Rearing Bilingual Children in a Monolingual Culture: A Louisiana Experience

A description of language acquisition & usage in a particular La family. An attempt is made to achieve personal bilingualism & to raise their children as bilingual French/English speakers in the largely monolingual culture of south La. Their family's history & their methods to achieve bilingualism are outlined. It was decided that each parent would speak their native language, French or English, to their children from birth, but this decision was changed as they realized their children were adapting more quickly to English because of the surrounding culture. Therefore, French was spoken at home by both parents & the children were taken on frequent trips to Quebec. Bilingualism was achieved by carefully balancing which languages were spoken at school & which at home. It is concluded that as well as learning how to communicate in French, the children should also be taught pride in their French heritage. 13 References. J. Repath