Raising Bilingual Children - Part I
Aug. 14th, 2004 07:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageThe Choice
Several years ago, I was at a conference for Modern Language Teachers in Toronto. (In Canada, that means 80% are French teachers, 9% teach Spanish, 9% German, and 2% any other language. In fact, most of the Spanish and German teachers teach French as well.) The theme of the conference was, "Monolingualism can be cured!" It was, of course, designed to make people smile, but it was an interesting theory - that the ability to speak only one language was, in effect, a disability which we inflict on our children.
The research supports the theory. People who speak two languages fluently have between 60 and 70% more neural connections in their brains than monolinguists. Add a third language, and the number increases by another 30%. This translates to a higher IQ than they would have had as monlinguists. Polyglots have advantages in every single subject area, but the one which intrigued me the most was a tenuous connection, based on only one study, between bilingualism and spatial reasoning. If true, it would imply that more languages means more ability in music, certain branches of mathematics, physics, and geography - all subjects which require a good level of spatial reasoning.
As soon as I started thinking of having children, I started thinking about how I would make sure my children learned French. I should state here that I am as anglophone as they come. My grandparents, with my 20-month-old father in tow, immigrated to Canada in 1946 from England; my other grandparents had one second-generation British Canadian and one who can trace her descendency from United Empire Loyalists, redcoats who were granted land as payment for their service. I went through English school. I didn't learn more than basic schoolgirl French until I went away on exchange at the age of 18. I came back fluent, however, and followed that up with a degree in French language, linguistics, and translation. Still, I do not speak like a native and never will - though when I'm concentrating, I can speak with almost no accent.
In Canada, there are many ways to make sure a child grows up speaking French. All schoolchildren are required by law to study French (or English, if they happen to be francophone.) I will list those methods, in order from least effective to most.
1) Core French - starting in grade 4 and continuing at least until grade 9, students take 200 minutes a week of French. This is the kind of French I teach. It's also the kind I studied, until grade 13. My second or third livejournal post dealt with why this method doesn't really work. Suffice it to say, here, that I know it doesn't. When I got to France, I had nine years of this kind of instruction already under my belt. THey thought I spoke beautiful French. I couldn't understand a word they said.
2) Extended French - this usually starts around grade 7 or 8, and involves students who did well in Core French, taking extra classes such as History, in French instead of English. This works much, much better. There are those who say extended French is better than the next choice, Immersion, because EF allows kids to gain proficiency in one language before attempting to gain it in another. In any case, it's not offered in Hamilton.
3) French Immersion - starting usually at kindergarten, but sometimes delayed as late as grade 7, students speak only French at school. This program produces kids with good accents, a reasonably high reading level, and no deficit in English. However, since kids fit the words they learn into their preconceived grammar structure which is English, they usually do not have a good grasp of French grammar and thus their writing is very, very poor. This option is designed for anglophone parents who want French for their kids.
4) Francophone school - this is a school in a francophone board of education. It is parallel to the English system in every way, even when they start teaching English (grade 4). Theoretically, it is for kids who speak French at home. In actual practice, though, any child who has one parent or one grandparent who is francophone is eligible for admittance. This means that in oh-so-English Southern Ontario, fully 80% of the kids speak English at home, and all of them speak English somewhere, fluently. The situation is most likely different in Northern or Easter Ontario, where the concentrations of francophones are much higher. Also, if the school is not at capacity, they will be willing to accept any student who they feel speaks enough French to manage in their classes. This is what I like to call "Elizabeth's Back Door."
While I was pregnant, I was considering all these options, and discussing them. I have a very rich linguistic heritage in English, and I was loathe to deprive my children of that, since my knowledge of French is nowhere near the same level. Most of the lullabies I know are English, and I've loved them for many years. In fact, I know very little music in French. I debated it for months, before finally deciding that there was a French Immersion school nearby, and I would just send her there rather than worrying about French at home. Then, about a week before D-Day, a friend said to me, "You have such a wonderful opportunity to give her this second language as a mother tongue. I envy you that." By the time Elizabeth arrived, I had changed my mind again, and this time, I stuck with it.
Tomorrow: Part II - The Challenges and Successes thus far
Several years ago, I was at a conference for Modern Language Teachers in Toronto. (In Canada, that means 80% are French teachers, 9% teach Spanish, 9% German, and 2% any other language. In fact, most of the Spanish and German teachers teach French as well.) The theme of the conference was, "Monolingualism can be cured!" It was, of course, designed to make people smile, but it was an interesting theory - that the ability to speak only one language was, in effect, a disability which we inflict on our children.
The research supports the theory. People who speak two languages fluently have between 60 and 70% more neural connections in their brains than monolinguists. Add a third language, and the number increases by another 30%. This translates to a higher IQ than they would have had as monlinguists. Polyglots have advantages in every single subject area, but the one which intrigued me the most was a tenuous connection, based on only one study, between bilingualism and spatial reasoning. If true, it would imply that more languages means more ability in music, certain branches of mathematics, physics, and geography - all subjects which require a good level of spatial reasoning.
As soon as I started thinking of having children, I started thinking about how I would make sure my children learned French. I should state here that I am as anglophone as they come. My grandparents, with my 20-month-old father in tow, immigrated to Canada in 1946 from England; my other grandparents had one second-generation British Canadian and one who can trace her descendency from United Empire Loyalists, redcoats who were granted land as payment for their service. I went through English school. I didn't learn more than basic schoolgirl French until I went away on exchange at the age of 18. I came back fluent, however, and followed that up with a degree in French language, linguistics, and translation. Still, I do not speak like a native and never will - though when I'm concentrating, I can speak with almost no accent.
In Canada, there are many ways to make sure a child grows up speaking French. All schoolchildren are required by law to study French (or English, if they happen to be francophone.) I will list those methods, in order from least effective to most.
1) Core French - starting in grade 4 and continuing at least until grade 9, students take 200 minutes a week of French. This is the kind of French I teach. It's also the kind I studied, until grade 13. My second or third livejournal post dealt with why this method doesn't really work. Suffice it to say, here, that I know it doesn't. When I got to France, I had nine years of this kind of instruction already under my belt. THey thought I spoke beautiful French. I couldn't understand a word they said.
2) Extended French - this usually starts around grade 7 or 8, and involves students who did well in Core French, taking extra classes such as History, in French instead of English. This works much, much better. There are those who say extended French is better than the next choice, Immersion, because EF allows kids to gain proficiency in one language before attempting to gain it in another. In any case, it's not offered in Hamilton.
3) French Immersion - starting usually at kindergarten, but sometimes delayed as late as grade 7, students speak only French at school. This program produces kids with good accents, a reasonably high reading level, and no deficit in English. However, since kids fit the words they learn into their preconceived grammar structure which is English, they usually do not have a good grasp of French grammar and thus their writing is very, very poor. This option is designed for anglophone parents who want French for their kids.
4) Francophone school - this is a school in a francophone board of education. It is parallel to the English system in every way, even when they start teaching English (grade 4). Theoretically, it is for kids who speak French at home. In actual practice, though, any child who has one parent or one grandparent who is francophone is eligible for admittance. This means that in oh-so-English Southern Ontario, fully 80% of the kids speak English at home, and all of them speak English somewhere, fluently. The situation is most likely different in Northern or Easter Ontario, where the concentrations of francophones are much higher. Also, if the school is not at capacity, they will be willing to accept any student who they feel speaks enough French to manage in their classes. This is what I like to call "Elizabeth's Back Door."
While I was pregnant, I was considering all these options, and discussing them. I have a very rich linguistic heritage in English, and I was loathe to deprive my children of that, since my knowledge of French is nowhere near the same level. Most of the lullabies I know are English, and I've loved them for many years. In fact, I know very little music in French. I debated it for months, before finally deciding that there was a French Immersion school nearby, and I would just send her there rather than worrying about French at home. Then, about a week before D-Day, a friend said to me, "You have such a wonderful opportunity to give her this second language as a mother tongue. I envy you that." By the time Elizabeth arrived, I had changed my mind again, and this time, I stuck with it.
Tomorrow: Part II - The Challenges and Successes thus far