This contest is now closed. The week’s final winner is: Susan. Congratulations! Thanks to all!
Photo by Kevin N. Murphy
We feel we hit the mark when we decided to dedicate a whole week to the One-Parent-One-Language method of raising bilingual children. If you’ve missed the informative articles prepared by Roxana, experts and guests then click here to read them.
Today is our last day of the OPOL WEEK and we’ve put together a list of useful links related to the OPOL method. Some are great reads from other parents and others expand on what we’ve already talked about regarding the in’s and out’s of this successful method. Never a bad idea to read from as many resources as you can and discover some new sites in the process.
Make sure you make it all the way to the bottom of the post for details on how you can enter to win our last copy of Dr. Naomi Steiner’s book-”7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child.”
Articles from parents using the OPOL method
- Bilingual Parenting: A Personal Account by Nadine Lichtenberger
- Notes from the OPOL family–A blog about an English-French bilingual family written our very own guest Ask an Expert this week, Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert, author of a book on bilingual parenting and mother of three more-or-less bilingual children.
- Multi Tongue Kids blog articles on how they use the OPOL method in their multi-lingual family.
- Bilingual Baby website article that delves into the OPOL method–
- The OPOL Method for Raising a Bilingual Child by Margaret M. Williams
Resources
- Language Strategies for Bilingual Families: The One-Parent-One-Language Approach–Book written by blogger and author Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert.
- Any of the books in our top-ten list for parents raising bilingual children will give you a very clear and objective overview of the OPOL method.
- Many OPOL families recommend using baby signing as a common language in the home. To get started you can use flash cards and this book .
SpanglishBaby Articles on OPOL
We’ve written some articles on the subject and the experts on our panel have answered various questions from parents using OPOL.
Here are some we suggest you bookmark:
To enter to win today’s copy of Dr. Naomi Steiner’s book:
All you have to do is leave a comment below telling us what other topic is important to your bilingual family and you would like us to write about.
That’s it!
Thanks for an amazing week. Don’t miss out on any of SpanglishBaby’s posts. Make sure you’re subscribed to our free feed either by email or RSS. We’re also very fun to follow via Twitter and our Facebook Page is a great place to make new friends.
Thanks so much for such an interesting week. I’ve learned a lot. I especially emjoyed yesterday’s post. Looking forward to exploring the links in this post.
One concern we have is how to keep the Spanish language alive in our family if our children start to prefer speaking English. Especially since we the parents are most comfortable and most at ease speaking English with each other.
.-= Kathleen´s last blog ..Photo Albums =-.
I think like Kathleen said how to respond when your child is always switching into English
.-= Tati´s last blog ..Meetup.com =-.
I would like to know what is the best way to introduce a third language for the whole family.
Thanks for the great OPOL week, I’ve learned a lot new things!
.-= Silvia´s last blog ..bebé de 18 meses / 18 month old baby =-.
Thanks for all the useful information although somehow I don’t feel it relates to me 100% as both my husband and I are fluent Spanish speakers and ONLY speak Spanish to each other at home. All our friends are Hispanic and we do not allow our children to speak in English in the house although it is a daily battle. What I have to do, more often than not, is pretend that I do not understand what my children are saying when they speak to me in English, which is a very exhausting process sometimes and constantly telling them to change their mental ‘chip’ when talking to each other as more and more, when they play, they speak to each other in English. It is a great effort to continue to make our children speak a second language but I know, it’ll all be worth it in the end.
I have 3 children. The older 2 who are 12 and 9 mostly speak and understand English. We are trying to speak only spanish to the baby who is 2 months old. What can we do to be sure that the baby speaks only spanish first if her siblings are speaking to her in English?
Thanks for all the great information about OPOL this week.
My daughter will turn 3 next month and will start preschool. My concern is that she doesn’t speak very clear. She understands both languages. She started talking very late (compared to other kids of her age). She tends to speak mostly in English, but recently she has begun to speak some Spanish too. The problem is that most of the time I am the only one who can understand her, both because she sometimes mixes the languages and also because of her speech.
Could this just be part of being bilingual? Should I consider seeing a speech pathologist or should I wait some time?
I would like to hear more from people using the two languages according to time & place. This is the method that appeals most to me (don’t have children yet), but I fear that my future children will not want to speak Spanish to me ever once they get to school age. And although I enjoyed seeing how a conversation goes with the OPOL method, I wonder if that is kind of an illustration of the best case scenario, but maybe not as typical?
I have enjoyed this series and this blog since discovering it.
I am just catching up on all the articles for the week….. GREAT stuff! Thank you! Although I’m not 100% OPOL, I am definitely trying… thats a good….right?!?!
My 8 year old son can understand pretty much anything you tell him in spanish, can hold a simple conversation and can do simple reading in spanish. I have him practice his reading by reading spanish books to the baby. I am still having difficulty with getting him to completely talk to me in spanish, if he is having difficulty remembering a word he starts saying it in english, when I remind him in spanish that we are talking in spanish or that we can look the word up in the dictionary he gets frustrated sometimes and even refuses to continue the conversation by saying “never mind, no importa”. When we are with dad he will ask “mom , can we please just all talk in english?”. I try to remind him why we are talking in spanish but sometimes I have to give in because I respect his wishes and don’t want to force him and push him away from the language.
I would love to hear how family’s are getting through obstacles like these with their older children. The truth is I didn’t really focus on starting “OPOL” from the beginning as I’m doing now with the new baby. It seems the older he gets, the more personality and the more he tries to stear away from spanish in difficult scenarios. Also, what do parents do when friends of your children are over that might not speak spanish, husbands family, your friends…what are the exclusions in a typical household for the OPOL method?
I learned a lot this week. Thank you for all of the valuable information. I would like to know about options for enriching our children’s bilingualism through travel to Spanish speaking countries. What would be some ways to have the kids interact with the local children? Are there any programs for children and their parents in other countries?
Thank you for all of the valuable information. It has been a very interesting week. I learned a lot this week