Bilingualism in the family

Transcript

1. BILINGUALISM IN THE FAMILY Bilgory-Fazakas Orsolya
2. BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR MOTIVATIONS AND GOALS • Do you want your children to be fully bilingual/trilingual? • Do you want them to have a good command of the language (not native speakers, but able to communicate)? • Or do you simply want them to know some basic sentences and words in the language? • Your answers to these questions will change everything and will result in a different approach and in a different amount of effort from your side. • Choose a Strategy for Raising a Bilingual (or Multilingual) Child
3. STRATEGIES FOR RAISING A BILINGUAL CHILD 1: ONE PARENT-ONE LANGUAGE (OPOL) • each parent must ALWAYS talk to the child in different language. Advantages of this strategy: • crystal clear for the child • easy to apply • provides a lot of exposure to each language Disadvantages: • It may be difficult to stick to OPOL rules, especially outside the home. Some people feel uncomfortable when you speak a language around them and they don’t know it. • The child’s heritage language skills might become weak due to lack of exposure.
4. MANAGING FAMILY CONVERSATIONS WITH THE OPOL STRATEGY One question that is often asked, “How do we have a conversation between all three of us with the OPOL strategy?” The best solution I’ve found is a language switching strategy So, the child switches languages based on who they’re talking to and the parents stick to the one parent-one language rule. E.g. my husband talks to me in English. Our daughter gets involved (she understands English) in Hebrew and says something to my husband, I react to her in Hungarian and to my husband in English. My daughter answers to me in Hungarian. She is 3.5 yo and does not mix the languages.
5. 2: HERITAGE LANGUAGE AT HOME (HL@H) • Both parents speak only in the heritage language at home. It’s an option often used by two parents who share the same native language. Advantages : • It provides a lot of exposure to the heritage language • If you have more than one child, this rule can be used by brothers and sisters Disadvantages: • It can’t be applied if one of the two parents does not speak the main language (he/she will have to use the heritage language even outside the home)
6. 3: CONTEXT • It consists of using different languages in different times and places. It’s a sort of mix between the two previous strategies. • For example, a family could follow the One Parent- One Language rule during the week and use the heritage Language at Home strategy on the weekend. • Advantages: • gives bilingual families more variety and flexibility • families avoid social embarrassment when surrounded by people who speak a different language (for ex. when visiting friends or relatives). • The main drawback: confusing, especially in the early stages.
7. 4: MIXED LANGUAGE POLICY (MLP) • Parents use the language that best suits the topic or situation. The speaker is usually the one who decides what language to use according to the situation. Your children could choose to speak about school in the majority language (because they are taught in that language) and pick the heritage language for more family-related topics. Advantages: • your child will learn quickly, where to speak which language, and who with. They will realize that different languages are spoken in different situations. • others are not isolated from your conversation because you change to accommodate who you are with. Disadvantages: • here isn’t really any consistency and there could be a risk of confusion. • children may take preference to one language and therefore the other may lack of exposure.
8. WHICH BILINGUAL STRATEGY SHOULD BE CHOSEN? DEPENDING ON YOUR SITUATION, THE ONE THAT IS RIGHT FOR ONE FAMILY MIGHT NOT BE RIGHT FOR ANOTHER. • 1. Define Your Goals • Set a clear goal for yourself and your child. • Will you be satisfied with oral fluency? Is literacy important to you? • 2. Start early If you’re proactive from the start, you’ll have a much better chance of nurturing a good balance in the child’s bilingual ability. • 3. Prioritize it Making this a priority goes hand in hand with being proactive. • 4. Write about it Along with reading about this subject, when you write about your experience raising bilingual children (in a journal, diary, etc.), you naturally become more mindful and more effective.
9. EXPOSE YOUR CHILD TO THE HERITAGE LANGUAGE A LOT • Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because children are sponges they will automatically learn (or want to speak) the heritage language. • Many experts say that children need to be exposed to a language at least 20-30% of their waking time. It means 15 hours a week. • Two recommendations are: • Start very early (even when the baby is still in the mother’s belly) • Spend as much quality time as possible with your children.
10. FOSTER YOUR CHILD’S DESIRE TO BE BILINGUAL If you really want your children to be bilingual, then make sure they actually want to be. A child might want to speak the heritage language: • to communicate with their grandparents • to have a kind of secret language to share with their parents • simply because you have shown them the cool things about the language • to feel special compared to their friends. Whether it’s an emotional or a rational argument, it’s important to nurture this desire to speak more languages.
11. HOW TO MAINTAIN THE HERITAGE LANGUAGE? Create the need - Creating the need to speak the heritage language is crucial. If kids don’t have the need to speak the language, then why will they? Whether it be to talk to someone, or to play a certain activity or game, there must be a good reason for them to be motivated to use the language. Make One on One Time Priority - Spend as much time together where possible, one on one. By spending one on one time where you are speaking ONLY the heritage language, there will be less distractions. Make it fun - “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun” (Mary Poppins). Ok, she was talking about cleaning up but it is still relevant. If you make something fun, children will want to participate, as it won’t feel like a chore.
12. Talking a LOT - When you are alone with your child, make that time count the most, and talk to them constantly. Explain everything you are doing and ask lots of open ended questions that require an explanation. Clone yourself - When your children are small, and are especially in need of exposure in the heritage language, it can be frustrating when you serve as the main source of that exposure yet are unable to spend as much time with them as you’d like, due to work or other factors. One way to address this lack of input—and, again, have fun in the process— is to create videos of yourself or grandparents reading picture books, telling stories, singing songs, and talking to your children. Singing songs EVERY DAY - Singing songs not only helps to improve the heritage language, but it also plays an important role in your child’s development. By exposing young children to singing every day, it can help them to learn different sounds and words, and also help with their memory.
13. TV only in the heritage language - For children who have some understanding already, it can be quite a useful tool. It is even better if you watch TV together and have a discussion about the show. Reading books EVERY DAY - It helps them to learn new words that they may otherwise not hear. By talking to them about the story, it helps them with their comprehension. Turn to chapter books - As soon as your children reach a suitable age and language level, I highly recommend reading aloud chapter books. Build a home library - You can’t read aloud to your child regularly if you don’t have suitable books in the heritage language, including chapter books.
14. Give books as gifts - By doing it: 1) You help foster their love of books and literacy; 2) You convey the idea that books are special and valued by their loved one; and 3) You continue growing your home library, which should be an ongoing effort. Visit the public library - This will naturally depend on your location and target language, but perhaps the public library in your area has a selection of picture books that you can access for free—it can’t hurt to investigate. Go for “book hunt” - One of my “secret weapons” for promoting literacy in the heritage language is going for book hunt. We visit flea markets, cafes where you can buy old books. They learn to value old books, you get the chance to pay less, bonding time with your kids, I allow them to choose a book which becomes their favorite afterwards (personal connection). Use comic books - Another secret of mine is the use of comic books. The powerful appeal of comic books can help motivate them and advance their literacy development.
15. Subscribe to magazines - Children’s magazines, if available in your target language, are another useful resource. Subscriptions to colourful, kid-friendly magazines are generally quite reasonably priced, even with the additional fee for international mailing. Introduce a puppet or pet who only speaks the Heritage Language - This works well, and is a great motivation for kids to practice the language. Tell your child that it ONLY speaks the heritage language. This will make language learning fun and may give your child the motivation to start talking. Video calls with family members - it gives your children a chance to bond while they will be able to reinforce the language by speaking to your children. Establish a target language between siblings - Try to establish the heritage language as the language your children speak between themselves in the early years. Anyway, after a while they will decide what language they use.
16. Use background music - it adds to the language exposure your child receives. Just put a CD player and suitable CDs in the child’s main play space and play this music regularly. If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll probably soon start singing along. Engage in storytelling - Tell your children true stories from your childhood—kids love to hear about the (mis)adventures of their parents when they were young. Storytelling can help expand and enrich the conversations you have with your children and are especially suited for mealtimes. Take advantage of images Images are all around us—photos and illustrations from the Internet, books, magazines, newspapers, posters, etc.—and such images can be consciously used to stimulate the heritage language each day. Make a regular habit of asking your children this simple, open- ended question when you come across an interesting image: What do you see?Then follow up with other questions that will naturally follow. These interactions can add up over time and contribute very positively to language development.
17. Play games in the heritage language - games promote talking, and they are fun! Also, kids usually love to win, so that gives them motivation to use the language. Personally I recommend more cooperative games than competitive ones. Cook together - Learn about your culture by cooking different cuisine. It gives you opportunity to bond, talk, learn new words, share your memories. Take advantage of Language Immersion Camps - For older children, immersion camps can be a great way to give exposure to the heritage language. Being fully immersed in the language for a few weeks can really make a significant impact and improve your child’s language skills. Reach out to grandparents - Many families with bilingual children live far away from grandparents. 1) share photos and video clips online to bring the two generations closer; 2) arrange video chats so they can communicate with one another; and 3) facilitate a letter exchange by post.
18. Find a friend - In addition to grandparents, maintain relationships with other children. If your child writes in the heritage language you should look for a friend from your home country and encourage them to exchange letters. Use the language to help others - Create opportunities where the child can help others by using his heritage language. For instance, you and your child could sometimes volunteer to help people who are learners or users of the heritage language (e.g. elderly home). Through these experiences, they’ve come to realize that their language ability is not only useful to themselves, it’s helpful to others, and this seems to be an even deeper, richer source of motivation. Travel when you can - Trips to places where the heritage language is spoken widely can be one of the most powerful ways of promoting language development and cultural understanding. Some parents even report a profound shift in their children’s progress as a result of such experiences.
19. Avoid using negative consequences - Be positive, encourage your child to speak the heritage language without forcing them to do so. Never use negative consequences such as punishment if they won’t speak back with you. SOMETHING EXTRA about Correction: While it is important for children to be corrected you need to be careful not to crash their confidence. Children that are corrected too much in their second language will be reluctant to speak out of fear they will say something wrong. One way to correct your child can be to just rephrase nicely what they said so that they hear the correct way and don’t forget to praise them as much as possible!
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