Identity...

•  During this stage, children are spending much of their time away from home together with peers and teachers in the school environment. Make sure your family spends quality time together after school and on the weekend. Brainstorm activities together ahead of time that have integrated language and/or cultural elements: going for a nature walk where you identify the plants in the second language, going to the zoo and talking about the animals in your language. Museums, play parks, etc. also afford such opportunities or even just a walk to the grocery store to purchase the week's groceries.

•  A bilingual child during this stage is beginning to have the ability to understand who they are as an individual and what being bilingual and bicultural means to them personally. They will slowly be developing a more logical way of thinking during these years.
Children at these ages are usually very active and usually enjoy using their creative and thinking skills. A good way to get children to interact and use their second language is to play different games with them: board games, outdoor sports, card games, logic puzzles, creative writing exercises, etc. Try to find games and activities where they have to use words from their second language; sometimes just using a few words will encourage them to engage more.

•  Some children at these ages start to enjoy the fact that they know a second language and identify with a second culture. They start to understand the benefits, such as having a secret language that their friends don't know, being able to speak with their family abroad, knowing other children who also speak two languages.
Depending on how much defiance took place in the earlier years toward their second language, it may take a while for your child to come around to speaking the second language again, even if she wants to. She may feel like she is giving in to your wishes, so if she does decide to come around to speaking her second language, try not to make a big deal or praise her for it.
One way to keep your children engaged in their language is for them to have a pen pal. However, be cautious about any online pen pals and make sure to monitor all email exchanges. The safest way to find a pen pal is to ask friends if they know other children your child's age in your target country. Talk with the parents on the other end, just to make sure you feel comfortable with the exchange.

•  During this stage children are often very interested in media so one way to keep at least their passive language skills alive is to have language-specific DVDs, music, magazines, newspapers and computer programs available. Don't allow yourself to just purchase anything because it happens to be in your language. Be wise with your choices so that they are getting quality language experiences but also make sure the media is interesting for them. If they are curious about the articles or programs, they will engage enough to want to understand the language.

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