Mill Woods is a genuinely multilingual neighbourhood, and a good share of the children here hear Punjabi, Tagalog, Arabic, Somali, Spanish, Cantonese, or Urdu at home.
Parents are still occasionally advised — sometimes by well-meaning professionals — to switch to English at home so their child is not confused. That advice is not supported by the evidence, and following it costs a family something it cannot easily get back.
What is actually true
Bilingualism does not cause language delay. A bilingual child's vocabulary in each single language may be smaller for a while, but their total vocabulary across both is comparable to a monolingual child's. Counting only one language undercounts them.
Mixing languages in a sentence is normal. It is called code-switching and it is a sign of competence, not confusion.
A quiet period is common. A child immersed in a new language often goes quiet for weeks or months while they absorb it. It is usually not a problem.
The home language is the foundation. Strong first-language skills make second-language learning easier, not harder. A child with a rich vocabulary in Punjabi has the conceptual scaffolding to acquire English quickly.
Why keeping the home language matters
Beyond the linguistics: it is how a child talks to their grandparents. Children who lose their home language lose access to their extended family and often to a large part of their own history. That is a serious loss and it happens quickly — sometimes within two years of starting school.
What we do
We ask what language is spoken at home and we record it. Educators learn a few words — hello, more, all done, toilet, your child's comfort word. A child hearing one familiar word on a hard morning settles faster.
We display and celebrate the languages in the room rather than treating English as the default and everything else as an exception.
What you can do
Speak your language at home, fully and richly. Read in it. Sing in it. Let your child hear complex, adult-level speech in it.
Your child will learn English. They are surrounded by it, they are immersed in it here, and children are very good at this. The language at risk is the one only you can give them.
