Wise Willow

Problem Space  

“How might we help working parents, that are 1st or 2nd generation American, so their children do not lose connection with their mother tongue?”

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Problem Background  

The problem actually started as a personal situation. I am a 1st generation American, born to Colombian immigrant parents that are non-English speakers. I have two toddlers and 7 nieces and nephews of which only about half have preserved our mother tongue: Spanish. 

Our current education system, learning apps and culture have helped our children learn english but put their mother language to the side. We keep losing access to a dual language system, losing bilingual opportunities and, with it, causing a disconnection in cultures.  

What is happening when a bilingual working parent is not getting enough time with their child to provide the exposure needed in their mother tongue to, in fact, preserve it?

Our research demonstrated the urgency of the problem when various parents spoke about the “bilingual” programs in school, who ultimately set their mother tongue to the side. Other parents spoke of the distress they feel as their child has less and less of a connection with their grandparents due to not mastering their mother language. 

According to an interview done by American University of Washington, DC:

“We are a multilingual country and have the potential to be a language powerhouse, but we have to make sure we don’t squander this opportunity as we have in the past," she explains. “In my opinion, celebrating diversity while letting native languages fade through the usual assimilation pressure is problematic and prevents the United States from becoming sustainably multilingual.” (A. Tseng, Multilingualism on Rise in US: Illusion or Reality?, November 15, 2023).

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User Pain Points & Research Insights

Based on interviews conducted to 12 working parents that are bilingual and interested in preserving their mother tongue in their children we came across similar pain points. Here are the three biggest pain points mentioned in user stories:

1. “As a working, bilingual parent, I want my kids to practice both languages when I am not home so that they can feel comfortable in both languages and not feel like they have to choose.”
   
   
2. “As a parent who has a great connection with my own family, I want a tool that helps my children practice speaking with their grandparents in our mother tongue and maintain our family’s cultural identity.”
   
   
3. “As a first generation American, my parents do not speak English. I want to preserve my mother tongue in my kids, so that they never lose connection with our culture and their grandparents. 

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Supporting Data

With our research we learned that most parents (90%) allow at least 30 min of screen time a day. 50% use learning apps while 70% use both videos and learning apps. Among our findings we saw that tools for younger children relied more on videos and interactive apps for older kids. 

Feedback

Our preliminary research validated our problem and helped us gain understanding on the main pain points expressed by parents. There is a sense of urgency to preserve our mother tongue and not enough tools to help us do so.

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Landing on the Solution

Bases on our interviews and research we knew we wanted to focus on these goals primarily:

1. Allow parents to provide 30 minutes of daily play and learning to their children in their mother tongue when they are not present while NOT eliminating English.
   
   
2. Help maintain the 20% of bilingual rates in the US if not increase by at least 1% after the 2nd year of launch.
   
   
3. Preserve mother languages in at least 15% of 2nd and 3rd generation Americans. 

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Explanation of Solution 

The initial idea is to create a learning app based in a jungle full of animals that speak different languages. The main difference is: It will not be a language learning app and it will not be a monolingual learning app. It will be a learning app where children can gain exposure in their mother tongue.Ideally it will be a “game” or have a reward system. It will have  milestones to reach or videos to watch depending on the age group. There will also be interactive modes with parents or other child users where they will have something similar to “escape rooms” in both languages and they have to work together with their languages to solve it. 

Parents will have a “parent mode” to track children’s progress and have tips along the way to set them up for success. 

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Future Steps

Possible steps in the future would be to research and answer the following questions to validate the solution or help guide it a bit better to prioritize and make an MVP. 

1. How do we educate parents that believe two languages at once can confuse their child?
2. How do we determine the “dominant” language in the dual language”
3. Can this be geared for consumers or to public and private school systems as well?
4. Would it be more engaging to be a “game” or “learning app”

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