Growing Up with Languages

Claire Thomas is herself the mother of two children who are being raised bilingually. She was a founding member of Waltham Forest Bilingual Group and has been Secretary of the group for 8 years. She has helped design and run several different forms of workshops for parents and has discussed bilingual family decisions and dilemmas with literally hundreds of parents. Waltham Forest Bilingual Group is a small, entirely voluntary, group of parents in multilingual families. It provides support to parents in such families in North East London via a regular monthly drop in event, quarterly workshops and speaker events. For more information or to get in touch, please visit www.wfbilingual.org.uk.

Acknowledgements



Introduction



Part 1: Different Types of Family and Issues that Only Affect Some Kinds of Family



1 Issues for Families Speaking More than One Language at Home



2 Issues for Families Using One Language at Home, Another in the Community and at School



3 Interviewees who are Bilingual Solely through Attending School in Another Language



4 Interviewees who Learnt Languages Solely from the Community



5 Changes as a Result of Divorce or Separation



6 Changes as a Result of the Death of One Parent



7 Changes as a Result of Advice Given to Parents



8 Changes as a Result of Interviewees’ Choices or Decisions



Part 2: Issues at Home that will Affect Most, if Not All, Families at Some Time



9 Consistency Versus Flexibility in Languages Used at Home



10 Rewards, Encouragement, Sanctions and Disapproval Linked to Language Use



11 Resistance – Children Who Prefer Not to Speak a Language



12 Fitting In/Standing Out



13 Input from Others, Resources and Holidays



Part 3: Education



14 Starting School and Changing Schools



15 Home Language Support/Teaching in Mainstream Schools



16 Additional Support Outside (or as an alternative to) Mainstream Schools



17 Help with Homework



Part 4: Language Policies and Politics



18 Language Status, Links to Politics and Racism



Part 5: Interviewees as Adults



19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Having Been Raised Bilingually



20 One Thing You Would Change about Your Bilingual Childhood and Advice to a Family Just Starting Out



21 Low Input and Language Loss and Retention



22 Identities



23 Studying and Working Abroad as Young Adults, Choosing Where to Live More Permanently and Using Bilingualism at Work



24 Relationships



25 Raising Children Monolingually or Bilingually and the Reasons Given



26 Access to Culture as Adults



27 Accents



28 Learning Additional Languages



Part 6: Overall Analysis and Recommendations



29 Factors Linked to Success or Failure



30 Recommendations to Parents Raising Multilingual Children



31 Suggested Reading



About Waltham Forest Bilingual Group and How This Project Got Started