Books for Parents Archives - Page 5 of 5

Secrets of a Successful Homework Routine, Part 2

August 20, 2014

Eighteen months ago, when my kids were 8 and 5, I offered a detailed look at our daily homework routine in the minority language, which began (gently) when they were around the age of 3. In that post—Secrets of a Successful Homework Routine, Part 1—I discuss the value of a homework routine for nurturing literacy and overall language development, and I provide a range of strategies and resources that I’ve found useful to my own efforts. (Many of these resources,

Recommended Resources: “A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism” by Colin Baker

June 25, 2014

Note: Below my review of A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism is an interview with the author. Dr. Baker generously agreed to an email exchange, and responded to my questions in detail. Because the book itself has been designed in a question-and-answer format, the interview offers a good glimpse of the spirit and value of Dr. Baker’s work. In What’s the Best Book About Raising Children?, I make the point that every thoughtfully-written book on bilingualism is well worth

What’s the Best Book About Raising Bilingual Children?

April 15, 2014

I can’t claim to have read everything on raising bilingual children, but I do read pretty widely on the subject. My interest in the literature began many years ago when I became a teacher of bilingual and multilingual children at Hiroshima International School, and now continues with my own kids. The truth is, because I knew, early on, that the odds were against me—my wife would be the main caregiver and my children would eventually be attending school in the

Recommended Resources: “Bilingual: Life and Reality” by François Grosjean

February 12, 2014

Note: Below my review of Bilingual: Life and Reality is a short, insightful interview with the author. Dr. Grosjean kindly responded, via email, to several questions I had in connection with his book. An irony is apparent in the fact that bilingualism is so prevalent in our world today—and will surely become even more widespread in the future—and yet, on the whole, the subject is discussed far less than might be expected. Granted, there are some books and blogs geared

Why Resources in the Minority Language Are So Vital to Bilingual Success (With 6 Real-Life Examples From My Own Family)

January 24, 2014

Let me propose a basic principle of success at raising bilingual children, something that I suggest is true for 99% of families in the world, whatever the minority language. (And this is especially true if you seek higher levels of literacy in that language, though your children attend a majority language school.) The more resources you have in the minority language, the more suitable those resources are for the child’s age, language level, and interests, and the more actively you

Secrets of a Successful Homework Routine, Part 1

February 12, 2013

In How Many Hours Per Week Is Your Child Exposed to the Minority Language?, I mentioned how I began the practice of daily homework with my kids from around the age of 3. Frankly, I would have preferred to wait with written work until they were a bit older—which seems more in line with a child’s natural development. But the hard reality is, I felt it was important to give literacy in the minority language (for us, that’s English) a

Recommended Resources: “Be Bilingual” by Annika Bourgogne

February 8, 2013

Writing about raising children to be bilingual isn’t easy. The scope of the subject is so broad and encompasses so many facets—theory, research, practical ideas, resources—that no book (or blog, for that matter) could possibly cover the whole sprawling field. Moreover, every family is different, with its own unique mix of languages, circumstances, goals, and needs, so information that may be relevant to one family won’t necessarily be relevant to another. Over the years I’ve read widely about bilingual children—and

Recommended Resources: Good Books on Reading Aloud

January 18, 2013

Raising a child with good bilingual ability is clearly the sum total of a whole range of ongoing efforts: It’s not one thing you do; it’s everything you do. That said, if I had to point to the single thing that has had the most powerful impact on the language development of my children and the children I have worked with over the years, it would be this: reading aloud. It seems hard to believe that something so painless, so

Recommended Resources: “The Read-Aloud Handbook”

September 24, 2012

When I think back to my own childhood, it’s hard to recall my parents or teachers reading aloud to me. I have an old black-and-white photo which shows my mother reading to me as we lay in bed together—when I was very small—but by the time I entered elementary school and began reading on my own, I suspect whatever reading aloud was done at home soon ended. And the same, it seems, was true of school: I wrack my brain,

Recommended Resources: “The Power of Reading”

September 19, 2012

If you need any persuading when it comes to the value of reading aloud to children, and encouraging them to read on their own, look no further than The Power of Reading by the noted linguist and researcher Stephen Krashen. A compact and accessible book, Krashen summarizes decades of research and makes a thoroughly convincing case for putting the highest priority on promoting a love of reading and a print-rich environment. If there’s one book I would consider a “must-read”

Recommended Resources: “Raising a Bilingual Child”

September 12, 2012

When you’re a parent seeking to raise a bilingual child, it’s vital to be well-informed on the subject. The better informed you are, the better you’ll be able to effectively support your child’s bilingual upbringing. There are a number of books about children and bilingualism, but I think Raising a Bilingual Child is one of the best. It was written by Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D., an expert on bilingualism who has done extensive research on bilingual development.