The basis for language skills and development is set at home.
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The world upside down is a fun (Dutch) song that explains what opposites are. With the help of this song, you can play all kinds of games at home to practice opposites.
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1. Set a good example: talk a lot to and with your child. When children hear language a lot, they get to know and learn many words and phrases.
2. Every child is unique. Children develop language in their own individual ways and at their own pace.
3. Go ahead and speak to your child right from birth. Playfully talking about the things you see and experience together will increase your child’s perception and vocabulary.
4. If your child uses a phrase or word not quite right yet, you can repeat it in the right form. Explicitly naming what a child does wrong can cause uncertainty and that’s a thing you want to avoid.
Using this basic rules, will you provide your child with a good basis for multi-language development.
1. Speak in your native language with your child. Your child will develop language correctly and you yourself are at ease.
2. Discuss with your partner or other housemates and family members who speaks in what language, and where and when that happens, so your child will know in which situation certain language is spoken.
3. Begin and start a sentence in the same language. Speaking in different languages at the same time can be very confusing for a child.
4. Children easily learn multiple languages at the same time. Make sure that your child will get to know and hear Dutch regularly before going to school. For example by watching video’s on television and internet, going to sessions in the library where children are read to, or through contact with Dutch relatives.