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Last Sunday, we spent the afternoon with three other Russian-speaking families in Vondelpark. The children played. The parents talked. Everyone spoke Russian naturally, without translation, without explanation. Anya didn't have to be the "Russian girl." She was just Anya. When Ivan and I moved to Amsterdam, we knew our daughter would grow up bilingual. What I didn't anticipate was how much we'd need community, not just for Anya, but for ourselves. For your child, other Russia

A parent asked me this yesterday. She's Russian, living in Amsterdam, worried her accented English will "confuse" or "limit" her daughter. This isn't a parenting question. It's a linguistics question. And the research is unambiguous. What the data shows: Children exposed to multiple accents develop superior phonological processing compared to children who hear only one accent. They're not confused, they're building cognitive flexibility. A 2019 study in Developmental Science

A parent asked me this week: "June, my English has an accent. Should I speak only Russian to my daughter?" I see this worry everywhere. Parents who grew up speaking one language, now raising children in another country, wondering if their "imperfect" English will somehow limit their child. Here's what 10 years of teaching languages across countries taught me: Your accent isn't a limitation. It's a gift. When Anya hears my Estonian-accented English, my husband Ivan's Russian-a

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with a room full of curious 4-8 year olds, reading my bilingual book "Anya and a Thousand Fish" and...

I’m June Antson, a children’s author and language tutor on a mission to make bilingual stories part of everyday life for families...