Ages 6 to 9: when school language takes over

The sources read for this site do not test what happens to heritage-language speech when a child starts school, so no honest answer can promise that it falls or that it can be restored. What they give is a mechanism and a few points for this age. King and Mackey in The Bilingual Edge say the majority language has a way of seeping in from everywhere else. For ages 6 to 9 their advice points to a home base in the heritage language, screens as support for understanding, and no power struggle over speaking.

What changes when school starts

King and Mackey describe the majority language as something that arrives from outside the home without anyone working at it. School is a large, regular source of it. That link is our inference from their mechanism, not a finding: the sources read do not measure speech before and after school entry (UNVERIFIED).

ILLUSTRATION with invented hours. The app's working estimate for ages 6 to 9 is 12.5 waking hours a day, with no cited source (UNVERIFIED). Say school takes 6 of them, all in the community language. That is 48% of waking hours (6 divided by 12.5), and 6.5 hours remain. The app draws a rough line at 20% of waking hours, which is 2.5 hours, or 150 minutes, a day. One study, as King and Mackey report it (Pearson and others, 1997), associated about that much exposure with a child being willing to speak a language. That figure is CONTESTED, so treat it as a reference point, not a pass mark. The 6.5 hours that remain also include meals, friends and screens, in whatever language they happen.

What the sources say about this age

• Screens. For school-age children, King and Mackey say you can feel comfortable using all kinds of edutainment to support second-language goals. The study they describe is of Belgian children with heavy English-subtitled TV, who arrived at school understanding far more English than peers with less exposure. The gain was mostly comprehension, not speaking, and those children were learning English, not a heritage language, so it does not test your situation.
• Speaking is separate. Because the gain was in comprehension, the app treats screens as a support and not a substitute for talking with your child.
• Home language and school. For a family where both parents speak the heritage language natively, King and Mackey advise using it as the everyday language between at least one parent and the child, without worrying that it will hold back the majority language. They cite research, as they report it, linking a strong first language to strong second-language and academic outcomes.
• Reading. One study they describe (Patterson, 2002) found that how often two-year-olds were read to in a language predicted their vocabulary in it, even beyond total exposure. It covers a younger age, and the app's reading tip applies it to every age band.

How the plan treats ages 6 to 9

For this age band the plan generator starts from its own weights: 30% talk, 30% reading, 25% structured practice, 10% family ritual and 5% songs. They are the app's design, with no cited source (UNVERIFIED).

ILLUSTRATION from the plan code, with invented inputs: a 7-year-old, Spanish at home, English outside, 30 minutes a day, some current exposure, both parents at home. With a conversation goal, the plan gives 13 minutes of talk, 9 of reading, 4 of structured practice, 3 of family ritual and 1 of songs. With the goal Supporting a school program, it gives 11 of structured practice, 8 of talk, 8 of reading and 3 of family ritual.

Thirty minutes is 4% of 750 waking minutes, so the plan also shows its 20% tip, with the 150-minute figure. The plan's minutes are only the deliberate part of the day. The audit counts the hours each caregiver spends with the child, which gives a fuller picture.

What to do this month

1. Log one ordinary school week in the audit, to see how many hours remain in the heritage language and with whom.
2. Keep one recurring moment where the heritage language is the default, such as a meal, a bedtime routine or a Sunday call. The plan's family ritual activity is built around this.
3. If your child watches or plays in the heritage language, preview it, join in, and pair it with something physical. Treat it as support for understanding.
4. If speaking turns into resistance, King and Mackey advise against a power struggle: you cannot make a child speak a given language, just as you cannot make a strong-willed four-year-old wear a given outfit. They suggest making the language a choice the child wants.

If you are worried about your child's speech in every language, a speech-language professional is the right person to ask. This article does not diagnose.

What is not known

• How much heritage-language speech changes at school entry, and for how long. No source read for this site measures it.
• Whether a set number of minutes keeps speaking steady. The 20% line is CONTESTED, and the plan's minutes are far below it.
• Whether screens in the heritage language help a child who already hears it at home. The Belgian study was about a language learned from TV.