2025 is here! Do you have any New Year resolution ideas for you and your family? One of the best New Year goals you can encourage your kids to pursue is starting their bilingual journey. Learning a new language is an excellent resolution for 2025 and is also an investment in your children’s future.
Is Learning a New Language Good for My Child?
Every child is unique, and we understand that learning a new language might not be easy for everyone. However, recent studies conducted by Gigi Luk, a professor at Harvard University, have concluded that bilingual students tend to perform better than monolingual students. Another study involving adults supports the idea that language experiences that started in childhood and continued throughout adulthood can influence brain networks in ways that provide benefits well into later life.
Before we continue, you might be asking yourself the question:
“What does bilingual mean?”
The simple definition of bilingual is a person who speaks two languages fluently. It is important to note that fluency is what truly qualifies someone as bilingual. With that in mind, we have gathered a set of tips that have proven effective in helping individuals achieve their goal of becoming bilingual by 2025. These tips come from a group of people committed to teaching new languages and want to share the best tools for success.
If you want to know more about bilingualism and the dual language, you can read this post, which will help clarify your doubts.
How do you achieve New Year goals?
Make 2025 goals enjoyable
Our brains are powerful! Think about one of your favorite hobbies—something you really look forward to. This excitement can be the same for your child, especially at a young age when they’re discovering the world. If you want your child to be genuinely motivated to learn a new language, it must be fun—a moment they look forward to and yearn for.
There are many ways to make language learning enjoyable. For instance, you can reward your child for their decision to learn a new language or discuss the benefits of learning it with them. Additionally, be sure to carefully consider the program and tutor your child will enroll in, as this plays a significant role in their motivation.
If you’d like to learn more about how to motivate your child, we have a blog that discusses motivation in greater detail.
Set a Routine
Establishing a routine not only provides your child with a strong foundation for future success in any task they wish to accomplish but also offers them a sense of security and comfort. This stability can help promote good mental health and prepare them to tackle their goals for 2025.
A routine doesn’t have to be complex or time-consuming for you as a parent. It could be as simple as scheduling their language tutoring sessions for the same days and times each week. Making this a habit will undoubtedly simplify things for your family, as your kids will naturally get into the right mindset for learning without you needing to remind them constantly.
Create a 2025 Goals Poster
A craft can be a fun family activity that will empower your child to take ownership of their 2025 resolutions. Also, this could help them to have reminders of what they want to accomplish; you could hang it in their rooms or somewhere that they can see it daily. There are many poster ideas that you can find; one of our favorites is this Bulletin Board.
Break the 2025 goals down into monthly targets
Setting smaller, more specific goals to keep track of progress is super helpful. Depending on how old your child is, they might need a little help figuring out realistic goals they can actually hit each month. Start with something easy they can definitely nail in the first month, like going to all their planned classes. Once they get the hang of it, you can ramp things up with tougher goals, like learning animal vocabulary in the target language.
Reward Your Child’s Effort
Parents have the most influence over their children, so it’s important to proactively find ways to show your children that their efforts are noticed and that you are proud of them for trying. Remember, rewards don’t always have to be material; your words can have a powerful impact on your child’s motivation. When reviewing the goals they have accomplished, take a moment to congratulate and celebrate their dedication and hard work!
Find a Reliable Bilingual tutor
Apart from all the tips we believe will make your child successful in accomplishing their 2025 goals, it is also important to find a certified tutor that tailors their classes according to your child’s needs. You need to do some research about the tutor’s experience and background in order to check if it would be a good fit for your child as a teacher can make your child’s bilingual learning successful or not.
We Can Help You!
If you are looking for a tutor to support your child in learning a new language in 2025, we have over 80 tutors available. They teach a variety of languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Burmese, Mandarin Chinese, American Sign Language, Yoruba, Tagalog, English, and more.
One of the great advantages of joining us is that our classes are conducted online, making it easy to fit them into your child’s schedule. Additionally, our students progress three times faster, and you have the opportunity to book a trial class.
We look forward to helping you and your family achieve your goals for 2025!
References:
Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 605–621. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.795574
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Luk, G. (2012). Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(4), 240–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.001
– Written by Maria Sara Arias, Bilingual Curriculum & Instruction Specialist at Bilingual Bridges
