When and how to tach English to a toddler who speaks Turkish in Australia?

[Tullia]

Wow, I'm so jealous of your little one, I would have loved to have the chance to grow up bilingual!

If you are worried about remembering to speak to her in English, why not try having "English days" and "Turkish days" and alternate between the two? I have two friends who went to an International school and they had an official system with days where everyone spoke English, and days where everyone spoke French. (It always reminded me of the Chalet School series of stories!) Their French, despite not speaking it at home, is near-perfect, and they have a range of technical vocabulary in both languages as well because they did lessons in both.

In terms of home schooling, I support the decision; I am very interested in home schooling generally, but I would encourage you to reach out to home schooling groups in the area too - I'm sure you have already thought of much of this, so forgive me if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs.

It's important for children to have some social life and contact with their peers, and you are right that it would be good for her language skills. It doesn't have to be school though! Many home schooling support groups run "meet-ups" so their children can socialise together, or even pool parental skills and organise some small group lessons if one parent has a special area of expertise like music or art.

I know Scouting is big in Australia too and I think that's a great thing for any child to do. It's not just social but teaches great skills and values to the children. What about your local church? (or mosque/temple/insert appropriate religious building) Most churches (or whatever) have youth groups, and again that would be a way for her to meet more children.

Home schooling doesn't have to mean isolating the child, and there are lots of ways to avoid it - I really support your decision and wish you lots of luck with it! I hope you come back and keep us informed of how it goes.

[cubezero3]

In the province I live now, there're many ethnic groups. Many of my friends were born in early 1980s. At that time, people would either go to public school or stay at home. Since teachers have always been required to speak chinese madarin at schools, I am quite sure these friends of mine learnt their languages from their parents and the only form of tuition would have been through talking to each other.

At the end of last year, I saw a three-or-four-year-old boy on a bus. He was speaking in madarin with his mother and cantonese with his grandmother. I am still very envious of that young boy who could speak two language fluently at such a young age.

I think you only need to talk to your kid in both languages. As he grows older, you can switch to speak turkish more with him. He will have plenty of mates to speak to, in English.

I really wish I could have had the same opportunity.