Expat Mums Blog

Raising your children bilingually: A Carnival

Bringing up children bilingually raises all sorts of issues: Where do you speak which language? Will learning 2 languages simultaneously cause children to fall behind in language development? How can you encourage the child to speak the 'weaker' language? What happens when your children can speak a language that you can't?

Mummy Do That (a German living in Glasgow, Scotland) is hosting a carnival packed full of posts from people bringing up children who are learning to speak two (or more) languages. She has pulled together a dozen posts about all sorts of aspects of having bilingual children in her post It's A Carnival! Raising Children Bilingually.

This is the first of a series of carnivals gathering together posts from people raising children bilingually which provides a unique opportunity to read about the real life experiences of parents with kids who can (or can't!) speak more than one language.

If you would like to contribute to further carnivals then please visit bilingualforfun to see further information.

Bilingualism Carnival on August 31st at Mummy Do That!

Cubling is being brought up bilingually. This is at time hilarious. Her general language development is a bit behind that of what's considered averaged, but she's doing great with the two languages, more than making up for it. She has very creative ways of communicating with few words and simple grammar/syntax. Her word order is odd, and not sure if this is due to the German sub clause rule of putting verbs to the end.

Anyway, I love listening to her words, figuring out what she means, and continue to be amazed by her knowledge of language in general. For instance, she usually asks me questions in English (I've always believed that it's important to encourage any utterance, and never insisted on her speaking German to me) if I don't answer her immediately, she'll repeat it in German. When friends of ours visited, who have an almost 3 year old growing up with German / English in Germany, she switched to German to communicate with him, clearly realising that this was his stronger language.

Best of the expat mums blogging carnival

Being a parent is hard. Doing it in another country, well that's a whole new ball game. One thing that does make a difference though is knowing that other expats are experiencing the same thing. So, bought together here is a collection of some of the best expat Mummy (and Daddy) blogs out there, to share their thoughts on aspects of expat life.

Geeky Mummy over at the Hair Dog Chronicles wonders about how Americanized she has become since moving to the US in 1996 in Supersize Us.

Cafe Bebe misses the 4th July celebrations now she is living in England and remembers some of her childhood ones in My Childhood at Sand Lake.

Best of the expat mums blogging carnival

Being a parent is hard. Then, in the spirit of adventure, job hunting or reasons that you can't quite remember you decide to uproot, leave behind all that you know and go to another country, adding a whole new dimension to your parenting. Being a parent away from home brings a whole host of different issues, joys and amusements, many of which are probably best chalked up to experience but some are thrillingly exciting, doubly so when experienced with your kids.

We thought it was time to highlight some of the best posts from expat parents, collecting together a good group of posts about the unique experiences and challenges of being an expat mum.

The Expat Mums Blog is for expat mMums all over the world. If you have something to say or would like to contribute please let us know at expatmumsblog at gmail dot com. We'd love to hear from you.

Best of the Mommy Bloggers Carnival

It's carnival time and I'm indulging in my "mommy" side. Is there a difference between mums and moms? I'm both. Apart from the accents and a preference for Cadbury's over Hershey's -- I'm happy to report there are more similarities than differences.

The "best of" mommy carnival highlights the best posts from the mommy blogger community from the past month. So grab a coffee, sit back and have a read... (it's better than TV).

Minnemom points us to some very good information about supporting parents in public when children are being, um, difficult.

It's sex education month for Tangerine Times son's class, and Myrna shares the news: there's a baby in the house!