Posted by Jeremiah on December 18, 2013
Parenting is a mixed bag of budgets and levity. When we can plan ahead of time, we do. We also get caught without umbrellas and survive as well.
At age 5, we decided to give our son’s forming mind the immersion exposure to become multilingual by enrolling him in a year-round public French immersion school.
He and his peers would have no English instruction until the second grade.
Daunting for two parents who don’t speak French? Yes.
Nervous? Absolutely.
Pivotal if he was going to have native pronunciation? Without a question.
You see, I wanted to give our son Jack the advantage in life that my parents gave me.
Speaking, reading and writing Spanish has kicked open doors… I’ve been hired because of it. I’ve earned and been given more opportunities to travel, to work, to love, to lead projects or earn promotions. As a blond haired blue eyed woman, my perfect Spanish pronunciation shifts the paradigm. People take notice.
When Jack’s first day of school arrived, I was relieved to find out that 80% of his classmates were in the same boat that we were.
My anxiety lifted and after one week, it was great.
We parents hosted weekend dinners and commiserated on the challenges and rewards of language education. We swapped YouTube tutorials, workbooks and DVDs we stumbled on. Most importantly, I was filled with a deep feeling of satisfaction because I knew that I was doing something special for his future.
Investing in schooling to have bilingual children makes sense to my family.
I encourage you to investigate if it works for yours as well.
And remember, if you don’t start at age 5 there’s nothing stopping your kids from becoming bilingual at age 15. In fact, there’s nothing stopping you either.
– Sara M.
