Reddit mentions of A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism (18) (Parents' and Teachers' Guides (18))

I did my MA in language acquisition and am raising a trilingual kiddo, and I endorse most of what /u/peachykeenz has written.

> I am just worried that my kid won't speak English to me. How do I make sure that this doesn't happen?

That might happen occasionally, but it's not harmful or unusual. There are a variety of possible reasons that have nothing to do with a lack of fluency, so don't worry.

You could pretend not to understand the child's other languages to sort of force the issue, but you'd have to be strictly consistent in never giving up the ruse. Kids easily figure that sort of thing out. Even the best-laid family language strategies can go awry (and they usually do).

Kids have strengths and preferences in how they express themselves, just like in everything else. It's more common than not for one language to be more dominant than the other(s), especially in certain domains (or "zones" as peachykeens put it). All of this tends to wax and wane over time. All completely normal.

You have a few years to read up on any of this before your child becomes verbal, if you're so inclined. Authors to look for include Baker and Paradis. Baker has a layman's guide written in Q&A format that I found pretty good when I read it a few years ago. Hope it helps!

Thanks! Here is the book, I'll maybe get it :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parents-Teachers-Guide-Bilingualism-Guides/dp/1783091592/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1416675153&sr=8-4&keywords=colin+baker