Fun Activity Ideas for Parents Raising a Bilingual Child
/Guest post by writer Emily Jones.
Raising bilingual children is a rewarding and challenging thing, one that I am thankful to be doing every day. While my kids aren’t always as interested in traditional learning, they are open to activities where learning does not feel to be the primary goal. Luckily, you can incorporate activities that are fun and entertaining to make your kids feel like they are playing more than learning.
Here some language-learning activities to do with your child:
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Watch their favourite movie in the target language
Encourage your child to watch his or her favourite movie in the target language, as this is a fun activity but also one that will teach them vocabulary, phrases, accents, and more! Ask if they have a favourite part and make it an activity to memorize the lines in the target language (especially helpful if they know the lines in their native language!).
Download a language app
An activity that is done on a smart device doesn’t feel like a chore to most kids, but instead like something fun. A really great app to learn to speak a foreign language is Babbel, which is also available for iOS devices. Thanks to its interactive interface and gamified format, your kids won’t even realize they are learning!
Play games in the target language
Luckily, games are fun in any language! Play your child’s favourite game in the target language or have fun making up your own games. To get them talking and feeling more comfortable speaking in the target language, you can also play classic games such as telephone where you repeat what you hear to the person next to you.
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Read to them in the second language
Reading is one of the most important learning activities you can do with your child in his or her native language, and reading to them in the second language is equally as important. Read stories together, ask questions in the target language, and have them share with you their favourite parts, etc.
Play music and sing songs
Music is a way to improve your vocabulary and your child can listen to music in the target language in the background or for focused language lessons. Even just having music in the background or listening to, remembering and singing catchy songs can do wonders for your child’s language skills.
Create a “foreign language only” day
You can make a fun day of a ‘foreign language only’ day! Have fun and struggle through it together, and encourage your child to get creative with how they communicate when struggling to find the right word for something. This also encourages your kids to become familiar with certain words and phrases, and it will become more natural to use them in everyday life (not just a ‘foreign language only’ day!)
Credit: Unsplash.
Playdates with other bilingual children
Playdates with other bilingual children is a fun activity for kids (and for parents!). Finding a social circle with other families that are raising bilingual children is a way that your kids can get in play and language time, and you can share ideas with other parents.
Travel if you can
If you can travel to a place where the language your child is learning is the local language, you will see a rapid improvement in his or her language skills.
Above everything else, it is so important to keep learning at home fun and light for the kids, as this will keep their interest high and language learning will never feel like a chore.
