Blog

Common mistakes when it comes to raising a bilingual child

By Tammy Kong on 13/12/2021

Believing that your child’s school is doing enough: Solely depending on a 1h lesson every day in school is insufficient in increasing exposure or creating a fluent speaker in his/her Mother Tongue. Your child will not actively seek out the opportunity to use his/her Mother Tongue or feel a deep sense of connection to it. 

Relying on TV/Youtube videos: To make the most of screen time, some parents only allow it in Mother Tongue. It is a good start but passive bilingualism will not create a fluent speaker either if the child is not being engaged in the videos. The exposure needs to be more interactive or a parent could be there to engage the child for TV/Youtube videos to be more effective. 

Not being consistent: Sometimes Mother Tongue ends up taking the back seat on busy days or families will skip it altogether on bad days. Sometimes children will hear their parents dismissing the importance of Mother Tongue by focusing on other subjects which leaves an impression in their minds that Mother Tongue is of less importance. 

Here are some useful tips to encourage a more consistent effort in bilingualism: 

1. Alternate bedtime stories in English and Mother Tongue 
2. Have conversations over dinner time with Mother Tongue weaved in conversations 
3. Engage in effective screen time with your child at least twice a week and make sure to draw links to his/her daily life

Here at Prep Junior, we aim to provide you with an enriching learning experience both online and offline! After engaging in our app, participate in our home learning kits to tie in the whole learning experience. Kindly contact us at [email protected] if you want to get your hands on your home learning kit today.