Bilingual Books, Dual Language Books, Multicultural Children's Books, Poster, CD

Calming the Anxiety of Parents Teaching a Second Language
by Dr. Christine Galbreath Jernigan

I am a researcher of foreign language education, a foreign language teacher for over 13 years, and a mother raising two children to speak my second language. I have interviewed and “play-dated” with over 80 families raising children to speak a language that is not their first language. Before they begin, and even en route to exposing their children to a second language, parents come to me looking for support.

Often I hear parents say, “I’m not good enough at the language and I won’t be myself in another language.” I assuage their anxiety with, “You are learning the language with your children. Throw out the ‘perfectly fluent native speaker’ model of a language teacher. Communicate—listen to music, sing, watch videos, and read read read in the second language.”

I understand the concern these parents feel that they may not be fluent enough at the second language. Reading to my curious four-year old, I’m often at a loss to explain certain idiomatic expressions in children’s books. The dictionary is not always helpful in these situations.

I highly recommend bilingual books as an encouraging, motivating tool for parents teaching their children a second language. Oddly enough, my earlier research discouraged using bilingual books because the translations were often sub-standard, and the stories generic and culture-less. Luckily, well-translated bilingual books with multicultural themes are now on the market. From what a Japanese boy does with his baby tooth, to how integrated families become secure in their identity, these books can open children’s eyes to how we are all different, but not in the ways that really matter.

How wonderful that we can teach our children these kinds of life lessons through a second language. Multicultural bilingual books offer the advantage that those parents learning in partnership with their children have a right-where-you-need-it translation on each page.

As a researcher in teacher anxiety and raising bilingual children (and as a mother myself), I am still learning the second language I’m teaching my children. I live with the same anxiety of the parents I research. But I remind myself that language learning is a lifelong process—it involves difference, identity, and commitment. Bilingual books make sense cognitively. They also make sense in the cuddle-and-read moments parents spend with their children.

Proceed with confidence.

Christine Galbreath Jernigan, Ph.D. Foreign Language Education, is the founder of www.BilingualWiki.com.

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