The OPOL method, which is One Person – One Language, has been good for us so far. The role of grandparents is irreplaceable, especially in supporting the command of a minority language. This subject is so important and wide that I will definitely devote a separate post to it.
Even though the grandparents have a large contribution, the child extremely strongly associates one of the languages with mother and the other with father. The sight of one of the parents itself can cause that the child to unconsciously and automatically speak with the language of that parent. I can observe it in Tolkusia and Pynio, when they play together. If I am in the room in which the play takes place then, even if I do not play with them, they speak Polish. However, it is enough that I go out and my husband enters, both without saying a word, that as soon as they notice his presence in the room, they start speak English. Later it turns out that they do not even remember that they started speaking in a different language because they simply do not notice it.
It reminds me of a certain situation which I observed in the Polish School. After finishing the classes, you wait for your children in a canteen where, apart from the other parents, one English-speaking father was waiting. His son came from a class with a group of friends, speaking with them in Polish language (of course, due to the reason that they live in the UK, all of them were bilingual). In the moment of entering to the canteen, the boy made a quick eye contact with his father and started speaking English, the rest of his friends have done the same thing. It is fascinating how automatic this process is, as if the sight of the parent activates a special “switch” in the brain.
The OPOL method does have its drawbacks, unfortunately. At the beginning of its life, the child spends most time with its mother, especially when it is a full-time mother. It is natural, then that the language of mother is developed quickly and it starts to be dominant. Pynio, at the age of four years, is now at the same stage, although he started going to school. I am trying to increase the stimulation of the English language in order to change the language dominance into balance. However, on the example of eight-year-old Talkusia, I know that this situation is going to change soon. Long hours spent at school (in the UK it lasts 6.5 hours every day) and the growing role of peers almost always causes the language used by more people (which, in our case, is my husband’s mother tongue – English) to become dominant. Then the one person who represents the minority language in the OPOL method – which, in our family, is me – stops being sufficient. Additionally, at this age, the child starts to realise that the parent representing the minority language also knows the majority language and the motivation to speak in the minority language is decreasing even more.
There is something that can be done about this. When the children get older and they can speak properly in both languages, you can change the OPOL method into One Context – One Language, in which everybody use the minority language at home, while the majority language is used outside home. Next time, I will talk more about this method.
The finish, a favourite mix of Pynio: “Now I am four, but I will go the karate when I am five” (in Polish language we use the verb ‘to have’ instead of ‘to be’ in order to talk about one’s age). It is, of course, a calque (loan-translation) from the English structure, which is used to talk about the age.
More information: Bilingual House