The Bilingual Edge - a book review

The premise behind this book, subtitled Why, When and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language caught me off guard.  Sure, my kids watch Dora as often as possible.  The little ones have picked up a few words here and there.  My school age children take Spanish at school.  My half sister attended a Spanish Inclusion school last year.  Obviously, I think a second language is important.

I never learned a second language. I took French in high school, but I never got past "Where is the pencil?"  I bought the Berlitz Rush Hour Express cd to learn to speak Spanish myself, in order to keep up with my kids, and never got past lesson three - how to tell time.  My husband speaks Spanish a bit, having been married before to a Spanish speaking woman, and he retained a bit of the information.  He is in charge of translating when we go to Mexico for business.

This book was really interesting to me.  All of the information - children learn languages quicker when they are younger, learning a new language should be fun, younger children can discern language differences easier than older - that I've heard time and time again is backed up with facts and research in this easy to read, yet informative book.  I never thought about the benefits of learning a second language, other than the ability to converse, of course, but the authors mention cognitive advantages, benefits in terms of cultural understanding, and possibly connecting with an important part of his heritage.  I didn't realize that simply learning a language made such a difference to a person.

I especially enjoyed the Quick Tips sections, scattered throughout the book - little snippets of pertinent information that help to reiterate the other valid points of the chapter. 

Questions such as "What if my spouse and I don't agree?", "Does learning a second language result in a language delay?" and "How do gender and birth order affect language development?" are addressed in here, issues I would have never imagined would come up.   There is also a section on teaching a second language to your special needs child.

One other exercise in the book that is immensely helpful is the section on Assessing Your Family's Own Language Profile - how to determine which second language would most benefit your child.

I'd recommend this book.  In fact, I'm giving away my copy, as usual, so leave a comment if you are interested in receiving it.

Comments

[Heather]

Carmen,

I would love this book. My children were taught spanish and sign language in their preschool. However, we are going into public school and need to decide how to continue their interest in other languages.

[luckyduck]

My daughter, a brand new sixth-grader, has been enrolled in a dual-language program since kindergarten. Up to this point, she has spent half her day learning math and language arts in English, and doing science, social studies, and Spanish language arts in Spanish. By fourth grade, her Spanish teachers were delivering their instruction exclusively in Spanish.

What a wonderful program!!! We chose this program over the local GT program and have never once regretted our decision. Our daughter excels in her grades and all of her state-mandated tests. Her Spanish is beautiful. Because she started so young,
her accent is natural...if you closed your eyes you would never know she is a middle class white girl. She has attended an all-Spanish vacation bible school and read the 5th Harry Potter in Spanish this past summer.

I would highly recommend any program or classes that encourage second language learning. The younger...the better! If you're an adult and have trouble learning, that's OK. The wiring in your brain is complete and it is really difficult to make new connections. Just keep trying!

[Heather]

Wow that books sound really interesting. I'd love to read it.

[Emily]

Oh, I hope you haven't given it away yet!

I have my bachelor's degree in French, my husband grew up in Germany, lived in Russia for a while, and also speaks French. We live in Utah, but are trying to figure out just how to share our love of languages with our 9-month-old. I try to speak exclusively French with the baby, and I'm scared about the future! I want him to be fluent in French and English, with passable German skills (enough to get along with his grandparents). And frankly, I just don't quite know how to do it well without screwing something up. (Probably just hang-ups since it's my first baby)