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Raising Bilingual Children

By Alex Pafilis, Community Programs Manager, Chicago Children's Museum

Growing up with a Puerto Rican mother and a Greek father exposed me to rich experiences in two languages and cultures. From my momís rolling ìrrísî to my fatherís robust accent, hearing both Spanish and Greek helped define who I am. Along the way I learned to speak and understand more than one language.

Now that Iím married to a Jewish man, and we have a little boy, I feel I have stepped into my parentís shoes of many years ago. I want my son to have as strong a connection to his roots and as rich a language experience as I had. How can we make sure Max has an opportunity to learn more than one language? This is a question that many parents who want to raise a bilingual child face. Here are some tips and tools to help the process along:

Donít wait. Start as early as you can. The brain is ìprimedî during the first three years of life to learn language most easily, but children are still terrific language learners until late childhood. Even for children who donít become fluent, exposure at an early age to multiple languages can have a positive effect on later language learning. Young children are often less inhibited and less self-conscious about making mistakes. Practicing a language is the best way to learn it and that includes playing with the sounds, words and language patterns.

Consider your language resources. For children to learn a language they need to be around native speakersóboth to hear the language and to practice using it. Researchers claim that a child needs to be exposed to a language 30% of their waking time to actively speak it. This is easiest if someone within the immediate family or a childcare provider is around to communicate with the child in the second language.

Develop a language learning plan. If you want your child to learn more than one language, decide as a family how this will occur. It helps children to know what language to use with important people in their lives. For example, in the ìone person-one languageî approach, Mom speaks English to the child while Dad uses French. When you are all together, decide what common language you will all use. In the ìminority language at homeî approach both parents (and the rest of the family) speak the less dominant language at home, and English outside the home. This leaves the dominant language (English) to be learned more comprehensively when the child starts school.

Establish a support network. Locate a peer group of caregivers who are also raising bilingual children. This will allow you to build a network of other speakers of your minority language and discuss any issues or problems you experience. It will also give your child the opportunity to hear, speak, and interact with other children in the language they are learning.

Get pertinent materials. Having books, music, and games in your minority language is a good way to foster literacy skills. Hearing the language read, sung or used in different contexts will expand your childís language skills and build positive associations.

Be flexible. Language learning is not an all-or-nothing undertaking. It takes time and patience. Donít worry if your childís exposure to one minority language decreases temporarily. She will remember what she has learned until she begins to hear the language again. Also, donít be concerned if your child favors one language over the other or decides to speak in only one language for a period of time.

Every bilingual child is unique. Development in two languages depends on the type and amount of input the child receives in each language. But it also depends on a childís temperament and learning style. Itís important to remember that learning two languages means processing twice as much information. Recognize that your childís skills in either language may lag behind those of single language learners, at least for a while. Raising bilingual children requires patience and, undoubtedly, there will be frustrating times.

Focus on the successes, and marvel at what your child can do! I patiently wait for my little Max to utter his first words in Spanish. At that moment, it wonít matter that it took extra time and effort.

Additional Resources for Educators and Caregivers

How Language Comes to Children, by BÈnÈdicte deBoysson-Bardies, M. B. DeBevoise (Translator) Examines a wide range of puzzling questions related to fetal development through the toddler years.
What's Going on in There? by Lise Eliot A comprehensive overview of current scientific knowledge about infant and early childhood brain development.
The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker Unravels how babies learn to talk and how people make sense of speech.
A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism, by Colin Baker An introduction for parents raising or considering raising multilingual children.
One Child, Two Languages, by Patton O. Tabbors Addresses issues such as what a young child, whose home language is not English, goes through when he or she first goes to a English-speaking preschool. Growing Up With Two Languages, by CunninghAm-Ande Informatively written on mixed-language families and intercultural marriage.
Raising Multilingual Children, by Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa Covers various factors in raising multilingual children, descriptions of real-life families, and underlying physiology.
The Bilingual Family: A Handbook for Parents, by Edith Harding-Esch, Philip Riley Surveys the main issues of bilingualism, while raising some of the deeper issues of language acquisition.
Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism,by Colin Baker A resource primarily for teachers with bilingual children in their classrooms, or foreign-language teachers of young children.
Bilingualism in Development, by Ellen Bialystok Describes research on the intellectual development of bilingual children, showing how it differs from that of monolingual children.

©2007 Chicago Children's Museum

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