family Language Planning you can read here.
For more information on minority language support you can read this post about creating monolingual situations to support minority language growth, and this post for families where only one parent speaks the minority language.
In my opinion, not only as a specialist, but also as a bilingual who worked very hard as an adult to become bilingual, it’s absolutely worth the effort and planning to pass another language, and a cultural heritage, on to a new generation.
Filed under Content, Introduction
Can one parent pass on two languages?
Every so often, I meet a parent who would like to pass on more than one language to their children. Sometimes they are a single parent, dealing with a home and societal language, sometimes they are a bilingual themselves and want their children to speak both of their languages. So, the question comes up, is it possible for one person to be “in charge” of passing on more than one language?
There is no absolute answer, but I lean strongly towards “not a good idea”. While I understand the reasoning behind the desire, the elements for successful bilingualism are hard to achieve with one person and two languages.
Firstly, in the early years, consistency is important in helping your children’s brains anaylse input and create a fully competent language system. If one parent is attempting to use two languages, it would be very hard to structure the input to be always consistent in language usage. For example, you could try and do one language each day, and alternate, but may find that sometimes you slip into the other language without noticing. While this may not be a problem once in a while, trying to maintain artificial language use patterns may ultimately feel too hard.
Secondly, the amount of input needed to truly acquire a language is substantial, and one person trying to provide input in two languages may have a hard time finding enough waking hours in which to do so. A general benchmark is 20% input is the minimum for successful language acquisition, although I personally find that children need closer to 30% to begin using the language. So, if a child is awake 10 hours a day (when they are young), you would aim for about 3 hours minimum in each language. Of course input doesn’t need to be this rigid, sometimes it comes in chunks on the weekend and is limited during the week (for a working parent), so I encourage parents to look at the pattern of weeks. But realistically, it’s very hard for one person to have enough interaction time to successfully transmit two languages.
Now, that being said, some people do choose to pass on two languages, and work very hard to ensure success. The vast majority of the time though, they need to bring in outside support for one or both, in order to ensure adequate input and consistency.
If you have a story of someone doing this successfully, I’d love to hear it.
Filed under Content
Making the right school choice for your Family Language Plan
One of the most important elements, outside of the parental languages, in a Family Language Plan is the choice of school. Of course, not every family has the ability to control this element of their language plan, but if you do have a choice, it’s important to choose wisely.
There are three elements to look at when choosing a school:
1. Language
2. Culture
3. Personality (of your child, and the school)
Firstly, language. If you are a bilingual family, with one majority language and one minority language, it’s best to try and balance input by using school to bolster a minority language, if at all possible. If you are a monolingual family, introducing an outside language (i.e. Dutch, in the Netherlands), then school is the logical place to do it. Basically, if you have the possibility to use school choice to balance the languages in your child’s environment, and to help them achieve literacy goals in two or more languages, then this is a good thing to do.
However, there is also the aspect of culture to be taken into account. If you are living in a place where you are not “local” but you need or want your children to fit in, linguistically and culturally, a local-language school would be a better choice. I work with a lot of families who are here in the Netherlands indefinitely, and they struggle with the choice of international schooling versus Dutch schooling. Realistically, if you are going to be living somewhere for a long time, you do want your kids to be able to participate in local culture, and this is the best way to help this happen. Similarly, if a child has one Dutch parent, and one “other”, you need to carefully consider the linguistic benefits of international schooling with the cultural benefits of a local school.
Finally, when all the above seems unclear and unhelpful, you need to consider your child’s personality, and the schools that are available. I believe that finding a school that “fits” your child is more important than any linguistic or cultural agenda the parents may have (shocking, I know!). How your child feels at school, and how they fit in, and how they perform academically, all these factors will help influence the rest of their academic careers. Finding a school where they feel at home, and can truly learn to love learning will benefit them immensely, and putting your child in the “wrong” school can do a lot of damage. Dr. Leonard Sax makes a great point in his book “Boys Adrift”, that parents need to find a school that fits the child, rather than trying to make the child fit the school, and I think this should be the most important factor in school choice. It’s also important to remember that the “right” school may not be the same for all children in one family (unfortunately). Yes, language goals are important, but you can adjust your plan around school language, and find support and success from other avenues. Yes, cultural integration is important, but not at the expense of a child’s spirit.
So, if you are a family who is privileged enough to have a choice in how you educate your children, consider all these factors, and the close your eyes and jump!
Filed under Content
Guest post: The Power of Reading in Raising a Bilingual Child
This amazing post is courtesy of a fellow-blogger and parent of bilingual children. Adam lives and works in Japan, and we have been sharing and comparing ideas for a few months now. Adam’s specialization is reading to promote the minority language, which is a very important topic for many of my readers. He was kind enough to write this blog post for me to share with you. Enjoy, and check Adam’s blog, which is chock full of great tips and activities for every day in the bilingual home.
The Power of reading in Raising a Bilingual Child
by Adam Beck, blogger of Bilingual Monkeys
Raising a bilingual child—particularly when that child attends a majority-language school—requires a whole range of efforts to promote the development of the minority language. In My Best Tips for Raising Bilingual Kids, I offer a lengthy list of ideas to help address this challenge.
In this article, though, my focus is solely on reading, the area that I feel has had the most powerful impact on the language development of my children and the children I have worked with over the years as a teacher of bilingual kids.
Reading aloud
It seems hard to believe that something so simple, so pleasurable, could have as much influence on language development as the practice of reading aloud, and yet all my experience as a parent and teacher—as well as all the research I’ve seen on the subject (see The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease and The Power of Reading by Stephen Krashen for persuasive proof)—point to the enormous impact of this humble activity.
It’s honestly hard for me to overstate the importance of reading aloud—for all children—but it’s particularly vital when it comes to nurturing the minority language of a bilingual child. This means reading aloud every day, from day one, with the newborn on her back and the parent cuddled close with a stack of suitable books. You needn’t—and shouldn’t—wait until the child is any older. Begin right from birth and continue reading just as long as you possibly can, even after the child has begun reading on her own.
If you make reading aloud the bedrock of your efforts—at least 15 minutes a day, day in and day out—this routine will not only fuel the growth of the minority language, the child will come to associate books and reading with the warmth and pleasure of your time together. Reading aloud—picture books, poetry, chapter books, novels, and nonfiction, too—has long formed the core of my efforts to promote language development and a love of literacy.
Building a home library
Of course, in order to maintain this regular read-aloud practice, the other challenge—in addition to your firm commitment—involves obtaining a steady supply of suitable children’s books. In my experience, this is the other obstacle that parents of the minority language must make a special effort to overcome.
No matter how tight your budget, building a home library of books in your target language should at least be a small part of it. In the long run, the money you spend on books will be a modest investment with a substantial payoff: your child’s language ability, and interest in reading, will be much stronger. It’s a question of priority, in the same vein as making the time to read each day: if you have to cut back on some other aspect of your current lifestyle in order to free up funds for books, it’s an adjustment worth making, in my opinion.
I also suggest a practice of giving books as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, and other special days. Giving books as gifts—and encouraging others to do the same for your kids—is another way to add to your home library while also elevating books as “special things.”
At the same time you’re building your home library, the public library may be another source of books in the minority language. If such books are available, head there regularly with your child. You could also extend the effort to exchange books with similar families in your area.
It’s vital, as well, that you seek out suitable books for your child’s age and interests. After all, if you find the time, but not the right books, your read-aloud effort won’t be as effective and enjoyable as it should be…and could even peter right out. So you must be willing to invest additional time in searching for books that suit your child, which can easily be done online. (For English, a wealth of recommended titles can also be found in The Read-Aloud Handbook and How to Get Your Child to Love Reading.)
Subscribing to one or more children’s magazines in your target language—magazines your child would regularly look forward to receiving—is another effective way to enrich your home with appropriate material.
Reading with your children
Once your child has begun to read in the minority language, you should read with them daily, taking turns, page by page—this “shared reading” is in addition to your ongoing read-aloud time. Because the child’s listening comprehension will be considerably higher than her reading ability, up until an older age, you’ll now be working with two different kinds of books: easier books for shared reading; harder books for reading aloud.
When your child is about 3 or 4, you can add “chapter books” to your read-aloud routine (while continuing to read picture books and poetry). This is an important development, because chapter books—those that come in a series of 5 or 10 or even 20 or more books and feature familiar characters and plot lines—are a wonderful way to help hook a child on books and literacy. (For a list of such books in English, see How to Get Your Child Hooked on Books.)
For shared reading, the early books will consist of simple picture books, which can then slowly increase in difficulty as proficiency grows. Eventually, when the child is ready, you can “graduate” to suitable chapter books—particularly the chapter book series that you’ve already read aloud. Since the child has heard these stories once before (or even several times—it’s fine to reread favorite books), this should help ease her move into chapter books.
Children reading on their own
Although reading aloud should be maintained throughout childhood (both fiction and nonfiction at increasingly sophisticated levels), over time the amount of shared reading can decrease as the child reads more on her own.
All children are different, of course, and some will eagerly read by themselves. Others, however, are less inclined to pick up a book, particularly when there are already heavy demands on their time in connection with the majority-language school.
In order to increase the odds that your child will read independently, there are several strategies you might try:
1. Make use of captive reading.
What I call “captive reading” is the idea of posting reading material in a location in the home (like the bathroom), where the child’s eyes will be automatically drawn to it. In fact, the use of captive reading can start when the child is just beginning to read by putting a small whiteboard in the bathroom and writing simple messages and riddles on it. As the child’s reading proficiency grows, you can eventually post short fiction and nonfiction texts, and even write your own “serial stories” with the child as the main character. (See Turn Your Kids into Eager Readers with This Fun, Simple Strategy.)
2. Match books with interests.
Whatever interests your child exhibits, or concerns they may express, you can likely match that interest or concern with a suitable book in the minority language. If you’re proactive about this, and locate appealing titles, the child will be far more likely to spend time reading on her own.
3. Use reasonable incentives.
There are various views when it comes to “rewards,” but I’ve found that offering reasonable incentives for reading in the minority language—like a small prize or treat—can help heighten enthusiasm and maintain motivation.
Put reading at the heart of your efforts
Put reading at the very heart of your daily efforts and you’ll not only be more effective at promoting the development of the minority language, you’ll also be establishing an early love for books and literacy that will serve your child well throughout her lifetime.
Adam Beck is the blogger of Bilingual Monkeys, a site of ideas and inspiration for raising bilingual kids (without going bananas). Based in Japan, Adam is a former teacher at Hiroshima International School, and now a freelance writer. He is the father of two children who are bilingual in English and Japanese.
2012: “Year of Talking about Bilingualism: in review
So, at the beginning of 2012 I declared it my personal “Year of Talking about Bilingualism”. At the beginning of 2013 I’d like to take a moment to review how the year went, both in “real life” and in the blogosphere.
“Real Life”
FIVE: Number of countries in which I talked about bilingualism this year (Netherlands, UK, US, Italy and Greece). I didn’t count the planes, trains and automobiles, but I can say that there were a lot!
250 (Approximately): Number of parents I have met and worked with this year. Thank you to each and every one of you for sharing your family experiences with me, and I hope that I have given you useful and applicable information.
FOUR: Number of courses I took at the “Summer School in Bilingualism” – what an amazing opportunity and experience.
25: Number of hours I have spent working on my book (which should be many, many more… resolution for 2013!).
Blogosphere:
103: Number of countries from which people viewed my blog: Thanks! Welcome to all of you, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, and 101 points in between. The largest country represented is Russia and the smallest is probably the Federated States of Micronesia. The most views came from the Netherlands, my home-for-now.I’m absolutely delighted and awed when I view my world map. And if anyone knows someone in Mongolia… I could complete Eastern Europe!
7,100: Number of views overall. The most popular post was “In Defense of the Bilingual Child”.
18: Number of comments from my “top commenters”: expatfrombirth and Olga. I’m always happy to hear from my readers, whether it to share experiences, ask questions or argue with me.
And that’s my year in review. It’s been a great year, and I am looking forward to continuing this year.
Local Language or Not?
Continuing in the spirit and theme of helping your children fit in with a new culture, I’d like to talk briefly about the benefits of having your children acquire a “temporary” language. These days, more families are moving to other countries/cultures with their children, for a few or several years, and then moving either home or on to the next posting. How should parents decide if a language is “worthwhile” or not?
In my opinion, it is almost always valuable to have your children learn the host-country language, as least to some extent. How much time and effort to put into it depends on the family situation – schooling options, age of children, length of posting and other languages in the family.
Firstly, let’s consider very young children from monolingual families. Any family moving with children who are under school age should consider day care/play school/preschool options in the local language. There are demonstrated benefits to acquiring two languages from a young age (cognitive, linguistic, social), so if you have this opportunity for your children, why pass it up? At most, they will go on to become fluent speakers of the language, and to have improved abilities to learn other languages later in life. At worst, they will have developed their language-learning facility and broadened their phonetic repertoire – even if they don’t maintain the language after leaving the host country. In addition, it sends a powerful message to children about the value of learning other languages – an especially important message in families where both parents speak the same language.
For school-age children, the decision is affected by different factors. I have seen school-aged children “dropped” into local schools, and have great experiences and come out “bilingual” in a few years. However, I’ve also seen school-aged children struggle with the transition to being in an environment where they are not linguistically competent. At this age and stage, much depends on the personality and motivation of the individual child. If the child is willing and able, they can absolutely benefit from a few years of school in another language, and if they become literate in the language they have the means to sustain it after leaving the host country. For other children, the compromise to academic achievement, confidence and social skills is too great, and the sink-or-swim method is not appropriate. A best-case scenario is sometimes a local school that has programs in place for language learners and support for the home language as well. In the (frequent) absence of such a school, an international that teaches in the home language but emphasizes learning of the host country language is sometimes the best option.
For older children – secondary school age – immersion in a local school is generally very difficult. The weight of academic content at the secondary school level leaves very little time for learning language to the level children need to function in academic classes. Therefore, the best choice again is often a school that teachers in the home language, but that also has strong support for learning the local language.
Overall, children of all ages can benefit from learning a language that they may not ultimately maintain throughout their lives. For younger children, the benefits may be more linguistic and cognitive in nature, while for older children the benefits may be more attitudinal, but there is almost always a case to be made for helping your children learn the local language in your travels.
Post-Parma blues…
Well, I promised a post from Parma, and here it is, almost a week later. It was such a whirlwind conference, book-ended on each side by long days of travel, that I’ve hardly had time to settle into the experience.
Here are a few thoughts:
1. It’s really, really hard to try and function in another language. Being in Italy was a good reality check for me – very few people spoke English and I had to work hard using all my multilingual skills to be understood and understand. This included at the conference, where several of the panelists spoke in Italian and French. The French I can handle, although it’s been a long time since I did any “serious” comprehension in French, rather than day-today stuff (domains of use…). The Italian was hard work! I chose not to get the translation head phones, as I wanted to live the experience of being a student in a classroom who doesn’t master the language – mentally difficult, socially marginalizing, and emotionally challenging. I’ve renewed my dedication to bringing training to school teachers who work with language learners in the classroom – these kids need the best support available.
2. There are so many truly multilingual people in this area of the world – some of the panelists spoke in four languages or more at different points, using their language skills to help include those who didn’t master the main languages of the conference (English, Italian and French).
3. Alexander Rawlings – Most multilingual student in the UK. Alex Rawlings looks like a typical young English man. He is a student at Oxford, and enjoys travel and chatting with people he meets – in 11 languages. Yes, you read that right, he speaks 11 languages, at the age of 20 years old. How? Well, the best way to find out is to watch this clip:
What I was impressed with was not so much his linguistic abilities, but more his linguistic motivations. He didn’t learn to speak so many languages to be cool (is being multilingual cool?) or to impress people, he did it out of a desire to communicate with people and understand them through their own languages. He brought a friend along to the conference, Sam (sorry Sam, I can’t remember your family name!) who is also studying languages (French and now Russian), and to meet young people who are dedicated to learning other languages is a breath of fresh air. All too often these days, people think (especially English speakers) that English is “enough” and don’t bother with other languages. That’s a shame in many ways, and meeting students like Alex and Sam renews my hope that people haven’t given up on learning foreign languages.
So, those are my initial thoughts from Parma, although I still have a lot to ponder on…
And now for a more practical matter; Next week I am co-hosting a parent seminar with Delft Mama and Nomad Parents.
This seminar is a 2-hour introduction to the theory and practice of raising bilingual children, and is taking place in Delft, on November 28.
For more details (there are a few open places left) follow this link:
Filed under Introduction
TinyEYE: Online, multi-language speech therapy
vOne of the most difficult problems parents can face when raising children with more than one language is the difficulty in getting accurate assessments and support if a child needs speech therapy. Unfortunately, most training programs for speech therapists do not address bilingual speech development, and few therapists have access to resources for bilingual children.
When advising parents with concerns, I always emphasize two aspects of this issue. Firstly, you need to have the child evaluated in both/all languages, to get a clear picture of their development. It isn’t as easy as you may think to determine the child’s “strongest” language – they may have more vocabulary in one, but better grammar in the other. The best case scenario is one speech therapist who can evaluate/support in both languages. That is usually not possible, so the next best choice is two or more speech therapists, working in their own languages. In this case, it’s important to work with speech therapists who are “bilingual friendly”, so that they don’t treat your child as a monolingual. However, finding local therapists who can work in other languages isn’t always easy.
A few months ago, I was introduced to a new system of telespeech, an online platform called “TinyEYE”. TinyEYE was created in Canada, where there are many remote populations where children have no access to speech therapy services. It provides professional services via Internet, with a qualified and trained speech therapist assigned to each child. This is a fantastic development not only for remote populations, but also for the international bilingual community.
TinyEYE is now working in Europe, based in the Netherlands. At this time, they can offer online therapy in Dutch, English and French, and are working on translating the materials into other languages. The breadth and depth of the therapy options available through the platform are impressive, as is the tracking system which allows parents, teachers and therapists to collaborate through the platform. An extra bonus is that it is great fun for kids, so getting them to participate should be easy.
If you are a bilingual family having difficulty finding a qualified speech therapist local to you who can work in one of these languages, it’s worth a visit to TinyEYE to see if they can help you. TinyEYE also works with schools, so if your child’s school needs access to therapists working in other languages, this could also be useful for them.
I’ve been working with bilingual families for many years, and this development is one of the most positive I’ve seen in terms of helping families access resources for their children. And that will only improve, as TinyEYE increases the number of languages available in their system.
NB This is not a paid advertisement – I’m writing about TinyEYE because I think it is a great resource for families.
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