(If you want to know who won the Wii and the three copies of Boogie, keep reading!)

From the reviews we’ve seen so far for The Bilingual Edge, this book has been nothing short of inspiring for our parent bloggers. Some of them (or their spouses) came from bilingual families, some acquired fluency on their own, and some never made it past Spanish II. But they all share the same desire to expose their children to a second language, for a variety of reasons:

• “I think learning a language makes kids appreciate other cultures. Plus, I don’t want my kids to have the same struggle I did, postponing their first experience with another language until high school.”
• “[My husband] promised me that he was committed to helping our children learn the language that connects them to their heritage, the part of them that is him.”
• “…the child care center we chose for her was run by a Spanish-speaking family, staffed mostly by Spanish-speaking teachers and attended by Spanish-speaking children. While we didn’t select the center specifically for language learning, I always believed it was a pretty nice fringe benefit.”
• “…learning more than one language at an early age is a good thing. Children benefit from academic, social, cultural and intellectual advantages that come with learning an additional language.”

While the title may give the impression that authors Kendall King and Alison Mackey (both PhD linguistics professors at Georgetown University and both parents) see bilingualism as “an edge against other children“, that is certainly not the focus of the book, nor is it a primary reason given for teaching children another language. Instead, the authors and our bloggers are very much on the same page where it comes to their reasons. Additionally, one blogger “found it fascinating to learn that people with advanced knowledge of more than one language seem to be more creative….Something about knowing more than one language seems to make children both more creative and what researchers describe as more mentally flexible.”

As for when a second language should be learned, “King and Mackey, while agreeing that young children can learn two or three languages easily and simultaneously, also stress that it’s never too late for a child—or an adult—to learn a new language. Younger children have the advantage of discerning different sounds more easily, and they aren’t afraid to make mistakes when they talk. But older children can still become very proficient, provided they receive explicit instruction (vs. the osmosis approach you might take with a baby or toddler) and lots of encouragement.” Additionally, the authors soundly debunk the ideas that teaching children two languages at once confuses them - “The book points to decades of carefully conducted research studies point to the fact that young children distinguish early on between their two languages.” - and causes speech delays - “He knows who is speaking what and when and why, and even more importantly, he now knows what is being said. He completely gets both languages. He’ll speak them when he’s ready.”

Now to the fun part - all of the ways in which parents can effectively teach their children a second language. Here’s a hint: “Dora no es buen profesor.” The authors “emphasize that learning a new language must be fun. Sing songs, read books, or count in another language each time you walk up the stairs,” and present research that shows “babies and young children don’t learn language through television; instead, they respond to and learn the most from interaction with other humans.” Many of our reviewers wrote of their own specific plans to integrate a second language into their children’s regular routine:

• “Simply reading books or singing songs in Spanish regularly will help, as will trying to include more Spanish in our conversations (maybe by speaking only Spanish during dinner once a week, for example).”
• “I tried this by saying uno, dos, tres before I gave my boys a big giant push on the swings. They were counting to three in Spanish after the third time. I’m not even sure they know how to count to three in English. The words stuck with them too. The next time we went to the park they said, Let’s do ‘uno, dos, tres’.”
• “[My husband] and I only speak English yet we want to incorporate French into our home…ideas that resonate with young children and are easy for parents like [us], who struggle with anything more advanced than Bonjour! Je suis un anana. (Hello! I am a pineapple.)“
• “We will be having a side of Spanish with our pizza every Friday. We will also add one Spanish book to the lineup each night before bed and start using some common phrases in Spanish. Not only that, I have asked Yaya and Papa to start using Spanish exclusively. This will take time, but they have already started. They are an invaluable resource and my children are lucky to have them.”

The most inspiring story came from a blogger who was raised in a multilingual family, yet struggled through her years of language courses:

“Before reading The Bilingual Edge I knew I wanted my daughter to learn another language, or five, but I had no idea where to begin. I found myself incredibly confused, frustrated and futile. I even put off reading this book for fear that it would throw me off more. I’m so glad I did read it because it has not only clarified my questions but started in-depth discussions with my family and husband about which language we are choosing, why and how we will now go about it. It’s like the weight from my extreme parenting has been taken away. I’m a planner and my inner organizational freak now has a plan for her present age, her future development with French, and reasoning behind it.”

She went on to conclude that reading The Bilingual Edge “re-emphasized how important it is to me to pass on this part of our family’s heritage and use it every day. It is something special once again and now no longer something I’m afraid to use.”

We have several more blogger reviews coming up - please refer to the schedule below and check back for the Round-Up Review here on PBN.

Wednesday 8/15 - Quarter Rest

Thursday 8/16 - Soul Gardening

Friday 8/17 - PunditMom and Her Bad Mother

Monday 8/20 - Mom to the Screaming Masses

Tuesday 8/21 - Seabird Chronicles

Wednesday 8/22 - Mama Drama Stephanie

Friday 8/24 - Karianna

Monday 8/28 - Round-Up Review on PBN

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Congratulations to the winners from last Friday’s Blog Blast - Let’s Boogie While We Blast!

Jodifur won the Wii and a copy of the new game, Boogie.

Meta-Dad, Working Momma 24/7, and It’s My Life all won a copy of Boogie too!