The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. – Ludwig Wittgenstein One of the main reasons I started doing seminars for parents was the lack of information among many monolinguals in our community about the benefits of bilingualism. In the expat world, we meet many, many bilingual families, but there are also … Continue reading #IMLD: Top 5 Reasons to Choose Bilingualism for your Child
Tag: family language plan
The Languages you Speak to Your Bilingual Child | Psychology Today
This is a great article that explains, from the research, why no one method is a guarantee of bilingual success. When I do parent seminars we talk about this a lot. Being an OPOL family doesn't automatically mean your kids will be bilingual. Having a minority language at home does not automatically mean your kids … Continue reading The Languages you Speak to Your Bilingual Child | Psychology Today
New Workshop: Family Language Planning
A quick note to announce that the first edition of the new two-part parenting series will be held in The Hague on September 22 and October 2, 2014. The first event is the popular "Raising Bilingual Children: Six building blocks for success" seminar, which is an evening packed with theoretical and practical knowledge on raising … Continue reading New Workshop: Family Language Planning
Adoption and Language Issues: Should our children be bilingual?
This topic came to me through a seminar attendee, and it is a question being posed by more and more families, as the rates of international adoption rise. Children adopted from "abroad" arrive in their new homes speaking a different language, and have a great need to learn their new language quickly, in order to … Continue reading Adoption and Language Issues: Should our children be bilingual?
“A” is for airplane. But “V” is for vliegtuig… the beauty of bilingual resources from Diglot Books
The question of reading - who reads what and in what language? is a common one in bilingual families. Should each parent only read books in their own language? Is it okay to read books in the other language? What if your accent is terrible? What if you only want to read in *your* language … Continue reading “A” is for airplane. But “V” is for vliegtuig… the beauty of bilingual resources from Diglot Books
Amsterdam Seminar: Raising Bilingual Children: Six building-blocks for success
Back by popular demand, the "Raising Bilingual Children: Six building blocks for success" seminar is being offered in Amsterdam, March 31, 2014. This seminar offers an overview of the theory of bilingualism/multilingualism, in an accessible and interesting lecture. We then move into the practicalities of raising children with more than one language: ways and means, … Continue reading Amsterdam Seminar: Raising Bilingual Children: Six building-blocks for success
Bilingual = Biliterate?
If bilingualism is the ability to be able to use two or more languages, is literacy a necessary part of this? Do you need to be able to read and write a language to qualify as "bilingual"? And if you would like your children to be literate in two or more languages, how do you … Continue reading Bilingual = Biliterate?
Reading: Who does what, and why?
One of the questions that comes up in almost every seminar I do is related to reading. Most of the families I work with are lucky enough to have available children's books in both family languages. Children (being often contrary) tend to pick up a book from the "other" language and refuse any attempt … Continue reading Reading: Who does what, and why?
Multilingual Mobile Families: Thoughts on integrating the host country language
In a previous post (How important is the local language? )I discussed reasons for choosing to have your children learn the host country language. In that post, I focused mostly on general thoughts and monolingual families. In this post, I'd like to address the important, and difficult, question faced by multilingual families - Whether or … Continue reading Multilingual Mobile Families: Thoughts on integrating the host country language
Mobile families: How important is the local language?
In the city where I live, 10% of the population are classified as "expats". That means that they are usually on contracts of 2-5 years, although many stay longer (we have been here 10 years now...). One of the on-going issues for parents who move abroad with their children is how to approach living in … Continue reading Mobile families: How important is the local language?
