Raising a Bilingual Child — Empowering the Early Years

In this article, we talk about the importance of starting at an early age, having a clear plan, and how to raise a bilingual child to set them up for long-term success (learn more on the importance of bilingualism on our blog.) Our daughter was native in English, Mandarin and Cantonese before four years old and proficient in Spanish by 4. By 4.5, she has already developed a natural affinity to all four languages. In other words, if she were to conduct an activity, such as going to an art class or swimming with a coach, in any of the four languages, she would be just as receptive and comfortable. That’s when we know we have built up her “language snowball” to roll and gain momentum on its own naturally.

While countless articles have been written about this topic, I will provide a different perspective, including my journey of becoming multilingual.

Why is it important to start at an early age?

Learning multiple languages enriches individuals, families, and our society. One of the recommended ways to ensure that your child makes the most of their childhood experience is by introducing a second language early on. The advantage of bilingualism over children’s learning processes is that they carry it around for the rest of their lives. Research on bilingualism and second language learning converges robustly on a simple take-home point: earlier is better. Our children’s environment is also more conducive to language learning earlier in life.

Between the ages of 0-3, the brains of young children are uniquely prepared to learn a second language as the brain is in its most flexible stage when synapses are being formed. Bilingually exposed infants excelled in detecting a switch in language as early as six months old.

Acquiring another language won’t happen overnight. Based on my experience, the golden window is before five years old. Hence, make use of this golden period to devise a concrete plan with short- and long-term goals.

Listen, Speak, Read, and Write.

Known as the Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing (LSRW) way of learning, this is the most efficient method to learn any language. When your children focus on all four aspects in this order, they will learn languages more naturally and effectively.

Listening: It is an ability known as reactivity or potential because it requires us to use our ears and mind to understand. Listening is the most valuable and powerful skill needed to understand and correlate the essential and fundamental elements effectively. Without the ability to listen correctly, understanding is inherently wrong. After that, the correlation collapses, the understanding is lost without much effort, and the child may get confused. To the extent possible, let your child listen to the language in context. What that means is when the child hears “sit down”, ideally it would be in the context of somebody sitting down.

Speaking: Speaking is the second of the four learning skills. To me, it is the most important and valuable of the four. Speaking helps us to communicate, express our thoughts and feelings verbally and socially. We focus on the child’s pronunciation and sentence formation during this stage. This includes phonetics, sound, rhythm, intonation, and modulation that effectively convey ideas and information. Speaking requires the brain to spontaneously process concepts before dictating the various muscle groups, such as our jaw, tongue and vocal cords, to articulate certain sounds. Thus, of the four aspects, speaking requires the most practice.

Reading: One of the most important things to learn about reading is different reading strategies. Children need to know which technique is most appropriate depending on the content of the reading effort required. The four fundamental reading practices are skimming, scanning, intensive, and extensive. Only through practice and Q&A can the child truly comprehend the content of what is being read.

Writing: Like speaking, writing requires us to use our hands and minds to deliver the composed message or idea we would have spoken otherwise. Writing abilities might be improved by giving activities on a piece and exploratory writing. Children can be taught to compose, arrange, and organise their thoughts on topics. The significance of sequencing their thought process can help them to acquire cohesiveness, completeness, and accuracy in their writing. Unlike speaking, which is often done on the spot, one may take the time to sit down, organise and process what he wants to write.

Try one parent, one language (OPOL).

It’s beneficial to have one parent speak only the second language to your child to avoid confusion and enable them to learn to separate the languages quickly. It’s perfectly okay if you are only at a rudimentary level of that language. It’s natural for children to confuse word order or use words in both languages in the same sentence. Don’t underestimate their progress. Many parents think that learning
two languages causes language delays, but that’s not the case. Our children learned four simultaneously, and they are just fine. Children will naturally become bilingual when they need to communicate in two or more languages to satisfy their needs. Therefore, it is crucial to create a causal learning environment where the child has to communicate in the second language to participate and make themselves understood.

Use external resources, but not tuition.

It doesn’t matter what languages both parents use to speak to each other. The best way for a child to learn is to expose them to conversations where they have to pick up the sounds and the natural accent to continue the conversation. When they hear these sounds, they’ll soon understand the meanings of short words and phrases. Shop for bilingual toy games, and let them watch educational TV shows (music, science, geography, etc.) with words that are spoken clearly and by a native speaker with a proper accent.

For example, most of our children’s enrichment activities are conducted in Mandarin and Cantonese. We minimise their exposure to English with almost no screen time in English outside of school. As part of my children’s weekly screen time allowance, they would use InnoSage to speak to their teacher in China to discuss topics they wouldn’t otherwise with me (eg. princess, cartoon characters, interactive games, etc). Our kids watch TV for Cantonese and Spanish and have online conversations with their teacher/partner in South America 5 times a week. Screen time has been converted to a productive tool merely for learning languages other than English. I have probably spoken English only a handful of instances to my 4.5 years old.

As a parent, I don’t believe in sending them for tuition to learn languages. This disrupts their learning process and experience as I want them to be involved in a casual and social environment where they can freely apply what they learn. The best way to learn a language is not to study it but to absorb it daily. The most effective way to embrace a language is to do so effortlessly and instinctively. That is how mother tongue(s) is formed.

Have a standard routine

The earlier you introduce a second language and more, the easier it will be for your child to pick up its unique sounds. Have a clear timeframe and setting that allow families to set their schedules and contexts for language learning. Parents who want to teach their children a minority language make plans to use each language, depending on time, place, or activity constraints.

This could be as simple as, “Let’s see if we can increase our Portuguese reading time from 20 to 40 minutes every day this week!” An example is a Mother who is fluent in Korean and uses it with their children on certain days of the week, while a Father could speak English with their children on other days.

You can consider finding your child a pen-pal or conversation partner from a foreign country so they can practice their writing skills and learn about the culture as well as the language.

The importance of consent

Communicate with your children and explain why they are learning the language. This is essential to their relationships and development. Make them understand why they are doing something in the first place. After going through Little Sage’s global immersion programs, my children want to travel the world. They believe that knowing specific languages is a must to see the world; thus, they proactively learn multiple languages.

Overall, facts have shown that the early introduction of additional languages positively impacts children and improves concentration, cognitive function, and social and cultural relationships. Raising a bilingual child is a true joy and achievement despite some unique challenges. With patience and the right support, you will see your Early Years child gain confidence and competence. Your child will learn to embrace differences rather than avoid them during the process

Author: Founder of Little Sage who is native in Mandarin, Cantonese and English and highly proficient in Spanish.