I grew up in New York speaking Hebrew with my Israeli mother and at my day
school, Spanish with my Argentinean father and grandparents, and English
everywhere else. I enjoyed being able to talk to lots of people, but it wasn’t
until I became a developmental psychologist that I fully understood what a
wonderful gift my parents had given me.
Bilingualism has tremendous benefits, and not just when you are trying to find a bathroom in Tel-Aviv. Bilingual children are better at problem solving, planning, and self-control. A lifetime of bilingualism may even help delay the onset of dementia in old age.
I’ve always intended to give my child the gift of a second language that my parents gave me. However, it’s very difficult for one parent to teach his or her child more than one native language and the closest my husband comes to speaking a second language is his southern accent, so when I got pregnant I had to decide: would I teach my baby Hebrew or Spanish? Spanish is undoubtedly the more “useful” language with hundreds of millions of speakers worldwide, and finding Spanish learning resources for my son would be relatively easy. But I chose Hebrew because my son will have plenty of opportunities to learn Spanish later on, and, more importantly, because speaking Hebrew will give my son a lifelong connection to Israel, his family, and culture.
As I began my journey, I learned about research showing that children need to be exposed to a second language for at least 20% of their waking hours in order to become truly fluent (less than that and the child might learn some words or phrases but they probably won’t put together new sentences). So, if my son is awake for 10 hours per day, two of those hours should be spent listening to and speaking Hebrew. I admit this sounded daunting at first. Without Hebrew-speaking relatives or friends nearby, nor Jewish day schools in the Midwestern town where we live, how have I done this?
1. I made sure that my husband understood what I was doing and fully supported me. I work full-time so achieving two hours+ of Hebrew each day means that my son and I have to spend some time speaking Hebrew when his father is around. For example, when we sit down to dinner, I talk to my son in Hebrew while his father talks to him in English. This might sound like it would be really disruptive to family conversations, but it rarely is because, quite frankly, it’s pretty obvious what you are saying to your 2-year-old as he dumps his peas on the floor. Bonus: my husband has learned useful Hebrew phrases like “stop that!”
Bilingualism has tremendous benefits, and not just when you are trying to find a bathroom in Tel-Aviv. Bilingual children are better at problem solving, planning, and self-control. A lifetime of bilingualism may even help delay the onset of dementia in old age.
I’ve always intended to give my child the gift of a second language that my parents gave me. However, it’s very difficult for one parent to teach his or her child more than one native language and the closest my husband comes to speaking a second language is his southern accent, so when I got pregnant I had to decide: would I teach my baby Hebrew or Spanish? Spanish is undoubtedly the more “useful” language with hundreds of millions of speakers worldwide, and finding Spanish learning resources for my son would be relatively easy. But I chose Hebrew because my son will have plenty of opportunities to learn Spanish later on, and, more importantly, because speaking Hebrew will give my son a lifelong connection to Israel, his family, and culture.
As I began my journey, I learned about research showing that children need to be exposed to a second language for at least 20% of their waking hours in order to become truly fluent (less than that and the child might learn some words or phrases but they probably won’t put together new sentences). So, if my son is awake for 10 hours per day, two of those hours should be spent listening to and speaking Hebrew. I admit this sounded daunting at first. Without Hebrew-speaking relatives or friends nearby, nor Jewish day schools in the Midwestern town where we live, how have I done this?
1. I made sure that my husband understood what I was doing and fully supported me. I work full-time so achieving two hours+ of Hebrew each day means that my son and I have to spend some time speaking Hebrew when his father is around. For example, when we sit down to dinner, I talk to my son in Hebrew while his father talks to him in English. This might sound like it would be really disruptive to family conversations, but it rarely is because, quite frankly, it’s pretty obvious what you are saying to your 2-year-old as he dumps his peas on the floor. Bonus: my husband has learned useful Hebrew phrases like “stop that!”
No comments:
Post a Comment