Bristol News

Parents bringing up bilingual tots

Parents are jumping on the celebrity trend to bring up their tots speaking more than one language.

Adults believe that it is important to teach children languages, with 52 per cent of UK parents admiring celebrities with bilingual children.

Being bilingual is seen by parents as giving their children an advantage in the job market as well as boosting intellectual capability.

For parents not able to hire French speaking childcare or send their offspring to an exclusive language school, after school language clubs will have to do instead.

“It’s fantastic to see celebrities with a love for languages passing this onto their children, but even more encouraging is the news that many parents are aware of the benefits of language learning for their children,” says Teresa Tinsley from CILT. “ A second language can really broaden the life opportunities for young people, whether this means greater employment prospects or enhanced communication skills.”

Chopsy Baby

Bristol-based Jen Smith is editor of Chopsy Bristol. Jen has a background in multimedia design and freelance journalism, writing news and features for national publications. She has also run marketing campaigns, created social media content and built websites for businesses and organisations in Bristol. Recently, she contributed to the book - Our City: Community Activism In Bristol - published by Tangent Books.