The best of ‘Kletshead of the week’

What do bilingual children think about being bilingual? Children - from 8 to 38 years old - talk about the fun and not so fun sides of being bilingual, their favourite words, the language they use with their pets, and what language they will speak when they become parents themselves. In the first two seasons of Kletsheads, I talked to children about what it is like to grow up with two or more languages, our Kletshead of the Week. In this special episode, I bring you the best of, a compilation of my favourite bits from 'Kletshead of the Week'. Want to listen to the whole conversation with one of our Kletsheads? You can. You can find the link to the relevant episodes below: You'll find brothers Aiden and Quinn in the very first episode of Kletsheads on How to plan for a bilingual child. Christie, who spoke about the different personalities associated with her languages is in Episode 4, Season 1 (Should you worry about language mixing?). French-English bilinguals Loïc and Ella are in Episode 2, Season 1 (How much language does a child need to hear to become bilingual?) and Episode 6, Season 1 (Bilingual siblings), respectively. Katriina tells us about her struggles with Finnish in Episode 9, Season 1 (How to make the use of bilingual children's home languages in the classroom: Translanguaging), and South African Rehoboth talks about swearing in Episode 4, Season 2 (Trilingual with Xitsonga and Hot off the press). You can find Japanese-English bilingual Naia in Episode 3, Season 1 (How do you know if a bilingual child has a language delay?), and Italian-English-Arabic trilingual Sara in Episode 8, Season 2 (Language mixing and bilingual secrets). Thorwen talks about how his parents persuaded him to attend heritage language school in Episode 7, Season 1 (Does it matter if a bilingual child only actively uses one language?).

Om Podcasten

Kletsheads [English edition] is a podcast about bilingual children for parents, teachers and speech language therapists. What can you expect if you’re raising your children bilingually? What’s important? What will help your children’s language development and what won’t? In each episode, Dr. Sharon Unsworth, linguist and mother of two children (both bilingual, of course), discusses the science behind the language development of bilingual children with another expert. Along the way, there are practical tips, we hear from children about what it’s like growing up with two or more languages, and we talk to parents and professionals about their experiences with bilingual children. This is a separate English-language edition of the Dutch-language episode, Kletsheads.