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Bilingual children like Mohamed, who speaks English and Arabic, and Pablo, who speaks Spanish and English, learn both their languages by being exposed to different sources of language input, such as family members, teachers, peers and books. But how can you expose bilingual children to the best language input?

The first tip is to speak to children like Mohamed in both English and Arabic as much as possible, ideally on a daily basis…and since the first day of his life!

Mother: My son! 

Grand-father: Welcome!

Sometimes bilingual children like Mohamed may think that the language they speak at home is not as important as the language they speak at school; they may even be ashamed of speaking their home language outside of their house. 

Mohamed (In English): This is my painting.

So the second tip is that teachers and parents encourage and motivate Mohamed to learn and speak Arabic and make him and his classmates understand that no language is better than the others.

Teacher: Present it in Arabic

Mohamed (in Arabic): هذه لوحتي This is my painting!

Teacher: Your classmates should learn some Arabic.

 Teachers should encourage parents to speak their home language with their children and emphasise that there is absolutely no need to speak the majority language to them because they will learn it at school. 

Teacher: Parents should speak Arabic with their children.

Mohamed’s mother: Thank you.

By using their first language when talking to their children, parents will expose them to quality input, expressing a wide range of meaning and emotion with a native accent. 

The third tip is to encourage Pablo to read in both languages and read stories to him. If Pablo learns to read in Spanish, he will speak better Spanish …and vice versa! This is true for English and all other languages too.

The forth tip is to make sure that Pablo is exposed to different speakers and language sources (books, comics, films, television programmes...). A varied input is very important for his language development.

It is always best that Mohamed’s mother speaks to Mohamed in Arabic and let Mohamed speak his second language with native speakers.

Mohamed’s mother (in Arabic): Let's go home!

Mohamed (in Arabic): Okay!

 Non-native input is not quite as good for language learning as native input. However, if Mohamed sometimes listens to his mum while she’s speaking a language that isn’t Arabic, this will not be a problem for his language learning. 

Mohamed’s mother (in English): Do you want an icecream?

Mohamed (in English): Sure!

In conclusion, the secret is making sure that Mohamed and Pablo are frequently exposed to a good balance of both languages. A varied language experience, with different (ideally native!) speakers and in different contexts, gives the best results. It’s also just as important that children grow up in environments where all languages are promoted and children are encouraged to learn them while discovering their beauty and richness of meaning and sound.