Battle of Bilingual Families: How to keep the Kids English Going

Peerz New member

5POSTS

8 years ago

Hi All,

I am a British father of two, 5 and 7 year old beautiful girls

My misses is Norwegian and we moved to Oslo about a year and a half ago. I still work back in UK and Brussels so lot of travelling

I am facing a usual battle of bilingual families, how to keep them both going. At the moment my kids are going to Norwegian school and barnehaga. Naturally, their Norwegian is becoming more and more dominant and taking over their English language. It seems like they going to lose their English

I am looking for some English speaking/ learning activities for them, something which can help them in practice and grow their English language.

Is anyone here aware of a schools / organization / individuals which offer part time English courses or teach English in a structured way ?

Can anyone point me to any activities, communities, Facebook group or online forum where I can find some help, English courses, clubs, activities or family meetup for kids.

Thanks in advance for your time.

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Janeirik Member

15POSTS

8 years ago

Note sure if this apply to your situation.
But what me and my ex wife did.
Me alone with my daughter.. spoke Norwegian.
Her mother, alone with our daughter. Spoke Arabic.
All the times all of us. We spoke English.

Result: our daughter have 3 native languages.
And after.. have learned 1 more and working on the 5. One now.
Knowledge is never a hard burden.

And also... keep in mind.
As they go to school in Norway.
They will have there Norwegian.
So never feel bad about your language.and English is a language they have to learn.... So why not give them a head start ???

(And also... the basic stuff like: the language on the t.v. if they look cartoons, tabs/pc.. in English etc etc.... children learn in all strange ways)

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fornight Serial expat

395POSTS

7 years ago

I used to have worries like you because my child is not going to be just bilingual but multilingual (Norwegian, Vietnamese, English and Mandarin). She is not there yet.

But I have watch my Hub's cousin's son since he was 5 years old. When I first met him, he could only speak Norwegian. Then 2 years later, he was able to speak to me in English very fluently. Apparently he learnt English only in school and they must have taught him very well. I trust the public schools way of teaching English.

Jomax13 Member

17POSTS

7 years ago

I honestly wouldn't worry about English, most kids are fluent in it properly by age 10. The system here is amazing for that.

Gordon Barlow ViP

1188POSTS

7 years ago

Jomax13 wrote:
I honestly wouldn't worry about English, most kids are fluent in it properly by age 10. The system here is amazing for that.

And as Janeirik said earlier, kids learn from the TV. My son has two Norwegian daughters. When they were very young he learnt Norsk so that he could communicate with them. (They lived with their mother.) I worried that they wouldn't learn English, but they have done so from the TV. Today, in their teens, they usually speak with him in Norsk either face-to-face or by phone. But when we grandparents are around, they speak in English, out of courtesy. Not always perfect English, especially from the older one, but good enough to get jobs in some English-speaking place, if they want to.