A Transition To Bilingualism

Since the end of May, we have started the long-awaited campaign to help members of the Colearning group "become" bilingual.

A brief introduction of the premise first. #ColearningAndy is a group of 4-7 elementary school students and 1 teacher. All of the members are local Taiwanese people and have no foreign families, meaning... we're very local.

This is a group that focuses on individuality as well as compatibility. Children are encouraged to be expressive of their thoughts without judgment. We practice the right to freedom and learn to respect its meaning. Though members all go to school and we are considered an afterschool program, no actual academic subjects are forced to exercise again. We are more of a club, an extracurricular activity that lasts long hours and includes a variety of topics.

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How do the children feel after the first "English Day"? They are all different and interesting enough to be studied further.

Learner A, age 11, 5th grade: accepts instantly, and fits right in

Learner B, age 11, 5th grade: does not participate or cut in on different topics

Learner C, age 8, 2nd grade: listens, and follows but keeps quiet

Learner D, age 7, 1st grade: listens, follows, and whispers fondness of English speaking from the teacher.

Learner E, age 7, 1st grade: ignores at times, tries to follow, and has minor complaints of not understanding fully.

Learner F, age 7, 1st grade: praises the project and feels overconfident in the English environment but is sometimes a good help in translating.

English Day is the first stage of many in the transition of bilingualism, which focuses only on listening comprehension. Learners are not asked to speak in English unless willing to do so themselves.

It may sound easy to just go in and speak English all day without asking learners to speak their not-well-taught English back. Should you be interested in trying this with your children, it is advised that you emphasize on the preparation before the execution.

Believe it or not. Your child is more than capable to learn English well without spending tons of money to reach the same objectives overseas. The difficult part is how dedicated you, as the parents are.

Your top priority is to help your children build the mindset of bilingualism. Assuming they have already been to school and have Chinese and English classes separately, it is essential that they know the two languages are equally important. The later they are initiated the more difficult because it is natural for people to use their mother tongue. It is simply easier.

p.s. if you have toddlers, don't bother telling them that there are different languages. Just speak (in sentences, not mix) to help them recognize.

How we did it in the group was months in advance to notify them about what was to come. They all understood it was inevitable because... well, Andy was VERY firm on this part. Moreover, the last member joined the group in February and right before that, he was introduced as the first bilingual student because he went to an all-English preschool. Note that it was more important that the rest of the group understand the transition we were making than how good in English the new member is. Again, the mindset matters.

We started the first English day in May as mentioned above, several months after the project was announced to the group. During these months, Andy often threw in English here and there more than before. There were notes in English on the whiteboard, English words in the conversation...and whatnot. We also had meetings to check on everyone's thoughts on this topic. All this work was really just so that we board the ship and row it together. If we don't work and learn together, we would just end up wasting time.

So just to recap, if you want something so pure and good, you gotta do it yourself.

1. Build the mindset for yourself and your children

2. Involve them

3. Be their leader instead of their boss

4. never stop improving (check in with others)

5. keep a journal