Is Bilingual Homeschool Possible ?

Indonesian

Bilingual homeschool page is for you who are like us, bilingual and homeschool. On this page I'll talk about :

• What it is
• Why bilingual ?
• Why I do it
• What it allows me
• What other people might say
• What the research say

What is Bilingual Homeschool ?

Bilingual or bilingualism is the ability to speak, communicate, and understand 2 languages. It is not to be confused with biliteracy, which is the ability to read and write in 2 languages.

It is the term I use for my situation. I homeschool my children and we’re bilingual.

Why bilingual ?

Both my husband and I are not native English speaker although we’ve been bilingual for more than 15 years now. We speak Indonesian at home and we want our children to be bilingual. This is my personal reason.

Why do people in general want to be bilingual ? I don’t know for sure, but I guess if they’re in a situation like me, that’s probably their reason too.

Plus there are advantages of being bilingual :
• Being bilingual boost brain power
• Bilingualism keeps the mind young
• Bilinguals have more job opportunities
• Bilinguals are more creative and better at solving complex problems
• Bilingual have the ability to communicate with more people and read more literature

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Why bilingual homeschool?

I wrote my answers to the question of why homeschool . So why bilingual homeschool ? When I first decided to homeschool my kids, I didn’t realize our ‘special’ situation. Then one day when we were learning the alphabet, I tried to teach my son to read. I got confused and realized that I don’t know how to teach reading in English. I learned English only after I knew how to read. How is it going to be for our kids ? Can we do bilingual homeschool ?

Fortunately, my kids are still very young so I don’t really have to start teaching them to read (AND he doesn’t want to start now either, he loves his alphabet but just wouldn’t do ‘reading’ just yet).

So back to the question, why bilingual homeschool ? Let me answer the question by giving the possible scenarios if I were to sent my kids to school.

• Children tend to be monolingual
Most (if not all) schools use only English as the language for instruction. Young children especially, will pick up English very quickly. On the other hand, they also tend to loose their 1st language, the language use at home before they enter school, unless parents provide enough exposure to the 1st language. This requires more than just using the 1st language at home. It needs to be more than just parents. Children need friends and community that use the 1st language actively.

Since my 1st language is Indonesian (unlike Spanish or Chinese that is used by a lot of people), it would be difficult for me to provide enough exposure to balance the English exposure. A lot of our friends children has become or are in the process of becoming monolingual, with their children speaking only in English. Some have become passive bilingual, understanding both languages but speaking only in English.

• Children may become 'socially disadvantaged'
Non-English speaking children may have difficulties expressing themselves in school, especially if they haven't been exposed to the 2nd language before. They may become 'socially disadvantaged' since they can't get along with their peers.

Of course, this vary widely depending on the children's characters and personality. But for myself, I have a super shy kid and he would just speak to all his friends in his 1st language and I would see how dissappointed he becomes whenever the friends go away because they just couldn't understand him.

Fortunately, though, he was born here and has been exposed to both languages since birth. He knows and hears both languages everyday. So at other times when his friend's 1st language is not English either, they would immediately bond and at first use body language to communicate, and finally use English (amazing how kids figure things out).

• Children may lag behind their peers in reading
We must differentiate between bilingual and biliteracy since both involves different skills. Children learn oral languages first, gaining knowledge and understanding of thousands of words (thru age 8). This precedes reading development and when they first read, the text they read are already below the level of their own oral language development. So they are focusing on interpreting the printed. Once they can read, they focus more on understanding the words since by this time (1-2nd grade) their reading level begins to reach the same level as their oral language development.

If a child who is not familiar with a 2nd language is taught to read in the 2nd language before he can read in the 1st language, he is going to have difficulties since his oral development in the 2nd language is not developed yet. In short, how is a child supposed to read something he doesn’t even understand ?

Special note : I believe the last 2 points above are more for children who grew up in a non-English speaking country and then move to an English speaking country. For those growing up with 2 languages, children are exposed to both languages at the same time and children are not usually confused. For these children, the problem is unless they have balanced exposure to both languages, they'd become monolingual.

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Bilingual Homeschool allows me :

• Keep my children bilingual
My kids will not go to school and hence will not be pressured to use English. I can continue talking to him and teaching him in our 1st language. I can make sure his oral language is developed properly in the 1st language.

• Kids will be proud of his/her identity
Some kids become embarrassed of their 1st language, embarrassed that their parents speak 'different' English. Bilingual homeschool would allow my kids to grow without feeling that they HAVE to speak English in order to fit in with their peers.

What other people might say about bilingual homeschool :

• Not enough English exposure
My kids will definitely have enough English exposure since we live in English speaking country. They'll hear it everywhere, from TV/radio, from the moment they step out of the house, the neighbors, friends.

This would also be true if children stay at home all the time (which is NOT what homeschooling is). Bilingual homeschool children still live in the neighborhood and should interact with the neighbors (hence English is used). Additionally, homeschool children participate in sports teams, are involved in their community or with their homeschool support group. Again, English is used.

In short, their 1st language will be use only at home and with people speaking the same language. English is used at all times outside home.

• Children won't be proficient in English (academic language, not social language)
Once a child can read in the 1st language, he/she can learn to read in the 2nd language. The ability to read is readily transferred to the 2nd language without the need to learn everything from the beginning.

Therefore, once my children can read in English, they'll be able to learn the academic language. Textbooks, living books. all other books available will be in English. Books on their 1st language maybe limited because of our situation.

There is also the option of a homeschool co-op program, or homeschool resource center, or whatever you call it, the part-time school, where they can interact with people in a 'school-like' situation, using the academic language.

• Their language development may be delayed
Research has shown that this is not true. For very young children, there may be 'silent' period when children would just listen but not speak. They do have more work and thinking to do, after all, it is more than a language they're learning, it is hard work. However, this doesn't mean that their language development is delayed.

What research says about bilingualism

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