Childhood & Adolescent Bilingual Language Development

Bilingual Benefits

• Your child will receive several educational rewards for all of her hard work in learning a second language. She will enjoy an increased level of problem-solving skills and the ability to use information in new ways. She will profit from strong listening skills and being able to more easily learn new words, and even other languages. Plus, she will have the advantage of increased creativity levels. Your child will also receive cultural benefits, such as learning about another country and its people.

Learning Methods

• You can choose from two approaches to teaching your child a second language, according to Dr. Carlos D. Rosé with KidsHealth.org. In the One Parent, One Language approach, each parent speaks only one language in the home. For instance, you may speak English while your spouse speaks only French. The second approach is called Minority Language at Home. In this method, languages are location-specific: Your child may speak English at school and Spanish at home. In either method, it̵7;s important to be consistent, and to avoid confusion by refraining from mixing the languages in your phrases or overall conversation with her.

Helpful Resources

• Helping your child or teen learn a new language doesn̵7;t have to fall solely on your shoulders. Many products, programs and people are available to assist you. Younger children, especially, enjoy games, books, DVDs and CDs in a new language, and many of these are available at your local library or bookstore. Teens can also learn from video games, school language classes or extended visits with relatives living abroad. All ages can enjoy learning at immersion-style language camps during summer months or school breaks, where all communication is in the new language being learned.

Possible Concerns

• While learning a second language has many benefits, your child might experience problems during the process. Some younger children experience slower overall language development than monolingual children, while in other situations, a child might have a limited vocabulary for her age or prolonged phases of not talking. Experts at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recommend that you confer with a bilingual speech-language pathologist if you are concerned your child̵7;s issues are more than just temporary. Older children may experience problems as well, such as mixing up the rules of each language or reversing the order of words in sentences, both of which will work themselves out over time.