Parent to Parent
How do you encourage your child to speak the second language?I buy books and music in Portuguese. It is very helpful to have Portuguese-speaking babysitters. They also have some playfriends who speak the language.
— Father of bilingual 2 1/2-year old twins (Portuguese)I sought other parents who were raising their children bilingually with French/English and we get together occasionally for playdates to speak in French. I enrolled my oldest daughter in a Saturday morning French school for native/non-native speaking children. Unfortunately, we did not continue attending since she did not like it. I'm hoping to send my younger daughter there in the fall.
In terms of French language resources, we have French satellite TV (particularly for the children's programming) and some children's DVDs with French audio tracks. We also have many children's books and CDs in French. We have a couple of toys for learning French as well. I have found a few good French websites for children.
— Mother of bilingual 4-year old and 2 1/2-year old (French)
More Speaking tipsIf your child(ren) are school age or older . . .Have you found that your children were more resistant to using the second language as they grew older? If so, how did you handle this?
When he was in elementary school it switched to English with only a little bit of French. Since we didn't want to force French on him we let him do what is natural for teenagers. He spoke English. He's now an adult and we speak only in English. However since we have family in France, he speaks French with them and when we are in France.
— Mother of bilingual adult child (French)