"I Understand Russian, but I Can't Say It": Helping Bilingual Children in London Find Their Voice

"He understands everything in Russian, but he always answers in English." Many parents raising bilingual children in London will recognise this. A child may hear Russian at home, while English fills their school day, friendships and time at the playground. Gradually, English becomes the easier language for telling a story, making a joke or explaining an idea.

That does not mean Russian has been lost. Often, a child simply needs more opportunities to use it: to talk about things that matter to them, search for the right words and feel that someone is genuinely interested in what they have to say.

Why children often understand more than they can say

Understanding a question and forming an answer require different skills. If a parent asks, "Would you like an apple?", a child only needs to recognise familiar words. Explaining why a science experiment worked or what a book character should do next is much harder. The child has to find the right vocabulary, connect ideas and put them into sentences.

An answer in English does not necessarily mean a child refuses to speak Russian. They may know exactly what they want to say but struggle to say it quickly enough in Russian — and in a fast-moving conversation, speed matters more to a child than accuracy.

A gentle response often works better than correcting every mistake. If a child says, "We did an experiment," you might reply in Russian, «Да, вы провели опыт! А что произошло потом?» ("Yes, you did an experiment! What happened next?"). They hear the word they need, while the conversation keeps moving.

Give Russian something interesting to talk about

"Say it in Russian" is rarely enough to make a child want to speak. Finding out why bubbles are round, discussing a chess move or inventing a new ending to a story gives them a reason to use the language.

These conversations help children do more than name objects. They learn to compare, explain, ask questions and express an opinion. Over time, their speech becomes richer and more connected.

When teaching Russian at home, try questions that invite more than a one-word answer:

• "What surprised you today?"

• "Why do you think the character did that?"

• "What would you change about this story?"

• "Can you explain the rules of this game to me?"

Every conversation does not need to become a lesson. Giving a child time to think and answer matters more than getting a perfect sentence.

Reading is a conversation, too

Russian books introduce children to words they may rarely hear in everyday family life. For bilingual children, talking about a book can be just as valuable as reading the pages, which is why reading and speech development work best together.

Look at the pictures together, guess what might happen next or discuss a character's choice. If your child reads independently, ask them to pick the funniest moment or describe which character they would like to meet. This helps develop both reading comprehension and the confidence to express personal ideas.

Follow your child's interests. A book about space, animals or adventure is more likely to spark conversation when they genuinely want to know what happens next.

What if my child refuses to speak Russian at all?

Some children go further than answering in English — they resist Russian completely, sometimes for months. This is common among bilingual children in the UK, and it is usually a phase rather than a verdict.

A few things tend to help:

• Lower the cost of a mistake. If every Russian sentence is corrected, a child learns that speaking Russian means being assessed. Respond to what they said, not how they said it.

• Stop asking three times. Repeating "say it in Russian" turns the language into a demand. Model the phrase yourself instead and move on.

• Create small Russian zones. The walk to school, Sunday breakfast, a bedtime story — short, predictable moments where Russian is simply the language of that activity.

• Bring in someone other than a parent. Children often speak Russian more willingly with a grandparent, a teacher or another child than with the parent who asks them to.

Pressure rarely produces speech. Interest almost always does.

Why Russian-speaking friends make a difference

At home, Russian can sometimes feel like "the adults' language": the language used to ask a child to get dressed or tell a grandparent about their day. Friendships show children another side of it. They can play, negotiate rules, create a performance and share jokes in Russian.

For families searching for a Russian school in London, this sense of community can be as valuable as the lessons themselves. Children need places where Russian is heard during shared activities and conversations with other children, as well as from a teacher. A Russian Saturday school gives them exactly that: a regular weekly setting where the language belongs to them, not only to the grown-ups.

How First Russian School supports bilingual children

At First Russian School, we take each child's age and level of Russian into account. Children develop their speech, learn to read with understanding, build vocabulary and gradually strengthen their writing and grammar. Our aim is to help them use Russian with confidence in real conversations.

Language learning continues throughout the day. In science, children observe experiments and explain what they notice. In drama, they practise speaking and expressing emotions in front of others. In chess, they describe decisions and explain their thinking. Art and group projects offer more opportunities to ask questions, share ideas and discover new words.

Confident speech is also the foundation for later academic work. Children who talk, argue and explain in Russian from an early age find text analysis and essay writing far easier when they reach GCSE Russian preparation in our Senior Group. The exam rewards exactly what everyday conversation builds: vocabulary range, the ability to justify an opinion and comfort with speaking aloud.

For many Russian-speaking families in London, keeping the language alive means preserving a connection to relatives, family stories and books. For children, it also means having the freedom to express who they are in two languages. That confidence grows from curiosity, not repetition — and that is when Russian becomes a language a child wants to speak.