Category: Interview

Language, culture and affection

17/9/2018

Andrea is a Portuguese mom of two little girls living in England. She wants to raise her daughters bilingual, biliterate and multicultural.

However, she's the only minority-language speaker around them and the beginning was tough. On this interview Andrea shares how it's never too late to catch up and enjoy the results!

Tell us a little about yourself and your family.
I came to the UK to study Arts Management, as London was such a cultural powerhouse. The plan was to return to Portugal after graduation but I adapted so well, London was such a vibrant city with so many opportunities in the cultural sector that I decided to stay for another year or two. 20 years on, I find myself with a house, a dog, a British husband and two wonderful children aged 3 and 5 years old.

What’s your approach for raising them bilingual?
Fun and affection. We have a loving, respectful and affectionate relationship and I try to make learning fun. Most of the time they don’t realize they are ‘learning’. I think it’s best if they have an interest and feel a connection with the language and culture, otherwise they just feel forced and eventually reject it as they grow up.

Can you tell us about one of your proudest moments?
So many! When the girls started saying “Eu adoro-te” which in Portuguese means “I adore you”. And anytime they show interest and enthusiasm for my mother tongue and culture.

What has been the biggest challenge so far?
I have no Portuguese family in the UK and until recently, no Portuguese family friends. Being the only person in their lives who spoke Portuguese was tough and having lived here for so long speaking English 99% of the time, it became my default language. I have also become British in many ways and over the years virtually disconnected from my Portuguese roots. I’ve learned in recent months that if I reconnect with my language and culture, that makes it easier to remember to speak the language with the children. That’s why I started the blog a year ago. Last summer, I realized that me just having a Portuguese passport was not enough. I had to speak a lot more in Portuguese and introduce the girls to the culture as well, otherwise they would never become true bilinguals.

As your daughters start learning to read, will you introduce Portuguese literacy too? How?
Oh yes, for sure! I always read Portuguese books to them. We also always had age appropriate books, for example, board books with images and names of the items in Portuguese so they got accustomed to the script. In the past year we started using materials such as activity books and played Portuguese schools at home. The eldest just started weekly Portuguese Lessons offered by the Portuguese Government.

One of the keys to successfully raise bilingual kids is consistency. How does your family stay motivated and focused?
It’s so hard! Especially if you’re the only minority language speaker. Life gets on the way and it can slid down the chain. I started the blog to keep me motivated. I keep reading and talking about the subject, and coming up with new ways to motivate me and the girls. With what I know now, if I could start again, I would have started a routine from the start whereby I only spoke Portuguese to the children. That would have made consistency a lot easier to embed in our lives than trying to catch up.

What would you tell parents who hesitate about teaching their kids to read in multiple languages?
I understand why they would feel that way but my tips are:

Get informed, go to credible sources of information about bilingualism and literacy to dispel any myths and concerns. Then choose your strategy and stick to it, be consistent but also prepared to adapt if that is the best for your family.
Start by building a solid foundation where kids are happy and comfortable around the language. Make it fun, not a chore.
Any efforts you make towards literacy will help. Break it down into small achievable steps and take it from there. Ana Elisa has plenty of tips for literacy development.

Tell us about Mother Tongue Notes.
Last summer my eldest told me she didn’t like Portuguese and for me not to speak to her in that language. It was a shock and made me realize how important it was to me that they were bilingual and how little I had been doing to make it happen. I started reading on the subject, talking to other families and experts on the matter, and thinking much harder about how to tackle it.

I started the Mother Tongue Notes blog as part of that process, to keep me motivated on our bilingual journey. I felt passionately about raising bilingual children and I realized that there were other parents in a similar situation who struggled to keep it going. So I made it my mission to encourage and inspire other parents to raise confident bilingual citizens of the world.

In the blog I share our own experiences and learning. I know what it is to be a busy parent, who has no academic qualifications in linguistics and in teaching, so I keep my posts and resources easy and actionable. It’s all about baby steps and building a solid foundation.

I also share and comment on research and topical articles on my social media channels.

Andrea is a Portuguese mum of two living in London. She’s a marketing and small business consultant and has a blog about raising bilingual children - Mother Tongue Notes. You can also find Mother Tongue Notes on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Get posts, resources, meet other bilingual parents and ask all your burning questions about bilingualism and literacy:

Facebook

1 Comment

The multilingual dinner table

20/8/2018

7 Comments

Hi there! Today I'll introduce you to Maria, a Spanish teacher and mom of two multilingual girls.

They live right on the Camino de Santiago, so whether you've always dreamed of doing it or never heard of it, make sure you say hello to Maria!

Tell us a little about yourself and your family.
I’m from Galicia, one of Spain’s bilingual regions, so I grew up speaking two languages. Then I started studying English in school. I liked it so much that I became an English teacher. But then I got the opportunity to spend a year in Ireland improving my English while teaching Spanish in a primary school. And I discovered that I enjoyed teaching Spanish even more than teaching English. So I decided to stay in Ireland for “a bit longer”, which quickly turned into 15 years! During those years, I was teaching Spanish to adults mainly.

On a personal level, I met my now husband, who is from Nigeria and, like me, also grew up with two languages: his mother-tongue Yoruba and English, the language used in school. So, between the two of us we have four languages, English being the one in common. At some point you could have heard all four of them at our dinner table and it was fine, we could all understand each other.

We have two daughters, who are now 12 and 10. They were born in Ireland and we lived there until they were 8 and 6. That means that during those first years the strongest language was English.

Since you're back in Spain, English has become their minority language. How do you incorporate literacy practice in your daily lives?
They speak English at home with their dad and watch TV/movies in English when that option is available. Both girls love reading and my husband travels to the UK a lot, so he’s always getting new books and magazines in English for them.

Getting them to write is a bit harder. They study English in school, but they are far more advanced than their classmates. The fact that they have to do some writing in school helps, but we feel they could be writing more complex texts. We try to encourage them and give them writing ideas (write about a trip or some other experience they’ve had, write letters to their cousins in Nigeria...) but the truth is that they are not too keen. They just see it as extra homework.

How do you deal with difficulties you encounter?
I think we have been quite lucky and we haven’t had any real difficulties, just the usual stuff such as making up words they don’t know in one of the languages (I remember one of them saying “blanquito” in Spanish when she was talking about a “blanket” -blanket in Spanish is manta and blanquito means white).

For me, the fact that they started school in Ireland and learnt how to read in English there was a great help. I’m not sure their English reading skills would be so good now if things had been different. I think we would have needed professional help. Reading Spanish is easier because the pronunciation and the spelling match. So they learnt quite naturally, without much of an effort, once they knew how to read in English.

I did (and still do) speak Galician to them. When we were living in Ireland I was the only source of this language and it was easier to get Spanish input from Spanish-speaking friends, books, music, films… So I would speak Galician to my girls and they would reply in Spanish mixed with Galician. Both languages are similar, so I don’t think they even realized they were two different languages until we moved to Spain. After we moved, they adapted quite easily and soon started differentiating both languages and speaking correctly.

Staying consistent in raising multilingual kids is tough. How does your family stay motivated and focused?
I don’t find it particularly hard. As I mentioned before, when the girls were smaller we would be speaking four different languages during dinner time and it worked for us. I’ve never spoken English to them, not because I made a conscious effort, but because that’s what felt more natural.

What advantage do you see in your children from knowing different cultures and languages?
The most obvious benefit is that they can communicate in 3 different languages without having to work hard at it. And that will probably make it easier for them to learn other languages in the future.

It also gives them a wider vision of the world; they are aware of and familiar with different cultures, different perspectives.

What would you tell parents who are hesitating about teaching their kids to read in multiple languages?
I’d say Go for it! Don’t be afraid. Kids are smarter than we give them credit for and can handle a couple of languages at the same time. They won’t get confused and they won’t be slower than their peers (it might look that way at the beginning it’s not really significant). Once they learn in one language, they’ll apply that knowledge to the second one. And don’t forget to read a lot: to them, with them… just read!

Tell us about Spanish for the Camino.
I started less than a year ago. After moving back to Spain I had to rethink my teaching career. I tried a couple of things but I wasn’t happy with the outcome.

I live on the Camino de Santiago. For many years I didn't think much about it. But now I am back home and I see pilgrims passing by almost every day. Also, a few friends of mine have walked to Santiago recently and I want to do it too.

Everybody talks about the physical and mental challenges they overcome, the acts of kindness from total strangers, the bonding with fellow pilgrims... they describe it as a life-changing experience.

I think that knowing at least some basic Spanish can enrich this experience, so I started a blog where I combine tips for the Camino with basic Spanish that you are likely to need when you are on your way.

I have heard stories of pilgrims who felt frustrated or anxious because they were not able to speak the language; others thought their experience would have been better if they knew some Spanish. I’d like to help them have a better experience by giving them the tools to communicate in Spanish.

Photo Credit: Maria Seco

If you are interested in the Camino de Santiago or you would like to find out a bit more about Maria’s work, you can check her Spanish for the Camino blog. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.

We would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below or join our community:

Facebook

7 Comments

Bilingualism: a gift to your children

16/7/2018

0 Comments

Next up on our interview series I'm chatting with Marta Piñero, a Spanish teacher and mom of two. Their multilingual family lives in Belgium. Keep reading if you want to feel a sense of lightness and motivation on your multilingual family journey!

Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

I’m from Seville (Spain). I have always loved languages, so I studied English Philology (Linguistics) at the University of Seville. I came for the first time to Belgium in 1995 as an Erasmus student on my last year. Normally, I would only stay 7 months, but I found the love of my life and I stayed 6 years instead. These things happen when you are young.
In 2001 we both left everything we had in Belgium and moved to Seville, where we stayed for 10 years, till the economic crisis (really hard in Spain) made us move again back to Belgium.
In the meantime, we had our 2 children, Mauro and Clara, who only spoke Spanish at that time, because daddy had to travel a lot. When we moved back to Belgium they were 6,5 and 3 years old, but they adapted real good, like kids do, right?

What advantages do you see in your children from knowing different cultures and languages?

This was actually one of the reasons why we decided to go ahead and move to Belgium. We knew the kids would benefit from living in the center of Europe, being already able to speak Spanish. And after 7 years I can say we were right.
They say learning a language is the perfect “food” for your brain, so learning since you are a child can only do you good. Besides, I believe this capacity gives you another look on the world. You “understand” better about the society, countries, languages and cultures.
Since we live in Belgium, my children are bilingual Spanish/Dutch and they are both very good at understanding other languages. Mauro is now 13 and can speak and understand quite a lot of English and French too, so I’m guessing when he is 17 he will be able to easily communicate in 4 languages. That’s great! And they love it too. They can watch tv shows, play games, listen to music or play with other kids in different languages. That’s so cool! And very useful for the future, of course. I really only find benefits!

How do you incorporate minority-language in your daily lives?

I always speak Spanish to my children, so they are used to using both languages everyday. I have to say, though, they answer sometimes in Dutch. I guess after a day at school it’s easier this way and not having to “switch” languages. But this is not a problem, I just keep on speaking Spanish. Sometimes we really don’t even realize anymore which language we are speaking to each other.
I have to say Spanish expats get a great opportunity to let their children go to specific lessons to learn about Spanish language and culture. The Spanish government organizes these for free and we are very grateful for that. My kids go every Saturday for 1,5 hours and they are in contact with other Spanish kids too.

Staying consistent in raising multilingual kids is tough. How do you and your kids stay motivated and focused on the goal?

I have to confess that this is hard sometimes. For Mauro this is more natural. He keeps in touch with the Spanish language everyday through YouTube videos or playing online with his Spanish cousins. For Clara it’s different. She feels less connected to Spain or the Spanish language.
We go 3 times a year to Spain and before getting there, they switch to Spanish without even thinking about it. When they are in touch with Spanish kids they are so proud they can speak and write so well. When we come back home their Spanish is great again. So travelling and keeping in touch with family and friends help a lot. And it’s a motivation in itself, really.

Have you encountered difficulties? How have you dealt with them?

Of course, Dutch became their first language a few years ago. So, yes, they make mistakes in Spanish, but mostly when they write, because this doesn’t happen very often. Where to put the right Spanish accents can sometimes be a problem for them. But since I’m a teacher too, I could give Mauro some tricks he applies very well now. Next year will be Clara’s turn :)
Reading is really the answer to the writing difficulties, and that’s why we try to have books and comics in both languages. And nowadays you can always buy new stuff on the Internet, we sure cannot complain about that any more.
The more they read the better they will write. The more they listen the better they will speak. Easy? Not at all, but keep on going and meet with other parents in the same situation as yours. This could mean the world to you. You would learn from other experiences and you would understand you are not alone!

What would you tell parents who are hesitating about teaching their kids to read in multiple languages?

I truly believe the sooner you start speaking your mother tongue to your child the better he will learn it. I don’t say the sooner, but the better. A child’s brain is ready for this and much more, it’s like a sponge, so go for it. When he’s an adult he will sure be incredibly grateful for your efforts. And these efforts become really natural after a while. I read a lot about this when I was pregnant for the first time, and I learned that there are children who will need some time to “separate” both languages before they speak. So, it could take your child a year longer or so, but then he will not speak one but two languages! How cool is that? This is just priceless!

Tell us about Leer Spaans Online - how it started, your goals, how you see it in the future.

I had worked as a Spanish teacher when I was young and I really liked it, but I had other ideas for my future. You know, a more “serious” job in a serious company where I could develop all my potential.
But some years ago, I started thinking about this and I realized I was certainly not the person I wanted to be when I was young. I started to analyse myself, what I enjoyed doing the most and what my abilities were… I reached the fantastic conclusion that I should go back to where I started. I wanted to be again the link between all these people who want to learn Spanish and to know better our culture and my beautiful country. I could not imagine a better thing to do than helping them on their way to get more fluent and showing them everything Spain has to offer them. So, that is what I’m doing now.
There are so many people everywhere who love Spain, the culture, the gastronomy and the language. And not all of them necessarily want to learn on the traditional way: going to evening school after you worked 8 hours and just listen how a teacher tries to explain you and 20 others (20 different interests and ways of learning) some grammar rules you are not really interested in. All my admiration for these colleagues. But there are other ways. More fun ways. My goal is to help them get there by doing, listening or speaking about things they care about. They should be interested in what they are doing to learn on a better way.
I have now a new project in mind to take little groups with me to Spain so we can share authentic experiences there during some days. This could be so helpful and it would be great to see them reach their goals in a shorter period of time. Hopefully this can become a reality in 2019. I will sure let you know!

Photo credits: Marta Piñero.

You can connect with Marta on Facebook and on her website, Leer Spaans Online, where she shares her passion for Spain and the Spanish language, along with valuable tips for learning!

We would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below or join our community:

Facebook

0 Comments

Bilingual, biliterate and culturally aware children

2/7/2018

0 Comments

Becky Morales is an ESL and Spanish teacher. She's an American mother of five bilingual and multicultural children and the founder of Kid World Citizen. She lives in Mexico with her family and loves connecting with teachers and parents on Facebook and Twitter.

Bilingual, biliterate and culturally aware children

Tell us a little about yourself and your family.
I am from the US and my husband is from Mexico. We met when we were both studying at the University of Illinois - Champaign, when they matched us up to be buddies (he was an exchange student at the time, and I was supposed to "show him around.") We lived in London for a few years when we first married, and then lived in the US for many years. We moved to Mexico a year ago to improve our kids' Spanish. Toño works in consulting and I am a teacher (ESL and Spanish). My kids (through birth and adoption) have roots in Mexico, the US, China, and Ethiopia.

What benefits does knowing different cultures and languages bring to your children?
I think the biggest advantage to being raised culturally aware is that they are more open to new experiences, they do not judge others, and they have a lot of empathy for people, accepting their different perspectives.

How do you incorporate minority-language literacy in your daily lives?
When we are in the US, I make sure I have plenty of books in Spanish around- both that I can read to them, and that they can read on their own.

Staying consistent in raising multilingual kids is tough. How do you and your kids stay motivated and focused on the goal?
It is really hard because when I am in a rush, I easily slip into English. We need to speak Spanish at home because my husband works long hours, and he doesn't see them as much as I would (so OPOL wouldn't work for us). We mess up a lot, and just start over and try harder :)

Have you encountered any literacy difficulties? How have you dealt with them?
One of my children is dyslexic, but it hasn't hindered him in reading in Spanish any more than it has reading in English. Our difficulties have been more that the kids thought it was "harder" to read in their second language, and so they are resistant. As I keep encouraging them and as they get more comfortable, I see way less resistance. In fact, my daughter just read her first (very long!) novel in Spanish and LOVED it.

What would you tell parents who are hesitating about teaching their kids to read in multiple languages?
They definitely won't get confused. The best part of reading in another language is that you transfer all of your literacy knowledge (like sounding out the words, chunks of letters that have meaning, etc) to both languages. Just keep reading to them, and they will begin to transfer their skills into the new language!

Tell us about how you started Kid World Citizen.
I started Kid World Citizen as a way to share cultural activities with transracial and transcultural adoptive parents, to help cultivate pride in their children for their heritage culture. I expanded it to include global learning from all corners of the world as I realized that many parents and teachers were interested in incorporating these activities with their children and students. My goal is to help this generation become responsible, empathetic, and culturally aware global citizens. Our world is so interconnected, that these 21st century skills will inevitably help our children not only succeed, but make the world a better place.

Photo credits: Kid World Citizen.

Becky started KidWorldCitizen.org and co-authored the Global Education Toolkit for Elementary Learners to give parents and teachers activities to teach kids about world cultures. She recently began the Language Latte Podcast, where she shares research and best practices for world language teachers. You can also find many Spanish activities on her TpT Store: Kid World Citizen.

Listen to Becky interviewing me for the Language Latte Podcast:

0 Comments

The ease and effort of bilingualism and literacy

17/6/2018

1 Comment

Trisha is a teacher and a writer from California. She lives in France with her husband and two bilingual kids. She's the founder of Vagabond English, a community for book lovers and creatives.
In this interview we talk about the ease vs. the struggles of raising bilingual and biliterate children.

The ease and effort of bilingualism and literacy

Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

We’re a French-American family. My husband and I met when I was working in France and we moved back and forth between France and California a few times before deciding that France - the Southern Alps - was where we wanted to settle down. It’s a rural area and our two kids are bilingual. Our oldest daughter is just becoming biliterate.

What benefits or differences do you see in your children due to knowing different cultures and languages?

Both my husband and I are teachers and have worked in languages and bilingual schools etc. Both of us are bilingual as well. I suppose it’s not surprising that we really value bilingualism for our children. As teachers, we’d always heard that children who grow up bilingual can appear to have some language confusion and/or even a delay, but we really haven’t found this to be the case in our family. I don’t really know how to answer the question of what is ‘different’ in our children. In California, and in bilingual schools, even where we live in rural France, there are bilingual families all around. Maybe we’re not different after all. Maybe we’re the new normal :)

How do you add minority language practice in your daily lives?

We’ve done something that we actually learned not to do as educators. We all speak English at home - including my husband - most of the time. His native language is French, and you often hear advice suggesting parents speak in their native language. But it felt unnatural in our family. My husband felt odd being the only one speaking French. English is just the language in our family, at least when we’re at home. The children only watch TV and online videos if they are in English, and we’ve always read plenty of books to them in English. I also try to make sure we hang out with other bilingual families as much as possible. I don’t know any other English-speaking families in the area, but I like having the kids see that other families are speaking multiple languages at home as well, and that it’s ok to have multiple languages going on in a social setting.

Staying consistent in raising multilingual kids is tough. How do you and your kids stay motivated and focused on the goal?

It hasn’t been that hard staying consistent with speaking, reading, and entertainment. What has proved more challenging is the biliteracy. My oldest daughter has struggled to read in general, so we’re very conscious of the fact that reading in English is an extra effort. Motivation is extremely important. When I taught high school in California, I had students come into my French classes who were essentially native speakers, but who only wrote phonetically. Really, that experience alone - and the frustration of the students - was enough to convince me of the importance of keeping up with literacy in all the languages you speak. We also take breaks and don’t feel bad about it. Sometimes we skip reading on a busy weekend or if she’s been really tired. I think that helps with motivation in the long-term.

Have you encountered difficulties? How have you dealt with them?

Our biggest problem has been dealing with the basic difficulty of learning to read - in any language - for my oldest. We have decided to let our daughter work at a slower pace than she has been working in France. Since we’re working with her one-to-one, we don’t have to worry about ‘teaching the whole curriculum’ in one year. So we’re able to cut down on frustration, read easier books and stick with topics until they’re learned. In English, she gets to learn at her own pace. Sometimes letting go of outcomes a little can really help.

What would you tell parents who are hesitating about teaching their kids to read in multiple languages?

My experience as a teacher in California (and with plenty of friends who grew up in bilingual families) is that reading and writing is not something you just ‘pick up later.’ I can’t state that more emphatically. I do think that if you don’t have time to read and write, at least do the reading. There is quite a bit of evidence that shows that what you read is extremely important for your writing. I’ve also found that, while my daughter struggled to read in French, the individualized attention I gave her with reading in English helped her in reading over all. Especially with your help, Ana. I feel that you helped us focus more on the sounds and that she became more willing to sound out words even in French. Also - teacher that I am - I should point out that there is quite a bit of evidence that says that children who read in two languages read better than children who only read in one...

Tell us about Vagabond English. How did it start?

Vagabond English started when I realized how much I love being around people who read. When you read, it gives you a different perspective on the world. And if books are a chance to travel to different cultures, places, perspectives and languages, then what could be better than reading books and discussing them with people from all over the globe? Writing is, to me, simply the flip-side of reading. If you think about it, whenever you read, you collaborate with the author to create a mental picture or find the meaning in the story. Perhaps it’s unconventional to have a reading + writer’s group in one community. But it makes for some really interesting connections and collaboration.

Trisha Traughber is a writer and teacher. Originally from California, she now lives in France with her bilingual family. She loves reading and writing adventures.

You can sign up for her Short Story Series, visit her website and blog here or join up with her at the Vagabond English Book Club on Facebook.

Any questions? Leave a comment below or join our community: