Why Raise Bilingual Children?

Here is an interesting article from Spanglish Baby concerning the choice to raise kids with more than one home language. I found it to be a nice introduction to the topic! According to the Multilingual Children's Association, there are two main home language systems to use.

In our case, the One Person, One Language system (OPOL) will fit better than the Minority Language at Home system (ML@H) since I will use the minority language exclusively. One concern I had was being able to read stories and sing songs in English with my baby. I also worry about my husband feeling excluded since he does not speak the second language (in our case, Spanish). After talking to several friends who are raising their kids with more than one language, we've decided that when we are spending time together as a family, the family language will remain English, but the child's exposure to the minority language will be mostly when he and I are one on one. I do have hopes that we will spread the use of the minority language a little more as other family members (including my husband) become more familiar with it. The grandparents have a good working knowledge of the minority language and though they will probably be most comfortable using English, they may enjoy reading, singing or including some Spanish vocabulary at times. Some people think this may confuse an early language learner, but it can be beneficial for the child to hear the minority language from more than one person. Visit the Multilingual Children's Association homepage for more twists on choosing the right home language system for your family!

It Can’t Hurt I never really questioned whether or not Vanessa would grow up bilingual. As far as I knew, we would talk to her...

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