Raising Bilingual Children

Learning a second language can be challenging, but it can also be rewarding. Better TV's Kimberly Maus and Cristi Mattias explains.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• spanish
• bilingual
• education
• children
• child
• raising

[pattorse97]

Good report. The woman who shows the books needs to improve her Spanish pronunciation.

I´m bilingual (my first language is Spanish)

Being bilingual is really fascinating!!!

[w3npnk]

her spanish is HORRIBLE, sorry.

[sheliescold]

since everyone is whining about languages and blah blah i think we should all drop every language, and just learn Latin. THAT is the universal language.

[sheliescold]

@euphonies i will be teaching my what would be english speaking baby, spanish. I am hispanic but not totally fluent in spanish, i wish i was. I think my kid should be able to speak to her great grandpa in his native language. it isnt always seen that way! :)

[Iceland1944]

True, her accent is typical American, but at least she is trying. Most Americans have no idea about other languages.  Too bad the libraries only offer stuff in Spanish. I need stuff in German for my kid. We are teaching him both German and Spanish.

[euphonies]

This sums up the way bilingualism is seen in the US. It's about getting Spanish speaking kids to speak English. It's so skewed and totally driven by the monolingual educator. To become a global citizen, it's about maintaining two languages and reaching dual language and cultural competency.

[befitgirl1]

Cristi is very beautiful and talented. She obviously does not speak spanish as a first language and her American accent is obvious, but it is inspiring to see that she is trying to learn and is willing to show her vulnerability on television. She obviously knows there will be native speakers in the audience and she isn't trying to pretend to be a native speaker. She is an inspiration and obviously very intelligent and an advocate for all children's learning. Bueno Cristi

[grekito]

@Kevinsufacation Not anymore! Who ever speaks only one Language will be left behind

[MykeSoBe]

@belenina41 You thought the situation with Spanish language learning is bad? French is way worser off. Not one teacher of French I've came across is an actual native speaker, and their accents are..absolutely pathetic! Now, I can't speak French with the most French of accents, mostly because of the huge influence from Brazilian Portuguese, but I know my accent would beat them all!

[MykeSoBe]

@beenn15 Indeed. English is more neutral of a language than Esperanto. English is so much itself but a creole of hundreds of languages, that it has lost any actual culture associated with it. All English means in the world is America, England, or business, industry, and economy.

[Kevinsufacation]

English is the language of the world.