WARNING: IN THIS TEXT, I MAY SOUND LIKE A VERY PROUD MOTHER!
It is Klara who first inspired me to want to raise bilingual children the way I do it today. While she was the only child, I wrote about her and her language development regularly. However, I recently realised I haven’t dedicated a blog article solely to her since she became an older sister. In the past two and a half years, a lot of things changed for her, such as starting school!
Therefore, I dedicate this article to Klara only, her achievements and successes, in bilingualism as well as in life.
Compulsory school in English
If you follow my blog then you know I was afraid of Klara starting formal education in English language. In the UK, children start attending compulsory school at the age of four/five. Even though the first year is basically pre-school and is called Reception, it is still school and it is a step up from nursery. It is compulsory to go five days a week (whereas she attended nursery only four days a week). Also, apart from during holiday time, we cannot go to Belgrade for extended periods.
Why I worried on this occasion
When she started school I was especially worried about two things. First, how will learning to read and write in English influence her familiarity with the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. Second, how will those surrounding her at school perceive her speaking another language: Serbian.
Last September, when she put on school uniform and started school, both her Serbian and her English spoken language were strong. By that point, she also had some knowledge of Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. Ever since she was small, I made an effort to introduce her to the Serbian script (‘Why I did it and how I did it’ are topics I should dedicate a separate blog post to.)
Phonics
Soon they started learning letters at school, but it is more accurate to say sounds. Their approach to learning to read and write is through phonics: they teach children how the letters or group of letters are pronounced. They do not have formal homework, but at the beginning teachers sent videos of the sounds they did that day hoping we would re-watch them at home with our children. Later, she brought home sentences she needed to read or write. Now she brings short books that she needs to read with our assistance. These books are for children of her age and level.
Klara was good in phonics from the very start. So good, that I felt reassured I could continue studying the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet with her. We worked through activity books and other activities I created, sometimes on my own and sometimes inspired by internet. Then, the two of us started reading too, but in Serbian. When Tata puts her to bed, they briefly read books she brought from school. Likewise, when I put her to bed, we briefly read “Krokovu” or books by Jasminka Petrović written for younger children.
And then, after coming back from Easter holidays, we were pleasantly surprised. Klara’s teachers asked if we agree to her (together with a couple of other friends from her class) moving up at school and joining a phonics group with kids who were in a year above (year 1). We were so proud and of course we didn’t have anything against it.
Positive transfer
In my previous blog post where I wrote about the reliable sources on bilingualism I mentioned the book „A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism“ (2014) written by Colin Baker. I bought it before Klara started school because I was looking for confirmation that her familiarity with Cyrillic alphabet can be preserved despite her learning another script. In this book, the author says that two different scripts complement and do not jeopardise each other. He says that learning to read and write in one of the languages is assisted by already existent knowledge of this skill in another language. This happens due to the transfer of knowledge/skills between the two languages.
In Klara’s case, this proved to be correct. Ever since she started to read and write in English, she found it easier to read in Serbian. I also believe that the fact she knew Serbian Cyrillic alphabet contributed to her being one of the top in her class for English phonics.
Home language(s)
When it comes to my fear of how she will be perceived by her friends and teachers for being bilingual, so far we have been lucky. Teachers who teach her this year really value and support other languages spoken at home.
In Klara’s school they have something called Focus week, which is when certain activities at school are focussed on your child. Just before the start of this week, parents fill in a short questionnaire where parents have opportunity to ask questions to the teachers. Since September, Klara has been in focus twice, and both times we asked what they do in the classroom to support children’s home languages.
The first time we didn’t get an answer, but the second time we received a detailed response where the teacher described how they give space to the home languages in the classroom. They explained how they invite the children to answer the register in their home language and sometimes watch videos in the childrens’ home languages. The teacher also said she was planning on going to a bigger library to find some bilingual books in preparation for the International Book Day.
One of the following mornings at the drop off and during Klara’s focus week, the teacher asked Tom to recommend a song in Serbian to play to the children. He suggested one of his favourites – “Guske Pljuske” by Tijana Dapčević. Apparently, kids loved it and enjoyed dancing to it.
Acceptance and respect
It comes without saying that neither cartoons, nor songs, nor saying “present” in child’s other language while they do the register in the morning will teach the child that language. The English education system is very monolingual and I think that as a nation they are afraid of learning foreign languages. However, songs, cartoons and answering the register in their home language will help multilingual children see that their home language is respected regardless of whether the language in question is French, Serbian, Turkish or Spanish. Just as that part of their personality is accepted and respected.
It is important to ask
If we hadn’t asked twice maybe Klara would not get Tijana Dapčević in the classroom, but we did and from the very start we made it clear we used two languages at home and highlighted the importance of it. I am very grateful of their response and the respect they showed to our home language.
Multilingual London
Maybe London is, despite all of its flaws, one of the better soils for fostering bilingualism. My children regularly hear other parents, in school and in the street, talk to their children in their non-English languages. This way my children see they are not different. Likewise, due to such a high number of foreigners, the schools likely have to include other languages at least in the early years of children’s education. We will see what will happen later on.
For now, Klara seems pretty content both with her English and her Serbian side. The other day, the mum of Klara’s good school friend told me her daughter said: “You know mum, Klara is Serbian”. This recognition of her identity made me hugely happy and proud 🙂
Can I continue to praise her without sounding arrogant
I am thinking about how to introduce the next comment without sounding arrogant. Recently I attended a birthday with some non-Balkan, mainly British, mums. One of them said how her daughter is “really confident” and how “children around her like her because of this”. Then she added “she is really popular”. It never occurred to me to describe either of my children this way, but here is what Klara’s teachers told me during a parent-teacher meeting. They said that she is a “super kid”, that she never said to anyone they cannot join the game. They said the kids love her and that she is a good friend. This was a another proud moment for me and the Husband.
Serbian language school in London
I want to mention the Serbian language school Klara has also attended in London since September. This is a Serbian heritage language school, partnered with Serbian Orthodox Church in London, where classes are held once a week for two hours. It seems that she loves attending and she adores her teachers. Recently she took part in two school shows. Keep in mind she only five years old. She successfully recited by heart the poem ”Poem for School” by Dobrica Erić in front of an audience of around one hundred unknown people.
Chicken and the egg situation
Just as with the link between English alphabet and Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Klara’s social skills and ease fit the chicken and the egg question. We will never know whether she is good in both of her languages because she is smart, or whether she has some cognitive advantage because she is surrounded with both Serbian and English from birth.
However, I do believe that her openness towards people and the ease with which she is making friendships is aided by the fact that she spent a lot of time here and there: in nursery in London and in nursery in Belgrade, doing ballet in London and Belgrade, with one family and the other, in Serbian and in English.
Conclusion
Klara keeps showing me on a daily basis that invested love, time and effort do pay off and that difficult things are achievable. No matter how hard it is, I am so proud of us and of her for embracing bilingual, bicultural and biliteral upbringing. As you can see, it did us no harm 🙂