North American Polyglot Symposium 2016 (NAPS)

1. Raising multilingual children Tetsu’s way
Tetsu Yung, North American Polyglot Symposium, Montreal, July 24, 2016
Illustration: Eric Belisle (ericbelisle.blogspot.jp)

2. Agenda
• About Tetsu
• Importance of starting early
• OPOL and CLAP
• Ronnie
Photo by Renee Chan Photography

3. Birth/Taiwan
Years
• Taiwanese father, Japanese mother
• Born in Hong Kong, moved to Taiwan at age 1
• American elementary school, Taiwanese nanny, Weekends
at grandparents
• Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese, Hakka, English
Quebec Years
• Moved to Quebec, Canada for high school
• Lived with Taiwanese aunt and Quebecer uncle
• University language courses, Trips to South America and
Europe
• French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese
Japan/Taiwan
Years
• Moved to Japan after PhD to work in Asia
• Wanted to strengthen Japanese and Mandarin
Quebec Years
• Back to Quebec with wife and 2 children
• Organizing NAPS!
Tetsu’s language history
Exposure to
5 languages
by age 6
5 more
languages
by age 20
Fluent Today
English
French
Japanese
Mandarin
Spanish

4. The importance of starting early
• Learn multiple languages like a
native speaker
• Self-consciousness and self-esteem
• Brain benefits
• Opportunity costs
Illustration: Eric Belisle (ericbelisle.blogspot.jp)

5. The importance of starting early:
1. Learn multiple languages like a native speaker
Reference: http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia＿kuhl＿the＿linguistic_genius_of_babies
Patricia Kuhl: The Linguistic Genius of Babies

6. The importance of starting early:
1. Learn multiple languages like a native speaker
Reference: https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies

7. The importance of starting early:
1. Learn multiple languages like a native speaker
Results of extended exposure to various languages at young age:
•Keep ears “open” later in life
•Good Accents
– Confidence, Social integration, Trustworthiness (cognitive fluency)
Ref: http://sanmu1225.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-179.html?sp
Japanese
Brit English
Am English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
Russian
Chinese
Language Passbands Frequency (Hz)

8. The importance of starting early:
2. Self-consciousness and self-esteem
Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's
self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-
importance, learn so easily.
-Thomas Szasz

9. The importance of starting early:
3. Brain benefits
Monolingual Multilingual Note
Grey matter
density
+ +++ The younger the additional
languages were acquired,
the denser the grey matter
Resistance to
mental decline
+ +++
Learning in
general
+ +++
Complex thinking
and creativity
+ +++
Communication
skills
+ +++

10. The importance of starting early:
4. Opportunity costs
Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.
-Dana Stewart Scott
Bus Taxi
Costs 1$ 11$
Time 1 h 5 min 5 min
You teach, and your hourly wage is 50$
What is opportunity cost of taking a bus to work?
=> $40
Learn as child Learn as adult
Costs ? ?
Time ? ?
What is opportunity cost of not
learning as a child?
Considerations?

11. OPOL and CLAP
What is OPOL?
One Parent One Language
One Person One Language
What is CLAP?
Contextual Language Acquisition Philosophy
http://language-tetsu.blogspot.jp/2010/03/contextual-language-acquisition.html

12. Ronnie
Nagasaki, May 2016

13. Ronnie’s Core OPOL Staff
JapaneseMandarin
English
Currently TV/DVD
Looking for exchange
student, another au
pair, etc.
French
Day care
Spanish

14. Ronnie wishes happy Chinese new year to all in 5 languages
Mandarin: 新年快樂！ (Xin nian kuai le!)
Japanese: 明けましておめでとう！ (Akemashite Omedeto!)
English: Happy New Year!
French: Bonne Année!
Spanish: Feliz año nuevo!
Feb. 14, 2016
https://youtu.be/svpUf6kRuGU

15. Birth/Japan
• Born in Nagasaki, Japan on July 13, 2012
• Japanese and Mandarin
Taiwan
• Moved to Taiwan on Feb. 22, 2014 (19 months)
• Strengthened Mandarin through family/friends
• American daycare in Tianmu, Taipei
• English
Quebec
• Moved to Quebec on July 24, 2015 (36 months)
• French daycare
• Mexican au pair
• French and Spanish
Ronnie’s language history

16. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Scenario:
Oct. 2014, 27 month-old Ronnie learns to identify simple colors.
https://youtu.be/9q4k7iiahic
Recognizing inputs and demonstrating outputs
Scenario:
Oct. 2014, 27 month-old Ronnie learns to identify body parts.
https://youtu.be/wfSwwZKue5c

17. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Worried about Code-Switching?
Scenario:
Jan 2015, 30 month-old Ronnie is singing… “hello Reindeer… hello
snowman… hello Santa… (then…)”
I want bala taberu!
https://youtu.be/wSLusQ2oq0M

18. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Scenario:
Mar. 2015, 32 month-old Ronnie learns to tell time in 3 languages
Ronnie starts to distinguish the languages in
which he is being asked.
https://youtu.be/QDMl880qTII

19. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Scenario:
Aug. 14, 2015, 1 week after Mexican au pair Angelica started living with us
https://youtu.be/YH7tUMdknxg
37 month-old Ronnie starts counting numbers in
Spanish in only 7 days!

23. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Scenario:
Oct. 2015, 2 months after Mexican au pair Angelica started living with us.
39 month-old Ronnie is playing hide and seek with Angelica. Yuko (mom) is on
skype from Japan. Tetsu is holding the camera.
https://youtu.be/0rz_fR9p0aU
Language channels are established in Ronnie’s brain

24. Give your children the gift of the world
Illustration: Eric Belisle (ericbelisle.blogspot.jp)
To all parents out there
1. Know that you have what it takes to raise multilingual children.
2. Know that your children have what it takes to become multilingual.

25. Q&A
www.multilinguannaire.com
asktetsu@gmail.com
Twitter: @asktetsu
YouTube: asktetsu
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U47EGBIhttps://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00P35J6N4

26. Backup

27. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Learn languages while doing something you love
Scenario:
Mar. 2015, 32 month-old Ronnie loves rollerblading. So Tetsu teaches him
colors in different languages while rollerblading.
https://youtu.be/417C5BksLuk

28. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Scenario:
Oct. 2015, 40 month-old Ronnie counts to 15 in 5 languages.
https://youtu.be/ZgDkHsCqkqs

29. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Scenario:
July 2016, 48 month-old Ronnie plays with francophone friend.
https://youtu.be/ckJK3pi7eTI

30. Applications of OPOL and CLAP in Ronnie’s life
Scenario:
June 2015, 35 month-old Ronnie reads Percy correctly
https://www.facebook.com/tetsu.yung/videos/10155592146070462/
Scenario:
Oct 2015, 39 month-old Ronnie is strict with Angelica.
https://www.facebook.com/PampersToPolyglot/posts/708642545936354
Scenario:
July 2015, 30 month-old Ronnie teaches aunt with perfect Mandarin
pronounciation
•https://youtu.be/JVEyA3Ik6hg/
Ronnie is strict with accents