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On Raising Bilingual and Multilingual ChildrenPart 2 of 2: Teaching in a Multicultural ContextContinued from On Raising Bilingual and Multilingual Children-Pt. 1: Laying the Basic Foundation Using Other Resources
Just letting children listen passively to foreign language song tapes—without any interaction on their part—is not enough for them to learn a language. However, these other resources can help supplement your efforts. Start watching/listening to videos, DVDs, television, CDs, and cassette tapes. Have them play language-learning CD-ROMs on the computer. I have learned so many Chinese songs, finger plays, and vocabulary from watching and listening to these. Even if you cannot read your language, buy bilingual books so that your children can see the written language and learn to read a few easy words. Your relatives can read them when they visit. My children love reading the few Chinese words they know on store signs, on canned food labels in the grocery store, and in books because they only have to learn one character to be able to read a whole word—much easier than spelling English words, which require learning several letters each.
Make it MulticulturalLori Saginaw, a Japanese American woman living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, says that she was surprised to realize how very ethnocentrically Japanese her own upbringing was, and so she makes a point of teaching her own children not just about Japanese culture, but all Asian cultures so that they will "feel a kinship with other people with other Asian backgrounds." This will also help the children see that speaking another language or eating different food or celebrating special holidays and customs are not "weird" things that only their family does. Instead, they will see that in a multicultural society, everybody does things differently. Culture gives language learning additional relevance. Get involved in their schools’ cultural celebrations so that their peers will also learn about culture and difference. Try to make difference "normal." Expose them to many different languages. Susie Ling of Los Angeles, California, a Chinese woman raised in the Philippines says, "We grew up in a community where everyone was multilingual (albeit in different languages)….Problem with (the) U.S. is that speaking with accents or being bilingual is still considered ‘un-American.’" My children think that it is normal to speak multiple languages (all their friends do), and they love learning words in other languages—Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Italian. The first time they meet someone, they always ask, "What languages do you speak?" One day on the playground, I overheard them "trading words" with some Hispanic kids they had just met: "How do you say that in Spanish?" "How do you say that in Chinese?" All the kids were very proud—it was nothing like the "Say something in Chinese" I remember dreading as a child.
Be Strict, But Not Too StrictBe strict. If your rule is Mommy only speaks Hindi and Daddy only speaks Thai, and no English allowed in the house, for example, stick to it. As soon as the children know they have some leeway, they will take it. Mena Wang, an elementary school teacher in Morgan Hill, California, says that children are very smart and know what they can get away with. Her husband’s parents spoke no English, and so her children always spoke Mandarin to them. However, because her own parents spoke a tiny bit of English, her children would speak English to them instead of Mandarin. At the same time, however, be careful not to be so strict as to turn them off it completely. Sammie Liu, a Japanese American woman married to a Chinese American man in San Marino, California, says that she enrolled her daughter in Saturday morning Chinese School for a year in kindergarten, but "When she started to complain and mildly refusing to go, I thought in the long run it would be better not to force her and not ruin the idea of learning sometime in the future…Interestingly, this year, as Jessica is now in 7th grade and taking foreign languages and cultural understanding in school, she is really interested in learning Chinese!" Creating an interest is the most important element, sothat even if their skills are not perfect, they can always learn more in college. Be patient during the teenage years. Vivian Eng of Rockville, Maryland, says that her three teenage daughters "are now at a stage where they rebel. They are at the stage when they refuse to speak Chinese, because the vocabularies are not enough, refuse to go to Chinese school, because it is boring….When they go through teenage years, they seem to have lost the language. [It] will come back when they pass that stage (I have seen many examples from my nieces and nephews), I have no doubt. The key is that the parents insist on speaking Chinese themselves. If the kids choose to speak English, they still do have the option to hear it (Chinese)." Finally, remember to keep perspective. Suzie Lee of Oakland, California says, "I often hear parents saying that their kids won’t talk to them and then find out that often when kids have difficulty explaining in Chinese or slip into English, [it resulted in] being reprimanded, punished, or ridiculed. I would rather have an open communication with my kids—Chinese or not Chinese—if the price (is) to have poor communication. I guess I believe that relationship is more important to be nurtured when kids are young. Language can be learned any time if there is a base/foundation to build on." Susie Ling continues, "I don't think being multilingual is all that important. I think—above all—children need to be confident and proud of what they are and respectful of difference in others."
It’s Hard, but Well Worth itRaising bilingual or trilingual children is not easy, and requires a lot of work on the part of the parents, especially when the parents are second or third generation and do not have the facility with the language that an immigrant would. However, it is possible, and it is well worth it, not only so that the children can speak to grandparents and great grandparents, but also for their intellectual development, and so that they will be competitive in the world economy when they are grown. The parents need to think through how much and why they want their children to be bilingual, be creative, and then stick to it. Good luck.
Continued in On Raising Bilingual and Multilingual Children-Pt. 3: Language Technology
Related Readings
Online Language Resources
Other Resources
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