Recommendations for resources about bringing up bilingual children

[ISpidersmanYouMeanPirate]

I have 2 DC, and live in France with French DH.

We're doing a rough OPOL in that I only speak to the DC in English, DH only speaks to them in French. However I speak to DH (and everyone else) in French, so the DC know I speak both languages.

DH also speaks to my family in English so DC know he speaks both languages.

DC go/will go to a French school (eldest is in PSM).

For the moment we've been pretty relaxed about the bilingual side. Naturally we've got books and DVDs in both languages. English is definitely strongest right now but I'm sure that soon, with the school influence, French will take over. DC know which language to speak to which people (sometimes with a bit of prompting).

I'm wondering what to do later on when the DC start to learn to read/write. We're in Paris so there's lots of activities in English, including a very expensive course in English for bilingual children, which I've looked at but I'm not sure if it's something to start as early as possible (aged 5 for this particular course) or wait until DC are older and need more formal education in English, over and above what I can do naturally at home.

Are there any good reading materials on the internet/books on this subject that you have found useful?

I've had great success with the Reading Eggs programme which are online. They are suitable for quite young children, DS2 loves it, he started in September, does a bit each week when it suits him. DS1 (13) is doing online IGCSE, but that's perhaps a bit in the future maybe?!

If you are in Paris there are various options for educating your DC bilingually. TBH this is far and away the best option.

There's a facebook group called Raising Bilingual/Multilingual Children which has lots of advice.

Also agree that a bilingual school would be a good idea and save you having to do so much extra curricular stuff. The French school day is long enough especially for littlies. There is lots of choice in Paris.

Yes I am on Raising Multilingual Children on facebook which is a good helpful group.

We are in a French speaking country but both DH and i are English speakers. DD1 is learning to read in French so i was concerned whether i should now start to teach her to read in English but i have been told a firm NO. The child should start to read with one language and then move on to incorporate a second language once reading in one language is established. Not sure what i think about this advice.

Gosh it can be hard to navigate the education of a bilingual child. Watching this thread with interest.

Thanks for your answers.

We did look at bilingual schools but for several reasons (distance from our flat being the major one, as well as cost) have chosen to send DC to the local private school instead.

We might change later on, but in maternelle, the nearest bilingual school to me only does 30minutes a day in English in PSM, and 45 minutes a day in MSM... The DC are looked after by native English speakers outside of school so right now I can't see the point in a bilingual school.

I had also heard that they should learn to read in one language first. It's hard though - DC1 is asking how to spell various words (using his magnetic letters) so of course I'm telling him the letters in English.

However, I am leaning towards the British council weekly course for bilingual children. I just don't know if I ought to do it as early as possible (age 5) or wait a few years.

Will have a look at the Reading Eggs programme

DC should learn to read in both languages simultaneously. Schools make a big deal out of sequential reading but that is for the school's benefit, not your child's. Don't believe everything the school says.

DC at bilingual schools may "only" get 45' of English lessons per day in maternelle but they, crucially, meet lots of other English speaking DC and speak English in the playground.

The British Council course is far less effective than a bilingual school (I know dozens of families in both scenarii).

Thanks thats useful information.

Atm the DC are much more exposed to English but I can see that in a few years that will change.

My fear is also that the DC make international friends who leave regularly. We ve already had the case of DC1's best friend (English) who left Paris and it was difficult for everyone.

Do you think integrating an international school in primaire or college would be ok? Its just that traveling a long way to school aged 3-5 years is a shame when we can go to the local one 5 minutes walk away.

I don't know that that's true. If they are learning phonics then it would be really difficult for them to learn both at once because of the nature of it. For whole word recognition it wouldn't really matter, I suppose. So it depends what the school is doing really.

I taught DS to read in English using Phonics and then one day he just started reading in German as well, porting his English reading knowledge (he's well past using phonics now) and I think it is better for him, because when he starts phonics in German next year, he has a very clear base knowledge to draw from, he's not getting confused with two different systems at once. It's been easier to make that decision, though, because he started learning basic phonics in English nursery at 4, we moved when he was 5 and he was asking/interested, so I carried on with him, he is now six but won't start school until nearly seven and isn't expected to be reading at all yet. I didn't think he would pick up the German reading, but he has, so they will just be polishing it up really for him and clarifying.

He's in a local school because I feel that it's important for him. We will always speak English at home. From what I have seen with siblings, they tend to speak the majority language between themselves even at home, but if you as the parents keep English going then they will still retain that. You could consider switching from OPOL to the home language being English while they are at school, but I don't know whether that's the right thing to do.

The competition for places in sections internationales in Paris and suburbs 6eme is really tough (my DD is in CM2 and we and dozens of families we know are currently doing admissions) even when you have been through a bilingual primary: there are far too few places to meet demand.

There are plenty of bilingual DC who are not likely to leave Paris and these DC/families tend to congregate around bilingual schools.

Sorry for thread hijack OP (it is relevant though!). Bonsoir or anyone else who knows, I'm sure you've explained it to me before, but what is the difference between bilingual schools and ones with sections internationales? I might have the choice of either for my not yet bilingual DC and want to choose correctly. Thanks.

A section internationale is an official arrangement which has a curriculum approved by the Ministère de l'Education Nationale and leads at Lycee to the OIB. Some bilingual schools are section internationale schools, others just have their own home-made curriculum. If that's the case, you need to dig deep to check how it's run and what it delivers.

Ok thanks Bonsoir. Just reading on the website for the bilingual school and in addition to an Angalis Section Bilingue and a Modern section, it also has a European Section. So confusing! We are going to visit in 2 weeks but I'd like to be a bit clearer.

Section europeenne is reinforced English (or German) for French pupils and very widespread but the level is not wildly much higher than normal LV1.

If you tell me which school it is I can look at its website/check it out and tell you what I think?

Thank you Bonsoir that would be great. It is Cours Saint Charles in Orleans. There's also Collège Dunois which is meant to have a section internationale but I know nothing else about it.

I'll take a look later. Maybe we should chat on the telephone rather than expose all your personal stuff on here? You can pm me your telephone number and a time if you prefer.

Bonsoir, have PM'd you.

"Yes I am on Raising Multilingual Children on facebook which is a good helpful group."

ooh, I'm in that Facebook group too, do you post often?

I found this book quite helpful 16 years ago when DD1 was born, and we were looking at various options for combining languages. What it does is present 15 (16?) case studies to show how different families have integrated bi- or multilingualism into their children's lives. The message is that whatever works for you is fine, but you need some sort of consistency (ie it doesn't have to be OPOL, but you need a rule of some kind, eg, the person who starts a conversation dictates which language is used). The only cases of bilingualism I've seen which have categorically failed have been where the parents have mixed both or all languages completely at random.

Just out of interest Bonsoir, is the Abibac system part of the section europeenne? That's the French-German Bac classes. When DD1 did her exchange with a French student (we're in Germany), she was doing Abibac, so DD1 also went into her Abibac programme in France - and was surprised how poor the level of German actually was. Is there an English equivalent to the Abibac? (A-levelbac?)

I don't post much Arch, I lurk and occasionally answer comment threads :) I think it's run by a friend of mine locally - she's just over the French border. But I might be wrong, she might just be one of many mods.

Abibac doesn't have an English equivalent. I believe there are Spanish and Italian equivalents.

However the sections internationales offer the OIB with, I believe, 14 versions including British, American, German, Spanish and Italian. Ie the Abibac isn't the culmination of Franco-German education in all its guises.

The best resource I found was other parents and their bilingual kids.

Have a good poke around at the obvious (and perhaps more covert) stratagies they are using when you see the results you'd like for your own kids. Same with the parents whose kid perhaps aren't in a place you'd prefer for your own.

Ask loads of questions. Be prepared to read between the lines. Brace yourself for it possibly being a bit harder than you'd expected.

I tried books, websites, articles. What got things to click for me was meeting the people bringing their kids up bilingual "off the page" and I the real world.

DS is 14yo now. And bilingual. I think that has a lot to do with the people I interrogated chatted to about the ins and outs.

Just saw this thread and agree totally with Bonsoir.

I have a French DH and three perfectly bilingual children.

I have always spoken English and worked a lot at home with them on reading, myDH has spoken French with them. They had no problem learning French and English simultaneously. They went to a French primary and we were lucky enough to have an English reading group in the town which they attended on Wednesday mornings. From 6eme they went to a school with International Sections. I am in the Western suburbs of Paris.

UK satellite TV is a great help.

Multilingual Parenting is a good blog, lots of interesting articles.

I am also bringing my children up bilingually. I speak to them only in English, and in their presence, I also speak to my DH in English. In fact, in front of them, I speak their other language (in which I am fluent) only when socially necessary, and never to them. They are doing very well with their bilingualism.

I taught them to read and write in English simultaneously with learning at school. The issue of whether or not you are using phonics shouldn't make a difference - they soon learn that this is what you do with English, and this is what you do with the other language.

Are you on twitter? I frequently tweet links to articles on bilingualism and language acquisition.

Late to the thread again, but just wanted to add mine had phonics in both languages (English with me and French at school because that's how they seem to teach it - much better imo as word recognition relies on them knowing all the words which they might not). My two never, ever got confused. In fact I remember questioning my daughter about how she knew how to pronounce oi differently for noise or oiseau and she looked at me as though I was stupid. "There's no such word as nwaz in English and no such word as oy-zo in French mummy".