Growing Up Bilingual
By: Meredith Price, Adapted from: The Jerusalem Post
http://meredithprice.com/articles/foundintranslation.html
1. Yarden Dvir, like many children in Israel, is growing up in a bilingual home, where two
languages are spoken interchangeably. A few years ago, it seemed odd to her that some
people in Israel only speak Hebrew, while her family speaks both Hebrew and English.
"When our daughter Yarden spoke to her Israeli cousins in English, she didn't realize that
they wouldn't understand her," explains her mother. Now, at the age of nearly four and a half,
Yarden has learned how to navigate between the languages and fully understands when to
speak Hebrew and when to speak English. And she is not alone. After the age of two, most
bilingual children are capable not only of clearly distinguishing between their two languages,
but also of knowing who speaks what languages and under what circumstances.
2. The experts unanimously agree that keeping things in a multilingual home as natural as
possible is the best way for children to acquire language. "People should raise their children
how they feel comfortable," advises Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem, a language-acquisition
specialist and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University. Perhaps one reason why parents are so
concerned about using more than one language at home is because for many years,
bilinguals were considered to be at a disadvantage rather than at an advantage.
3. In the past, unfounded urban legends about bilinguals being confused, slow to speak and
weaker in both languages than monolinguals were widely circulated. Today, thanks to
innovative research and migration trends, things are changing. Over the past 10 years,
serious linguistic studies have revealed that many bilingual phenomena, such as mixing
languages, are not random or unusual. Every multilingual family is accustomed to hearing a
mixture of languages. Things like "that's my sefer" or "ani rotsa olives" or "not on the
shulhan!" are commonplace in Hebrew-English bilingual households, and the same
mishmashes also appear in other language combinations. When she was younger, Yarden
Dvir even made up a word of her own using a combination of both languages. "Chickicolet"
was her personal name for both a chicken and a tarnegolet.
4. Aside from creating humor, recent studies have shown that children who speak more than
one language from an early age also show cognitive advantages over monolinguals in
problem-solving tasks. These advantages seem to relate to the fact that bilinguals have
different ways of analyzing problems and extra faculties for storing concepts. Prof. Joel
Walters, the chair of the English Department at Bar-Ilan University, recently published a book
entitled Bilingualism: The Sociopragmatic-Psycholinguistic Interface (2005), in which he
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reviews some of the phenomena that make bilinguals cognitively unique. "For a bilingual,
speaking in two languages and flipping between them is as easy and natural as breathing,"
writes Walters.
5. So while bilinguals do differ from monolinguals, for many families in Israel, being different
is a good thing. "My children are not afraid of situations in which they don't know the
language since they have a lot of cognitive flexibility and adapt easily to multilingual
situations," says Susie Russak, the coordinator for the support services in English at Beit
Berl College and the mother of three bilingual children.
6. Having two languages is also closely tied to identity and family life. Often, bilingual
children need their second language to communicate with close family members who either
live in Israel but do not speak Hebrew, or who live abroad. "We chose to speak to our girls in
English so that they can communicate with their grandparents who only speak English," says
Efrat Gold, a physiotherapist from Ra'anana who is raising two bilingual daughters. "They
understood from an early age that they could only speak English to their grandparents and
have never had any trouble with confusion."
7. But raising bilingual children also involves challenges. Because social identity is closely
linked to language, children sometimes rebel against anything that makes them different from
their peers, including the use of another language. If their home language, be it English,
Russian, German, Arabic or something else, differs from the dominant language of society,
they might decide that the language of their peers is more important for social adjustment.
Parents should be prepared to deal with those situations without being bullied into either
relinquishing their own language by language clinicians or forcing their children to use only
one language. Until three months ago, Yair Geri, the four-and-a-half-year-old son of Danielle
and Dan Geri, spoke mostly English to his bilingual mother. He recently decided to speak
Hebrew to her too. "I got good advice from Jack Moore, the director of his kindergarten (Kids'
Gan in Ra'anana) about how to handle this change," explains Geri. "When I tried to force Yair
to speak English, he rebelled, but now that I let him express himself in whatever language
comes easier, he has naturally gone back to using more English."
8. One little Japanese boy who also attends Kids' Gan refused to respond to a Japanese
greeting. "That's for my mother," he said emphatically, hands on hips and brow furrowed. For
him, Japanese is not acceptable in the public domain. It is a special tongue he only uses with
his mother. It is important to accept what children choose to do with their language because
it relates closely to their feelings and sense of identity.
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9. One additional challenge for bilingual children arises when difficulties with language do
occur. Many speech therapists, who are trained to deal with monolingual difficulties, do not
consider the fact that bilinguals with language problems need to be treated differently.
Armon-Lotem claims that there are two types of speech therapists in Israel: those who
recommend waiting out a problem and those who diagnose the problem but give the wrong
advice, such as foregoing one of the languages.
10. Although many language clinicians in Israel recommend dropping one language if
bilinguals encounter problems, according to Armon-Lotem, the more exposure to the two
languages, the better. "If a child has problems with their first language, they will most likely
also have problems with their second language," she explains. "The problems are underlying
and are not caused by the bilingualism. If problems exist anyway, more exposure can only
help and not hurt." The linguistics department at Bar-Ilan University is currently conducting a
study of bilingual children with language impairments to try to prove that their language
difficulties are not connected to the fact that they speak more than one language. "For many
years, it was assumed that problems are caused by bilingualism. We are trying to prove that
this is not the case and that bilinguals with language problems are not at risk because of their
bilingualism," explains Armon-Lotem.
11. So what can parents who are raising bilingual children do to improve their children's
language other than speak to them? Start as early as possible, keep things natural and
provide an exciting learning atmosphere. "Try to maintain a language-rich environment with
lots of stimuli like songs, films, literature, videos and conversations," recommends Russak,
who is also the author of a series of books aimed at helping people with language difficulties.
At the same time, the second language needs to be presented as more than a song or a
rhyme. In order to ensure successful language acquisition, children need to be exposed to it
in a setting where it will be natural and spontaneous to speak and use the language.
12. As each situation is unique, no general rules and regulations apply to everyone for
raising bilingual children. Some linguists recommend the "one parent-one language"
approach to avoid confusing the child. However, it has not been proven that mixing
languages at home creates any more problems for the bilingual child than strictly separating
each language. And if the division between languages is unnatural, it might do more harm
than good. So forget trying to stop children from saying, "I want mitz" or "buba is hurt." Mixed
speech is part of a natural process. At the end of the day, raising bilingual children might be
more demanding than raising monolingual children, but the multilingual families in Israel
seem to unanimously agree that the challenges are well worth meeting.
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Exercises adapted from Dr. Zhanna Burstein
Growing Up Bilingual – Exercises
I.
Pre-reading
1. In many Israeli families, children grow up speaking more than one language. As a result, you
can hear the following sentences:
"Ima, I want more
halav."
"Daddy, keep going eize keif!"
"Xaval that this pizza is
so small!"
Let's play tofeset!
2. Sometimes the kids are even more creative and their language becomes quite difficult to
understand1. Can you guess what the following sentences mean?
a. Let me saper you the sipur.
b. I am chaleking the cake to all the yeladim.
c. I am omering you!
d. Ani poxedet me-wolfim.
e. Hi hekicka oti.
f. Na’ama, muzi!
g. Brushti et ha teeth!
3. As a parent, what would you say to your child if she/he were mixing languages? Fill in the cartoons
with what you would say.
4. In the families below, children grow up speaking both English and Hebrew. Look at
how different parents deal with the issue of language mixing.
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Sentences (a-d) are from observations by: Miriam Epstein (a,b), Dr. Carmit Altman (c), Efrat harel
(d); sentences (e), (h) are from research data collected by Dr. S. Armon-Lotem; sentences (f), (g) are
from Prof. Joel Walters' book Bilingualism:The Sociopragmatic-Psycholinguistic Interface (2005).
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Which of these approaches do you agree with?
1. "We never discuss the issue of
which language to use. Everyone
speaks whatever language comes
naturally."
4. "If you speak only English today,
I'll buy you an ice-cream, OK dear?"
2. "I will speak to you in English,
but you can use any language
you want."
3. "Honey, please try to answer
me in English if you can."
5. "Let's make a deal – you can
speak any language you want, but
don't use them both at the same
time."
6. "Monica, we've decided that
you will speak only English to our
daughter and I will speak only
Hebrew. Please, don't forget this!"
7. "I insist that you speak only English
8. "If you talk to me in 'Hebrish'
at home. It's our family language!"
again, I won't answer you!"
9. "Don't you dare mix languages
in my presence!"
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II. Comprehension Questions
1. Yarden Dvir is mentioned in paragraph 1 as an example of a
______________________________ (ONE WORD) child. This means that she can
____________________________________________________________________.
2. Answer these questions based on paragraphs 2-3.
a. Why do many parents worry about using two (or more) languages with their
children? (Complete the sentence.)
Because they believe that _______________________________________________
b. Do the experts agree with the view of these parents? YES / NO
Quote from the text to support your answer.
Par. #: _________
Quote: ______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
c. Does the writer agree with the view of these parents? YES / NO
Which words from the text helped you answer?
________________________________________ (2-3 words)
3. a. (par.3) "…things are changing". (Complete the following sentence to explain the change.)
In contrast to past beliefs, today bilingual children are not viewed as _____________
____________________________________________________________________
b. Which two factors contributed to this change?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
4. a. "That's my sefer" and "chickicolet" are examples of ______________________________.
b. What does the writer think about this phenomenon?
a. It is a negative outcome of confusing Hebrew and English
b. It is a random and unusual bilingual phenomenon
c. It is a widespread and typical way of using two languages
d. It is not good to get accustomed to such phrases
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5. Which positive aspect of bilingualism is discussed in paragraph 4? (Complete the sentence.)
Bilinguals may be better at ____________________________ than monolinguals
because they are able to _____________________________________ in a unique
way and they have additional ____________________________________________.
6. What may help bilingual children deal with situations where people don’t speak their
languages? __________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
7. In paragraph 7 the writer says: "But raising bilingual children also involves challenges."
Skim paragraphs 7-9 to find two challenges related to language.
a. __________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________
8. a. For English- and Russian-speaking children growing up in lsrael, what is "the
language of their peers" (par. 7)? ____________________________
b. Why do they prefer to speak this language?
Because it helps their ___________________________________________________
9. The writer mentions several ways of dealing with the first challenge of bilingualism
(par. 7). Two of these approaches seem inappropriate, while the third one is
recommended. Fill in the table with the relevant information.
Ways of Dealing with Challenge 1
Inappropriate Approaches
The Recommended Approach
10. Which two examples show why the recommended approach is preferable?
________________________________
________________________________
11. Why don’t many speech therapists treat the language problems of bilingual
children appropriately?
______________________________________________________________
_____
12. The writer mentions several ways of dealing with the second challenge of bilingualism
(par. 9-10). Two of these approaches seem inappropriate, while the third one is
recommended. Fill in the table with the relevant information.
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Ways of Dealing with Challenge 2
Inappropriate Approaches
The Recommended Approach
13. According to the Bar-Ilan researchers, what is the main cause of bilingual
children's language difficulties?
a. Too much exposure to each language
b. Mixing two different languages together
c. Some underlying language problem
d. Impairment in their second language
14. (Paragraphs 11-12) Below are suggested ways of raising bilingual children.
Which of them, according to the writer, will ensure successful language
development?
(Circle all of the correct answers).
a. introducing the "one parent-one language" approach
b. using stimulating learning activities
c. preventing children from mixing languages at home
d. creating conditions for natural language use
e. creating natural ways of separating the languages
f. demanding that children become monolingual
g. allowing children to use both languages simultaneously
15. a. Which approach does the writer see as more problematic – mixing
languages or
separating them? ________________________________
b. What is the main criticism of this approach? It is not
________________________
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III. Post-Reading
1. Both Yoni's parents are Russian speakers. His parents always spoke Russian
to him at home, while in daycare he was exposed to Hebrew. When Yoni had
problems in acquiring both languages, the worried parents turned to a speech
therapist. The expert explained that Yoni was confused by exposure to more
than one language and advised them to speak only one language to their
child. Despite their imperfect and heavily accented Hebrew, the parents
decided to make it their home language and stopped speaking Russian to
Yoni altogether.
a) According to the information in the article, was this decision justified?
Explain.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b) In your opinion, how did this decision affect Yoni's linguistic development?
How did it affect his Hebrew / his Russian?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. In groups, discuss the advantages of being bilingual/monolingual.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Bilingualism
Monolingualism
3. How can Israeli parents ensure that their children learn English successfully?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
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Growing Up Bilingual – Vocabulary
Find and underline the following words in the text.
Word
Also in
par. #
Paragraph 1
1. bilingual (adj., n.)
bilingualism (n.)
monolingual
multilingual
Word
Also in
par. #
Paragraph 5
2-12
4, 10
12. flexibility (n.)
flexible (adj.)
3,4,5,9,12
2,3,5,12
13. adapt (v.)
adaptation (n.)
2. odd (adj.)
3. distinguish (v.)
Paragraph 7
14. peer (n.)
Paragraph 2
4. unanimously (adv.)
unanimous (adj.)
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15. adjustment (n.)
adjust (v.)
16. handle (v., n.)
= to deal with
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5. acquire (v.)
acquisition (n.)
6. consider (v.)
Paragraph 8
9
7. disadvantage (n.)
17. respond (v.)
response (n.)
Paragraph 9
18. challenge (n., v.)
challenging (adj.)
advantage (n.)
12
Paragraph 3
8. accustomed to (adj.)
Paragraph 10
19. exposure (n.)
exposed (v, adj)
11
Paragraph 4
9. faculty (n.)
Paragraph 11
10. concept (n.)
20. stimuli (n., plural)
stimulus (n., singular)
stimulate (v.)
11. unique (adj.)
12
Paragraph 12
21. approach (n., v.)
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Exercise 1: Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the words from the
above list.
1. Which two words from the list can be synonyms?
____________________ and _______________________
2. How would you describe working hours which are not fixed and can be easily
changed? ____________________________
3. When you get used to waking up early, you become __________________________
to it.
4. a) What kind of behavior would you consider odd?
___________________________________________________________________
_______
b) What is unique about you?
_________________________________________________
c) What could be done to stimulate our country's economic development?
______________________________________________________________________
______
5. Continue the following series:
a) to deal with / to cope with / ____________________
b) idea / notion / _______________________
Exercise 2: Fill in the blanks with the following words. One word is used twice.
bilingual
acquired
distinguish
approach
odd
unanimously
adapt
challenge
peers
respond
expose
considered
During her BA studies, Racheli was required to take two extra courses in English. This
was a big 1____________________ for her as she had not studied English since high
school. Racheli worked very hard reading articles, memorizing words, and answering
questions. After she 2____________________ her long-awaited exemption (ptor),
Racheli decided that with her children, she would take a different
3_______________________.
When her son Shay was born, Racheli hired an English-speaking nanny in order to
4_____________________ him to natural English speech. She was happy to see that
the child quickly learned to 5____________________ between the two languages, and
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understood that he should 6____________________ to his nanny in English and to his
parents in Hebrew.
Racheli then arranged for him to attend a kindergarten for
7_____________________ children. She also encouraged Shay to play with his
English-speaking 8__________________ and invite them to their house. She even
9_____________________ sending him to the USA for a few months, but her
husband disagreed, arguing that it would be difficult for Shay to
10_____________________ to the new country.
Although Racheli's family at first 11___________________ her actions
12_________________, today they 13_____________________ agree that Shay will not
need to take an additional English course at the university.
Exercise 3: Words with Multiple Meanings
The following words may have different meanings. Use your dictionary to identify the
word's meaning in each of the following situations. Write the meaning down in
English/Hebrew.
1. odd
a. Her unusual way of dressing seems quite odd to me.
_________________
b. 3, 25 and 289 are all odd numbers. ______________________
Which of the above meanings was used in the text?
a / b (circle
one)
2. faculty
a. People who live in the jungle have a highly developed faculty of sight.
_______________________
b. Jane was accepted as a student at the Faculty of Foreign Languages.
_______________________
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Which of the above meanings was used in the text?
a / b (circle
one)
3. handle
a. The situation in the classroom is not easy to handle.
__________________
b. To open the door, please press the handle. __________________
Which of the above meanings was used in the text?
a / b (circle
one)
4. consider
“Consider” has several meanings: ‫ להתחשב‬,‫ להחשיב‬,‫לחשוב‬. Write the correct
meaning next to each sentence.
a. Everyone considers Marian one of the most successful female managers in the
country. _________________________
b. You must learn to consider other people's feelings. ______________________
c. I am considering buying a new car. _________________________
*Note that more than one meaning was used in the text (par. 2 and 9).
Exercise 4: Easily Confused Words
1. A. Adopt / Adapt
When you ______________ someone or something, you make it your own.
For instance, if you _________________ a dog, you take it to live with you at your
house. You can also _______________ an idea or an attitude, which means you
borrow it from someone and start using it as your own.
However, when you ____________________ to a new environment (such as a
new school or country), you change yourself in order to match or fit it, i.e. you
adjust to it.
B. Which of the above words is used in the article?
_____________
In what situation is the word used?
______________________________________________________________
2. A. The word 'advantage' can be used in the following expressions:
(1) to have an advantage (over somebody)
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(2) to take advantage (of somebody)
When you are in a better position than other people, you
______________________ _____________________ over them.
However, when someone ____________________________________ of
people, he treats them unfairly and uses them for his own benefit.
B. Which of the above meanings is used in the article? ___________
C. Use the above expressions in sentences of your own.
(1)
____________________________________________________________
(2)
____________________________________________________________
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