The July Carnival is Here!

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, to the oh-so-beloved, international Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism!! So glad you've joined us--we're super excited to have you along. From Switzerland to Singapore, from Norway to France, parents from all over the planet have come 'together' this month to share their passion, their quandaries and their insights on raising bi/multilingual children. Native and non-native speakers, using a variety of methods, in a plethora of environments...it's ingenious, this carnival idea, and I'm honored and excited to be able to host it this month. 

When I first bumped into the Carnival, I was quite confused. I thought it was, as I jestingly introduced it above, like a conference-carnival that I had to sign up for, a place I might need to fly or drive or take the train to, a ticket that I needed to purchase if I wanted to participate and 'go on the rides'.  Quite to the contrary, I could enjoy the carnival from the comfort of my own whatever--read it when, where and as often as I like, with endless options to comment and ponder and find inspiration along the way.

Thus, I encourage you to dive into this-here carnival, and wish for you the same inspiration, and optimally, the same level of community that I've found here over the past few years. All these people, writers and readers alike, coming together for essentially one purpose, or at least a number of mini-purposes around the same topic--it's fascinating to me, and continues to remind me of how, despite the differences in our details, we are all so similar, so connected, and working towards a common good. 

With that said, let me introduce you to this month's themes and their passionate contributors, who hail from 9 distinct countries and at least 4 different states in the U.S. 

Non-Native Speakers (and their Mix of Topics)

An obvious entry into our carnival this month are the 5 tips that Nichola shares with us at Our Non-Native Bilingual Adventure. While her tips are particularly helpful for those of us on the non-native journey with our children, they are clearly solid enough to be packed into anyone's language toolkit. 

Linda, at My Bilingual Kids, speaks to the idea of 'balanced bilingualism' and the effect that summer holidays have, both on the language that children choose to use, as well as the pressure that we often feel to 'educate' in our parenting.

The summer theme continues at Open Hearts, Open Minds, in Lynne's post about Elliot's use of 'fanish'. She expresses feeling disheartened at his tendency to speak English, while simultaneously feeling hopeful about re-committing and finding more resources in a new area.

As a native German speaker, who professes to feel more comfortable now with English, Maggy, of Life at the Zoo, doesn't officially fit the non-native bill, but has expressed similar challenges and frustrations in her previous posts. This week, however, has been a good language week, as the kids are inserting more German words into their English sentences. The question still remains, however...local or German school?

On my own blog, I share some thoughts around the idea of inclusion, and the unique dynamic that is created in play when people don't understand the minority language and thus, may feel like a 3rd wheel. How can we include the important people in our lives without minimizing our children's bilingual experience?

Media and Other Learning Resources 

A third German speaker in the bunch, and also a non-native speaker, Kate, of German in the Afternoon, makes some confessions surrounding the use of multi-media--both on the ground and in the air. Guilty or not, she shares with the rest of us some ideas that we might employ around watching what when and with whom. 

While she's doesn't seem to be a non-native speaker herself (speaking as such with her children), Catherine of b small publishing has shared some ideas for those people, in particular, who may wonder if it can be effective to 'teach' your children another language when you aren't a specialist yourself.

Annabelle, of Gato and Canard, writes on a similar topic, addressing the use of the IPad as a solid tool for developing language awareness. Despite her initial hesitancy to allow two year old LJ to use it, she found that it did seem to increase her daughter's awareness of who speaks French.

From Dominique's Desk, we are reminded of the importance of and the value in creating multilingual learning environments at home. While so many of us may focus on just the spoken language, Dominique's post serves as inspiration to gather all sorts of materials for our lingual journeys.

From another corner in Asia, while hailing from Canada, we hear from Jenn at Perogies and Gyoza about her quandary of supporting American or Canadian English, as well as the challenges she's having in finding workbooks to support her decision.

Little Anectodes of Success
While Living in the Land of Chocolate, Fiona shares an endearing anecdote about her girls, and the benefits of late immersion that she's now seeing after 2 years--a great reminder for the rest of us that good things take time...

Another little story of success is shared by Roxana, one of the co-founders of SpanglishBaby. She's very excited to see the benefits of ML@H (minority language at home) with her daughter, Vanessa.

On their vacation back 'home' to New Jersey, Rebecca, of Uh-oh Spaghettios, tells the cute story of how Max's wiring between French and English gets a little caddywompus--or perhaps not, for a near-3 year old. Many of us, like Rebecca, would surely love to be inside those little lingual brains of our children!

And on the subject of returning home, Leanna, of All Done Monkey, shares her thoughts on the immersion experience of her little Monkey while visiting Papa's homeland of Costa Rica. While not a non-native speaker of English, Leanna experiences a bit of the non-native as she chooses to speak Spanish with her son while she's there. Her thoughts provide a lot of fodder for the rest of us to consider on a variety of topics surrounding bi/multilingualism.

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Thank-you, to both readers and contributors alike! This wouldn't be what it is without you.  If you are interested in keeping in touch with all things bilingual, head on over to the Bilingual Blogging Carnival page, where you can sign up for the newsletter, read all the bilingual carnivals to date, find details on how to submit your post to the next host, or even offer to host the carnival in the future. Next month's carnival location has yet to be announced, but I hope to see you there! I also hope that you enjoyed this month's carnival, and would be so excited to read a comment from you when you get a chance (it's a great way to increase traffic to your blog, too, as so many carnival go-ers read the comments and end up clicking your link when they want to know more!).