Autumn is here, and that means it’s time to look at some of the issues facing parents of school-age bilingual children.

Our kids are in school, and every day we ask the usual question: “How was school today?”

Their unchanging reply: “Good.”

Keeping the Bilingual Focus

Like most parents raising their children bilingually, we always want them to talk more in the minority language.

Unless your children attend a bilingual or immersion school, their minority language probably isn’t used during the school day.

That means that the parents need to bring the language back into use as soon as the kids get home!

Open-Ended vs. Close-Ended Questions

Conversation with small children requires a lot of prompting.

Drawing your children out, especially in a minority language, requires you to understand the difference between open and closed questions:

• Closed-ended questions only have a limited number of responses. Yes/no questions are closed questions, as are questions that present limited options, such as “Do you want to read your book or go outside and play?”

• Open or open-ended questions do not have a limited number of replies. They require the child to imagine a new response of his or her own.

Most advice will tell you to focus on open-ended questions as a way to develop your child’s speech abilities. Making up a reply requires more language use than repeating something you’ve said to the child, so open questions are more interactive.

For bilingual children, however, it’s important to remember their limits and to use a mixture of questions. Simple, closed questions can be a good way of easing them into the use of their minority language.

How to Draw Your Child Out in a Second Language

Our system for asking our children about school is built around a mixture of closed and open-ended questions:

• First, we ask short, positive questions or statements for the child to confirm: “Wow, that is a lot of drawings you did!”

• Next, we offer a closed question that uses school-specific vocabulary: “Did you go to the special class with the art teacher or did you stay with Mrs. Hanes?

• After that, we stay on the same topic, but ask an open-ended question: “What did you like most about the art class?”

• When they reply using a mixture of languages or the majority language, I make sure to restate their reply entirely in their minority language: “Oh, the big picture of flowers on the wall was your favorite? I like flowers too.”

• Finally, we finish off with a positive, exciting statement: “What a wonderful day you’ve had!”

This helps start our children with easy answers, then moves them into newer and more school-specific vocabulary, and finally leaves them feeling good about their conversation in their minority language!

You can’t always come up with an exciting question every day, but keep at it — and don’t be afraid to use toys or playtime to slip the questions in! Sometimes your child would rather tell Batman or Barbie what he or she did at school than talk to you about it. Encourage them to do it in their minority language, and then sit back and let them run the show.

Olena Centeno a Ukrainian who lives in USA, a happy mom of three wonderful kids ages 2 to 9 and a wife to the great man. She speaks three languages herself and is raising her kids to be multilingual in English, Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish. She founded Bilingual Kids Rock where she helps families on their bilingual journey. She also enjoys photography and video making as a way to preserve precious moments of life.You can connect with her at bilingualkidsrock.com

I am Polish, my husband is German and we live in the Netherlands. I was raised in a multilingual family — my mother speaks English and my father speaks French and they both speak Polish and German. With our children, we have naturally assumed the OPOL approach in which I speak Polish with them and my husband speaks German.

I read a lot about bilingualism. All the books warned that it is normal for children to rebel against parents and their languages (especially when the parents are multilingual themselves) and this is why it is important to find monolingual peers for the children to play and practice the language with.

I was worried because it seemed to me that maintaining my children’s Polish would prove incredibly difficult, if not impossible. Why would they bother with Polish (which is not even seen as a language worth learning and speaking) when mom speaks almost perfect German? Finding Polish speakers who didn’t speak Dutch has been difficult, especially now that I have three children. Am I fighting a battle that is already lost?

I don’t think so. In Poland, my parents didn’t have other German-speaking children to play with me, and the only thing they did was speak German with me every Sunday, until my brother was born. Later, I had German at school, and then chose to study it at University. It was, of course, a decision based on practicality (or should I say laziness) rather than interest, but I found studying German fun.

I am very grateful to my parents for sticking to speaking German with me even though there were times when I hated it. They were very consistent and it paid off. Now, as I am raising multilingual children myself, I realize that even though peers are important, the parents have a huge impact on their children as well.

I think I am extremely lucky to come from a family with a long-term tradition of multilingualism. The children will see that their beloved grandparents are multilingual and will notice the benefits that come from it. Based on that, they hopefully will be more inclined to learn Polish.

I also speak Dutch, the majority language, and I think this is a benefit, rather than a disadvantage. By learning it, I am showing my children that I care about one of their languages — and an important part of their identity, and maybe, just maybe, this will motivate them to speak Polish with me. I know there will be times when they will rebel and refuse to speak it. But I think my story shows that the parents’ bilingualism is an asset rather than a problem.

I believe multilingualism is a way of life, and if the children learn to accept all languages, perhaps it will motivate them to learn and accept thire parents’ language as well.

Olga Mecking is a Polish woman living in the Netherlands with her German husband. Together, they raise three trilingual children. Olga is also a trainer in intercultural communication, translator and blogger at The European Mama, which is a blog about multilingualism, expat life and parenting.You can find Olga over at her blog, her Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter.

{Image by rolands.lakis}

I’m not a huge breakfast eater — unless I go to the French bakery by my house, which is run by a couple from the south of France who moved to Denver five years ago. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but the bakery is on my way to Santiago’s preschool and so I stop in there regularly to devour freshly-baked croissants and the best baguettes I’ve ever had outside of France.

But one of the other reasons I love going there is that I get to practice my French with the owners. And whenever I go with my kids I get to show them — instead of telling them — how awesome it is that I can communicate with other people in their native language: one of the benefits of speaking more than one language.

Although it sometimes seems like there aren’t enough ways to immerse your children in the minority language outside of your home (especially the older they get), the truth is that sometimes we overlook some options that aren’t as obvious, but are awesome opportunities nonetheless. The best part about these is that they’re pretty simple things you can do on a regular basis which don’t require a lot of effort on your part.

1. Churches/Places of Worship

When I was looking into baptizing Vanessa, I knew I needed to find a church that offered services in Spanish so my  then 92-year-old grandmother, visiting from Perú, wouldn’t be lost during the ceremony. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, but I found one. Now, more than six years after moving to Denver, I’ve found many others. For me, it’s a great way to reconnect with my childhood, but it’s also the only way for me to participate in mass. I know this will sound kind of strange, but praying is one of those things I’d rather do in my native language.

Besides giving you and your kids the opportunity to attend services in the minority language, most churches organize activities and events outside of worship time. So this could be another great place for your children to be brought in contact with the minority language with others who share your beliefs. Due to the growing Latino population, you can probably find a place of worship that offers services in Spanish regardless of denomination.

2. Small, family-owned Latino restaurants

Although Denver is not devoid of Latino restaurants, it’s in its infancy stage when compared to Miami, where I spent the first 20 years of my life in the United States. Nevertheless, we have found a few great spots — some we frequent often because they’re near and some only on special occasions because they require a lot more driving. I’m talking about the kind of family-owned restaurants where Spanish is spoken freely and the menu is often in both languages, kind of like the French bakery I talked about at the top.

If you’re children are already reading, they can choose what they want and ask for it in Spanish! If not, you can introduce new vocabulary by talking about the items on the menu. This is also a great opportunity to talk about the importance of food for Latinos and the never-ending options we’re lucky to have.

3. Bodegas/Mercados/Hispanic Grocery Stores

Again, not a lot of these in my neck-of-the-woods, but enough for me to take my children and allow them to be surrounded by some of the smells and colors of our foods — an integral part of our culture. I’ve taken my daughter to one of this mercados and I’ve introduced her to some of the candy I used to enjoy as a child. Some is from my homeland, Peru, and some is from Mexico where I spent a few years as a child. Not only are these great places to expose our kids to Spanish, but also to our culture.

Keep in mind that these suggestions are universal, so they apply no matter which minority language you’re using. For example, just the other day, I drove by a Korean Methodist Church, which I later found out was started to cater to the Korean population in that area of Denver! The same can be said about ethnic food markets, not to mention restaurants and bakeries where other heritage languages, besides Spanish, is spoken.

{Photo by Big Grey Mare}

Recently a question in the Ask an Expert column really grabbed my attention since the writer wanted to know if she should speak a language to her child that was not her mother tongue.  The main concern being that her daughter would not be getting much native input in this second language.

This article really made me stop and think because I have been speaking to my sons exclusively in Spanish since the day they were born, and I am not by definition a native speaker.  The more I thought about it, I wondered, who exactly is a native speaker?

After reading a variety of different definitions, I was still confused.  Wikipedia states, “a first language (also native language, mother tongue, arterial language, or L1), is the language(s) a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best…”  Clearly, I am not by definition a native, speaker but my husband, who speaks to our children in German, is.  His mother is German and that was his first language.  So he does fit the definition of being a native speaker, but he will be the first to admit that since he grew up in the United States, English is his dominant language.

I must admit that prior to embarking on the adventure of raising bilingual children my main concern was that my husband and I would both be using our weaker languages to communicate with our children. While I have been studying and speaking Spanish for over twenty years, I did not start learning Spanish until I was sixteen.  My husband grew up speaking German with his mother, but English is his stronger language.  To allay my fears, I did a lot of research on the topic of speaking to children in a non-native language.  My biggest concern being that by not speaking to our children in our more dominant language, we would be hindering their linguistic development.

Fortunately, I read many books and academic literature on the matter and found supportive websites such as SpanglishBaby.com that have helped me see that I would not harm my children by speaking to them in a non-native language.  We have been using Spanish and German with our boys since they were born.  Now that the boys are older, it is obvious that we made the right decision.  Both boys are trilingual.  The children can effortlessly change languages and will even translate for me.   It has sometimes been a challenge, but hearing our sons speak fluently in different languages has rewarded the efforts.

The benefits have not just been for our children though; my husband and I have discovered that we greatly improved in our own language skills.  With all of the recent research showing the advantages of being an active bilingual, it is clear that the benefits have been for all of us.

If you are not a native speaker, or if your English is stronger than your second language, don’t be afraid to pass on the gift of another language to your children. It might be awkward and challenging at first, but with time and practice, it will much be easier.   Giving your child the ability to speak a second language is one of the best gifts you can give to them and yourself.

Share: What has been your greatest challenge in teaching your child a minority language?

My wife Deni and I are trying to raise our daughter to speak three languages. My wife only speaks in Turkish. I speak in Spanish, and eventually her environment will teach her English. Right now, we have her in daycare on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Obviously, she gets little exposure to Turkish or Spanish on those days. My wife and I have been debating if it makes more sense to have her in day care three days in a row, or if for the purpose of trying to immerse her in our languages, it makes more sense to break it up. Right now, she’s exposed to Turkish and Spanish: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and mostly English on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Would it make more sense to have her in day care every other day, like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? My sense is this doesn’t make a big difference. What do you think? Any other advice for trilingual families? Take care, Mario

Dear Mario and Deni,

This is an interesting question—that we could easily debate all day. If you have a choice, should you try to avoid a 3-day gap when your daughter will hear less of your home languages and will hear mostly English?

I don’t think principles of language learning will decide it for us. As I tried to make clear in my book, there are many, many different ways to arrange your family’s language landscape to help your child learn your languages—and they all can work, provided they’re relatively consistent and give the child strong motivation to use the different languages when she is exposed to them.

For me, the important question is “what is your daughter’s temperament?”  How does she react to changes?  I remember my son as a toddler.  It was hard to get him to stop what he was doing to go somewhere.  Then once I got him there, it was just as hard to get him to leave!  If your daughter is like he was, she’ll take precious time away from today’s language by making a slow transition from yesterday’s language.  If so, she may do better with larger blocks of time before changing, as you currently have it.

Most likely, though, your daughter will accept whatever system makes the most sense for you and your work schedules.  We have lots of examples telling us we can associate each language with a person or place, not a time.  If you stay with your current system, I’d be careful during her daycare days to make sure I stayed in my language and didn’t also follow her to English. After all, you don’t mean for them to be “English days,” just a day when she hears more English in the mix.

The key is to watch your daughter’s reactions–as I’m sure you are doing anyway.  Does she show any distress when people change languages?  Is she slow to follow?  You don’t say how old she is, so we don’t know if she can tell you what she is feeling, but I think this aspect of temperament is evident in behavior from very early on.

Remember, too, that what you decide today can be modified later if you feel the need.  In my experience, language changes take about two months to take hold, so I don’t recommend flip-flopping.  But most children, like most adults, are amazingly flexible.

This is a good question to open up to other people who have been in your situation.  What do other Spanglishbaby readers have to say about Mario’s question?

Best wishes,

Barbara

Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph. D. – A bilingualism expert with over twenty years of research experience in the fields of bilingualism, linguistics, and communication disorders, Pearson is the author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child. She is currently a Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her pioneering work on bilingual learning by infants and children and on language assessment has been published in scholarly journals and in the book Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children. You can see her answers by going here and follow her work through her blog.

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Photo credit: abbynormy

Who gets to be trilingual? The situation always seems to present itself as such: one parent speaks one minority language and the other parent another minority language and they live somewhere, where the majority language is spoken.

What about those parents who are monolingual? What about parents who are both what they call heritage speakers of a minority language, like myself? What about parents who would LOVE for their children to speak more than one language, but can’t afford to send them to private foreign language schools? This is one of the very reasons why I don’t play an instrument, for example. My parents did not have the financial means to send me to lessons, let alone rent or buy an instrument. I got to dance ballet, but only because the classes were by donation.

I feel fortunate that we have the option to send our daughter to a foreign language school. Although as much as I advocate for multilingualism I also have to acknowledge that there are individuals for whom this is not an option.

The city I live in, Austin, Texas, has finally implemented dual language education in our public schools. A selected few schools were chosen, but hopefully others will follow. This kind of education, where bilingualism is the goal, has been one our local community has advocated for several years. I guess you can say the larger community is starting to find value in multilingualism or that all it can sometimes take is a savvy, younger, open-minded superintendent to catch on to the idea of bilingualism as a goal. So, again, I pose the question, what about those cities where dual language education is not an option in the public schools? It was only a few years ago where this was the case in my progressive, university-town of a city. The only schools that existed were fairly expensive private ones.

There’s more to consider besides a parents motivation, such as, what are the costs to become bilingual or trilingual? As I have been researching private day cares for our baby I have learned that private-language schools cost a little more than your regular private schools. In fact, these private language schools are in such demand that I find myself weighing the “costs”, and not just in monetary terms, but in other ways, such as teachers that seem more like niñeras than actual teachers.

When thinking about how much it costs to becoming multilingual I am referring to multiple sentidos. There’s the extra financial burden and then there’s the fact that the foreign languages schools are limited in scope, therefore limited in how particular parents can be when thinking about other factors such as teaching philosophy, cleanliness, distance from home, or student to teacher ratios.

No matter where we stand in our plight for multilingual education one thing remains the same: the importance of continuing to advocate for dual language education so that everyone has the option and not have to weigh out the costs.

Photo by Orin Zebest

“Au revoir,” my daughter finally said to the owner of our neighborhood French bakery recently as we were leaving after getting our fill of the most yummy, buttery croissants and perfectly baked quiche Lorraine. I was beaming. She’s known how to say goodbye in French for a while now, but she always refuses to say it when I prod…I wonder why?

We go to the bakery at least once every two weeks, after I pick her up from preschool . Up until now, I had always seen it as an awesome opportunity for me to practice my French. But after the “goodbye” episode, I realized it has also been a great way to expose Vanessa to a third language and to show her, instead of telling her, how awesome it is that I can communicate with the owners in their native language. Talk about creating a perceived need for the minority laguage!

This got me thinking about a few ways to expose our children to the minority language that might not seem very obvious or typical, but are awesome opportunities nonetheless. More than anything else, these are pretty simple things you can do on a regular basis which don’t require a lot of effort on your part.

1. Restaurants

Although Denver is not devoid of Latino restaurants, it’s in its infancy stage when compared to where I come from: Miami. Nevertheless, we have found a few great spots—some we frequent often because they’re near and some only on special occasions because they’re far. I’m talking about the kind of restaurants where Spanish is spoken freely and the menu is often in both languages, kind of like the French bakery I talked about at the top. If you’re children are already reading, they can choose what they want and ask for it in Spanish! If not, you can introduce new vocabulary by talking about the items on the menu. This is also a great opportunity to talk about the culture of food!

2. Bodegas/Mercados/Hispanic Grocery Stores

Again, not a lot of these in my neck-of-the-woods, but enough for me to take my children and allow them to be surrounded by some of the smells and colors of our foods—an integral part of our culture. I like to take my daughter to one of this mercados and introduce her to some of the candy I used to enjoy as a child. Some is from my homeland, Peru, and some is from Mexico where I spent a few years as a child. Not only are these great places to expose our kids to Spanish, but also to our culture.

3. Places of Worship

When I was looking into baptizing my daughter, I knew I needed to find a church that offered services in Spanish so my 92-year-old grandmother, visiting from Perú, wouldn’t be lost during the ceremony. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, but I found one. Now, three years after moving to Denver, I know of many others. The great thing is that you can probably find one which meets your needs regardless of denomination. Besides attending the service in the minority language, most churches organize activities and events outside of mass. So this could be another great place for your children to be brought into contact with the minority language with others who share your beliefs.

It’s important to note these suggestions are universal. In other words, they apply no matter which minority language you’re using. For example, just the other day, I drove by a Korean Methodist Church, which I later found out was started to cater to the Korean population in that area of Denver! The same can be said about ethnic food markets, not to mention restaurants and bakeries where other heritage languages, besides Spanish, is spoken.

This post was originally published on February 18, 2009.

One of the biggest challenges we face in our bilingual journey is being consistent and finding ways to nurture the minority language outside the home. No matter which method your family chooses to use–OPOL (One Parent, One Language) or mL@H (Minority Language at Home)–it’s important to have resources and strategies to immerse your child in the second language in fun and playful ways.

I know, for a fact, that my daughter, Camila, is learning words much faster from her little friends at daycare than she is at home, even though she only spends two days a week with them. We also have an English-speaking playgroup we meet with every week and other activities in which she actively takes part in. Most of them in English. I know, my bad.

Make the Second Language Cool

Why is it “my bad?¨ Well, because I know, from all the reading and research I’ve done on the topic of raising bilingual kids, that one of the most important ways to enforce language learning is for your kids to engage in activities with other children in the language you want to promote. In our case, that would be Spanish. Simply put, my daughter needs to feel that Spanish is cool (yep, even at 18-months she can figure out what’s “cool” for her) and widely accepted by participating in situations where she can easily express herself while also having a blast. After all, children learn best through play–especially with other children. Parents, and “their” language, soon enough become “not cool.”

So, how to do it? What are some of those outside-the-home, cool activities in which children can engage in to stimulate language learning? Here’s our list:

1. Playgoups, Playgroups, Playgroups!

Perhaps the most important and enriching activity for both child and parent is a playgroup in the second language. Why? Because it exposes your kids to others his same age speaking his same language and gives you a chance to meet parents going through the same things you are. Plus, it’s free! Preferably, try to find a group which will commit to speaking only Spanish, or whichever language might be your case, around the kids. A good idea is to structure the playgroup to include music or storytelling in Spanish. Can’t find a playgroup in your area? Start one! You might be surprised at the response you’ll get. Very soon, Roxana will be writing about tips on how to start your own playgroup. She’ll interview a Denver mom who made it happen and now has over 40 members in her group.

2. Storytime in the Second Language

Recent research suggests that children learn more vocabulary when being read to than through normal conversation. Of course, you can read to them anytime, but you can also make it more special by incorporating it into their regular activities. Storytime allows them to interact with peers as well. Many local libraries and bookstores have storytime in Spanish, check with those in your area. If you can’t find one, call and suggest it. Libraries are always eager for volunteers, so why not volunteer to read a story to kids every other week or so? Major bookstores are also open to anything that will bring them traffic. I recently talked to the children’s section coordinator of a major bookstore chain about the possibility of starting a Spanish storytime with them and she loved the idea. Of course, I need to help spread the word and find a storyteller, but they will provide the venue, the books, art supplies for crafts and snacks.

3.  Structured Language Classes

There are many music and arts classes designed especially to motivate children’s learning through interactive play. Music is an excellent way to motivate language learning as it is repetitive and a great whole-brain exercise. You can also reinforce it by playing the CDs at home and in the car.

4.  Heritage Festivals in Your Area

One thing is for sure: we Latinos like to party and we have our share of festivals to prove it. Just to name a few: Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Hispanic Heritage Month, Posadas, Carnaval, and so on. Mark the dates on your calendar and check your local listings for celebration events. This is a great way to transmit part of your cultural heritage to your child, while enriching him with new experiences. Talk to him about the foods, the beliefs, the traditions. Plan arts and crafts projects related to each festival. Feeling his second language connects him to a wider aspect of his family that will nurture his learning.

5.  Travel to your Native Country

I know times are difficult and this might not be a realistic option for all of us at this time, but if you only plan one trip a year, try to make it to a country that speaks your child’s minority language–especially if there’s monolingual family to visit. Being absolutely immersed in the language will leave her no option but to speak the language and eventually boost her confidence. Travel will also broaden her horizons and give her global and cultural perspectives which are priceless.
In short, make language learning interactive and fun for both of you. Actively search or start your own activities. It will be rewarding for the two of you.

Share with us the ways you promote language learning outside the home? Have you started your own playgroup, circle or storytime? We’d love to hear about it. Let’s motivate each other through this process.

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Spanish Program – Courtesy of Concordia Language Villages

I hadn’t really given language summer camps much thought because I believed Vanessa was too young. I mean, she is still too young for actual going-away type camps, but apparently not for just day summer camps. And I have to tell you, the more I’ve researched this topic, the more fascinated I’ve become.

In case you don’t know, in general, most language summer camps are run the same way a regular summer camp would be – a bunch of different activities both in and outdoors so your kids don’t get bored during the long, lazy summer months – except that everything is done in a language other than English. In other words, not only will the kids be entertained, but they will also be immersed in the target language you’re trying to teach them.

I was actually surprised with the amount of options out there and although they are not cheap, some of the programs offer financial assistance in the form of scholarships – particularly the ones where your kids get to sleep over. But maybe I should start by explaining the differences.

A day summer camp is exactly what the name implies. Your child attends camp daily for however many weeks you’re interested in (or you can afford.) Obviously, the longer your child attends, the better the end result. As far as I understand, the daily curriculum is taught in the target language, which depending on the program you choose, can range from Spanish to Arabic. Normally, age requirements are a bit more lax in this type of setting. At the one I’ve been looking into for Vanessa – the Denver Montclair International School – for example, they accept kids as young as three. By the way, their Spanish program is so popular, it’s pretty much sold out for the entire summer!

“Day camps work really well for really young kids,” says Carl-Martin Nelson, the director of communications at Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota. “We find that half the time it’s the parents who are not ready for regular summer camps and the other half it’s the children”

Concordia Language Villages offers both options – day and regular summer camps – and it’s the kind of place that I would love for Vanessa to be able to attend when she gets older. They have been around for almost 50 years, their curriculum is truly impressive and they firmly believe in immersion as the best method to learn a language.

“We communicate with the children almost exclusively in the target language,” Nelson explains. “There is very little translation going on.”

Children must be 7 years old to be able to attend one of their summer camps in any of the 15 different languages they offer. Each camp can last anywhere from one to four weeks. This means your child is actually away from home for that period of time, just like the thousands of other summer camps that abound in this country, except that they spend their time immersed in the target language.

So how much can your child actually learn in one or two weeks? The truth is probably not much – although you’d be surprised. For most of you; however, who are already raising bilingual children, it can be a great source of reinforcement – especially when kids get to the age that they start refusing to speak in the target language, as we discussed in this recent post.

“We not only teach kids the language, we improve their attitude about learning the language,” says Nelson. “Our primary goal, our job, is to make it the coolest thing in the world to speak the target language.”

Nelson also brought up the fact that this type of program is perfect for families using the OPOL method because it helps to reinforce the language that the child may only get from one of the parents in a completely fun and different way. The same goes for those children who already attend dual language schools. In other words, it’s a great way for them to brush up on their language skills in a non-school setting before the new school year because the emphasis is not only on the physical aspect, but also on the academic one.

“Our experience has been that these kids go back to the classroom excited and enthused about the language they’re learning,” Nelson says.

Sounds like a win-win situation, right?

Before I sign-off, I wanted to share with you that even though we – all of you and I – have gone back and forth (in this post) about whether or not it’d be a good idea for me to send Vanessa to a dual language program in a language other than Spanish, I’m seriously thinking about sending her to the French summer program offered by the Denver school I mentioned above. I just kind of want to see if she’ll pick up some of it if she’s immersed in it during a whole week. I feel like it’d be easier for me to continue once she has somewhat of a stronger base which I’ve failed miserably at providing. I guess I’ll keep you all posted…

Since I can’t include all the different language summer camps available out there, I suggest you check out this website and hopefully you can find something around your area that might work for you and your kids.

And, if you know of any language summer camps that you’d like to recommend or you’ve actually sent your kids to one in the past, we’d love to hear from you!  Leave a comment below and/or start a new topic in the forums.