5 Top Tips on Raising Bilingual Children at Home

Did you know that almost two-thirds of children worldwide are raised bilingual? The ability to communicate in more than one Language is now more important than ever. Raising bilingual children not only sets them up for a bright future but has wider cognitive benefits too. 

While having your child attend a bilingual nursery is the first step in creating little polyglots, learning multiple languages needs to be a holistic process, rather than being something purely confined to the classroom. Raising bilingual children by fostering their language learning at home is essential if you truly want your kids to achieve real fluency. Today we offer our top tips to help you on your way!

Create A Regular Reading Routine

Creating time to read with your child is not only a lovely bonding experience, but it helps them increase vocabulary and learn grammar. Try to make a regular habit of reading every day, especially in the minority language. Children love stories so this is a wonderful way to have them engage meaningfully using both their languages.

Make Use of Media and Technology to Expose Your Child To The Minority Language (But Don’t Rely On This Alone )

We live in a technological age so you’ll find that swiping on the screen of a smartphone comes quite naturally to kids these days. Using media and technology to make learning fun is another great way to foster bilingualism. Be it through animated movies in the minority language or interactive Online lessons in a second language. Entertaining resources will increase the child’s motivation to make sense of the language. That said, there is a caveat.  Technology alone is not an adequate language teacher, so be sure to critically engage with your child. Ask them to tell you about the movie they watched, or quiz them on the games they’ve played. This will check that the resources are having the desired impact. 

Observe Cultural Traditions

Remember that languages exist within a wider cultural context. An enjoyable way to provide this sort of background is to celebrate traditions from both cultures. Be it Chinese New Year, Christmas, Mid-Autumn Festivals or St. Georges Day. Doing so, in fun and creative ways such as making traditional food, listening to local music or doing appropriate craft activities will give children a deeper understanding as to the purpose of each language,

 Build A Solid Bilingual Support Network

As the famous proverb goes ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ . The same goes for fostering bilingualism at home. Build a strong support network of others that’ll help expose your child to the language. Perhaps this structure will involve family, finding friends who are also raising bilingual kids or consider hiring a bilingual nanny. Whatever the case, the natural exposure this network will provide is going to be invaluable and they are guaranteed to be the ultimate language teachers. 

Travel With Your Kids To Allow For Immersion In the Minority Language 

Of course, with the technological resources at our disposal, there is a great deal we can do in terms of teaching children languages from the comfort of our own home. That said, travelling to places where the minority language is spoken will offer an additional dimension to your child’s learning experience. Not only will this allow them to be immersed in the language but it’ll also give them a further degree of context. 

Clearly the task of raising a bilingual child is in no way likely to be an easy task. The role of parents in fostering bilingualism in the home is crucial in the child becoming fluent. It is a job that requires both patience and pragmatism to find what works best for each individual child.

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