Sink or Swim: The Deep End of Immersion Language Learning

One year ago, my husband and I sat in the comfort of our New Zealand home and envisaged a golden future of bilingual mastery for our young children. Being bilingual is rare for “Kiwi kids,” so moving to Switzerland presented a remarkable opportunity. The choice of local or bilingual education was self-evident – local (maximum immersion) was the clear winner.

“They’ll soak up the language like a sponge,” friends attested. “The kids will have no problems at all,” chatty checkout operators decreed.

So with rose-tinted glasses and no glances back, we boarded the plane with three unwitting offspring in tow to the biggest adventure of our lives. As we began to settle and embrace our new life, everything appeared shiny, new, but also increasingly overwhelming.

Is Immersion A Golden Opportunity?

Total immersion is often heralded as the most effective way to learn a second language. Surround the student with local culture, interact with them only in the mother tongue, and watch as they magically transmogrify into a bi-/multi-linguist before your eyes.

Some of the benefits touted include:

• increased mental flexibility
• heightened cultural awareness
• increased employment opportunities

In the United States, giving the gift of a second language has grown in popularity since the 1980s. If your children aren’t exposed to a second language in the home, they can enrol in specialist immersion or dual-language schools. For Swiss-bound expats, immersion learning is served up freely with local education and is a big draw for many choosing to relocate here.

But is immersion language learning really all it’s cracked up to be?

If you look at language acquisition alone, cognitive studies indicate “yes.” Regardless of how gifted or simply average your children are, they’ll likely learn the language faster if surrounded by local culture and immersed in the local language for all lessons. In Switzerland, we have the added bonus of local education being far easier on the family purse. So it’s a clear win-win, right?

Because I’m a firm believer in the benefits of a positive outlook, I’d love to stop my article right here. However, if we take a closer look at some first-hand experiences of immersion language learning, the picture gets a little muddier.

Challenges

The road to bilingualism is rarely smooth, and many expat children face adjustment issues when entering local Swiss education.

In our case, it’s been far murkier than anticipated. We’ve had some major hurdles tossed at us, some of which were downright unpalatable.

I’ve felt defeated when my daughter’s been left off a birthday party list and when we didn’t have many friends to invite to her own party. My heart broke each time she told me she missed her best friend in New Zealand and asked when we were going home. Being dependent on a few English-speaking friends has been difficult for the kids as well.

This past year we’ve learned that:

• Immersion language learning can be incredibly lonely. Friendships are initially only easy with the few English-speaking children.
• Being unable to communicate effectively is unbelievably frustrating.
• Learning and writing in English can be compromised.
• Opportunities to participate in local extracurricular activities are difficult to organise.
• “Kiwi kids” play differently than the Swiss kids. There are a whole bunch of new playground/classroom norms to learn.

Other expats face different challenges. Here are a few examples:

Shortly after arrival, Daniel’s teenage child was diagnosed with “maladjustment.” Children in early adolescence can find it more difficult to adapt, and may need extra care and specialised educational/psychological assistance. Fortunately, Switzerland is well equipped to deal with these problems, and intervention in this case was swift.

English-born Amelia, although herself fluent in German, moved her son to a private bilingual kindergarten because he was not getting on well with the local children. Amelia, who has always been a firm believer in immersion learning, realised it counted for very little when her son was socially unhappy.

Australian-born Emma learned that there can be a difference in the standard of education provided by local kindergartens. Although her son speaks the language well, he’s often bored by a lack of curriculum. His kindergarten’s emphasis on letting children enjoy free play until school age doesn’t fit her son’s educational needs.

Helpful Solutions

Expats are a resourceful bunch, and parents I know have adopted myriad ways of improving their family’s immersion experience.

Good advice for new arrivals includes:

• Learn the language yourself. Make an effort, however small, to show that you’re in the deep end too.
• Host and encourage play dates with local children.
• Keep a positive attitude: complaining will only wear you down.
• Have an open mind and try alternatives if problems arise.
• Communicate with teachers. Be quick to chat about any problems.
• Hire a local teenager for one-on-one tutoring and support.
• Play games in the new language to encourage fun, informal learning.
• Keep up contact with English-speaking friends and activities. You and your children need the comfort of your native tongue.

Year One In Hindsight

One year on, our family has moved beyond the uncomfortable teething problems.

My brave, clever, resilient first-grader is now a full participant in class. Perfect, guttural, Hochdeutsch rolls off her tongue. Her teacher is amazed at her language progress and has declared her “linguistically integrated.”

Our preschool children have become comfortable listening to Swiss German and surprise me with their growing vocabulary. They are eager to communicate in the local language, which bodes well for their future kindergarten experience.

Socially, things have vastly improved. New local children are ringing our doorbell and clambering over the fence to play. These are heart-warming results in a relatively short time.

And while I’ll never forget the Herculean effort involved in that first year, I’d do it all again in an instant. If you’re willing to invest the time, seek solutions to problems as they arise and brave the unknown, immersion language learning can reap incredible results.

In hindsight, year one has been a remarkable ride.

By Rachael Soster-Smith

Rachael is a proud Kiwi expat, cultural anthropologist and mother of three young children. Rachael moved to Switzerland 18 months ago for the adventure of a lifetime, and writes to process her own culture shock at http://contentedexpat.com/.

Illustration by Sharanya Mageshwaran

Sharanya Mageshwaran is a stay-at-home mom of a very naughty three-year-old who speaks better German than her mother does. Before moving to Zurich, Sharanya was a pharmaceutical research scientist in India. She loves painting and sketching with fauvist expressionist abstract themes. More of her artwork can be see here: http://somelightandcolor.blogspot.ch/

See also: Educating Your Children in Switzerland: The Local System (by Monica Shah) for more related information.