Raise a bilingual 21st century child
In my previous blog I railed against trying to create super-kids and the uselessness of hoping some simple early stimulation will enhance any of your child's long term capacities. But that doesn't mean that some interventions might not be useful, as long as you recognize that in order to be of benefit, they will need to be continued for a long time, often at least up until adolescence.
So here's my #1 suggestion for extra experiences and learning that will benefit your 21st century child: raise your child to be bilingual at an early age.
Some of the advantages of being bilingual are obvious: knowing a second language will be a huge advantage in competing for jobs in our flat world. Plus, a second language provides a more complex understanding of other countries and cultures.
Additionally, there is some evidence that learning a second language early in life confers other advantages: more of the brain's firepower is devoted to language, there may be a better ability to deal with distractions, it certainly makes it easier to learn a 3rd language, it improves attentional and spatial abilities in the elderly, it may benefit some aspects of memory, and there is improved creativity in using language.
The potential downside? Really, myths aside (such as, "bilingualism confuses kids", "bilingualism causes language delays"), there is none. Plus, you don't need to be a superstar to become bilingual. Pretty much any child without a language disability can do so with ease. And the sooner the process begins, the better.
Of course, raising a bilingual child is easy if English is not your primary language. You can and should just speak your native tongue at home from the start. Don't worry, between peers and school and the media, your child will learn accent-free English just fine.
But it's not so easy if you, like most of us hopeless Americans, are a monoglot (the wonderful term for a single language speaker that vaguely sounds like an insult). Here's what won't work: having a foreign nanny for a few years or teaching sign language at 9 months without continuing your child's immersion in that language.
You'll have to pick a language to which your child can continue to be exposed (hopefully for at least 5 hours/week), the earlier the better, for many years.
(All things being equal, I'd vote for usually choosing Spanish since so much of the U.S will be Latino by the time your child is an adult + so he can travel with ease all over Central and South America and Spain + he can order a chile relleno and know what is actually in it).
Admittedly this will take dedication on your part. Find non-English speaking families with kids who can play with your child. Learn the new language together. Watch the international TV programs in the chosen language. Most importantly, try to find a school for your child that teaches a second language from the start. If you can afford a private language school, do it.
If you can pull it off, of all the extra stimulation and experiences you may be considering for your child, becoming bilingual is, in my opinion, the most enriching one and the skill for which long term benefits are likely to be greatest.
In my next blog, I'll opine about my #2 best extra thing to do with your child.
Related Blog Entries:
Technorati Tags: 21st century child, pediatrics, bilingual, education
So here's my #1 suggestion for extra experiences and learning that will benefit your 21st century child: raise your child to be bilingual at an early age.
Some of the advantages of being bilingual are obvious: knowing a second language will be a huge advantage in competing for jobs in our flat world. Plus, a second language provides a more complex understanding of other countries and cultures.
Additionally, there is some evidence that learning a second language early in life confers other advantages: more of the brain's firepower is devoted to language, there may be a better ability to deal with distractions, it certainly makes it easier to learn a 3rd language, it improves attentional and spatial abilities in the elderly, it may benefit some aspects of memory, and there is improved creativity in using language.
The potential downside? Really, myths aside (such as, "bilingualism confuses kids", "bilingualism causes language delays"), there is none. Plus, you don't need to be a superstar to become bilingual. Pretty much any child without a language disability can do so with ease. And the sooner the process begins, the better.
Of course, raising a bilingual child is easy if English is not your primary language. You can and should just speak your native tongue at home from the start. Don't worry, between peers and school and the media, your child will learn accent-free English just fine.
But it's not so easy if you, like most of us hopeless Americans, are a monoglot (the wonderful term for a single language speaker that vaguely sounds like an insult). Here's what won't work: having a foreign nanny for a few years or teaching sign language at 9 months without continuing your child's immersion in that language.
You'll have to pick a language to which your child can continue to be exposed (hopefully for at least 5 hours/week), the earlier the better, for many years.
(All things being equal, I'd vote for usually choosing Spanish since so much of the U.S will be Latino by the time your child is an adult + so he can travel with ease all over Central and South America and Spain + he can order a chile relleno and know what is actually in it).
Admittedly this will take dedication on your part. Find non-English speaking families with kids who can play with your child. Learn the new language together. Watch the international TV programs in the chosen language. Most importantly, try to find a school for your child that teaches a second language from the start. If you can afford a private language school, do it.
If you can pull it off, of all the extra stimulation and experiences you may be considering for your child, becoming bilingual is, in my opinion, the most enriching one and the skill for which long term benefits are likely to be greatest.
In my next blog, I'll opine about my #2 best extra thing to do with your child.
Related Blog Entries:
Technorati Tags: 21st century child, pediatrics, bilingual, education
12 Comments:
My first language is English, and I am conversant in Spanish, if not totally fluent. I teaching Spanish to all 3 of my kids (now 8, 3, and 20 mos). My first daughter resisted the idea completely - perhaps I started a bit late or perhaps her stubbornness showed early. I was a bit lazy with #2 (my son), so no luck either. I was diligent with #3, speaking Spanish exclusively from about 6 months to about 14 months and had some success, but I discovered an unexpected problem. My wife does not speak Spanish and neither do any of my friends or family. So when I was speaking to my daughter, they had no idea what I was saying and it felt very exclusive. I eventually decided that it was better to have open communication at home than to have a bilingual child. Perhaps there are still opportunities, but I'm not sure how to do it without being exclusive.
That should say "I tried teaching Spanish to all 3 of my kids..."
Forgive me Steven, Jason, but this is a silly idea.
As a pediatrician to a large foreign-born population, I can tell you that trying to raise a child bilingual without possessing the cultural context that underpins language or without yourself coming from a non-English speaking country is at best an exercise in futility. At worst it's just plain silly.
My Brazilian kids in the practice don't even learn very good Portuguese by virtue of growing up in the States. A fortiori how are my kids going to learn good Portuguese if I speak this exclusively too them? And my wife even speaks the language!
Other anectodal examples: Many children of Israeli parents who understand Hebrew but refuse to speak it in the U.S.! By contrast there is an American girl in my synagogue who is spoken to in Hebrew only by her American father and English by her American mother. Again, she understands English and will not speak Hebrew.
best,
Flea
As a French teacher, I have a couple of comments:
1. People who do not learn a second language can be disadvantaged when job-hunting, traveling, communicating with visitors, researching, continuing their schooling, understanding other cultures, and much more. They are certainly deprived of a chance to better understand how languages work (including their own) and to stretch their brain to improve verbal and analytical skills.
2. Countless studies have shown that teens and adults have more trouble learning languages than children. It simply makes sense to start teaching the second/foreign language as early as possible.
3. While Flea is correct that culture is an integral part of learning a language, this fact should not discourage parents from teaching or exposing their kids to another language, even if the parents are not intimately familiar with the culture(s) where the target language is spoken. The instruction won't be as rich as it would be if they were growing up in that culture, but it will not be wasted effort. The children will still be able to understand some (or much) of the language and be more aware of the world beyond their neighborhood.
Additionally, it is common for bilingual kids to go through a stage where they refuse to speak the second language. And bilingual kids who are spoken to but not taught to read or write in the second language may spell poorly and have trouble with some grammatical rules. But at least they're not monolingual! If there's a chance your child can learn a second (or third) language, please let him.
I think flea has a good point. Language and culture are interdependent. Unless you really have at least one foot in a culture, you can probably never truly learn its language. Maybe just being able to have a general conversation in another language, like I can, is worth it. Maybe not.
My triplet boys were born in the Canary Islands (Spain) and when they were 9 months old, we moved back to the US, where my husband and I are from. I have continued to speak Spanish with them ever since, not exclusively as my Spanish is not always adequate for "the moment" and sometimes I just like relating to them in my own language. I had no idea if any of it was doing any good until lo and behold, they started talking back to me and it was in a mixture of English and Spanish. I was so encouraged by this that it's kept me going. They are now 2.5 years old. I agree that I cannot confer on them the subtleties of the language and culture of where they were born past my own level, but to have given them this beginning will undoubtedly help them in the future. I think there are two maor benefits to me doing this: 1) they are learning the syntax of a romance language and 2) they've gained the phonetic intonation of another language. Their brains will always be wired for the acquisition of Spanish.
Some aids for those who might also be trying to figure out how to help their kids grow up bilinguals. Videos and books can make a huge difference. Many DVDs come with a Spanish language track. Children's books are a fantastic way to keep a foreign language flowing smoothly for the parent, and provide visual aids to the child simultaneously.
My kids all speak multi-word sentences in English and Spanish now, and I will keep this up as long as I possibly can. I encourage anybody who is remotely able to speak a foreign language to do so with your kids while they are still non-verbal. Take advantage of the blank slate!!
I think that it is becoming increasingly easy to incorporate a cultural context into language learning, even where I live in Ohio. Our society is no longer an anglo-only culture. We have neighbors who speak Spanish at home, a Spanish immersion public school (K-8), cultural festivals, Spanish story times at multiple public libraries, en fin! I am bilingual, my husband has high-school Spanish, and I know from trying to teach my 2 and 5 year olds that it takes more effort than just doing what is easiest, but already my children are "explaining" to me what is happening in cartoons they listen to in Spanish on TV.
I believe it is important to give our children the best opportunities in life. I have a stepdaughter and am expecting a baby in the fall. My stepdaughter at 5 is extremely fluent in both English and Spanish; I can only hope that our next child will do as incredibly as our first.
Teach them early! Give them the tools they need! God Bless.
My husband and I are both Albanian. Our two daughters, 4 and 5, who are born and raised in the US speak perfect Albanian. We do not speak English to them. Our elder daughter, who is now in kindergarten (last year she attended preschool) is refusing to speak English. She understands quite a lot (she tells us stories from books read in school, follows teacher's instructions accordingly etc.) but has not yet said a word in English (at school). I wonder if that's something to be concerned about.
I have a 4 yr old and 2 yr old twins.Im bilingual but my husband isn't and it's difficult to teach the kids spanish for the same reason the above person mentioned. Im also concerned that they may not pick up english at the same rate as they do spanish if I were to speak to them only in spanish,and they may find themselves at a disadvantage in school.
i feel rather guilty about the situation. I always criticized bilingual friends who didn't teach their kids the second language until I had my own kids. (isn't that typical)
I'd love suggestions.
I was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up speaking both English and Spanish. It has been one of the greatest pleasures and advantages that I have had in my life. So much so, that I have started my own business to try to get other families to do the same. My company is called Professor Pocket (www.professorpocket.com) and we produce bilingual musical CDs that us storytelling, conversation and songs in both English and Spanish. Even parents who do not speak a second language can expose their children. It is one of the greatest advantages you can offer your children.
Can someone who is appropriately qualified comment on this.
1. Does teaching a child two languages have any effect or cause a delay in speech.
2. What about the school angle? (Child is classified as ESL, because he/she not very confident in English at the onset).
3. Can you start teaching a second language after the child has grasped a first language (say at age 3-5yrs)?
My first child was not born in the US but even then, we spoke more English than our native language. She is beginning to pick up the native language. She speaks English very well. My second child was born here and only speaks English. We started speaking both languages to the third child from birth but he is not communicating in either languages even though he is almost 2yrs. The doctor is saying his speech is delayed for some reason and wants to refer him for a developmental assessment. Could he be confused? Does it make sense to still keep speaking both languages to him? Cant he learn the other language later?
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