Raising Eva Bilingual
By: Leilani | March 23, 2009 | Category: Spanish
Making sure Eva grows up to be bilingual and bicultural is important to me
. Eva is an active 16 month-old girl. She loves to dance and “organize” several times a day the kitchen drawer that has all the pots and pans.
I know that as parents we all share common goals when it comes to raising our children but to my list of goals I’ve added to raise a child that is bilingual (to start with) and interested in learning about other cultures, especially hers. I’m definitely not a guru when it comes to raising children nor am I one of those parents who has read millions of books or visited many sites trying to find the answer for every issue.
However, there are two exceptions to that, which I can summarize as:
- I want to sleep again! – after suffering from 13 months of severe sleep deprivation, I was willing to pay money to whoever could help me fix this “problem.”
- How can I ensure that she grows up learning two, three or many languages? How can I encourage her to embrace both of her cultures? The Puerto Rican and the American. Watching Dora and Diego could help but I’m in the quest for more proven methods.
Here are some key tips based on advice that was given by friends as well as on what I've read so far:
- be consistent: “always speak Spanish (in my case) at home and when interacting directly with her. She will learn English once she starts going to school and interacting with others.”
- expose her to different cultures and teach her about her heritage.
Wouldn’t it be cool if in this era of globalization we could all make it a goal to instill in our children a love for languages, including English of course, as well as an appreciation for cultures around the world? Share your thoughts and advice. You can also tweet me - @leilani73.
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I totally agree with what you've said. I'm so happy to know that others have done it and have succeeded at it. I believe that teaching our kids other languages and exposing them to other cultures are great gifts.
thanks for your comment!
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I couldn't agree with you more.
I raised two bilingual and bicultural children and by doing so, they have benefited in many ways. They gained an entire family away from home with whom they have a very meaningful relationship; they are able to travel anywhere armed with the two most spoken languages in the world: English and Spanish; they understand that there is more than one way of thinking, that different cultures have different values and that by understanding other peoples’ belief systems we learn to be respectful and tolerant. Being bilingual and bicultural has opened many doors to them and has enriched their lives. I hope more emphasis is put into teaching children other languages—the more, the merrier,
especially in a constantly shrinking world, where the communication boundaries have all but disappeared.
By the way, my first language is not English...
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