Bilingual Parenting

~~edit - I change the title of the topic to better reflect the discussion - I guess the words and links below are very important

Hi everyone,

Vey interesting blog article, written by Géraldine Dormoy about her son who was supposed to learn 2 languages, his mother's and his father's: things were not as easy as expected...

-> Le casse-tête de l’école bilingue (le 9 juin 2013 15H51 | par Géraldine Dormoy)
A la naissance de Gustave, question langues, les choses étaient plutôt claires: je lui parlerai français, Mark anglais, il gazouillerait rapidement dans un franglais qui ferait notre fierté, puis il irait à l’école du quartier et à 18 ans il serait bilingue, normal.
...
j’ai conscience qu’il est normal qu’un enfant confonde deux langues jusqu’à 6 ans environ, je sais aussi que le palais se forme avant cet âge-là, et qu’il doit donc être habitué très jeune à prononcer des mots dans les deux idiomes
Le défi des enfants bilingues, de Barbara Abdelilah-Bauer, chez Chantelivre...
« Elever un enfant dans deux langues demande un effort soutenu durant plusieurs années (…). « Le bilinguisme ne va pas de soi, il est le résultat d’une adhésion de toute la famille au projet (…). Trouver les moyens de lutter contre l’érosion de la langue ‘faible’… » Voilà, j’avais la preuve noir sur blanc que ça n’allait pas être une piece of cake cette histoire.

Hi,

Read this article.
It won't provide you with a solution, a response but will be the finger on a problem.
However, sadly, Géraldine's blog is about fashion and we won't find many words about children and language Learning.
Read the comments, read the book she quotes.

Please, give us your thoughts on the subject.

Hi,

I repeat: read the comments as they often provide the beginning of help.
Thus, Dom gives a PDF document http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-lille/IMG/pdf/l_anglais_a_l_ecole_maternelle_2011.pdf with a 7-page list of "Une sélection de ressources disponibles dans le réseau SCÉRÉN/CRDP Nord-Pas de Calais."

HTH

Hi,

There are lots of comments: Again, read the comments... Sorry!

I point out sylva - 9 juin 2013 18 h 08 min)'s long comment: she is a Quebecker and she writes about the difficulties of minorities... yes, even French in Montréal!!
She knows what she's writing and very well analyses the dangers of second languages, of French which will disappear from Canada, from the politics to gget rid of "small languages and cultures"!! Bloody important to read this!!

Hi everyone,

I'm reading the comments and... don't miss the discussion there!
Fortunately, despite difficulties, the conclusion misht be: "do your best; don't stress; trust your children, no need to be perfect, they will learn and surprise you!"

An excellent link -> Bilingual Parenting

I changed the title of the thread.

Hi Gérard, everyone
This is a very interesting subject ! Thanks a lot ! I would say to the parents who want to bring up their children in two cultures that they don't have to be perfect and they don't have to become teachers either. What is important is that the 2 languages are associated with love and affection. If the children like the two languages, they will be eager use them all through their lives. Anyway, You are not the only one to provide language knowledge to your children. Lots of other people with different ways will do it as well. What is essential is not make them disgusted and not put pressure on them.
My son in law speaks English with his two children and my daughter French. Paul-André has not resolved his Oedipus complex yet and is not so keen in speaking and understanding English. When Cecile spent some holidays with her grand mother from Manchester she was received like a princess and received all sorts of presents. Her English improved a lot. Of course she felt so well in England.

Hi Muriel,

The words written in both series of articles are very important and have to be read by persons interested till we summarize them.
(Le casse-tête de l’école bilingue & Bilingual Parenting including their comments)

For example, advice states:
- parents don't have to speak only one language with their child; they may not hesitate to speak the "other language", this will help the child (no problem if this second language is not perfect, eg regarding the pronunciation)
- a point to respect is to learn how to read in one language only; for the second one, wait for one year

Both texts contain such very precise pieces of advice.

Hi Gérard hi every one
All right but I would say that first parents should define what they want in order to carry out their "parental project".
parents belong to 2 different cultures and they want their children to know both
Parents want a regional language to keep being spoken by the younger generation
Parents want their children to be bilingual because it is important for their studies. usually it is English because it is very useful
parents want a language like Esperanto because it is their philosophy. ...and so on and so forth
Isn't it important ?

> define what they want
For sure but advice in the texts states the opposite of what many people think, or bring issues.

For example, parents must not bother children with reading in both languages: they have to choose one of the languages and keep the second aside for a year (re reading).
For example, parents think they have to be strict: each one has to speak his mother language and not the other.

gerardM a écrit:Hi Muriel,


- a point to respect is to learn how to read in one language only; for the second one, wait for one year

Both texts contain such very precise pieces of advice.

I would wait longer.

gerardM a écrit:Hi Muriel,

(English forum moderation)

We've got at least another thread with a similar title on the forum.
I guess we need to give here the link to the second thread so that readers can find it easily.
(I'll try to find this 2nd thread tomorrow)

Is this the thread you are looking for ? https://www.cafe-polyglotte.com/t2059-les-enfants-apprendre-une-langue-sans-effort?highlight=enfants

Oui Muriel, c'est bien à ce sujet que je pensais : merci !

Mais depuis, 2 autres sujets ont été ouverts et que je trouve très intéressants et prometteurs :
- Blog Monsieur Le Prof (rue89)
- Les Français sont nuls en Anglais...

Faut-il les fusionner ?

Non, mais à mon avis, il conviendrait soit de mettre des liens croisés dans chacun soit, de préférence, de créer une sorte d'index pour fournir des liens vers d'autres sujets d'intérêts, classés par catégorie.

Ce sujet "index" serait épinglé (toujours en tête de forum) et aiderait les internautes.

Gérard, je ne sais pas très bien comment faire malheureusement ....