Thank goodness the English only mentality is disappearing, slowly but surely, from the heart of the United States of America. For years we have proudly called ourselves a melting pot, one that welcomes immigrants, cultures and languages from around the world. Yet all of us realize the hypocrisy with which our system has executed the embracing of the melting pot.
Our school systems do not prepare its teachers, must less educate its students, on how to bridge together the English language with the multitude of languages entering our classrooms daily. Sure, there are ESL and ESOL classes, but I encourage you to ask any teacher upon completion of the course if she is ready to take on the challenge of educating a new student from Columbia about
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I wish every OBGYN Doctor placed a copy of the book titled The Bilingual Edge in the hands of every first trimester pregnant mommy and gave her the assignment of completing it within two weeks.
We all know these months of pregnancy are perhaps the last in which mommy will actually finish a book from front cover to back cover for years! Why not make it a book that will positively impact the cognitive and social development of her new baby? Seems like a no brainer to me. Within the pages of the aforementioned book the two PhDs in linguistics, who are also moms raising their own children to be bilingual, give hope to every monolingual parent that they too can raise a bilingual baby.
Here are five fun, easy and affordable tips for expecting and new parents for doing just
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The research has shown that you do not have to be a native speaker of the target language in order to give your baby a jump start on learning it. The key is interaction, and reading is one of the best things you can do for the brain development of your newborn. Reading while your baby is still inside of you, and continuing through her school years, is a lifetime gift no one will ever be able to take from your child. Afraid you are messing up a word or two? Use an online search for audio pronunciation of the words in question.
Use two words for each item you introduce your baby to. Experts agree that it is just as easy to teach a child two words for the same item as it is to teach him only one word. Do a little brushing up on your high school Spanish, and tell your little baby that the thing you are holding is bread and pan or point to the house and say casa. It will become almost second nature for you to flow back and forth between the native and new languages once you begin the second language