You may be wondering why I put such a heavy emphasis on media on this site, rather than, say, parent-directed conversations. I have a PhD in Literature, so, yes, I do think reading is really, really fun, but I also know that media is a critical motivator for second-language acquisition.
I’ve talked to many parents who say that their kids spoke their minority language without issue when they were really little, but when they started going to preschool or otherwise spending time around other people, they refused to speak it anymore. These kids understand their parents when they speak, but they won’t say anything themselves. This is often a hard time for parents, who feel like they have to give up on a dream they’ve invested a lot into, whether that’s speaking together as a family, passing down heritage culture through language, or just helping their kids become bilingual (in any language).
What I have observed is that, for a lot of families, communication between parent and child is the main reason the children speak the minority language, and once they enter the wider world and realize that’s not really necessary, they move away from it. This is a completely natural phenomenon, as kids’ brains are designed to be as efficient as possible — their minds automatically say don’t learn two languages if one will do! Language is also a way for children to demonstrate their own
If we want to thwart this natural impulse, we need to give our kids reasons to use the target language outside of our relationship. The easiest, lowest pressure way to do that is to present kids with a rich German media diet. Media give them exposure to far more vocabulary than standard spoken conversations, they ignite their imaginations with fun stories and characters, and get them speaking without hardly noticing while they are watching, listening or reading.
Of course there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every family is unique in their language learning journey. Kids are different and changing all the time. Parents have different levels of comfort in German, and different personal resources to lean on. However, adding engaging, high quality content to your child’s life gives them real, pressing reasons to engage with the language. Reasons outside of their relationship with you.
Check out my article on fun books for every age to get started planning your child’s media diet next.
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