How to promote bilingualism, with help from Les Deschiens
Date posted: Thursday 12th November 2015
Is it really a whole year since I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand? Yes it is. Though the bruising has long since healed, the events of that trip will be etched on my mind forever. *
The delegates on the course I was leading were teachers from international schools across South East Asia. The course was called ‘Building Confident Speakers in the Early Years’ and a major discussion point was how we can support children who are learning a second language. One issue was what advice we should give parents about learning English. In the UK we usually suggest that parents talk with their child in their home language, so that the child has a good grounding in that language. From there the children can go on to add English.
This is straightforward advice, but not all family situations are straightforward. What would you suggest about the language spoken at home by a German father, a Columbian mother and a child who attends an English-speaking school? Focus on German? Focus on speaking Spanish? Or should we encourage parents whose children go to school in the UK to talk with them in English at home, or stick to their home language?
The words ‘mine’ and ‘field’ probably spring to mind while you think about how you will discuss these matters with parents. But while people in the UK and countries across the world have been grappling with these issues, France has been sorting things out. They provide high quality foreign language lessons for adults, available on YouTube. This allows many French parents to build their English while their children are busy learning it at school. In that way the parents can offer a good model of English when they speak to their children. And it’s fun for the whole family to take part in the adventure of learning a second language. Here’s an example.
The lessons, led by a group known as Les Deschiens, have been so successful that Spain has jumped on the bandwagon and produced a similar series.
Luckily I had these high quality, cutting edge teaching resources available, so people on my courses went away knowing exactly what to do when developing approaches to bilingualism. And maybe if we could all work hard to develop a second language, then we could avoid misunderstandings like this one
*You can read my Chiang Mai post here
Take care out there
Michael
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4xoxFrRA2Q
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Hi Michael, read this with interest. Love the German clip, have used in some training sessions, it really hits home.
By the way we are holding a conference in Norfolk 22nd Jan, Stephen Krashen is attending as keynote speaker… we can put you up and possibly get you a reduced rate??
free board and lodging too if interested.
All the best Lisa
Hi Lisa! Thanks for the offer. Why not get Les Deschienes to run a workshop on pronunciation!!
Nice to hear from you
Michael
Fascinating clips! Really enjoyed Les Deschienes and the German prononciation clip, although I’m not so sure I agreed with everything she says (charming though she is)bearing in mind British/American regional accents.
I have a recent example of translation confusion. In a bar in Portugal my friend ordered ‘five sambuccas’ – its an Italian spirit. After a surprisingly long wait of ten minutes the barman placed five hamburgers on the bar!
Hi Simon
I seem to remember a Chinese restaurant in a small Scottish town where the waiter would ask you at the end of your meal’you fuh coff-eh?’
I’m in Amsterdam right now and EVERYBODY is bilingual. I asked someone today, ‘Why does everyone learn English?’
‘Who in the world speaks Dutch apart from us?’ was the reply.
Great to hear from you!
Michael