Raising Bilingual Children

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Comment by Manuel F. Lara on December 7, 2008 at 10:18pm

Hi all,

Here's an article on this topic:

Raising bilingual and biliterate children: My experience - Part 1 - Bilingual Japan, (JALT Special Interest Group Newsletter) - April, 2002

Comment by Antonio J. Delgado on October 1, 2008 at 5:13pm

Hi, Terri.
Are you form Japan?
Do you speak English to your children?
Do you have bilingual school?
How is English taught to your children?

CU

A. Juan

Comment by Antonio J. Delgado on October 1, 2008 at 5:07pm

Glad to read your words, Cleo. They make me feel more comfortable and with much more energy to go on. I'll try to find information about Synthetic Phonics in order to help me and my children to improve their English.
It was funny the other day, Emilio, my eldest was convinced that he had to speak English so he started answering back to me by saying "yes", "OK", ... I was really happy.
I know it is hard work but ... I hope it will be useful for him in a future, just to be a better person, trying to unsderstand and help people from different part of our planet thanks to speaking a different language ... or maybe more than 2!!

Best Wishes to everybody!

A. Juan

Comment by Cleo MERINO on September 30, 2008 at 8:16pm

Hi everyone.
There’s quite a few of us in this adventure of bringjng up our children in two languages, it seems, so I thought you might like to hear my experience. My daughters are now 7 and 9 years old, and, though I’m not a native speaker, I decided to start speaking English to them before they were 1. I’m the only one who speaks English at home; I have my husband’s support, but I felt other people sometimes looked at me as if I was out of my mind… As Antonio said, the answer is “I don’t care!”. If anything, I think having two languages has actually improved their cognitive development.
Their first words were in English, but as soon as they started at the kindergarten, Spanish took over and they never spoke to me in English. However, like Antonio, I was happy for them to be able to understand English. Children’s book, cartoons, any context to use the language in, is great fun and I learn a lot with them, too.
Eventually, I decided to make an effort and take the girls to a bilingual school (at the time there were no state ones), and for me that was invaluable help: I feared they’d end up feeling embarrassed (as I had heard from other people’s experiences) and not wanting me to speak in English when they grew a bit older. The school provides the social context that makes English a natural language, and I was pleasantly surprised that, a couple of years ago, my eldest actually started speaking back to me in English. Now we three can have whole conversations, and though we use Spanish when we are with other people and there are ups and downs in their English, I’m happy enough.
The school took some weight off my shoulders because the girls have learned to read in English at school. Anyway, I think Synthetic Phonics is an excellent method that can be easily used at home. There are two versions (to my knowledge) by different publishers: “Jolly Phonics” and Ruth Miskin’s “Read Write Inc” (the latter includes books). They’re used at schools at the same time as the kids are learning to read in Spanish, and there’s no problem.
I have several friends who are doing the same, and so far we haven’t seen any downsides to it. So go ahead and enjoy it!
Cleo

Comment by Terri Leong on September 30, 2008 at 9:40am

In Hong Kong, English is the second language. We are raising bilingual children. It is easier to say than to actually work it out. I would say the situation is quite similiar in most countries. What do you think?

Comment by Antonio J. Delgado on September 29, 2008 at 2:12pm

Hello, everybody.
My real experience is as follow. I've got two children aged 2 and 5 and I started speaking English to them form the very beginning. I am an EngIish teacher but I am Spanish and of course my mother tongue is Spanish (it sounds crazy!!!) Not everyone understands what I am doing but I don't care! My sons understand me when I use English to communicate with them; I read books and stories in English, they watch cartoons in English, ... and if it is possible and it is the case, we have some English friends and we sometimes visit them.
My eldest son is starting to read in Spanish and I'm not sure when to start introducing reading in English for him.
We've also been thinking about the idea of going abroad and give them tyhe opportunity to use the language daily. Does it sound good? Do I have to wait until they grow up?
I see there's interesting information in this platform to read and use. Thanks. Anyway, any help we'll be appreciated.

A. Juan

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