Raising a Bilingual Child

It might seem overwhelming thinking about how to raise a child bilingually. You may be in a household where one spouse knows a different native language than you, or you may be in a household where you both speak the same native language but live in a country where another language is the majority. Can I teach my child a language if I have a full-time job? What if my child doesn’t want to learn? How can I balance this? What if their native language suffers? What if they fall behind? These are all natural concerns for parents and rightfully so! You want the best for your child no matter what. So, I’m writing this post to give you some tips on how to approach raising a bilingual child! I base a lot of my recommendations from my own experience as a dual language teacher, a child who was raised bilingually and from two excellent books titled “7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child” by Naomi Steiner and "The Bilingual Edge" by Kendall King and Alison Mackey.

Here are MY 6 main tips for raising a bilingual child:

1.       Define your goals as a bilingual parent/household

2.       Create a Bilingual Action Plan (from the book “7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child” by Naomi Steiner)

3.       Integrate the second language within the technology already being used in their household (such as iPad apps, YouTube videos, online books). For example, these are some great YouTube channels in Spanish to utilize in your home:

a.       El Reino Infantil

b.       Lunacreciente

c.       Kidsmmersion

4.       Read, Read, Read

a.       A strong foundation in a child’s native language is a great predictor of their success in their second language acquisition.

5.       Write, Write, Write (in a meaningful context)

a.       Give children the opportunity to use the Spanish vocabulary they are learning in a meaningful context (grocery lists, labels around the house, words around the community, etc).

6.       Use the target language in context (make it fun!)

a.       Whenever possible, create opportunities for students to use the target language in a meaningful way and most importantly – make it fun! Language learning should be engaging, exciting and interactive!

The most important tip I have for language learning is to make it “comprehensible” which means, to make sure you are doing everything you can for your child to understand. This is mostly done through using as many visuals (images, videos, songs, poems) as possible! Remember that language learning is a long journey and any small stride is a success! Another important aspect of language learning is for it to be “interactive” – give your child opportunities to interact with other children who are being raised bilingually (playdates, outings, etc) and provide them activities where they will be interacting in a meaningful way with the target language. Therefore, it is crucial for you to give your children opportunities to produce the language orally and to interact with other children who are bilingual or being raised bilingually.

Here are some recommended books that are great reads for parents wanting to or already are raising their children bilingually:

1.       The Bilingual Edge by Kendall King and Alison Mackey

2.       7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child by Naomi Steiner

3.       Raising a Bilingual Child by Barbara Zurer Pearson and Living Language

4.       Maximize Your Child’s Bilingual Ability: Ideas and Inspiration foreven greater success and joy raising bilingual kids by Adam Beck

Hands-On Centers

One of the focal aspects of our daily routine include our learning centers, math centers and our literacy workshops. An important facet of these centers includes engaging students with exploratory hands-on games and activities that aim at teaching the standards/content area goals for each week! One of the most exciting ways to get students engaged is to #SetTheStageToEngage and provide students with exciting and engaging activities that will have them looking forward to doing that center.

One of the main things that I try to do is include centers related to our thematic units of study. Below are some examples of some centers I have done that are related to our units of study:

Pilgrim/Native American Unit:

• Students get to "fish" for sight words! I have sight words glued onto fish cut-outs and then attach a paper clip to each fish. Students utilize magnetic fishing rods to "fish" the sight word, read it and then write it on their paper.
• I put out Lincoln Logs and images of actual log cabins and homes that the pilgrims/Native Americans used to live in. Students had to utilize the logs to build/recreate those images.

Plant Unit: Students get to "dig" for sight words! I get a big black tub, fill it with beans (to simulate dirt/soil), and then print sight words on paper carrots and place them in the bucket. Students use plastic toy shovels to "dig" for the sight word, read it and write it on their paper.

Space Unit: I print yellow stars with sight words on them and tape them underneath a table. Students have to lay down under the table and write down 10 sight words on their papers, as if they're looking up at the night sky.

Community Helpers Unit: Each week I organized a mini-dramatic play/literacy center where students got to be construction workers, doctors, vets and bakery chefs. The main literacy focus of the center was to have students find the missing syllable/vowel that completed words that were printed on buildings (construction workers), animals (vets), and pastries (chefs). I set up the area to simulate that occupation and students got to dress up, use tools and record their answers on a corresponding response sheet.

Animal Unit: I bought the caterpillars from Insect Lore and gave each student a butterfly life cycle recording journal. Every few days the students would get an opportunity to record what they were observing through the use of illustrations and words!

Now, of course you won't be able to include these specialized centers every week (just not physically feasible!) but there is an opportunity to make your centers hands-on and engaging every week! With simple things such as including games (spinners, using dice, using manipulatives, using magnetic letters) and with activities that allow students to get up from their chairs and move around! Especially with our dual language learners, I find it so immensely important to create an environment where they are excited about going to centers and being in class that their "affective filter" (Krashen) is lowered and they are at ease and comfortable!

What kind of centers and activities do YOU use in your classroom? Can you think of ways to revamp your centers?