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Article | Is your child reluctant to speak to you in their mother tongue? Here's why one NUS associate professor says you shouldn't give up trying. | https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/mother-tongue-parent-child-teach-school-bilingual-language-learn-14946504?cid=linkedin_traffic_social_10082018_cna | channel-newsasia | SINGAPORE: Parents in Singapore often report significant stress when raising children to speak their mother tongue.
In spite of their best efforts, even at a very young age, children can simply refuse to speak in the mother tongue. This can cause family strain and even disharmony around bilingualism.
Even though parents value the ideals of bilingualism, in practice, raising multilingual children can be challenging.
This is not limited to Singapore. Annick de Houwer, a linguistics professor in Germany, has written extensively of “harmonious bilingualism”.
Noting parents might feel shame when their children resist speaking their mother tongue, or that children’s resistance towards the mother tongue can cause internal family conflict, Professor de Houwer is a strong and powerful advocate for cultivating positive attitudes towards bilingualism within the family.
But for many parents in Singapore, mother tongue learning has become the stuff of classrooms deeply intertwined with academic success. As a result, children too can associate the mother tongue primarily with homework, exams, and rote learning, causing stress.
GENUINELY HARD TO RAISE BILINGUAL CHILDREN
Raising bilingual children is genuinely hard. Unfortunately, it often becomes harder as children get older.
All over the world, there is evidence that children gravitate towards the language of their peers and larger community as they mature.
For many in Singapore, that language is English. As our children grow, they experience a strong desire to socially conform to their environment.
For example, children start speaking like their peers in terms of accent and colloquialism, shedding the home accent in favour of the accent used amongst their friends. |
Article | Intermittent fasting could help you lose weight but at what cost? And doesn’t it ignore conventional wisdom on not skipping breakfast? | https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/podcasts/heart-of-the-matter/intermittent-fasting-diet-food-weight-fat-loss-obesity-diabetes-14383404?cid=linkedin_traffic_social_10082018_cna | channel-newsasia | Millions have downloaded and streamed movies, plays and sitcoms to survive the pandemic. But what is like on the other side of the screen? Has COVID-19 compromised what the big screen can bring across and shaken up the movie industry? Lin Suling speaks to veteran filmmaker Juan Foo and Kew Lin, a full-time independent filmmaker on the challenges of production, the rise of streaming and how far… |