bilingual

When we lose a language, we lose a part of our culture and history. A Day with Grandpa by Fiona Scott is a gentle way of talking about dementia with your children, especially if they have an affected grandparent. But the theme of forgetting, and losing who you are with that loss, runs through into the Irish that we have among our dual language versions of this book.

Dari might seem like an unlikely language to make it onto UNESCO’s list of Endangered Languages; about half of Afghanistan’s population understand Dari, and nearly a third speak it, meaning there are an estimated 8-9 million speakers of this Indo-Iranian language, sister to Persian and Farsi.

Have you ever wondered how reading benefits your children?
The study by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in State Government Victoria shows that there is an important role for parents in the development and educational performance of their children.
 

I moved to the UK from Slovakia 8 years ago.
 
Our boys were born three years later.
 
Although I knew that English would always be their first language, I wanted them to speak Slovak too. It was unimaginable not having my children speak my first language.
 
While they were small and spent most of the time with me, it was not a problem. At one point, they even spoke more Slovak than English.
 

A simple greeting from us, as 2020 draws to a close.

 

This week the British Council released their 2019 report on the state of language learning in schools. Judging by the results, there’s never been more of a need for bilingual books.

What does the British Council report say?

Most of us will have a favourite folk tale - often more than one. Every country and every culture has its own way of telling, retelling, adapting and updating folk tales. Dual language folk tales can be a particularly magical way to gain insight into cultures other than our own, and to build authentic vocabulary in our own and other languages. 

What is ‘once upon a time’ in other languages?

To be brought up bilingual is a rare gift, but like most gifts in life, it isn’t always plain sailing. And when it comes to reading, it’s double the trouble, and double the fun, but also, sometimes, double the work.
You may find that your bilingual child or pupil has a preference for one language over the other; you may find that they often mix the two. You may find that the learner speaks one language with one caregiver, and a different language with another.