I have been reading a book called Raising a bilingual child. You can tell it is American because it says raising. In Britain I would have said Brigning up a bilingual Child, which is alliterative.
Interestingly it give you a chart you can fill in. This seems to be the modern way. You can make a chart of anything, from your waking times and bedtimes, to the number of times you greet strangers, or watch TV.
You list the languages of the parents, the grandparents, schools, surroundings, books, TV and films (movies). Then the holidays you can take to the desired language country. Or the holidays the grandparents can take visiting you.
Children aged 0 to 5 and 10-15 have different interests. Starting with Lullabies.
Then move on to children's TV programmes such as Sesame Street which you can watch in Spanish and other languages.
Later you can have books or movies in other languages. Or use other languages at mealtimes.
You can set up a system, such as speak the local language touside the home. Speak another language to parents, a third language to grandparents.
If parents are from different backgrounds , you could speak English to father, and French to mother. Or English at breakfast but French at dinner.
My mother wanted me to go to the Lycee Francaise in London but I was not eligible because children with one French parent, took priority.
I learned French at grammar school, for O level and A level. My mother sent me to a French course in France. I took a holiday with a group of French students in Greece.
In Singapore I have attended meetings of a French speaking Toastmasters club.
At Grammar School my other language was Latin. I wanted to learn another living language, such as German or Spanish, but the school timetable did not allow for it.
My parents went to Italian classes later in life.
Now I am in Singapore, struggling with Chinese. Spanish seems easy. On the train stations I can hear anouncements in English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay (similar to Indonesian) and Tamil (soutern India and Sri Lanka).
In China and Japan the same sign symbols are used.
Language Group countries
Arabic: Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Saudia Arabia, Tunisia, UAE (Dubai)
Chinese Mandarin: China, Singapore, Taiwan
Chinese dialect: Cantonese in Hong Kong, restaurants in UK
English: Australia, Canada, Cyprus, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, S Africa, UK, USA
Esperanto: Hungary, UK (Reading)
French: Canada, France; Switzerland
German: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Greece: Greece, Cyprus
Hebrew: Israel, Kosher and Israeli restaurants and delicatessens, synagogues and Jewish Museums
Hungarian Hungary.
Indonesian: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore (Malaysian)
Italian: Italy, Switzerland
Latin: Roman remains in Rome and Italy and UK; some traditional Catholic churches; Vatican
Malay: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore
Portugal; Brazil, Macau, Madeira, Portugal
Spanish: Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Tenerife, Venezuela, USA
Turkey: Turkey, Cyprus
Urdu: Pakistan
Welsh: Wales, trains and stations between Paddington, London, England, and Wales
Useful Resources
Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_spoken_languages
Books
Raising a Bilingual Child by Barbara Zurer Pearlson Ph D. Living Language, a Random House Company, New York.
Language & Literacy in Bilingual Children
Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. Her 20 books include Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations.
She has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. She is a travel writer and photographer.
Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.
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