Are you figuring out how to raise your child to be bilingual?
Simon Brampton was in the same situation, hoping to raise his son Marc to speak perfect English despite growing up in Barcelona with a Spanish and Catalan-speaking mother. But after reading ‘hundreds of books’ on raising bilingual children he couldn’t find any that taught you how in practical steps.
Simon Brampton is the owner of the language school Idiomas Advantage in Barcelona. With a first-class honour’s degree and postgraduate in Psychology, he has been working as a language teacher, trainer, and translator for over 30 years. In 2020, he turned his immense theoretical and practical knowledge into a new book: The 5 key strategies of successful bilingual families.
The book is the fruit of Simon’s own experience of raising his son Marc, now 14, in English, and is also based on hundreds of interviews, conversations, and observations as well as comments and feedback that you can find on his dedicated blog: www.bilingualuniverse.com.
In this interview, Simon Brampton talks about the most popular strategy for raising bilingual children – the one parent one language method, or OPOL. He reveals key tips on how to make sure your child doesn’t lose their heritage language, and especially when in another country.
He discusses the neurological benefits that research is only just finding out about bilingual children. He also talks about the need for parents to pass across the culture and history of a language – a process he calls ‘living it and loving it’.
You can find more video interviews on MumAbroad’s YouTube channel here.
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