Question for parents raising bilingual kids

amother

Apricot

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 4:29 pm

I've got a question for those parents that raised their kids bilingual in the US. Once they went to school, how long did it take for your kids to adapt to the English language and actually speak the language at school? my boy is in kindergarten and we speak three languages at home. Hebrew is his dominant language since I speak it mostly but he also speaks/understands Spanish at home. I speak to my husband in English, but we don't speak English to him unless we read him english books or english tv programs. I think he understands now more english, but he's not into speaking it as much as the other kids at his kindergarten. Last year, he was evaluated for speech and he was declined because they felt he didn't have a disability and he was just a quiet boy. Now he's in a new school and the teacher told me I should read more picture books to him and ask him questions in english because he doesn't seem to answer or understand all of her questions. At home, I asked him if he answers the teacher and he told me that sometimes he doesn't know how to answer back in English and I believe that's the problem & his english vocabulary isn't as strong. I just don't want this to be a big issue because he's still processing three languages. I'm not sure what to do other than read him more books and ask him questions in english.

Maya

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 4:55 pm

My kid was exclusively Yiddish speaking when he started at an English speaking playgroup. Within a few weeks, maybe three or four, he was understanding most of what was being said. Unfortunately, he "lost" the Yiddish after a while.

I would suggest letting your child watch age appropriate videos or shows. That builds vocabulary as well as teaches proper pronunciation.

sweetpotato

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 5:00 pm

I don't have an answer, but my good friend has the same situation (she speaks Hebrew to her kids, her husband speaks Spanish to them, and they speak English to each other). Her son is 3 and seems to have an equal command of the three languages--maybe a little less in English right now. But if you son is in Kindergarten for 5+ hours a day with English speaking kids, and living in an English-speaking country (I assume?) surely that will boost his English vocabulary without you needing to put in any work. I think the issue for bi-trilingual families tends to be preserving the non-majority languages once the child starts school. Especially if his teachers aren't particularly worried, I would just give it time and not change what you do at home. There's a wide breadth of when kids learn to read and how they develop their vocabularies at this age.

amother

Apricot

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 5:21 pm

OP here..

I'm a bit worried because this is not my son's first year in an english speaking school. Last year, he was in pre-K and both teachers were speaking english only. I did notice he made friends more with the hebrew speaking kids. When he was at Pre-K the teacher addressed to me some of the same concerns so he was evaluated for speech but was declined. I hope right now in kindergarten, he's just adjusting to the new environment and he'll answer the teacher's questions or speak more.

littleprincess

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 5:33 pm

I moved to England when my dd was over 4 years old. She didn't know a word of English. I started talking to her in English here and there. She adapted the language in no time.
She started school in September and by sukkos she already understood a lot and spoke a lot.
She still speaks Yiddish and understands Hebrew cos that's the language she hears a lot (dh and I speak Yiddish and hebrew)

notshanarishona

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 5:57 pm

My daughter is 3. We just moved a few months ago from Israel. She spoke only a few words of English when we moved. Now, she is fluent in both. She still prefers to speak Hebrew but is starting to speak more English than Hebrew.