How Picture Books Can Encourage Early Bilingual Learning

early bilingual learning

To some, literary bilingual education may seem impossible to begin before a child is able to read. This isn’t the case. In fact, by integrating the use of multi-language picture books into a child’s early curriculum, you may be able to jumpstart their early bilingual learning. As a bonus, you may also positively affect how these children view other languages and cultures.

Titles, descriptions, and pictures play an important role in early bilingual learning.

For most bilingual picture books, the title on the front will be shown in both languages. This is crucial for early bilingual learning. The children can begin to see the structure of how different words look in different languages. Descriptions serve the same function, and it’s important for these descriptions to not lose richness and variety when translating. The pictures play an important role in that they can show children of different languages and cultures interacting - an image that will positively reinforce the notion of equality.

Discover our catalog of bilingual picture books here.



Author Bio

Cindy Shapiro Tracy is the owner and CEO of International Children’s Books. As a passionate multilingualist, she has made it her mission to share the joy of learning foreign languages – and to make it fun for everyone. Previously, she was in management in the private banking sector, with an MBA from Syracuse University. 

After working with the founder of International Children’s Books for over 20 years, she took over the business and now carefully curates the inventory for International Children’s Books, as well as her own foreign language bookstore, World of Reading, which she started in 1989. Since then, she has sold thousands of books to corporate, government, and educational institutions, as well as to parents and eager independent students. 

From “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in Italian to “Green Eggs and Ham” in Polish, International Children’s Books has something to delight every child and adult!


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