Highlights
- Migrant parents face various challenges in teaching their children their native language.
- More than 300 different languages are spoken in homes in Australia.
- In addition to talking to your own family member, look for online resources that can help you in teaching your own language to your kids.
"Every one has parent's guilt [when it comes to] teaching their mother tongue [to their kids] and that perhaps it is not the dominant language in the household," says academic and book author Elaine Laforteza on her SBS podcast series ''.
In the said podcast series, Elaine discusses the challenges and successes in raising children from multicultural families here in Australia.
Listen to the audio
LISTEN TO
'My Bilingual Family': Sapat ba o kulang ang pagtuturo ko ng aking wika sa aking mga anak?
SBS Filipino
30/03/202221:39
Parents' dilemma in teaching their kids
Is it enough?
"Guilt was a common dilemma among all parents, especially mums, who we contacted for the podcast," shares Elaine about the challenges bilingual parents face in teaching their language to their children.
Many parents question their ability to teach their mother language to their children.
For Elaine, the podcast 'My Bilingual Family' is an opportunity to share the experiences of migrant parents who are sceptical if they are doing the right thing or enough to pass on their own language to their children.
'My Bilingual Family' podcast host Dr. Elaine Laforteza (front) and SBS producers Sheila Ngoc Pham (left) and Masako Fukui. Source: Supplied by Sheila Ngoc Pham
The project is close to Elaine's heart and according to her, "In my professional life, I was never asked to speak Ilocano. For me, that is my personal intimate language. This project is extra special because I was able to share that aspect of my life," says Elaine.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2016, there were over 300 different languages spoken in Australian homes. More than 21 per cent of Australians spoke a language other than English at home.
After English, among the most common languages spoken at home were Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Filipino.
'Magical age of two'
"A lot of parents, in general, are concerned about this magical number - age two."
Many parents expect their kids to be pretty good or are starting to speak their language at the age of two.
"There’s this anxiety that if kids reach the age of two and they don’t have that language capacity yet, especially in a bilingual household. [Parents tend to] question themselves."
"Are we confusing them or are we using too many languages? Should we just focus on one language? They usually [end up focusing] on English."
Elaine found out from speech experts that it doesn't mean that there is a problem if a child is still not able to speak at age two.
"It’s only because kids are trying to contend with different language systems, so their brains are just actually working harder to figure out what the language system is."
A lot of mums and parents in general are concern about this magical number, age two, where we expect kids to be pretty good or getting there with their language Source: Supplied by Elaine Laforteza
'Myth: Kids growing up in a bilingual household are delayed in speech'
Podcast host Elaine says that based on studies, it's false that kids with two or more languages spoken at home have delayed speech.
"That's a myth. It's not true that kids who growing up in a bilingual households are delayed in speech as supposed to monolingual households."
In fact, their young age and unique abilities make it easier for children to absorb various information.
"Kids’ brains are sponges, especially in the early years, where they soak up all of this [information] around them. We might not see it presented until maybe months or years later, but it’s there."
Resources for teaching bilingual children
Seek the assistance of other family members. It's important to have support from close relatives too.
In Australia, there are a lot of community and agency support available. You can also find some online resources.
"One of the main things is to find those different communities of support, either through an online community. Especially with the COVID-19 situation, talking online with family members is [an important kind of] support."
You can also find social networks that are specific about bilingual child-rearing.
Other parents go to experts or consult with speech pathologists to help them with their language learning.
Parents can also be creative. "You can make up games or interact with your kids. You have to meet them at their level. [If you make it] a chore, there might be resistance on the children’s part. We have to make learning fun."
It is also important to set your goals.
"I learned this from one of the experts, Dr Aniko Hatos. She said that it’s great to have expectations."
"If we don’t have those expectations, we have nothing to work towards. Even if we think these expectations are quite hard, we have to be flexible around those expectations so we can have something to work on."
