thinkinggodaddy中文

RaisingBilingualChildrenWrittenbyAntonellaSoraceandBobLaddresearchfoundweregenerallyeconomicdisadvan-tages,linkedtothehardshipsofimmigrants'lives.
Bilingualdevelopmentsometimesresultsinslightlyslowerlanguagedevelopmentthanforsomemono-lingualchildren.
OurolderchildwasstillsayingthingslikeWhereyouareinsteadofWhereareyouinEnglishatfourandahalf.
Thisisanormaldevel-opmentalstageformonolingualEnglishchildren,buttheyusuallyfigureoutthattheyhavetosayWhereareyoubythetimethey'rethreeorfour.
Ourolderchildjusttookalittlelonger.
Don'tbilingualchildrenevermixtheirlanguagesupLikeadultbilinguals,bilingualchildrenoftenusewordsfromonelanguagewhenspeakingtheother.
(Thisiscalledcode-switching.
)Butthisdoesn'tmeantheyareconfusedaboutwhichlanguagetheyarespeaking.
InourItalian-Englishbilingualhome,alotofourfoodvocabularyisItalian,andweusethisevenwhenwe'respeakingEnglish(andwhenEnglishwordsareavailable).
Sowe'lltalkaboutpolloinsteadofchickenandsugoinsteadofsauce.
Yetinspeakingtomonolinguals,bilingualchildrenarecarefultouseonlytherelevantlanguage.
SohowdowestartteachingourchildrentwolanguagesThemainthingtokeepinmindisthatparentsdon'treally"teach"childrentospeak,anymorethantheyteachthemtowalkorsmile.
Themostimportantthingsinlanguagedevelopmentareexposureandneed.
Ifchildrenareexposedtoalanguageinavari-etyofcircumstanceswithmanydifferentpeoplefromthetimetheyareborn,andiftheyfeeltheyneedthelanguagetointeractwiththeworldaroundthem,theywilllearnit.
Iftheyareexposedtotwolan-guagesinvariedcircumstanceswithdifferentpeoplefromthemomenttheyareborn,andiftheyneedbothlanguagestocommunicatewiththepeoplearoundthem,theywilllearnboth.
2WhywantbilingualchildrenTherearemanyreasons,butthetwomostcommonare:Theparentsspeakdifferentlanguages(say,anAmericanwomanandaTurkishman).
Theparentsspeakthesamelanguage,butliveinacommunitywheremostpeoplespeaksomethingelse(say,aKoreancouplelivingintheUSA).
Inthefirstcase,boththemotherandfathermaywanttobeabletousetheirownlanguagewhentalkingtotheirchildren.
Thisisthebilingualhomesituation.
Inthesecond,theparentsmaywanttobeabletousetheirownlanguageathomeeventhoughtheirchildrenalsoneedtofunctionintheworldoutsidethefrontdoor.
Thisisthebilingualsettingsituation.
OurownsituationisanItalian/EnglishbilingualhomeinanEnglish-speakingsetting,andsomeofwhatwesayhereisbaseddirectlyonourexperiencebringingupbilingualchildren.
1Don'tchildrengetconfusedwhentheyheartwolanguagesspokenaroundthemTheshortanswerisno.
Childrenareincrediblysensitivetothedifferentwayspeoplespeak.
Evenwhentheyonlyhearonelanguage,theylearnveryquicklyaboutdifferencesbetweenthewaymenandwomentalk,thedifferencebetweenpoliteandimpolitewaysoftalking,andsoon.
Forchildren,thebilingualsituationisjustamatterofanotherdifferencebetweenpeople!
FiftyyearsagoeducatorsthroughoutNorthAmericausedtotellimmigrantparentsthatitwasbetterfortheirchildren'sschoolingiftheyspokeEnglishathome.
Someresearchersthoughtthatearlyexposuretotwolanguagesputchildrenatadisadvantage.
Newerresearchtellsusthatthisisnotso,andtheremaybeadvantagestobeingbilingual(inadditiontoknowingmorethanonelanguage),suchasmoreflexiblethinking.
Thedisadvantagesthatearlier1Seealso:Birner,Betty.
2002.
BilingualismFAQ.
Washington,DC:LinguisticSocietyofAmerica.
www.
lsadc.
org.
2Seealso:Birner,Betty.
LanguageAcquisitionFAQ.
Washington,DC:LinguisticSocietyofAmerica.
www.
lsadc.
org.
WoulditbebettertostartteachingthesecondlanguageafterchildrenhaveagoodstartonthefirstNo,definitelynot,especiallyinthebilingualhomesituationwherethesecondlanguageislikelytoseem"lessimportant"tothechildrenanyway.
Introducingthesecondlanguagelaterisjustaboutguaranteedtomakethemthinkit'slessimportantandnotworththeeffort.
Ontheotherhand,inthebilingualsettingsituation(say,theKoreancouplelivingintheUnitedStates),thereisn'tanyharminlettingchildren'sexposuretoEnglishbeginnaturallyandgradually.
AslongasthefamilystaysintheUSandthechildrengotoAmericanschools,thereisnoriskthattheywillfailtolearnEnglish.
Actually,themorecommonproblemwiththebilingualsettingsituationisthatthechil-drensometimesrejecttheirhomelanguageinfavoroftheoutsidelanguage.
MypartnerandIspeakdifferentlan-guages.
ShouldweonlyspeaktoourchildreninourownlanguageifwewantthemtobebilingualManyexpertsrecommendthe"one-parent-one-lan-guage"methodforabilingualhome.
TheideaisthatMommy(orMamma,orMutti)alwaysspeaksherownlanguagewiththechildren,andDaddy(orPapa,orVati)alwaysspeakshisownlanguagewiththem.
Thisisagoodbasisforasuccessfulbilingualhome,butit'snottheonlyone,andevenone-par-ent-one-languagecangowrong.
Whataresomeoftheproblemswithone-parent-one-languageOneproblemcanbebalance.
Childrenneedtohearbothlanguagesoftenandinavarietyofcircum-stances.
Iftheyneverhearthe"lessimportant"lan-guageexceptfromoneparent,theymaynotgetenoughexposureforthatlanguagetodevelopnatu-rally.
Itisespeciallytruethatwhenbothparentsunderstandthe"moreimportant"language,thechil-drendon'tfeeltheyneedthe"lessimportant"one.
Doyoureallymeanthatifourchildrenareexposedtotwolanguagesfrombirththeywilllearnboth,justlikethatNo,butchildrencandothiswithnodifficulty,anditdoesn'tdothemanyharm.
Thehardpartismakingsuretheyhaveenoughnaturalexposuretobothlan-guages.
Mostofthetime,oneofthetwolanguagesyouwantthemtolearnwillbe"moreimportant"somehow,andthetrickistoprovideenoughoppor-tunitiesforthemtousethe"lessimportant"oneinawaythatisn'tforcedorartificial.
Thebestway,ifyoucanmanageit,istoputchildreninsituationswhereonlythe"lessimportant"languageisusedsothatthereisnotemptationtomixlanguagesorreverttothe"moreimportant"language.
Whatdoyoumeanbysayingthatonelanguageis"moreimportant"Onelanguageislikelytoseemmoreimportanttochildrenwhenthatlanguageisneededmorefre-quentlythantheother.
Forexample,supposetheAmericanwomanandTurkishmaninthebilingualhomespeakEnglishwitheachother.
ThechildrenwillnoticethatEnglishisusedincaseswhereTurkishisn'tandthinkthatEnglishis"moreimpor-tant".
ButifthesamefamilymovestoTurkey,thechildrenwillnoticethatTurkishisusedinlotsofcaseswhereEnglishisn't,andmaydecideTurkishis"moreimportant".
Somechildrenareverysensitivetothesedifferencesandmaybereluctanttousethe"lessimportant"language–especiallyifotherchildrendon'tuseit.
Othersdon'tseemtomind.
Whenwetalkaboutonelanguagebeing"moreimportant"here,we'reonlytalkingaboutthechil-dren'spointofview!
Nonetheless,manyadultbilin-gualsare"dominant"inoneoftheirlanguages.
Evenifthedifferencesbetweentheirtwolanguagesaresubtle,mostbilingualsfeelslightlymoreathomeinonelanguagethantheotherincertainsettingsorfortalkingaboutcertaintopics.
Mychildrenusedtospeakourhomelanguagejustfine,butnowthatthey'regoingtoschool,theymixitupwithEnglishallthetime.
WhatcanIdoRelax.
Languagemixingisnormalwhereeveryonespeaksbothlanguages.
Itdoesn'tmeanthatthechildrenwillforgetonelanguage,anditdoesn'tmeanthattheycan'ttellthedifferenceanymorebetweentwolanguages.
Ifyouscoldthemforspeak-ingEnglishitmaycreateanegativeattitudeaboutthehomelanguageandactuallymakethingsworse.
Instead,createnaturalsituationswherethechildrenreallyneedthehomelanguage–likecallingonthosemonolingualgrandparentsagain!
Youcanunderstandthiskindoflanguagemixingifyoukeepinmindthatsimpleexposureisanimportantingredientofchildren'slanguagedevelopment.
Whenyourchildrenweresmall,theywereprobablymoreexposedtoyourhomelanguage–sayKorean–thantheyweretoEnglish.
Nowthattheyaregoingtoschool,theyareexposedonlytoEnglishforhoursaday,andtheyarelearn-ingallkindsofnewwordsandnewwaysofusinglanguage–butonlyinEnglish.
Theyprobablydon'tknowtheKoreanwordfor"notebook"or"socialstudies"or"principal".
WhentheyuseanEnglishwordinaKoreansentence,tellthemwhatit'scalledinKoreanratherthanworryingthatthey'relosingtheirhomelanguage.
Remember,eveniftheyendupwithEnglishastheirdominantlanguage,theycanstillbeperfectlycompetentKoreanspeakersaswell.
AdditionalReadingBaker,Colin.
1995.
AParents'andTeachers'GuidetoBilingualism.
MultilingualMatters.
Grosjean,Franois.
1982.
LifewithTwoLanguages.
HarvardUniversityPress.
Harding-Esch,Edith,andPhilipRiley.
2003.
TheBilingualFamily:AHandbookforParents.
2ndedn.
CambridgeUniversityPress.
Inthesecasesitisessentialtofindothersourcesofexposureandotherwaysofcreatingthesenseofneed.
Monolingualgrandparentscanbeespeciallyhelpful!
CanyouenlistacousinorgrandmotherorapaidbabysitterwhospeakstheotherlanguagetolookafterthechildrenIsthereadaycareorplay-groupwheretheycanheartheotherlanguageCanyougetvideosandstorytapesintheotherlan-guageAllofthesecanmakeabigdifference–espe-ciallyexposurethatinvolvesinteractionwithotherpeople,notjustwatchingTV.
Whenourchildrenweresmall,wedidthingslikethistoreinforceItalianinalargelyEnglish-speakingsetting.
Anotherproblemiskeepingthesituationnatural.
Ifchildrenfeelthattheyarebeingforcedtodosome-thingweirdorembarrassing,theywillprobablyresistit.
Explicitrules–say,speakingonelanguageonsomedaysandtheotheronothers–canbeveryhardtoenforceandcanhelpcreateanegativeattitude.
Stillanotherproblemisexclusion.
Ifoneofthepar-entsdoesn'tspeaktheother'slanguage(inourexample,supposetheAmericanwomandoesn'tspeakTurkish),thechildrenwillknowthateverytimetheysaysomethinginTurkishtotheirfathertheyareexcludingtheirmotherfromtheconversa-tion.
Thismaymakechildrenreluctanttospeakoneoftheparents'languageswhenbothparentsarepresent.
Inourexperience,abilingualhomeismorelikelytosucceedifbothparentsatleastunderstandbothlanguages–thatway,nobodyiseverexcludedfromafamilyconversation.
WhataboutsiblingsThearrivalofasecondchildcanupsetthelanguagebalanceinabilingualhome,andit'scommonforasecondchildtobelessfullybilingualthanthefirst.
Usuallythefirstchildspeakstothesecondinthe"moreimportant"language,increasingtheexposurethesecondchildgetstothatlanguageanddecreas-ingthesenseofneedforthe"lessimportant"one.
Thinkaboutwhatyouwanttodoaboutthisinadvance.
Comeupwithastrategythatfitsyourownsituation–butit'sprobablyworthwhiletotrytoenlisttheolderchildorchildrentopromotethe"lessimportant"languageinyourhomesituation.
TheLinguisticSocietyofAmericawasfoundedin1924fortheadvancementofthescientificstudyoflanguage.
TheSocietyservesitsnearly7,000person-alandinstitutionalmembersthroughscholarlymeet-ings,publications,andspecialactivitiesdesignedtoadvancethediscipline.
TheSocietyholdsitsAnnualMeetinginearlyJanuaryeachyearandpublishesaquarterlyjournal,LAN-GUAGEandtheLSABulletin.
Amongitsspecialeduca-tionactivitiesaretheLinguisticInstitutesheldeveryothersummerinodd-numberedyearsandco-spon-soredbyahostuniversity.
ThewebsitefortheSociety(http://www.
lsadc.
org)includesaDirectoryofProgramsinLinguisticsintheUnitedStatesandCanada,TheFieldofLinguistics(brief,nontechnicalessaysdescribingthedisciplineanditssubfields),andstatementsandresolutionsissuedbytheSocietyonmatterssuchaslanguagerights,theEnglish-only/English-plusdebate,bilingualeducation,andebonics.
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