On April 9th, 2015, a panel of professors from a variety of different disciplines took part in the event: Multilingual Parenting Roundtable Discussion. This discussion focused on the methods and impact of multilingual parenting. Each professor shared his or her own experience of raising their child(ren) in a multilingual environment. These professors included: Korrin Mundo (Project BELA), Alex Caviedes (Political Science), Chiara De Santi (World Languages), Daniela Peterka-Benton (Criminal Justice), Iclal Vanwesenbeeck (English) and Guangyu Tan (Curriculum and Instruction).
Mundo spoke first and focused the methods and benefits of raising a child multilingual. Mundo spoke about Family Language Policy (FLP), which is the use and choice of language in a home setting and among family members. A family could choose to speak English outside the home and only speak Spanish (in Mundo’s case) at home. Families can choose to speak one language during the week and one on weeks. Families can also create a rotating schedule of when each language is used. Mundo also spoke about code-switching, which is the natural mixing of two different languages without conscious thought of doing so by multilingual people. In addition, she discussed the cognitive benefits of being multilingual. A person who is multilingual has a greater metalinguistic awareness. Another benefit is that the person has a better handle on his or her executive control system. This involved switching between activities and inhibiting previously learned responses. However, one fear is that speaking multiple languages to children will cause a language delay for the child. It is important to note that there is no clear research linking being bilingual to any kind of language delay in children.
Mundo also stated that both high quantity and high quality are important for the maintenance of language. Children need to have opportunities to play with other children in their minority language. Speaking and reading a lot in the minority language is extremely important. In addition, it is important to expose the children to the culture because language and culture go hand in hand.
Caviedes spoke next as a product of growing up in a multilingual household. Caviedes grew up as a German in Canada. German was spoken in the home and English was used in school. Caviedes’ family took frequent trips to Germany and culture was maintained through books, toys and records. His family made being German and learning German fun and cool, which led to him having pride and interest in being German.
De Santi talked about raising her two daughters in an English and Italian household. She first believed that she could raise her first daughter bilingual if she only spoke Italian and her husband only spoke English to their daughter. This was not as successful as they had hoped and they made a change. Now De Santi still continues to speak only Italian to her daughter but her husband speakers Italian 25-35% of the time in Italian and the rest in English. De Santi’s approach to speaking to her daughter has included always speaking standard Italian to her daughter (no dialects, no childish language), obligating her child to speak Italian, never correct mistakes, and stressing the importance of being at least bilingual. After spending last summer in a daycare in Italy, the oldest daughter is now speaking Italian fluently with some mistakes. De Santi and her husband are awaiting on how their second daughter progresses with Italian and English.
Peterka-Benton spoke next about raising her daughter with English and Austrian (German). Peterka-Benton’s oldest daughter was born in Austria and learned English in day care. Peterka-Benton chose to keep her daugher in Pre-K for an extra year in order for her daughter’s English to develop. Peterka-Benton speaks German to her daughter and her daughter responds in English. Her daughter has faced issues with fitting in at school because others can see that she is different. Peterka-Benton has been helping her daughter combat this through encouragement and continuing to foster German. Peterka-Benton’s youngest daughter can understand German in complete sentences.
Iclal Vanwesenbeeck is a native Turkish speaker and her husband is a native Flemish speaker, together they have been raising their children in a multilingual home. Although, Vanwesenbeeck has been happy to raise their son this way she has worried about outside perception and her son fitting in. Her son has shown comprehension of the languages by making puns, poems, and creating a metalanguage through the use of all three of the languages. Vanwesenbeeck has worked to facilitate language development by creating an environment where her son is comforted and reassured. Music, reading, expression and having an outlet for language frustration has been used to help her son.
Guangyu Tan has a one year old son who she has been speaking to mostly in Chinese, however, she sings in English and in Chinese. Her husband speaks English to their son. It is too soon to see how their son with develop as he is hearing both languages.
Overall, this discussion provided a variety of methods and outcomes of children being raised in a multilingual environment with different language. It will be interesting to see the further impact of living in a multilingual home as these children grow up.
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