Educationalists and neuroscientists across the world, agree that the child’s brain development is quite remarkable in the early stage of life and has an amazing capacity to grasp information. Moreover, what is acquired and learned during this period will greatly affect further brain development and the overall learning capacity. This is the primary reason why a parent should spend as much quality time with its children and help them grasp as much knowledge as possible.
Teaching your child a second language during this period of excellent learning abilities should be prioritized among many other skills that can be taught. Bilingualism at an early age is not only impressive and beneficial for the individual but it is also related to exceptional brain development that will bring many additional advantages.
With English being the “lingua franca” of today’s world, many parents decide to raise their children bilingual with the second language being English. However, due to the advantage of being native in the world’s most spoken language, English native children mostly grow up as monolingual. So, is this really an advantage?
Bilingual children enjoy many great benefits and are stated to perform better than their monolingual peers. For that matter, even monolingual parents should put the effort and teach their child a second language. This is not all that hard in today’s modern world, you just need the right resources and several tips to get you started.
Language Learning Platforms and Communication
Most monolingual parents face serious difficulties when deciding to raise a bilingual child. Language is all about communication and in order for the process to be successful, you need to put more effort into communication. The first place to start is to learn the language yourself and pass the knowledge over to them. This way you can learn the language you’ve always wanted to and teach your child.
It might sound pretty challenging, but it is doable and you can choose any language, even a more complicated one like German. You can choose a private tutor online at https://www.livelingua.com/german/ and benefit from custom-tailored learning. Language learning platforms such as this one, offer one-on-one tutoring that is perfect for a busy parent that wants to learn faster and efficiently.
If you are dealing with an older child that can study by itself you can choose to combine tutoring for yourself and for the child. Although chances are your child will become fluent faster, engaging and communicating is one of the major factors that contribute to success in bilingualism.
Music and Signing
Bilingual parents sometimes face as much difficulty as monolingual parents in the process of teaching a child a second language. Moreover, with some children, it’s more difficult to engage and get their attention. However, one thing that always helps is music.
Find the perfect timing when your child is not distracted by any electronic devices, toys, or anything that might come more interesting. Bath time, for example, might be perfect. Primarily you can sing the alphabet or learn some simple, repetitive songs in the foreign language. Children have the ability to memorize music and children’s songs fast, thus learning the basics of the language. Make sure that this is a routine that repeats almost every day as continuity is very important for successful learning.
Further on, YouTube is your best friend. Cartoons that feature songs and music, tv-series that are intended for language learning, all of that can be very useful. In any case, the key to succeeding in raising your child to be bilingual is to get engaged in the process. Playing and singing along with your child is a very important part of learning.
When Mom or Dad Is Bilingual
When a child grows in a bilingual family it has a better predisposition of growing up as bilingual. Moreover, there is a method called one parent one language that is stated to be very successful. In international families at least one of the parents is bilingual and can communicate with the child using a different language from the other parent. In order for this to be successful and to result in the child being native or proficient in two languages from birth, both parents should constantly use the same language. Moreover, if the mother speaks to the child in English the father should speak in, let’s say, German all the time!
Kids have a great ability to learn, remember and grasp as many languages that are presented and constantly used for communication with them. Moreover, when raised to be bilingual they will acquire a natural accent and seamlessly shift between the two languages. When properly executed a child will have no confusion and will be well aware of the difference between two languages. Although, mixing and combining the languages in early stages is common, later on, the child will be able to distinguish the two languages and communicate equally well in each of them.