How to raise bilingual kids

Strategies for every age group

- Jane Ng

As a Malay-language teacher, Madam Faridah Mohamed Ali, 32, knows how challenging it can be to raise kids who are fluent in both their mother tongue and English.

So when she is at home with her three children, aged seven, five and four, she tries her best to incorporate fun and games into their learning.

When she saw how much her children enjoyed reading home-grown author Far'ain Jaafar's Satay, which is written in English and Malay, she got them to make their own satay using play dough. She also conversed with them using words from the book.

The story is set in East Coast Lagoon Food Village, a place Madam Faridah's family frequents, and her children could identify with that.

"My children were excited because of the familiarity, which made the reading experience meaningful. It is in these little everyday moments that language really comes alive," says the Fuhua Primary School teacher, who won the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Arif Budiman Malay Language Teacher Award 2024.

The award recognises teachers for their outstanding contributions to the teaching and learning of the Malay language.

Making language learning fun requires more than just memorising vocabulary and grammar, says Madam Faridah, who is married to Mr Luqman Hakim Shaid, 34, an assistant service engineer.

"It is how we can integrate language into meaningful experiences that engage students in a natural and enjoyable way," she adds.

Despite speaking to her children in Malay and English since they were born, she says her kids tend to speak to her in English when they return home from school.