Home Raising a Bilingual Child 5 Books that Every Bilingual Family Home Needs

5 Books that Every Bilingual Family Home Needs

by Adrienne

Today, I am going to share five books that I think every bilingual family should have in their house. Recently, I have been reading more and more about bilingualism and multi-language learning in order to share tips and activities with other multilingual families as well as my own.

Disclaimer

I’m not an EXPERT in language, motherhood, parenting, psychology, etc. I’m just sharing my family’s experiences based on what I may or may have not read. Remember not every family or child is the same. The tips I give are just suggestions, they may or may not work for your family. The stories I share are meant to be a glimpse into another family’s lifestyle, not necessarily meant for you to adopt too.

5 Books that Every Bilingual Family Home Needs

The books that I am sharing with you today are ones that I would recommend to someone who is interested in raising a bilingual child. There are some books that I have not completely finished, however I am counting on writing a book review for each.

Adam Beck is the founder of the website, Bilingual Monkeys and the forum The Bilingual Zoo. This book provides a road map to greater success and joy for parents raising children in more than one language. He provides a Reader’s Guide at the end of the book in which he asks a question and asks that the reader reflect on the answer. I am counting on answering these questions as they apply to my family on this blog in the upcoming year.

This book is a personal narrative of the author’s two children as they grew up with three languages in their first eleven years. The author mentions “This book treats raising children with more than one language not just a language matter, instead it treats language acquisition as a matter of raising healthy happy children first. It draws attention to how the process of growing up with more than one language and culture can affect a child’s personality and identity development. (page 6)”

Be Bilingual is full of practical and creative ideas backed up by the latest research that help families in different multilingual situations make juggling two or more languages an enjoyable experience. The author shares her research but also how the research has been applied to her own family and the outcomes.

Another book by the author of Growing up with Three Languages, this book is a guide for parents who wish to raise children with more than one language and literacy. The book is broken down into chapters on understanding the multilingual reading and writing process, the active planning stage, the early years, the primary years, the adolescent years and strategies from other parents.

This book is about child development from birth to 16. It guides the parent through how children develop and the stages they pass through. The book explores different theories such as Freud, Erikson and Bowlby and it helps parents understand what children are thinking. It also gives suggestions on how to be a better parent or caregiver. I am currently finding the parts about cognitive and language development in toddlers interesting because I have a toddler who is starting to talk.

Other Recommended Books

Rita Rosenbeck of Multilingual Parenting

Tracey Tokuhama Espinosa

Courses for Parents wanting to Raise Bilingual Children

Weronika Ozpolat from Multicultural Motherhood

What books would you add to this list ?

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