Kletsheads [English edition]

Transcript “Help! My child doesn’t speak my language back to me!” This is one of the most frequently heard concerns from parents raising their children bilingually. You really try your best, consistently speaking your language to your child, and yet she or he mostly speaks to you in the majority language, usually the language spoken at school (so Dutch here in the Netherlands, En...

Transcript Children growing up in the same bilingual family can differ in how well they speak their two (or more) languages. Sometimes siblings in bilingual families differ in how much they use their two (or more) languages. Parents often remark that their eldest child is more bilingual than their youngest. Or that their youngest develops more quickly in the school language and often ends up prefe...

Transcript Many bilingual families across the world find themselves in lockdown. And as a result, schools are closed and children are having to be taught online and/or by their parents. What would have been unheard of a year ago has now – unfortunately – become normal. But normal, of course, does not mean easy. Many families are struggling with homeschooling, from practical issues like...

Transcript For many bilingual families, mixing languages is quite normal. Children may start a sentence in one language and end it with the other. They sometimes throw in words from the other language in what is otherwise a monolingual conversation.  For many parents, this is often cause for concern. It might be a sign that their child can’t speak either language well, or that they...

Transcript Potty-training, teething, learning to ride a bike: some children are quick to reach each of these milestones, whereas others are much slower. The differences between children can be huge, and such differences also exist when it comes language development. But how do you know when your child’s progress in learning a language really is too slow? What should you do as a parent o...

Transcript Are you looking for a book about bilingual children to give to someone in the holidays? Or perhaps you just fancy a new book to read for yourself. Then this special episode of Kletsheads is definitely one for you! Because together with a panel of experts, we are reviewing three recently published books on raising bilingual (and trilingual) children.  These are the books: And here o...

Transcript Bilingual children grow up in many different circumstances. In some families each parent speaks his or her own native language with their child.  So, for example, Mum speaks Italian and Dad English. This is what’s generally known as the “one parent, one language” strategy. In other families, both parents speak the same language, for example Arabic, and the child only c...

Transcript Are you or your partner pregnant, and do you speak a different language from each other? Then chances are there’s not just a baby on the way, but a bilingual baby! At least that’s what a lot of parents hope when they find themselves raising a child together with someone who has a different mother tongue. It’s not always clear though what exactly the best approach is in such...

Find out more about the new English-language edition of Kletsheads, the podcast about bilingual children for parents, teachers and speech language therapists.