Parent to Parent
How do you encourage your child to speak the second language?The best resource for our son was his grandfather. Each time when he comes to visit, our son will speak Mandarin. He stops speaking when he leaves. Our daughter's language improved significantly after spending 6 weeks in Beijing. Friends found watching Chinese videos were very helpful.
— Mother of bilingual 15-year old and 13-year old (Mandarin Chinese)Key thing is to ensure that the children are forced to speak the language at home. Once the child leaves the home, there are too many external influences which make it very easy for the child not to develop the level of fluency. My level of fluency was achieved by having my parents speak the language at home, coupled with visits from family members and visits back to India. I also think that my early childhood visits to India were the ones that solidified my level of fluency more so than my visits as I got older.
— Adult raised in bilingual home (Marathi)When our son was young we only spoke French. All the adults spoke French in the household. My mother-in-law stayed with us for a while when my son was a toddler. She and my husband are French, so it was quite natural for all us to speak French. We always had before, so changing to English would have been artificial. Many of our friends also are French Americans and we all speak French when we are together. Therefore my son heard French from many people in his environment.
— Mother of bilingual adult child (French)Add TV/DVD time in the second language.
— Mother of bilingual 5-year old and 2-year old (French)Many of Mom's friends speak Chinese, and many of Dad's friends speak Japanese. She plays with other kids and picks stuff up.
— Father of trilingual 2-year old (Chinese & Japanese)If possible, go to a French school in the United States. French media present at home. Vacation in France.
— Mother of bilingual 4-year old and 1 1/2-year old (French)