Frequently Asked Questions about BilingualismThe opportunity not just to learn one’s mother tongue and another language, but to learn a subject or subjects through two languages, so that one is EDUCATED to think, read and write across the curriculum, in both tongues. In many schools, a few subjects are taught through a second language but a truly 50:50 bilingual programme is somewhat rarer.
The best bilingual teachers will work together, respect each other’s approaches and appreciate that they have a duty to nurture both cultures and languages of the school, while also, in some cases, supporting a child’s development in their mother tongue, which may not be one of languages taught in school. A 50:50 dual language model of bilingual education, such as has evolved at this school, ensures that the children grow up to be “balanced bilinguals” with both languages enjoying an equal status in their lives. What is essential is that the stakeholders in the process, the children, parents and staff appreciate that it is more than simply LEARNING AND LIVING IN TWO LANGUAGES but it also involves LEARNING ABOUT AND BELONGING TO TWO CULTURES. The best bilingual education prepares children to access two cultures as well as two higher education possibilities. Later bilinguals who come to reading in their second language after they have mastered reading in L1 can apply their knowledge of reading and transfer their skills. However, Jim Cummins, who has studied bilingual education for many years, has said that he thinks the order of acquisition of reading skills may be less significant than the quality of the teaching and the overall learning experience. Where the writing systems are similar, as with French and English, most children will find that reading skills in one language reinforce those learned in the other language. Where directionality and alphabet are different, as with Chinese and English, there will be fewer similarities but children still manage to operate both written systems and become literate in both. If a child has learned in two languages from school entry age, they should have had 5 or 6 years of dual language education by the time they are 11. This should mean that they have developed what Cummins calls CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) so they should be at similar stages of development and cognitive potential in both languages. CALP can take from 5-7 years to develop, whereas BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) may take less than 2 years. However, the quoted observation embedded in the question, may be true if one is measuring the child by French-designed and French–medium tests which may contain specific and unfamiliar items of vocabulary or which may require particular methods of calculation. Because the child has been spending 50% of their time learning about English vocabulary and learning 50% of their curriculum knowledge through English, the 11 year-old bilingual child may not yet have as wide a vocabulary range in French. However, the child has a great many transferable skills and is likely to out-perform the monolingual French child on linguistic agility tasks. It must also be remembered that the child probably has a wider cultural base and can already operate successfully in more than one language, across the curriculum. In Maths, where 50% of the Maths curriculum is learned through English, the bilingual child may not write out a calculation in a certain way or manage verbal mathematical problems as easily as a 100% Francophone student. However, they are likely to out-perform the monolingual child on cognitively challenging non-verbal reasoning tasks and in tasks which require convergent or divergent thinking. By the age of 18, most studies would suggest that students who are bilingual reflect higher standards of academic achievement than monolinguals.
As the above answer indicates, research evidence has consistently shown that most bilingual children have better communicative sensitivity, phonological and syntactic awareness and regularly out-perform monolinguals in standardised tests (Riccardielli (1992) reviewed bilingual research and found this to be true for 20 out of the 24 studies).
Some schools decide to “protect” children with specific learning difficulties, such as Dyslexia, and encourage them to follow a monolingual education. Whilst this seems to make logical sense, if a dyslexic child comes form a bicultural and biliterate family, should we really limit them to just one of their parents’ cultures? Yes, the dyslexic child will find it hard to process written language but how are we to know which language and culture will offer the child the better future? Instead, parents and teachers need to look for ways to help the child develop reading strategies which will benefit them in both languages. Instead of limiting the child’s options, we need to ensure there is adequate special needs support, suitable resources and appropriate guidance for parents, in both languages and from both teachers.
Vygotsky, the Russian psychologist, proposed that learning that one’s Mother Tongue was only one arbitrary system out of several gave bilingual children a unique linguistic awareness. This then would make learning subsequent language learning easier.
Children soon come to understand that different people speak different languages to different people and even in particular places. They learn to code switch accordingly. For example, the Russian grandmother speaks Russian but no English. The father speaks English but no Russian, so the family mostly uses French at home, because the family is living in France. When Russian, English or French is used it is for a real reason. If, however, the third language is being introduced for its own sake, without any natural context, it may be sensible to wait until the child has mastered literacy in the first two languages and has clearly understood them as systems. A third system can then be added, using the child’s already well-developed meta-linguistic awareness. The most enjoyable and meaningful way to introduce language to children is to use the same approaches as are used by mothers when they teach their mother tongue. For example, children learn vocabulary and syntax most effectively through picture books, stories, rhymes, guessing games, nonsense and word play and role play. Stephen Krashen suggested that the most useful resource for parents to use with bilingual children was books; books in the two (or more) languages the children are learning to speak; books which the parents can share with their children. By using her Mother Tongue, a mother passes on more than just a language. There will always be a naturalness and intimacy connected with this Mother Tongue. Arnberg recommends that a bilingual couple speak to the children, where possible, in their own language. This will hopefully lead to the child benefiting from early and balanced bilingualism. In the early years, the child would probably prefer the mother to speak only one language to the child itself. David Crystal points out how annoyed children can become when a parent speaks to the child in a different language from the usual ones used in exchanges. Languages can be picked up again wherever there is a purpose and a need to communicate. The father could suggest that he will use his Mother Tongue on certain days of the week and he will try to teach the family a few phrases and words. On those nights, pictures books will be read (and simultaneously translated by the father, if necessary!) in his language. Gradually, the children will become sensitised to the sounds of his language and begin to learn how to say a few expressions. This can all be built up by visiting relatives in his country of origin and by introducing the written language once the child is a confident reader and writer in the other two languages . | 
