Being proactive in exposing your bilingual child to the new vocabulary

I find it good to be proactive in introducing vocabulary to my already bilingual children.

If you see your child is playing, let's say, with boats, try to provide the needed vocabulary in the language you are exposing your child to. Play, talk, read books about boats, show cartoons and documentaries on the topic. He will absorb the words faster as he uses them in his games over and over again.

It is always better that your child learns new words in the minority language before they will be introduced in the country language. Thus, your child will use them at the back of his mind even when he is immersed in the majority language environment (kindergarten).

You might also like reading:

How to read to a baby?
 
How much time do we have to influence a child's minority language development?

What language do multilingual siblings speak to each other?

The two questions that I have right now are: what language my children will speak to each other after the younger child goes to a kindergarten? And most importantly: What can I do to support them to speak the minority language, in this case Russian?

I have an almost 2 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. As of today they speak Russian to each other, with some occasional Italian.

Knowing that I have little time to teach my children Russian, I started early to develop their language skill.  My strong influence on them will end, when my daughter goes to a kindergarten. There she will spend time with the Italian speaking teachers and friends joining in it to my son. They will be in different classrooms; however, for one year they will be sharing the kindergarten's play ground. I expect all these factors will push them to speak Italian to each other.

At home I keep control of the situation by my presence. The children speak Russian to each other when I am around. It works beautifully. I periodically check on them asking some questions so that their mind does not wonder in the languages but stays on one,  in my case Russian.

I hope that spending the summer vacation together will create a better bond to Russian as well.

If their are parents out there that know other tricks to stimulate siblings to speak a minority language to each other, please share with us your secrets to success.

You might also like reading:

How much time do we have to influence a child's minority language development?

How to read to a baby? 

7 facts that can determine the language spoken between multilingual siblings.  

How much time do we have to influence a child's minority language development?

Our children grow becoming more independent, detached from us, parents. At about age of 4 children have their new world established with the best friends, teachers they love, whom they try to copy.

This world is growing, flourishing alongside our children. From this point of time, the vocabulary in the country language increases with a greater speed; thus, majority language starts slowly taking over.

This fact needs to be taking into a consideration when we set our language goals and develop an action plan for a child. The understanding that we have limited time, about 4 years after birth, can help us to choose the best possible action plan.

We might need to sacrifice ourselves in some way: no TV, no music in the majority language, if the child is around. It will pay off later.

I had to create dominantly Russian language environment at home, by providing various entertainment to the children: Russian children's songs, beautiful Russian and foreign, doubt in Russian, cartoons and the pillar - Russian books that I read them everyday two times a day, when possible. I speak English to my husband, that also limits the majority language "intake".

My son is 4 and his Russian vocabulary allows him to speak to me without borrowing words from the dominant language - Italian. The reality is that it will change at some point and he will start code-switching. The only thing I am confident in is that the later he starts, the better it is for him.

Update: My son is 5 years old - still no code-switching and can say the same for 3 years old daughter.


You might also like:

Being proactive in exposing your child to the new vocabulary 


How to prepare yourself to be a speaking model for your child.


Teaching the letter sounds before letter names.


How to develop early phonemic awareness and reading readiness by using language play with kids from birth to preschool. 

Ha ha ha or correcting your child's pronunciation problem.

Oh, No! My child pronounces some letters wrong. Should I bring him to a speech therapist? He is just 4 years old.

Don't run to a therapist yet! Many of the pronunciation problems could be corrected  by parents themselves, as I learnt by trying to do so.

My son did not pronounced the Russian letter "X" at all. It was produced closer to the Russian "C" at the front of the mouth instead of throat. I tried to find a combination of the consonant (Russian"X" sounds like "H" in "Harley") and vowel that makes the use of the same place in the mouth for sound production and I came out with Russian "XA" (means laughter "Ha ha ha" in English). We were practicing this Russian laughter sound "XA xa xa xa". It was so much fun for him, so after a week he told me:  Mama, listen " XA", "Xarek" (means "weasel" in English)! His pronunciation was perfect! I had to remind him for a month or so about the correct pronunciation, as he could not control it in the speech all the time. The fact is that the problem is gone.

I am sure in your language you can do the same, as I also was able to find a letter combination in words, to practice the correct pronunciation for Italian sounds for my American friend.

Do not push it too much, try once if the child does not want to repeat after you, take a week break, and in the mid time just find something to read that has some of those problematic letters in it.

 

The Best Way to Start Building Your Bilingual Child's Vocabulary Is by Taking Your Baby On a Stroll.

You are new to the country, and do not have friends yet. You have your little baby, whom you decided to raise bilingual, and nobody else to share your thoughts with. Do not be sad, surely you will find new friends soon....But right now you can spend more time developing your child memory, attention and vocabulary by talking with him while you take walks...you have all the time in the world.

Even if he is still a six month old baby, you can start showing him the wonders of this world. Try to look at the things around you as if you have never seen them. That is exactly how he looks at everything. All is new to your child and you should name what he sees.

Look together at the different shapes and colors around you. The beautiful cuts of the  leaves of the trees, flowers, insects running on the ground. And even if you live in a city and you are surrounded by buildings don't be discouraged: find interesting objects around you. A city surely provides with great "study material" as well. There are different brands of cars, shops with all sort of geometrical figures, buildings, so on and so forth. Name them all for your child.

Always remember not to judge what you see. A pipe sticking out from the ground could be an interesting object for a kid, as well as a car falling apart or a tree without leaves. These images are certainly ugly to you, but will be undoubtedly interesting to your child.

Do not rush, stop to show and talk about every little thing you pass by. Remember you are also teaching your child new words in your language (the minority language)!


You might also like reading:

How to prepare yourself to be a speaking model for your child.

How much time do we have to influence a child's minority language development? 

Planting a language tree. Does passive language learning work?  

Naming languages with their proper name.

My son hardly ever mixed the languages. I see that my daughter is doing not so bad either. I am thinking, what if this is also because I tried to be very clear to them from day one and called the languages with their proper name?

I started with saying that the father speaks Italian and I speak Russian. When I speak to your father I speak English. I made an example of how one word sounds in different languages. When I was talking to my friends and relatives I would name the language we were speaking. Skype was very helpful here as well.

Later I was adding a little geography, saying that in America, people speak English, in Germany people speak German, in Russia people speak Russian, in Italy - Italian, and that there are many other languages. I would tell what language the people whom children know (grandparents, cousins, ants, uncles, friends) speak. We always need to remember that our children do not have a base knowledge yet.

I might be somewhat mistaken, but  clarity will do only good to your child.

We can avoid using abbreviation like "father's language" and "mother's language". After all our children learn from us, and if we say that language is Italian, they will get it, and there is no need for simplification. The kids are smart.

You might also like reading:

How to prepare yourself to be a speaking model for your child.

Virtual babysitters or Preserving grandchild - grandparent bond and keeping up the minority language with video calling

I love modern technology!
One mouse click and your loved ones are in the living room with you.
The distance between people shortens in a second making the grandchild-grandparents relationship possible to develop even when they are far away from home.

The grandparent-grandchild bond is very important especially for a child's minority language development. The grandparents can help you in your task of multilingual education. Grandchildren can see and talk to the grandparents, share their special moments (for example, Birthdays, New Years, you name it!). Grandparents can always be  near your the child from the infancy to the adulthood.

Since the children were born, my video calling usage increased dramatically.  My parents help me a lot via Skype. They keep the kids happy and occupied with activities when I am busy preparing a meal or stepping out to get a mail. Both of my kids liked to be soothed to sleep by the grandma while sitting in the swing, it was giving something special to both of them and for me - some free time to do the house errands.

I lost count of how many evenings the grandparents were watching after and reading a bed story to the older kid, while I was feeding and putting to sleep the little one. 

My parents talk, read, sing, play musical instruments via Skype.

Do not underestimate what your parents or relatives can do for you from far away. Try to connect with them more often using video calling.


You might also like:


Raising a Bilingual Child : Setting Your Priorities From The Start. 


Check out Kids' Radio Stations from around the world!  


9 Steps of Raising a Bilingual Child Successfully. How to Start So You Don't Feel Giving It Up Halfway Through.

Are you a multilingual family and looking for a playdate in your language? Click here to find it now!

Your Toddler Doesn't Like to Read? Advice for parents of monolingual, bilingual or multilingual children.

You are on a couch snuggling with your baby totally excited to read him a new book. You did not even finish a page and suddenly your child is up and running around, grabbing toys. This probably happened to many of us. But why did it happen?

The first thought: he did not like the book. However, later your child will be reading it or, even more surprisingly, he will be asking you to read it again and again.

Most likely he does not understand the meaning of the words. In fact, reading is simple for us adults since we already have a rich vocabulary. But how about our little babies?

I decided to use the "do not stop reading right away" rule.

When my son moves and is not sitting on my knees, I just keep reading. Initially, I was more "reading for myself": I practiced intonations and master different voices. I could notice that my son was still listening.

Calling back to look at the picture and inventing sounds to accompany the text do bring back the attention.

You can also rephrase a story using simple words your baby already knows and every time you read it try to add more words to it. 

Consecutive readings become easier, because the child already heard and understood some of the words.

Children learn new words from us through conversation and reading, that will help tremendously to increase the minority language vocabulary.

Also, very important: before buying a book check if the pictures match the text. That way you can point out the words on the picture while reading.  I was surprised to find out that there is a big number of books for kids with beautiful pictures that hardly represent the text....I find that really non-educational.

That said, I wish a fun reading to everyone!


Hooray! My 1st book for little readers  was published and is available on Amazon! 

Buy on  AMAZON USA:

Buy on  AMAZON ITALY:

Buy on AMAZON GERMANY:

Buy on  AMAZON UK:

Would you like to be 1st to know about my new book projects? Leave your email here and I will contact you as soon as a new book is ready.  Talk to you soon! :)


You might also like reading:


When to start teaching your child to read? 7 principles to keep in mind while teaching your child to read.


Bilingual child: when to start reading to your baby? 


Kids Radio Stations from Around the World!


How to develop early phonemic awareness and reading readiness by using language play with kids from birth to preschool.  



Multilingual child: How much time do we have to influence a child's minority language development?


The Best Way to Start Building Your Bilingual Child's Vocabulary


Life story: A Journey to Multilingualism 


9 Steps of Raising a Bilingual Child Successfully. How to Start So You Don't Feel Giving It Up Halfway Through.


Books on how to raise a trilingual child:


Language Strategies for Trilingual Families: Parents' Perspectives (Parents' and Teachers' Guides) by Andreas Braun  - Kindle  - Paperback

Growing up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven (Parents' and Teachers' Guides) by Xiao-lei Wang  - Kindle - Paperback

Trilingual by Six: The sane way to raise intelligent, talented children by Lennis Dippel MD - Kindle - Paperback

Bilingual child: when to start reading to your baby?

My kids learn how to read words, when they were about 3 years old. When parents ask me when I started reading aloud to them and seek an advice on when they should start reading to their own child, I answer  - as early as possible and before your baby learns to roll over. Do you know why?
The moment a child rolls over the world becomes so big for him, that a book, no matter how colorful  it is, would be just one of the hundreds of objects he briefly looks at. 

I could see this happening with my young daughter. I missed that period and had to wait about 4-5 month until she was ready for serious reading.

If your child learns how great the books are before exploring the world on the tummy,  you will have his attention while reading also during those exiting discovery times. Reading during those month will allow him to build a richer vocabulary and create a solid base for correct speaking.

I started reading to my first child when he was 4 month old. However, I did it not for him but for myself.  Since I mostly spoke foreign languages  I had difficulties starting speaking the minority language - Russian - to him.

Try it ! Reading is so much fun and the results are amazing!
 
According to Dr. John Hutton of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center , "... reading exposure during the critical stage of development prior to kindergarten seems to have a meaningful, measurable impact on how a child's brain processes stories and may help predict reading success."   
Researches found increased activity in the areas of the brain that are essential to verbal language development and reading, and to imagery. Thus, confirming once more the already existing theories on importance of visualization in understanding stories and developing reading skills.

Does it make any sense to you? Would you start reading to your child earlier?
and if you did, what do you think about it?

You might also like :


How to read to a child? Advice for parents of monolingual, bilingual or multilingual children.
 

9 Steps of Raising a Bilingual Child Successfully. How to Start So You Don't Feel Giving It Up Halfway Through.
 

How much time do we have to influence a child's minority language development?  


Naming languages with their proper name.  


7 principles to keep in mind while teaching your child to read. 





List of children's books in Polish language - Lista książek po Polsku dla dzieci  

Exposing our kids to languages

Since our multilingual family lives in Italy, Italian is the language kids hear most of the time.  It is also the language they speak with the father, who is Italian. I am the mother and speak Russian with them and English with my husband.

I already see some advantages for bilingual kids hearing the parents speaking a third language:

• understanding conversation on intuitive level (more about Passive listening and language learning);
• pronouncing words correctly ( I started teaching my children English once a week);
• decreasing the exposure to the majority language

and I hope later at school our children will be able to learn English fast as well.

We have chosen a "one parent - one language" approach; however, we both read English books to our kids and sing English songs from time to time. 

Multilingual family language knowledge:
Mother - Russian, English , Italian, German
Father - Italian, English, German, Russian, French
Children - Russian, Italian, some English


What are your language groups?


Books on Raising Trilingual Kids

Language Strategies for Trilingual Families: Parents' Perspectives (Parents' and Teachers' Guides) by Andreas Braun  - Kindle  - Paperback

Growing up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven (Parents' and Teachers' Guides) by Xiao-lei Wang  - Kindle - Paperback

Trilingual by Six: The sane way to raise intelligent, talented children by Lennis Dippel MD - Kindle - Paperback

 

You might also like reading:

 Life Story: A Journey to Multilingualism.

Planting a language tree. Does passive language learning work?  

7 facts that can determine the language spoken between multilingual siblings. 

Life Story: Trilingual mama - trilingual kid. Why would it be any other way?  

How To Raise a Bilingual or Multilingual child. Where to start?

Are you expecting a baby?

You have many questions:
What I need to do first?
What language should I speak to my bilingual baby?
I speak several languages, should I pass them all onto my child? Should I bring up my baby trilingual or multilingual?
Are three language too much for my baby's brain?

Here you will find information that will help you answer all this questions and make some important  decisions regarding your family's language strategy in the future.

Let's start from the first steps of bilingual baby planing that you should follow before your baby is born.

1. Plan ahead.  
Yes! If you are thinking to bring up a bilingual baby you should plan ahead and  have   your family language strategy  figured out and ready, while your baby is still in your womb.

2. Read related literature.
There are many interesting books written about raising bilingual children that help to understand what method is best for your particular case.
I used as a guide line  Raising a Bilingual Child  by Barbara Pearson & 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child by Naomi Steiner ( it is more for parents who would like to teach a language they do speak little or don't speak). You can also find more information on Language Strategies page and in the articles, written by me and by other parents on  this website.
And check the books I reselected here.

3. Discuss your ideas with your partner.
It is important to do as you might discover that your partner has a different view.

4. Write the action plan.
The languages you would like to teach. Set the minimum and maximum goal for each of them.

5. Wait for your baby to come out and go head and implement it!
Good Luck!

Articles to prepare you for your bilingual baby:

(click on either a link or a picture to read the article)







Can babies distinguish foreign languages?

Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help?

Do you and your partner speak to each other in a language different from the one you plan to speak to your child?  -  Planting a language tree. Does passive language learning work?

 

Get inspired by reading bilinguals and multilinguals life stories:

Life Story: Trilingual mama - trilingual kid. Why would it be any other way?  
 

Life story: A Journey to Multilingualism.

Life Story: A language story that spans two centuries.

Are you still uncertain how many language to speak to your baby ? or Do you wonder how many languages can a baby learn?

Pros and Cons of raising a trilingual child

One Parent Speaks Two Languages. Raising a Trilingual Child. 

Are you a non-native speaker and would like to raise a bilingual child?

 

Non-native Speaker Raising Bilingual Children. Is It Doable?

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for www.trilingualchildren.com

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us: trilingualchildren at gmail dot com

At www.trilingualchildren.com, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by www.trilingualchildren.com and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, www.trilingualchildren.com makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
www.trilingualchildren.com uses cookies. A cookie is a small piece of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. It helps the website to remember information about your visit, like your preferred language and other settings. That can make your next visit easier and the site more useful to you. Cookies play an important role. Without them, using the web would be a much more frustrating experience. To read here more about the cookies.


The DoubleClick Cookie
Google , Amazon and other third party vendors use cookies to serve ads on www.trilingualchildren.com.
The third party vendors use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it to serve ads to users based on their visit to www.trilingualchildren.com and other sites on the Internet.
Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the third party website: Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html
Amazon privacy policy - http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=468496

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include Labirint, Google, Amazon.

Should you purchase an item through their affiliate link, trilingualchildren.com receive a small percentage of that sale, which helps to cover the running costs of this site. 

These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on www.trilingualchildren.com send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

www.trilingualchildren.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. www.trilingualchildren.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.

Third party links
Our site may contain links to third party sites. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies; therefore, we have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of those websites.


GIVEAWAYS / SWEEPSTAKES

General Release. By entering any giveaway/sweepstake through this website, you release Raising a Trilingual Child from any liability whatsoever, and waive any and all causes of action, related to any claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with the giveaway/sweepstake or delivery, misdelivery or acceptance of any prize (including, without limitation, claims, costs, injuries, losses and damages related to personal injuries, death, damage to or destruction of property, rights of publicity or privacy, defamation or portrayal in a false light, whether intentional or unintentional), whether under a theory of contact, tort (including negligence), warranty or other theory.


Technical Problems. The giveaway/sweepstake may be cancelled, suspended and/or modified, in whole or in part, if in the opinion of  Raising a Trilingual Child any fraud, technical failure or other factor beyond its control impairs the integrity of the giveaway/sweepstake.


Terms And Conditions Of Use

All content provided on "Raising a Trilingual Child" website is for informational purposes only. The owner of this website makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.
The owner of Raising a Trilingual Child website will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.
This terms and conditions is subject to change at anytime without notice.