Raising bilingual children in Chinese

 

There are many parents who are raising bilingual children in Chinese and English.  As they are on this bilingual journey they share their own family experiences and resources with fellow parents.

It takes a village to raise a child and it takes “two” villages to raise a bilingual child as some may say.  It is wonderful to see the community of raising bilingual children keeps growing.

I want to share four bilingual family stories with you.  Nick is a non-native Mandarin speaker.  He actually taught himself Chinese.  Virginia and Betty have Chinese parents and Mandarin is their heritage language growing up.   Lin is a native Mandarin speaker living in the States.  They all have been helping their children learning and acquiring the Chinese language and culture.  Nick’s daughter is multilingual at age 7.  Virginia and Betty are homeschool parents and they hire Chinese tutors to help them supplement the learning.  Lin speaks Mandarin but she works hard to keep the Chinese active in her household.  Four families four stories.

I am sure you will be inspired by their story, efforts, and discoveries.

Parent Who Speaks Chinese as a Non-Native Speaker

Nick’s Story

Nick Jaworski is a native English speaker from the United States.  He speaks fluent Turkish (self-taught).  Nick also speaks Mandarin Chinese (self-taught).  His wife’s native language is Turkish.  Their daughter is 5 years old.  Their languages at home are English, Turkish, and Mandarin Chinese.

He shares his Bilingual Family Story:

Our story is quite unique. We moved back to America from China before my daughter was 1 year old.  However, I still wanted her to learn Mandarin. So, even though I barely spoke any at the time, I decided to teach her myself while my wife spoke Turkish.

Jasmine started learning English at age 3 from her daycare as I spoke only in Mandarin at home and my wife spoke only in Turkish. We follow strict OPOL. 

Over the years, we have learned Mandarin together. It’s always challenging, but a fun journey. We can both now hold regular conversations with native Chinese speakers. Her English and Turkish is also very good.

Nick traveled the world for about 10 years and his daughter was born in China when he was there working for Disney.  He is the owner of a marketing company, Circle Social Inc. that helps addiction treatment centers reach those struggling with alcohol and substance abuse.  Nick and his family live in Indiana just outside of Indianapolis.

You can find Nick at his language coach profile page on Multilingual Parenting.

 

Parents Who Speak Chinese as the Heritage Language

Virginia’s Story

Virginia Duan and her husband were born and raised in California.  Virginia grew up speaking both Mandarin Chinese and English.  Even though she learned Mandarin Chinese first she considers English more her native language.  Her husband does not speak Chinese, he only speaks English.  Her children ages 8, 6, 4, and 1 are bilingual in Mandarin Chinese and English.

Virginia shares her bilingual family story:

I am raising my children to be bilingual and bi-literate in both Chinese and English. I do that mostly through tutors, homeschooling in Chinese, and surrounding my kids with as much Chinese as possible (although I have become lazier as time has passed). 

Since my children are multi-ethnic, I want them to learn Chinese because I want them to be able to speak to my family in Taiwan as well as connect to my culture and language. 

Though they may not appreciate it now, I hope that they will be able to connect with their Taiwanese identity through the language and feel comfortable in both the US and Taiwan when they are adults.

My top tip for parents who want their kids to speak Chinese is simply this: speak Chinese to your kids.  It is just that easy and that hard.  Speak Chinese to your kids. 

Virginia is the mastermind behind MandarinMama and the author of  “So You Want Your Kid to Learn Chinese.”  You can start at Teach Kids Chinese to follow her bilingual parenting journey.  

 

Betty’s Story

Betty Choi is a second-generation Chinese-American and she is homeschooling her kids in Chinese and Korean.  Her husband is Korean-American.  They are raising their two children, ages 4 and 1, in English, Korean, and Chinese.

She shares her Bilingual Family Story:

We are trying to raise our children (ages 4 and 1) to be tri-lingual with the one-person, one language method (OPOL).  English is our family’s native language.  I am teaching Mandarin Chinese, and our nanny is teaching Korean.   My husband speaks to our children in English. 

Initially, I did not plan to teach my kids Chinese due to limited proficiency, but I wanted them to appreciate their heritage. 

During my childhood, my parents spoke some Chinese at home, but I always replied to them in English.  After my parents passed away in my 20s, I did not speak Chinese for many years. 

When my daughter was 2, I decided to give it a shot and began to introduce her to Chinese.  Amazed at how quickly she learned everything I knew, I was inspired to study in order to teach her more.

Since English is the common language in our family, it’s important to make the minority language extra fun for my kids.  Therefore, I started brainstorming hands-on Chinese activities that incorporate reading practice and would set them up every week as a surprise for my daughter.  These activities made my daughter really excited about learning Chinese! 

Although it took over a year to make Chinese conversations a normal part of our life, my daughter started reading Chinese at age 3, and many of my son’s first words are in Chinese!

Betty is the mastermind behind CHALK Academy.  Betty shares her fun and creative Chinese and Korean learning and resource activities there.  You can start at “Raising Multilingual Children as a Non-Fluent Parent: 7 Lessons Learned in 2017.”

 

Parent Who Speaks Chinese as the Native Language

Lin’s Story

Lin Gong is a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese and so is her husband.  They are passing down their Chinese language and culture to her two children, ages 9 and 5.  She is originally from mainland China.

Lin teaches Chinese at a local Chinese weekend school and a public school.  Lin started learning English at 12 years old.  In China, it is required for every child to learn English according to Lin.  She is very grateful for this policy, she said.  Lin shared that she would never have learned English without this policy because she had no English language learning resources outside of school when she was attending school.

Lin is the mastermind behind WenJunior and you can start here to read about her bilingual parenting journey and her collection of resources at WenJunior.

 

Keep In Mind: Every Child Is Unique

Please keep in mind that every child is unique and each family is unique.

Every family has its own dynamic, language combination, and children in the different age groups.

Language development is an on-going process.  Every child learns at a different pace. 

You need to cater to your child’s interest in target language learning.  FUN is the magic sprinkles!

There is one key factor on this bilingual parenting journey.  That is, you as a parent and an educator,  needs to provide target language input that a child can understand at his/her current proficiency level.

From there, you add more to the daily learning with reading and engaging activities.

Every baby step counts.  Every day is an important day.

Wishing you a playful, engaging, and “fearless” bilingual parenting journey today and every day!

 

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