Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education?
Jim Cummins
Category Archives: Heritage Language Learners
Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue
Monday, May 17, 2010
Getting kids to speak Tip #3: Travel to Latin America
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Just as the “window of opportunity” for developing those second language skills was closing I packed my bags and went to live in Argentina with my 14 year old son for 2 months. Although I had spoken Spanish to my son on and off throughout his life, it seems that total immersion truly does provide [...]
Getting kids to speak Tip #2: Reading aloud
Thursday, May 8, 2008
If you now have a child that is older and can understand Spanish but can not speak, remember it is never too late. There is a trick that helps develop oral language skills. When they are at reading age, you can have them read stories aloud to you. This develops the pronunciation but more [...]
Why won’t my child speak to me in Spanish?
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The greatest challenge in teaching Spanish at home to my child has been in getting him to speak in Spanish. What I have discovered is that just because he can understand does not mean he can speak. At first I assumed that comprehension would automatically lead to speaking. Ask any child raised in a bilingual [...]
Getting kids to speak Tip #1: A line in the sand
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The tried and true version, but also the most difficult to do, is the one my grandmother did with us. Whenever we came home from school babbling in English, she would put up her hand and say “No entiendo (I don’t understand.)” and would not respond to anything but Spanish. It’s the line in the [...]
