It’s been awhile since I posted, so I thought it might be a good time to post some tricks and tips to foster and promote bilingualism & multilingualism that I’ve picked up along the way as we raise our two kiddos.
Before we begin, I should note that language acquisition (like parenting) is a marathon and not a sprint. Be patient. Regardless of how many languages they are learning, kids will make mistakes. They aren’t making mistakes because it’s too much exposure to too many languages. They are making mistakes because that’s how they learn. And with that, let’s begin.
Maximize Exposure
This means you might end up talking to yourself a whole lot, especially when the littles are very little. When N was a newborn, it was far too easy to let the day go by in silence. So I had to get used to narrating everything I was doing and seeing. And when I was at a loss for words, I took to reading out loud the newspaper, a book, or even Facebook posts, while N nursed or hung out. At some point, it just starts to feel a little more natural and a little less like I’m a crazy cat lady.
As they get older, maximizing exposure for us means seeking out classes taught in Spanish, Spanish story times, Spanish and Slovak cultural experiences, and other creative ways to show them that their languages–while perhaps unique–are not ‘weird’ at all. If you’re religious, you might go so far as to seek out a mass in your minority language–if we can find a church with Slovak mass near us, nothing is impossible!
Use Peer Pressure to Your Advantage
Never underestimate the power of peer pressure–once your kids see other kids speaking or being spoken to in your minority language, they may be more inclined to speak it themselves. Find play mates and other children who also speak the minority language and set up weekly or monthly times for them to play, share books, sing songs, and otherwise revel in the culture.
OPOL
One Parent One Language. It’s what we practice and it’s what works for us. That means that with rare exceptions, Mr. 123 and I exclusively speak in our minority languages to N and E. We do so when we’re out and about and we do so at home. Now that N is almost 5 he very helpfully translates from Slovak for me, so I usually know what’s going on as they speak. It works for us and might work for you! I’m happy to answer any questions you may have on this front.
Sing, sing a song
One of the many benefits of being a modern parent is having the whole of the internet at our disposal (though that’s really a double edged sword). You might be able to find any number of your favorite childhood songs online (we’ve compiled some songs here). And if you use Spotify, you can find the soundtracks for Frozen, Moana, Coco (and a whole lot more) in Spanish. I like feeling like our kids get to experience the same cultural phenomena as other kids, without having to sacrifice Spanish.
And don’t underestimate your kids–ours love hearing some of the music and radio shows adults enjoy, which is a win for all of us. We listen to Slovak radio all the time and sing along to all the pop songs we used to love as teenagers.
Read!
Read, read, read to your kids. Bond with them as you do it. Share new experiences, find new and interesting things to talk about and laugh over, and take a break from thinking up fun new words to introduce to them. Just a handful of our books recommendations are available here and here.
If you don’t already, I suggest finding books tailored to your kids’ interests. This may mean books with lots of potty humor or topics that aren’t exactly riveting to you, but if it gets them engaged then it may be worth it. I also like to peruse Amazon Spain, among others, to see what books are popular over there. The shipping is actually quite reasonable if you hold off and buy a whole bunch of books at once and it’s a great way to find translations or original content that are not easily obtainable here.
If you can’t afford to or don’t want to buy books, work with your local library to get books in Spanish (through interlibrary loans or just by purchasing them) or set up a book share with people in your area who may speak the same language. Facebook is a great tool for finding these resources!
If you can’t find a book in your language, try Dino Lingo or consider writing one yourself! Every year for the holidays I put together a book with pictures from all the adventures we took our kids on throughout the year and write short captions about what we did or what the children are into. Kids are natural narcissists and looooove reading about themselves. (And it’s one of my favorite keepsakes). I use Shutterfly (I have a mild obsession with them), but there are lots of great options out there.
Make Screen Time Work for You
If your kids are going to watch shows or movies, you may as well play them in Spanish (or whatever your language is)! If you need some ideas for what to play, check out our past recommendations here. And if you can’t figure out how to change the default language, check this post out.
A quick trick: if your kids prefer to watch a show in English, I highly suggest giving them the option of 15 minutes (or 1 episode) of that or 30 minutes (or 2 episodes) of a Spanish program. More often than not, they’ll choose the Spanish program. Manipulative? Maybe. But it works! Our kids have gotten so used to watching shows and movies in Spanish that N will stop whatever he’s watching if it’s in English and ask me to fix it.
Hire Some Help
Relieve yourself of some of the burden: find a fluent college or high school student, a date night sitter, a nanny, an au pair, an immersion daycare or school–all are great options to help expose your children to a wider variety of quality language and give yourself a much needed break.
What tips and tricks do you have to make raising a bilingual or multilingual child a little easier? We’d love to hear them!