I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Kelsey Kloss, author and the creator of Malty the Blue Tiger about common questions that parents ask about bilingualism. Kelsey Kloss is an author that emphasizes the importance of language and language learning. She created "Malty the Blue Tiger" bilingual books which can be found on her website. Check it out here.
Q&A
What is the first thing a parent should do if they don’t speak a second language, but they want their child to?
Research has shown that there are so many benefits to being bilingual and parents who speak a second language can definitely be at an advantage when seeking to teach their child a second language. However, for those parents who are not bilingual, there are still many great ways to immerse your child in a new language. Many schools may offer two-way bilingual/immersion programs or 2-way dual language programs in languages such as Spanish, Arabic, French, Korean and many other languages. In these types of programs, the academic curriculum is in English and in another language with the ultimate goal being that students develop biliteracy skills and high levels of language proficiency in both program languages. Parents can do a simple internet search and research which schools near them provide these types of programs.
If your child’s school doesn’t have a dual language program, how else can you immerse them in another language if you don’t speak it?
Unfortunately, private institutions offering dual language programs may not always be readily available in an area near you. However, there are still many great ways to immerse your child in another language. Seeking childcare in another language other than English is another way that your child can obtain exposure to a new language. A bilingual babysitter can speak to your child in the new language during care which will ensure that your child receives consistent exposure and modeling. Furthermore, immersing your child in a community where another language is spoken can also be another way to learn a new language. Setting up play-dates within a diverse community can encourage your child to establish friendships with other children that speak another language. Through consistent play-dates, your child may be able to learn basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) which is the social language that one learns through formal and informal conversations with others. Overall, parents should always remember that learning a new language is about meaningful interactions, consistency and rich language modeling.
How can parents encourage their children to learn another language, or pique their interest in bilingualism, if they’re not exposed to many different languages in their community?
Play and literacy is one of the best ways to encourage your child to learn a new language or become interested in a new language. Parents should encourage playful interactions amongst all their family members by learning to sing songs in another language, dancing to music in another language, or learning academic concepts such as the alphabet or numbers; this will sure pique your child’s interest if everyone at home is on board. In addition, internet tools such as Youtube can provide many great children’s songs in different languages and/or tablet applications such as “Gus on the Go” are other ways that your child can learn new vocabulary while at home. Furthermore, you can make reading fun by taking a trip to your local library and checking out a bilingual book. Make it a part of your daily routine to read a new book at night or during the day to your child. This will ensure that your child establishes biliteracy skills and will increase his/her vocabulary of the new language. There are many bilingual children’s books available that provide text in both languages.
If parents have dual language books for their children to read, but don’t know how to pronounce the second language’s words themselves, what can they do?
Luckily in today’s era we have access to wide range of technology! Parents can easily look up a pronunciation on the internet and listen back to an audio or video recording of the word. For example, Google translate offers reliable pronunciation audio recordings of words that are typed in the search engine.
What is one of the biggest myths about teaching children another language that you hear from parents?
Unfortunately, some parents are often told by other professionals or simply believe that exposing infants and/or toddlers to more than one language may cause delays in their speech or language development. In addition, I have also heard many families express concern that their bilingual child will have academic problems or difficulty learning once he/she starts school because he/she speaks two languages. These beliefs are not true and are mere myths. All children including children with existing language delays or disorders are capable of learning more than one language. Bilingualism does not cause language delays and there is no evidence that states that bilingualism causes delays. As a matter of fact, there is plenty of research that suggests that there are academic advantages of being bilingual, including superior problem solving/multitasking skills, as well as increased cognitive flexibility. In case parents are interested in learning more about myths related to bilingualism, “Bilingual Myth-Busters Series Language Confusion in Bilingual Children” by Mark Guiberson (2013) is a great evidence-based article that debunks several myths about bilingualism.
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Looking for fun and educational activities that will keep your child entertained? Here are 3 holiday activities that promote language development & can be done in any language :)
With the holiday season approaching, you are probably wondering what to buy for your little bilingual, or perhaps you are looking to gift an educational toy to a little one on a bilingual journey. Well lucky for you, you are in the right spot! As a bilingual speech language pathologist and new bilingual mom, I am constantly on the search for toys that can provide English and Spanish output.
Who are we?
Bilingual Speechie LLC. is a small business dedicated to providing inclusive and engaging speech therapy resources and activities for bilingual children, parents, SLPs and educators.
Bilingual Speechie LLC promotes bilingualism and multilingualism by dispelling common myths, providing education on bilingual language development, and promoting heritage language maintenance amongst bilingual families.
About the Owner:
Liliana Diaz-Vazquez is a certified licensed bilingual speech language pathologist (SLP), currently practicing in Chicago, Illinois. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in communication disorders (2012) and her master’s degree in speech language pathology at Saint Xavier University (2014). She is a certified member of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) since 2014, a member of the Illinois Speech and Hearing Association (ISHA) since 2014 and maintains licensure in the state of Illinois.
Liliana is a first-generation Mexican-American Latina, a small business owner, a full-time school-based SLP, & a bilingual parent, who takes pride in her roots, culture, & heritage language. She loves being able to share her experience as a Latina SLP, and a bilingual mom, as well as her culture & heritage language with the educator, SLP, and parent community.
Liliana Diaz-Vazquez has extensive experience working with the bilingual English and Spanish speaking population & multilingual population. She specializes in augmentative/alternative communication (AAC), bilingual language development and language delays/disorders in bilingual/multilingual children. She has also worked in the early intervention setting for several years where she gained vast experience working with interpreters and bilingual/multilingual families.
Liliana began creating digital bilingual resources and activities in 2014 out of need while working full-time in the school setting as a SLP. Liliana worked with many Spanish-speaking families and quickly realized that there were limited Spanish and bilingual speech therapy resources available for her students and their families. In addition, Liliana quickly became aware that there was a need for education about bilingualism and typical bilingual language development as many of the families she worked with had encountered misinformation about bilingualism. Liliana began developing resources and eventually started Bilingual Speechie LLC with the mission to provide education to SLPs and families about bilingualism, as well as provide inclusive and diverse materials for speech therapy in order to help bilingual families and SLPs gain access to appropriate bilingual materials for children with communication disorders.
Today Liliana currently works full-time in the Chicago public school setting as a lead bilingual SLP where she consults and collaborates with SLPs daily to help them understand how to assess and provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services for bilingual and/or multilingual students. She also runs her small business, Bilingual Speechie LLC, and is on a mission to expand and grow her business so that all SLPs, educators, and families can have access to inclusive, diverse, and bilingual resources in a variety of languages for speech therapy.
Professional Development:
Liliana has vast experience as a speaker/presenter and has presented at several conferences over the years. You can view all previous conferences and topics that Liliana has presented on here. Liliana is available to present on topics such as best practices when working with multilingual populations, bilingual speech/language assessment and treatment, goal writing with multilingual populations and much more. If you are interested in booking Liliana for a conference or event please don't hesitate to send an email at lilianadiaz@bilingualspeechie.com
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