Raising a bilingual child

Many parents would like to give their children the opportunity to speak more than one language, and I am often asked what the best approach is to raising a bilingual child. The simple answer is that there is not one best way because there are so many variables that should be taken into account. It generally depends on both the family’s circumstances and the broader societal context in which they live. In this post, I will describe some scenarios that may occur and will suggest some strategies to consider. My examples will assume multilingual families living in the United States.

A very common scenario is where one parent speaks the language of the broader community and the other parent speaks a different language. For example, you could have two parents where one speaks English and the other French (or Korean, Finnish, Swahili, etc.). In that situation, “one parent, one language” can be the best strategy, where each parent speaks their own language at home with the child. It’s important to be consistent and especially persistent with the other language because it can be very easy to just switch to English all the time. Children will often start speaking English back, but just keep speaking to them in your language.

If both parents speak a language that is different from that of the larger community, it is perfectly fine to only speak that other language at home. Children will quickly pick up English from daycare, school, and their friends. In the past, parents were worried that their children would not learn to speak English, but actually the opposite is true: children will very quickly switch to English and lose their proficiency in their home (or heritage) language! This is one reason why it’s important to find other resources to help maintain and increase children’s proficiency.

To maintain both languages at a high level of proficiency, it is important that children receive some formal education in both (i.e., not just speaking the language(s) at home). For some languages, there are bilingual schools in the community where children can continue to gain both oral proficiency and literacy skills in both languages. Check whether your community has bilingual immersion schools or dual language immersion programs available, where children can become biliterate. Many states have now adopted the Seal of Biliteracy, which recognizes students who have attained proficiency in two languages.

There are also after-school or weekend programs available for many languages, some of which may be affiliated with churches or religious organizations, while others are organized by parent or community groups. For example, many children of Chinese or Korean or German heritage attend Saturday schools where they can improve their language proficiency and cultural understanding. Some universities offer language enrichment programs for children in the community. For example, Yale University offers the WorldCLASS program to the New Haven community, which provides instruction in 8-10 less commonly taught languages for high school students. Check whether your community has a program in your language or otherwise organize an informal parent group!

Another strategy that some parents adopt is to hire a babysitter or nanny who speaks the language that they would like their child to learn in addition to English. If both parents work outside the home, the caregiver could interact with the child in the target language. Grandparents can also be a wonderful resource if they are available to watch the children from time to time. Some parents are able to send their children to spend their summers with grandparents or other relatives overseas so that they can become immersed in the language and culture for an extended period of time.

The challenge is to find as many resources as possible to immerse the children in the language. Movies, picture books, cartoons, fairy tales, and games are all wonderful ways to engage children in another language. Focus on having fun and on making learning another language a joyful experience!