Category: Communication
Why parents should avoid mixing their languages with their babies and toddlers
For multilingual families it is natural for adults to blend words or phrases from multiple languages. This “mixing the languages”, or code-mixing, is very normal in multilingual communication. However, it is not advisable to use it consistently when speaking to and with young children, i.e. babies and toddlers in one-on-one situations.
Repeat, expand, recast – three discourse strategies to boost our children’s language skills
Raising multilingual children is a rewarding yet complex journey. Parents play a pivotal role in shaping their children’s linguistic development, and one of the most effective ways to support this process is through parental discourse strategies (read also our post about 4 parental discourse strategies). Techniques such as repetition, expansion, and recasting create a rich
Preparing Multilingual Teens for Home Country Visits
Are you visiting your heritage country with your teenagers? When our teenagers grow up abroad and we are the only ones or one of the few they get to speak our language with, meeting family, friends and peers who are immersed into that language is not easy. When my children were preteens, I observed
First signs of communication
Speech is not only about the number of words an individual knows but also the effective and meaningful communication with the environment, which also includes non-verbal characteristics like eye contact and gestures.
The multilingual mindset
What is a multilingual mindset? In this article I share my definition of what it means and how we can develop and foster it.
Parents’ roles when communicating with children
There are many roles we can play when we communicate with our children.
Telling time across languages…
Telling time in other languages is not always easy, especially when they have different ways to tell time, depending on the region…
3 tips to travel light as a multilingual family
by Ute Limacher-Riebold and Ana Elisa Miranda What has being a multilingual family to do with how to travel light? Have you ever packed a backpack in the wrong way? Made it too heavy, causing you back pain; brought the wrong or unnecessary things, making it difficult to reach what you actually needed, quickly enough?
4 communication styles in (multilingual) children
We all have different communication styles. And so do our children.Parents often assume (or expect) that their children will have their same communication style, but that is not as simple.