TRANSCRIPT
Most Australian children grow up reading English, but three-year-old Anaiya can do much more
It’s thanks to her father Gagandeep Bains who migrated from the Punjab region of India in 2009. Since then, he’s taken unique steps to keep culture alive.
"When she was born, we wanted to teach her Punjabi as well as English, but we had some books, picture books, which were either only in Punjabi or in English."
So, Mr Bains and his Australian born wife Bethany Bains decided to write their own.
"So our books, they're transliterated, so any English speaking person can speak or say, pronounce the word in Punjabi. So it's helpful for the kids to learn Punjabi in an easier way."
The couple take inspiration from their family life to create their stories.
"We start with coming up with a story. We pick a theme. For example, the storybooks that we have at the moment is about a relationship between a father and the child. So we drew that story from our experience, from my experience with my daughter. We'd write a story, what she likes, what I like, and how we like to spend time. So once we write a story, we then work on the design of the book, how big the book needs to be."
Ms Bains is a working high school English teacher and she has provided the books to Anayia’s day care.
"We've provided the books to her daycare actually, so that they were able to participate in learning a different language. The feedback's been really positive. Because a lot of people in this community are either of Punjabi background or have some kind of other language that they speak at home."
An avid reader herself, Ms Bains started reading to Anaiya very early on.
"I've read to her since she was a week old. It was something that I, as an English teacher, I know the studies behind how important it is to read to your kids and get them interested in just looking at books and being around words and how much that helps them later on in life. So we made that part of our routine every day."
Researchers say bilingual children tend to have better problem solving and analytical skills.
As well, adults who speak multiple languages seem to experience a slower cognitive decline as they age, as Rauno Parilla from the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy explains.
"The latest data we have is that about three quarters of parents of zero to 2-year-old children read regularly to their children. And that's really good news. Reading regularly, even five to 10 minutes a day will help a child's language development. We know that at the young age there are some cognitive benefits in learning a second language.”
Mr Parilla himself comes from a multilingual household where his native Finnish was spoken, along with English and French. His daughter Sofia grew up speaking many languages.
"So in my case, the non-dominant language in the family was Finnish and it was very, very important that I kept on reading Finn with my daughter. English was all over us, even though we were in Norway, she did not learn Norwegian because all the friends were English, speaking French. So we were not worried about her English development. We were worried about her non-dominant language of Finnish development. So my advice to parents is read regularly, and make sure that you read in both languages in those families where there are two languages, two or even more languages than that. So reading to your children and talking about the books with your children, even after they've learned to read by themselves, can have long-term benefits to their academic development and their thinking skills."
But it’s not just bilingual reading that matters to the Bains family.
"It's really important that we teach our kids the culture about our country, where we came from and she also speak to her grandparents, which are overseas in Canada. And when we do video call, she tells them the things that she learned in Punjabi and she can easily communicate with them."
Anaiya's not the only one in this family to benefit from learning Punjabi.
"I understand a lot more than I can speak, but it's been great that now I have Anaiya to correct me and to tell me what the words are. So I have two teachers, which is really, really nice."
Although the bookshelves are full, Ms Bains believes you can never have too many books.
"I always get told off of buying new books for Anaiya all the time but I just think that if I'm going to buy something ans dhe wants a new book, like, sharing language, sharing stories, it's the way we express ourselves and have done since the start of time."
The couple have a number of books available to purchase and there are more on the way.
"So far we've done picture books, colouring books. There is one storybook, which is in relation to our relationship between the father and the daughter or a child. Me and my wife, Bethany. We do tend to release more books based on story books about family, about culture. That's our intention for the future."
