Seven Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child
By Naomi Steiner, with Susan Hayes
The author presents here a very clear guide for parents who wish to raise their children to become bilingual speakers. The author uses a variety of language examples, plus stories of real parents whose children have become proficient in more than one language because of the help and planning of their parents. There are seven clear steps here, the most important of which is planning to start at a certain point and then maintain one’s interest and devotion to raising the child to be bilingual.
With background in developmental-behavioral pediatrics, this physician is an expert in how children learn languages. She is raising her own children to be multilingual, and she understands the perspective of the parent. This is perhaps why she is able to relate to parents and put the technical information into terms parents will appreciate.
The author presents seven myths of bilingual learning—such as the notion that not all kids can learn another language. The myths are the typical ones we as language teachers often hear, whether we teach world languages, language arts, English as a second language programs (ESL), or bilingual education. Little kids are resilient, and their brains are wired for communication. The author does a good job of reminding parents of these facts.
The author explains to parents the importance of letting students develop all four skills areas, meaning listening, then speaking, then reading, and finally writing. This is the natural order in which children learn languages—at least predominantly—but some of us in second language teaching are great advocates for teaching the skills in a more integrated fashion, even from the early stages. However, we still realize first-graders should not be expected to write term papers in the target language!
Steiner provides other notes for the parents to help them tailor the language teaching and language learning experiences at home to their unique children. Each child is different, and one important point is that some children will learn the second language at slower rates than others. The author provides ideas on how to deal with these kinds of issues in the quest for language proficiency.
Overall, I will recommend the book, but there are a few comments I will make on it. One weakness is that the explanation of bilingual education and ESL programs (pp. 155-158) is a bit vague. The author tries to summarize in just a few short paragraphs rather diverse programs. As most language teachers can tell you, each district—sometimes each building—has a very different model in use.
Note that teachers and administrators of many types of programs may take issue with what the author says on various pages about school programs (e.g., pp. 80, 155) because the explanation simply cannot be done in such a short space. If you recommend this book to parents or to parent groups, please warn them about some of those passages.
The information about dual language is pretty much accurate, and the point is made that most programs in the nation are for French/English and Spanish/English experiences. However, the parent will need to seek out the programs in their own or nearby schools and districts.
Note that it is often very hard to locate dual language programs in the state since there is rarely a statewide directory in place (in Illinois for example) and because of the way the teachers’ workload is reported to the state education agency. In many cases, a dual language teacher is simply registered by the district as an “elementary grade teacher.” The same is true of teachers who teach foreign language in the elementary schools (FLES) programs.
The good news, though, is that there are very effective and well-established programs out there that are flourishing. For example, Chicago Public Schools (District 299) lead the way in innovative language programs and dual language initiatives. Staff members there can help you with questions and can help direct parents to certain schools with new and interesting language programs in place.
Illinois also is one of the leaders nationwide in the number of FLES programs available to students in K-8 buildings. This is not even counting Saturday, after-school, and immersion language programs—all of which exist in Chicago and many of the suburban schools.
One benefit of the book is the way the author relates to parents and knows what challenges they may face. For example, the author explains how to approach the foreign language teacher if you have a child who has been speaking another language at home and who should be in more advanced levels than the school is planning.
Readers should remind parents that sometimes they will need to be assertive indeed in getting their kids into the right levels so they are not bored to death in a beginning level too easy for them. The author mentions also that the kids could start a different language in higher grade levels, but parents should fight against this. The ACTFL and state standards remind us students need long-term programs–complete with high-quality classroom instruction in all four skills areas.
Another benefit is that the author reminds parents (pp. 39-40) that foreign language exploratory (FLEX) programs simply do not produce much proficiency and the parents should not expect much from them. It is important for parents to get this fact!
As an aside, I will also mention that these programs stand in the way of other language programs becoming planned and put into place because the FLEX programs appear to “offer something” in the realm of language teaching—even though they do not produce much.
Another issue is that many people will say something like, “Well with the FLEX program at least we have something going on.” With that, they do not commit funds to start a bona fide educational program with the goal of creating language proficiency.
Because the author has a very different perspective on language learning and parenting, I think she can explain things in ways parents understand. The book is a good foundation for parents, and it could also work for school boards looking to increase their language program offerings.
