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Home › Articles › Speech/Language Issues › Foreign Language Power

Foreign Language Power

Can Babies and Toddlers Become Bilingual, or Even Trilingual?

By Kendeyl Johansen

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Play Time, Say Time
"Happy children, who think they're just singing and playing, remember more of what they hear," says Thibaut. "That's why The Language Workshop for Children believes in a structured playgroup method." To boost language retention, find a playful, fun way to instruct your child. Thibaut recommends the following teaching aides:

  • Age-appropriate Audio Tapes Play the tapes a few times each day. Turn them off before the child becomes bored or he'll "tune out" and forget what he's heard.
  • Videos and CD-ROMs Look for items that present vocabulary in a fun, creative way. Make sure your child is interested in a similar type of programming in their native language. If your child doesn't enjoy watching videos in English she won't want to watch them in German.
  • Books Find books with bright pictures and engaging text. Choose subjects that your child already likes. The Thomas the Train books, for instance, are available in several languages.

It's best to start language training early. Kids possess their greatest ability to absorb and retain languages until the ages of 12 to 13 when their brain begins losing plasticity. Also, kids are less self-conscious than adults and not as afraid of getting things wrong or not saying them right. This results in greater verbalization and helps kids become fluent in a language sooner than adults.

Parents that don't speak a second language might want to enroll their child in a credible foreign language playgroup. Babies as young as 6 months old start learning in Thibaut's Spanish and French classes. The 6- to 20-month-olds listen to a native speaker sing, talk and read stories in another language. Songs subtly teach vocabulary and grammatical forms, and babies pick up pronunciation by hearing words spoken.

In the toddler and preschooler workshops, kids are encouraged to participate in classes since they already know how to talk. The children sing, play games and practice new words. "We're delighted when we see that youngsters understand or we hear them sing and say the French they've learned in class," says Thibaut. Babies and older kids receive tapes so they can continue to listen and learn between classes.

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