IMGP9277 250x166 Raising Bilingual Children in Stavanger – A Personal Experience
Raising a bilingual child has some challenges. It requires patience, perseverance and hard work. But there are also some rewarding factors associated with children learning more than one language simultaneously. Here are some pointers from my experience of raising children to be bilingual.

Research all the options on if you wish for your child to be bilingual
When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, I had to think about how my child would communicate. I did some research and contacted several people, including language experts, psychologists, and university researchers. I got different opinions, but my husband and I decided to try the one-parent one language method. This was our personal choice.

Decide how you want to communicate with your child from the start
It made sense to me that my children, being bicultural, would grow up to be bilingual. They are Norwegian, and they are Australian. They need to communicate with both their Norwegian and Australian relatives. Therefore, it was important for me to communicate with my children in English right from the start. It was equally important for my husband to talk with our children in Norwegian.

Stick to your decision – don’t let criticism get to you
Hear what others have to say but stick to your guns. Don’t let criticism get to you. I’ve been criticized
for speaking to my child in my mother tongue for various reasons, including:
• The children are Norwegian and therefore I must speak to them in Norwegian only. English is something they can learn later when they are at school.
• The children will be confused with the different languages.
• Learning more than one language at such an early stage of language and development will slow them down and impede on their speech.
However, I decided to continue speaking only in my mother tongue to my son. There is enough research and real-life evidence that backs up the one-parent one-language method.

Be patient with your children
My son picked up Norwegian quickly through osmosis (daycare, society, my husband’s family, etc), which was great. I was thrilled about that. However, he refused to speak in English to me for quite some time. I persisted and continued to teach my son English. It was important for me to be very clear and speak in short sentences at the start of his language development.

I spent a lot of time doing various activities with my son, including:
• Taking my son on outings and explaining to him about the environment around us (eg. the farm, the museum, the airport, the children’s library, etc).
• Reading books to him in English. The Stavanger Children’s Library has a nice selection of children’s books in different languages.
• Exposing him to educational children’s programs and suitable, age-appropriate children’s cartoons and movies in English.
• Teaching children’s songs in English and getting him involved in English singing and/or activity groups.
My husband and my parents-in-law spent time doing the same activities in Norwegian with my son. I felt this was a great way to help my son feel comfortable with learning both languages.

Enjoy each milestone
I still remember the moment my boy decided to make use of both languages instead of relying on just the one language. He was 3.5 years old when a flood of English words and sentences I’d never heard him say were let loose. Children’s minds are amazing. They can store so much and suddenly, when they feel it is “right” for them, they will speak out.

My boy is four years old now and he can switch from Norwegian to English, back and forth, and he knows the difference between the two languages. He knows to speak English to people who prefer to speak English and Norwegian to people who prefer to speak Norwegian.

Know what’s available for your children
It is important to know what resources are available for you when teaching your child to be bilingual. I did not just rely on online resources, but I also contacted various people, including my local kommune and the Norwegian education department.

Julie Monsen med teddy fra NRK 550x310 Raising Bilingual Children in Stavanger – A Personal Experience

I remember getting in contact with Julie Monsen, of Learning English with Teddy, who gave some
great advice on raising bilingual children. She has years of experience in this field and has worked with some of the daycares in Norway.

There are at least two documents that the Norwegian government produced regarding bilingual children. Both are useful in understanding what your child’s entitlements are for language development. More information on the documents:
• Statstilskudd til drift av barnehager – it features information about the government’s subsidy for enhancing language understanding among minority language children at daycare.
• Children in Multilingual Families – this document has information about a child’s entitlements to language development support both at daycare and in school.

Both these documents gave me a better understanding of what can be made available at daycare
and school in terms of language learning support.

Language support at daycare
The Norwegian government can, in some instances, provide some kind of assistance or subsidy for minority language children of preschool age. The target group for the subsidy is minority language children of preschool age. Both parents of the child must have a mother tongue other than English, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish or Sami.

My son does not have the right for government assistance to develop his English skills at daycare (barnehage). This is because: a) English is not a minority language and b) my husband is Norwegian (my son is automatically a Norwegian citizen and Norwegian is considered as his native language when one parent is Norwegian).

Language support at school
I also spoke with my local kommune who informed me that when my son is in school, he has the right to receive mother tongue teaching, bilingual technical training, or both. There is also the option of sending my son to an international school if I wish (eg. the British International School of Stavanger and the International School of Stavanger).

Useful Links on Bilingualism
Here are some useful links on bilingualism and children in general:
How to Raise Bilingual Children
Bringing up a bilingual baby
Babies raised in a bilingual home show enhanced cognitive control
The Roots Of Bilingualism In Newborns
Of Two Minds
Second language changes the way bilinguals read in their native tongue

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About Estelle Pettersen

Estelle is an Australian who has been living in Norway since June 2006. She is married to a Norwegian and has two children. She has worked in journalism, integrated marketing communications, and as a senior strategy consultant in both the public and private sectors. Estelle loves reading, writing, history, travelling and spending time with her family. She has written published material resulting from her studies (MBA) and her work. She wants to keep writing, learn new things, and improve her Norwegian skills.