Filed in archive
Expat Parenting
by Melissa Petri on April 25, 2006

The One Parent, One Language approach does work. However, no two children are alike and the range of outcome could be different. It could work for one child but not for another.
When I became pregnant, Brandy advised us to perhaps try a different approach. She suggested for us to try to exclusively speak the minority language within the family with our child.
Our decision, as per our friend's advice, to declare our home as a "no German" zone despite the fact that my husband is German and that we live in Germany worked to our advantage. As what we have been witnessing, when in the presence of his kindergarten playmates and my German in-laws, he would speak German. However, whenever the conversation is directed at us, he would switch to English.
I am proud of my 2 1/2 year old son's progress. I am happy that he not only understands English but he is comfortable and could respond using the same language, as well. The same applies to his ability to interact in the German language.
There are several methods which parents can use. As parents of bilingual children, we will be faced with challenges in trying to make it work. It is a personal process. As long as we are consistent and we patiently try assess our child's progress, we would be able to successfully raise a bilingual child.
Permalink: Successfully Raising a Bilingual Child
Tags:
bilingual
child
parenting
raising
language
bilingual+child
raising+bilingual
successfully+raising
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/20750
Mr Wong
Vote for Successfully Raising a Bilingual Child:
|
Rating: 8.00 out of 1 vote(s) cast.
|
Response from:
Razib Ahmed
(04/26/06 6:58pm)
Children has the capacity to learn more than one language but care should be taken that it never becomes a burden. It has to be done in a friendly and happy manner. Learning another language is always a fun and today's world a great asset for the future. For example, English is not my first language but I am earning my livelihood with it.
Subscribe
Use the search to look for other interesting posts
| RSS | See all blog subscribe options |
|
What is RSS? | |
| Yahoo! |
|
| Addthis |
|
| Bloglines |
|
| Newsletter | |
| Follow us on Twitter! |








