Tips For Teaching a Second Language at Home

Many parents already know that raising a bilingual child can come with a number of benefits that will not only help their kid grow up, but that will help them long into adulthood as well. However, some parents are understandably apprehensive about teaching their child two languages at once and don’t even know where to begin.

The good news is that teaching two languages at once is encouraged, as studies prove children are capable of differentiating between both languages even at the earliest ages. Additionally, introducing a second language is something that all parents can do, you just need to know where to start.

Here at Binibi, we know that teaching any language can come with certain obstacles and challenges. This is why we have partnered with Bilingual Speech Therapist, Jaqueline Lopez SLP from Thinking Out Loud Speech Therapy for some practical tips that parents can use when attempting to teach children to be bilingual at home.

Utilizing her years of experience in helping children learn multiple languages, Jaqueline has crafted some of her best tips for parents teaching a second language at home.

Model Both Languages At Home

For little kids, so much of learning either primary or secondary, language comes from hearing others talk. This is how babies learn their first words, and how toddlers sometimes pick up words they shouldn’t. It is also how kids start learning the proper way to use new vocabulary words in everyday conversation.

Don’t Try To Mix Languages in the Same Sentence

When modelling language, try not to mix languages in the same phrase or sentence. This is called “code-switching.” While this is a normal part of language acquisition, as parents, educators and caretakers, we should model the appropriate way of using language so that children learn the rules of each language.

Contact Us