Hello,
I have an important question, I was wondering if I want to teach my child (10 months old) to read more than one language using the flash card method should I show her the word in English for example then the same word in Arabic then the picture of this word at the same time in the same session also for the same category? Or should I just show her the cards for each language separately followed by the picture of the word?
And if I will teach her two languages at the same time is it OK to do it in the same day in different sessions or I have to keep some days or weeks for a specific language and other weeks for the other language?
I am totally confused and don’t know what to do. I really want her to learn English and Arabic fluently.
Please help, what should I do?
Thanks in advance.
I would try to keep the languages separate when you are speaking, because what you model is what you will get back. When teaching reading it doesn’t really matter how you do it. Your baby will learn either way. I keep the languages separate when we do flash cards because it is easier that way. But I have done it both ways. You don’t want to dwell too long on the word on the flash cards so adding a second word (second language) for the same flash card I feel like it breaks the flow a bit.
It is totally okay to do both languages in the same day. I even have different categories of different languages in the same session. I think the fact that the words are grouped by categories is enough to help your baby draw a distinction. I also teach different words in our two languages. For example we don’t do “dog” in both languages on the same day. That is not totally by design but I think it helps keep the interest higher. You don’t want baby to get tired of the same pictures (if you are using the same pictures for both languages).
My second baby is at the age where she mixes languages still but she is already showing signs that she knows the difference. Like if I ask a question in English she will answer yes, but if I ask in Spanish she answers sà (yes in Spanish).
Really, the only thing that really, really matters is that you show words consistently and that you do it with joy.
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience and for making things clear to me :happy:
I really appreciate that, and your point of view really makes sense!
No problem! I hope you will share how it goes for you! I totally understand being unsure, but don’t worry baby will figure it out. 
Learning more languages is very important for kids. Parents should have to help kids improving language learning skills. Check out this article on language activities for kids may help parents to help their kids in improving language learning : http://www.momjunction.com/articles/language-activities-for-kids_00345060/