Home Language/ Mother Tongue Support 

Home Language brings cultural understanding and is an important aspect of one’s identity. To help children develop a strong family foundation, we encourage parents to speak their mother tongue to their children, even where this is not one of the two school languages. Having a strong foundation in one’s mother tongue helps a child build the confidence needed to tackle a second or third language. In multilingual families, we recommend that parents choose a dominant language for each parent to help the child anchor the home languages of the parents. For example, in cases where the languages at home are English and Thai, we recommend that the Thai-speaking parent speak only Thai to the child, and the English-speaking parent keeps to English. Many research studies have shown that children who maintain proficiency in their home language perform better academically and demonstrate stronger cognitive skills, as they are able to transfer language skills to other subjects. 

Research shows that this is the most effective way to help young children reach fluency in both languages. Supporting home language development may include speaking, reading, watching movies,and experiencing events outside of the home in the home languages. 

To support the learning of Thai and English outside of school, parents are encouraged to create opportunities for their children to use these languages in a social context. This could mean, for example, finding a swimming coach who will only speak Thai to the child or an English-speaking coach for their children’s after-school activities.