With so many benefits and advantages, its well worth the effort of raising a bilingual child and a lot easier than you may imagine. Broader employment opportunities, social advantage and a window into another culture are just some of the advantages that your child will experience from being able to converse in more than one language.
It’s not so hard to get your child started in another language either. With the advances of technology there are plenty of tools that will aide you. Read on to find out 3 easy ways that you can introduce a 2nd language into your home.
Expose children to the language
They say that total immersion is the fastest and simplest way to learn another language, and that applies to children too. Immersion can be provided in several ways. You can introduce your child to other bilingual children and ask them to only speak the 2nd language. Other methods involve watching television shows in the 2nd language and listening to audio recordings.
There are plenty of child friendly products on the market to help you with raising your bilingual child – and if you’re not a native speaker, these methods could also support your own learning. Otherwise look out for opportunities to spend time with adults who can speak this language and ask them to interact with you and the child only in that language. You could also take your child on holiday to the country of the 2nd language. What better way to learn and experience life in another language!
Try recommended training programs
There are several bilingual training programs on the market that use DVDs and CDs as the mediums for teaching. Even youngsters who are just 12 months old or younger can enjoy watching Sesame Street style television programs that will introduce them to the basic words of 2nd language. These DVDs are affordable and can be used and reused for other children that you may want to teach later on down the line.
Language flash cards can be purchased or even made at home. They are a very effective form of learning and spending time with your child working with them will give you quality time together that will strengthen the child/parent bond.
Play games in the 2nd language
Learning is easy when it’s fun and that applies to languages too. Play some fun learning games with your child such as using stickers on everyday objects in the home. If you are striving for your child to speak French, ask them to find the ‘livre’ instead of the book for example. You could also declare a set period of time per week for speaking in that language only.
With all the tools available on the market in the form of DVDs, audio recordings, flashcards, software packages and books, there’s no reason why your child can’t easily learn a second language. The younger that they start the better – so get started today you’ll be raising a bilingual child within just a few months.