As 2022 comes to a close, I need to take a moment and look back on my first year writing for onraisingbilingualchildren. And what a terrific one it has been! It has gifted me with a lot of learning, feedback, exchanges and new impulses, and I am so excited about everything that 2023 has to offer. But before we step into the New Year, I want to spotlight the most popular posts for 2022.
1. My Child Understands Everything but Won’t Talk in my Language!
This post is dedicated to a question we get almost on a daily basis – “What should I do – my child does not respond to me in my language?”. It is quite a common occurrence in bilingual families and one that causes a lot of desperation and sleepless nights. Caregivers often get overwhelmed, because their child would respond in the “wrong” language or would only say a few random words in the “correct” one even though they understand (almost) everything when addressed in that language. The home language is usually the culprit here. Special cases aside, there is often a simple explanation as to the reasons why and some very practical ways we can approach this issue.
2. 5 Strategies to Support Your Passive Bilingual in the School/Societal Language.
The topic of passive/receptive bilingualism is undoubtedly a big one. Our readers are aligned on that since our two most popular post this year are dedicated to it. The process can be very confusing and frustrating. At times, we simply cannot figure out if our children are making any progress despite the effort we put into their language development. There is little to no output and it is so hard to stay the course, believing that it will come when the time is right. When would that be? Would it ever happen? Whether it is at home or at school, the fact that a child would choose the “wrong” language to respond or would not respond at all, could be very problematic. Some children take longer than others to adjust to a new school language and environment, and the process can be rather stressful. Parents are often desperate and their children cannot make progress fast enough, however, what caregivers and teachers often tend to underestimate is the aspect of individuality (e.g., personality, motivation, anxiety levels, previous experiences, etc.). In addition, some children simply need different kinds of support in order to acclimate and flourish. And with the appropriate strategies, parents can aid the process too.
3. Family Language Planning: Why You Need a Strategy
I have heard a lot of people say that Family Language Planning is not really necessary and laugh at others who have opted to plan for their child’s language development. That’s ok – deciding not to have a plan is a valid choice. But is it a helpful one? Well, that’s an entirely different question. In fact, when we raise children with two or more languages without a Family Language Plan, we run the risk of jeopardising their linguistic development. Problems might arise along the way and they always do, but if we have a strategy, we have a much better chance of successfully tackling these problems. Intrigued? Check out the post to find out more about where and how to start.
4. 5 Ways to Encourage Your Bilingual Reader
I was a bit surprised to find out that this post is not higher up on the list but happy to see that it made it to #4. Reading is crucial no matter if we are raising a monolingual or bilingual child. However, when raising a child with more than one language, reading is also one of our best tools in developing and maintaining our home language(s). And, hands down, it can be a challenging undertaking to motivate a child to read in the home language and, even more so, to keep them motivated as they get older, especially when the school work load increases and they develop more pronounced personalities. I was pleased to receive feedback that these strategies resonated with people and were very useful for many of them.
5. Meet the Team
2022 has been an incredible year for me as I got the amazing opportunity to join Raising Bilingual Children. The work that we have done, the people I was lucky enough to meet and support as well as the experiences I have made, have been rewarding and humbling at the same time. You have been curious about finding out more about us and we are super excited to continue adding value and contributing to your family language journey any way we can.
And which one was my favourite post of 2022? Click here to find out!
Thank you all for reading along. Here is to 2023, filled with even more exciting and thought-provoking content. Let me know what you would like to read about!
Image by Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas on pexels.com
