Being able to speak, read, write, and understand another language at a young age has always been something I’m proud of.
When our first son was 18 months old, we enrolled had him in a Spanish immersion preschool. He was surrounded by the Spanish language every day at school. The teachers were native speakers, and the students were learning it through natural interactions of school activities and social experiences. Early exposure was one of the best things we did for him. At the time our home language was English, but my husband was also learning on his own. We had always talked about raising bilingual kids and knew this would aid us because I was the only one speaking Spanish at home. I had just started listening to a bilingual parenting podcast and was optimistic about our child’s language development.
What is bilingual parenting?
Bilingual parenting simply means raising your child/ren to speak more than one language. Even though there are many different languages you could teach your child for us that language is Spanish.
Does speaking two languages to a baby confuse them?
Santana was nonspeaking until he was about 3.5 years old. When I started noticing that he wasn’t speaking I got concerned. It was one of the first signs I had before we got him evaluated for autism spectrum disorder. I was told that the reason for his delay was because he was confused since we were teaching him a new language. However, I knew this was incorrect. And even though English is our dominant language, I knew his speech delay wasn’t caused by the language immersion program. Sometimes with language learning young children might mix up words but that’s a normal part of language development.
What Is the best way a bilingual parent can teach their kids to speak both languages fluently?
One of the most important things I had to remember is that I was teaching my kids the same way anyone would teach their kids to speak their first language. The way my parents taught me. And that was by simply speaking to them. I didn’t really overthink it. I would just talk to them as much as possible. One of the most practical tips I can give anyone is to be consistent. For me, it wasn’t really teaching in the traditional sense.
What Is the best way to raise a bilingual child?
This is a common question. One of the best practices I feel is doing what comes naturally. There are a few different ways to teach your child/ren another language and I’m going to share some of my favorite bilingual parenting methods:
- OPOL this means one person (parent) one language. This is popular for homes with only one person that speaks a foreign language. Each parent speaks to the child in their native language. In our home that meant I spoke the Spanish (my native tongue) meanwhile my husband spoke English.
- MLAH this means minority language at home. The MLAH bilingual parenting method is when a family decides to speak the minority (target language) inside the home and majority language outside of the home. This is popular with immigrant families. Spanish would be spoken in the home and then English in the community. This method didn’t work well for us because it wasn’t something I could commit to. I spent a lot of time translating everything for my husband since he’s a non-native speaker.
- The Context Method. Also known as the time and place method. This is where you speak a different language for different scenarios or contexts. You might speak a certain language so that everyone present can understand. Or as a family, you speak a certain language on certain days of the week. This is what some of the monolingual families did at the immersion school. The child would speak Spanish at school and then English at home.
- Mixed language method. I do this a lot without even thinking about it. This is frequent changes between the languages at any given time. Speaking Spanish was something I could do without even trying. However, as I have gotten older and without having anyone to speak with every now and then I forget words. Which is why having a bilingual home is important to me.
Having a bilingual parenting support system is important
Teaching my kids Spanish is one of the ways I have tried to pass on my culture to our children. And not having any of my mother’s family in the United States has been hard as well. I tried setting up playdates with my friends with bilingual children so they could have friends to learn with. When we are at home I would read to them in Spanish, talk to them, let them watch Spanish cartoons, and listen to Spanish music on a daily basis. I want my kids to feel comfortable speaking and hearing the second language. Hopefully I am giving them the gift of bilingualism and they will want to continue to use it as they get older.
If raising bilingual children or even multilingual children is important to you then I would suggest getting started as early as possible. Figure out what method works for your family situation long term. Because this is something you have to commit to. A great way to start would be to listen to some bilingual parenting podcasts. I have also found a wealth of knowledge and support in following other bilingual parenting mamas/primary caregivers on social media. Where they share expert advice, daily life tips, and relatable stories.
Are you trying out bilingual parenting? Is it something you are trying with your older children as well? I would love to hear any tips or stories you have. Or if you have any words of encouragement for parents trying it out for the first time.
Kish
[…] has so many benefits and it gives them a connection to so many more of their family members. We are teaching our kids Spanish. However, they will know if they decide they don’t want to speak Spanish it doesn’t […]