Over at his blog, Early Languages: Inspiring Children to Learn Languages, Ten Minutes at a Time, Franck has been asking parents about the tools they use and the challenges they encounter as they teach other languages to their children.
My answers to his questions are here!
By the way, Franck and his wife, Cristina, are the masterminds behind the "Princesses Learn Languages" apps for young children; I especially like "Je m'amuse en espagnol," which introduces new words in Spanish while telling fairy tales in French.
Want to learn more about Franck and Cristina and their multilingual children? I posted a profile of their family here last year!
Showing posts with label profiles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label profiles. Show all posts
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Claire's French family in Edinburgh: bilingual boys! (profile)
I'm delighted to introduce you to Claire, a mom from France married to a bilingual Englishman, whose experience raising their sons bilingually led her to create Justine et Sebastien, an educational website with her stories about two bilingual children.
Tell us about your family!
Bonjour, my name is Claire, I was born in France from French parents and raised in Paris. I am a teacher of French language for adults and currently an author in bilingual literature for children. Phil, my husband, has double nationality: English (by his father) and French (by his mother). He was born and raised in England and although English was the main home language when he grew up, I regard him as bilingual.
We met in Paris and spoke French from day one. We moved to Edinburgh in Scotland and carried on speaking French at home. Phil is an architect. We have two sons: Ben, age 7½, and Thom, age 5½. They were both born in Edinburgh. We moved to New York, United States when the boys were 3½ and 1½.We spent almost three years in Brooklyn, NY before moving back to Edinburgh in summer 2011.
Since the children were born we have always been living in an English-spoking country. We haven’t lived in France since the children were born; we’ve just visited my family and spent some holidays.
The last time we visited France was last summer; we stayed for three weeks.
Who speaks what to your children?
At home I obviously speak French to my sons, and we speak French together with my husband.He speaks English to our children. He can switch easily from one language to another. French is “theoretically” our home language. Sometimes, and I wish I could avoid that, I will speak English and translate into French (or the other way round) to my sons in front of their friends just to make sure everyone is comfortable and not left out of the conversation.
I think it’s a chance and a plus for children to be exposed to a second language. It opens their eyes to a different culture and way of living. I’m willing to think it gives them more opportunities for their future. It can also help them in their social life and give them more confidence.
What approach(es), method(s), or pattern(s), if any, are you using to raise your sons bilingually?
I would say it’s based on common sense; I don’t want to do school at home with my children. I’m exposing them to French culture through books, magazines, and films. When they were younger (from infancy until school age) my husband and I would alternate at story time. One day I would read a story in French, the next day it would be my husband’s turn to read a story in English. We stopped doing that when Ben started kindergarten in New York. At this time, he was learning to read in English by himself, and I wanted to avoid any confusion.
How well do your sons understand, speak, read, and write their two languages?
Both my sons understand the French language perfectly. My elder son, Ben, replies to me in French very frequently now and can initiate a conversation in French. He goes back to English if there is a word he can’t find. I would say, he speaks to me 50% French, 50% English! (In France, it was 70% French, 30% English, approximately!!) His reading in French is now correct. It’s interesting how there has been a parallel between the experience of learning to read in English and in French, with him not having been in a French classroom. The writing in French is more a phonetic process, though. One of my goals is to focus on reading more French books now that he has become an efficient reader in English.
Thom, my younger son, remains very shy in French. He understands everything; but replies to me in English most of the time. He has started to answer questions in French, though. He seems to follow a progression similar to his brother who was more or less at the same stage at an identical age. They both won’t speak French to me in front of their friends, as they don’t want to appear as different.
How have you been able to familiarize your children with French culture?
I’ve been using mainly magazines and books to expose them to French culture. When they express an interest on a specific topic, I try to emphasize its connection to France or share my French point of view. For instance, we had recently a discussion with Ben, who is at the moment interested in Formula1, about the history of French pilots, which led to a more general conversation about the French automotive industry).
What resources and materials have not been useful as you raise your boys bilingually?
French version of books originally written in English language haven’t been useful for them. They prefer to discover something unique or typically French and have no interest whatsoever in a French translation of a story written in English.
What challenges have you faced?
The most challenging task for me on a daily basis is to constantly speak a language different from the one spoken around us. It’s so easy to give in and speak the dominant language, but I think you have to stick to your mother tongue language all the time if you can when talking to your children.
Another challenge is also to make sure your children will understand the point of speaking another language, the fact that it’s something for their own interest, rather than something to please Mummy or Daddy. My younger son had a strong “Daddy phase” at one point and would ignore all my suggestions to say anything in French. He would worship my husband and therefore talking like Daddy was part of the process. All my efforts were useless during this phase and although I was still speaking French to him at the time, I knew I couldn’t expect him to respond in kind.
Of course, I’ve been using “tricks” to make them speak in French without forcing them. For example, asking questions which offer choices has been working very well with my sons: Est-ce que tu veux le crayon rouge ou le crayon vert”? (“Do you want the red pencil or the blue pencil”) They will repeat the French words I used and give me an answer in French: “le crayon rouge.”
Children should think of learning a second language like playing a game. Parents and teachers should emphasize the fun aspect of acquiring skills in another language, and should teach the language using songs, drama, etc….It shouldn’t be seen as an additional school subject but more as an afterschool hobby in the early years.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
When my children began to speak, with me speaking French to them and my husband English, I took it for granted that they would develop their skills in both languages at the same pace and therefore speak both languages at the same level from the beginning, but it didn’t work out this way. It’s not something they did naturally and we had to work together on it.
If I could give a piece of advice, it would be not to hesitate to ask a professional who is not a member of the family to help you. Ben went to a French afterschool program in New York run by a brilliant teacher; this triggered something that allowed him to become more confident with the French language.
What I would do differently now would be to focus and stick to French 100% whatever the context we’re in and obviously to spend more time in France. As a friend of mine always said: ”Immersion in the country is the best thing to speak the language of this country.”
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
The last question I would ask myself would be "What has all this fantastic experience brought me personally?"
Lots of rewards. The observation of this whole process inspired me in the creation of my literary project, “Justine et Sebastien.”
Tell us about your family!
Bonjour, my name is Claire, I was born in France from French parents and raised in Paris. I am a teacher of French language for adults and currently an author in bilingual literature for children. Phil, my husband, has double nationality: English (by his father) and French (by his mother). He was born and raised in England and although English was the main home language when he grew up, I regard him as bilingual.
We met in Paris and spoke French from day one. We moved to Edinburgh in Scotland and carried on speaking French at home. Phil is an architect. We have two sons: Ben, age 7½, and Thom, age 5½. They were both born in Edinburgh. We moved to New York, United States when the boys were 3½ and 1½.We spent almost three years in Brooklyn, NY before moving back to Edinburgh in summer 2011.
Since the children were born we have always been living in an English-spoking country. We haven’t lived in France since the children were born; we’ve just visited my family and spent some holidays.
The last time we visited France was last summer; we stayed for three weeks.
Who speaks what to your children?
At home I obviously speak French to my sons, and we speak French together with my husband.He speaks English to our children. He can switch easily from one language to another. French is “theoretically” our home language. Sometimes, and I wish I could avoid that, I will speak English and translate into French (or the other way round) to my sons in front of their friends just to make sure everyone is comfortable and not left out of the conversation.
I think it’s a chance and a plus for children to be exposed to a second language. It opens their eyes to a different culture and way of living. I’m willing to think it gives them more opportunities for their future. It can also help them in their social life and give them more confidence.
What approach(es), method(s), or pattern(s), if any, are you using to raise your sons bilingually?
I would say it’s based on common sense; I don’t want to do school at home with my children. I’m exposing them to French culture through books, magazines, and films. When they were younger (from infancy until school age) my husband and I would alternate at story time. One day I would read a story in French, the next day it would be my husband’s turn to read a story in English. We stopped doing that when Ben started kindergarten in New York. At this time, he was learning to read in English by himself, and I wanted to avoid any confusion.
How well do your sons understand, speak, read, and write their two languages?
Both my sons understand the French language perfectly. My elder son, Ben, replies to me in French very frequently now and can initiate a conversation in French. He goes back to English if there is a word he can’t find. I would say, he speaks to me 50% French, 50% English! (In France, it was 70% French, 30% English, approximately!!) His reading in French is now correct. It’s interesting how there has been a parallel between the experience of learning to read in English and in French, with him not having been in a French classroom. The writing in French is more a phonetic process, though. One of my goals is to focus on reading more French books now that he has become an efficient reader in English.
Thom, my younger son, remains very shy in French. He understands everything; but replies to me in English most of the time. He has started to answer questions in French, though. He seems to follow a progression similar to his brother who was more or less at the same stage at an identical age. They both won’t speak French to me in front of their friends, as they don’t want to appear as different.
 |
| Ben and Thom on the first day of school, August 2012 |
I’ve been using mainly magazines and books to expose them to French culture. When they express an interest on a specific topic, I try to emphasize its connection to France or share my French point of view. For instance, we had recently a discussion with Ben, who is at the moment interested in Formula1, about the history of French pilots, which led to a more general conversation about the French automotive industry).
What resources and materials have not been useful as you raise your boys bilingually?
French version of books originally written in English language haven’t been useful for them. They prefer to discover something unique or typically French and have no interest whatsoever in a French translation of a story written in English.
What challenges have you faced?
The most challenging task for me on a daily basis is to constantly speak a language different from the one spoken around us. It’s so easy to give in and speak the dominant language, but I think you have to stick to your mother tongue language all the time if you can when talking to your children.
Another challenge is also to make sure your children will understand the point of speaking another language, the fact that it’s something for their own interest, rather than something to please Mummy or Daddy. My younger son had a strong “Daddy phase” at one point and would ignore all my suggestions to say anything in French. He would worship my husband and therefore talking like Daddy was part of the process. All my efforts were useless during this phase and although I was still speaking French to him at the time, I knew I couldn’t expect him to respond in kind.
Of course, I’ve been using “tricks” to make them speak in French without forcing them. For example, asking questions which offer choices has been working very well with my sons: Est-ce que tu veux le crayon rouge ou le crayon vert”? (“Do you want the red pencil or the blue pencil”) They will repeat the French words I used and give me an answer in French: “le crayon rouge.”
Children should think of learning a second language like playing a game. Parents and teachers should emphasize the fun aspect of acquiring skills in another language, and should teach the language using songs, drama, etc….It shouldn’t be seen as an additional school subject but more as an afterschool hobby in the early years.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
When my children began to speak, with me speaking French to them and my husband English, I took it for granted that they would develop their skills in both languages at the same pace and therefore speak both languages at the same level from the beginning, but it didn’t work out this way. It’s not something they did naturally and we had to work together on it.
If I could give a piece of advice, it would be not to hesitate to ask a professional who is not a member of the family to help you. Ben went to a French afterschool program in New York run by a brilliant teacher; this triggered something that allowed him to become more confident with the French language.
What I would do differently now would be to focus and stick to French 100% whatever the context we’re in and obviously to spend more time in France. As a friend of mine always said: ”Immersion in the country is the best thing to speak the language of this country.”
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
The last question I would ask myself would be "What has all this fantastic experience brought me personally?"
Lots of rewards. The observation of this whole process inspired me in the creation of my literary project, “Justine et Sebastien.”
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Profile: non-native English with Dani's son in Spain
Here at Bringing up Baby Bilingual, we hear a lot about being non-native speakers of the languages we are using with our families. (I’m kind of obsessed with this idea, as I’ve been living it for nearly four years now.) Regular readers and commenters like Kate at German in the Afternoon, Elizabeth at La Mother Tongue, Monika at Slices of Life, and Tamara at Non-Native Bilingualism, for example, are raising their children bilingually, as are some of the parents featured in profiles here: Tracy, THW, and Jeanne, to name a few.
But so far, we have primarily met English-mother-tongue mothers who are living in the US or the UK but choose to use another language with their children. Today, however, I’m delighted to introduce Dani, a Spanish man living in Spain, married to a fellow Spaniard, who has embraced the challenge of teaching their toddler son his own non-native English.
Please join me in welcoming Dani and his family to my blog!
Who are the members of your family?
Papi: 30 years old, born in Madrid, working (in Madrid) for a British multinational (insurance business). As everyone in Spain, I learnt English at the school following the standard WRONG method that we all suffer in this country, i.e. memorizing lists of vocabulary, learning just through reading, no listening, no speaking… awful. Then at 23 after some intensive courses and some practice I spent seven months working in Ireland (customer attention) which meant a great boost in my fluency. Since then I have continued learning every day and now I use English at work about 30% of the time on a daily basis. I spent also 2.5 years working for a German company and I learned German until level C1 (a little above intermediate) but I’m now losing almost everything, since I stopped when my little punk was born. I also speak some Italian (only some). I found out that I love languages a little bit late, and now I’d like to have the time to study and practice more.
Mum: 33 years old, born in Madrid, works (in Madrid and one to two days a week traveling) for an engineering company. She didn’t spend time abroad but still she understands English pretty well and speaks English well enough to maintain a conversation. She is absolutely into our bilingual project, and gives support with sentences, words and songs here and there. She is an awesome mum and wife. What can I say….
In-laws/caretakers: Supporting and loving Spanish granny and grandpa. They sold a family business so now they are retired; they are the big rock upon which we stand to raise our little kid. Always helpful and tender. I don’t think we’ll be able to pay them back for what they do for us EVERY DAY. They don’t speak or understand any other language but Spanish.
Son: D. Jr. is 17 months old. He enjoys exploring around, riding his toy motorbike, reading stories with Papi, and singing songs and dancing with Papi and Mami. We also love to imitate animal sounds and to prowl around the house (if someone could have shown us a picture of this when we were younger and partying like crazy...LOL). Since his birth I have tried to read stories to him as much as I could and for as long as he showed interest, in order to get him used to English sounds. We know this is working because it's still one of his favorite things in the world now. He is veryhyperactive, but whenever there is a book with nice pictures around, he stays still and quiet to listen to the story and then interacts with it.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
Between mum and dad: Spanish, because it feels really weird to speak English between us.
Mum to kid: Spanish mainly, but lots of English words and expressions come in the way too.
Dad to kid/Dad to kid and mum: English 100%. If I don’t know a word or idiom, I’ll find another way to say the same thing, then check in the internet (God bless smartphones) and integrate the new expression/word immediately.
Rest of family to kid: Spanish.
What is a typical day in your son's life like?
On a a work day: He wakes up at 7:45 and has breakfast with mum and/or dad, depending on mum’s business trips. These days Papi makes breakfast, dresses him, and gets him ready for nursery, all in English. We sing songs in English on our way to the nursery for the 8:45 drop off. No English program is available in the area, so it’s just in Spanish. (We are trying to change this, but all you have read about English or bilingual education programs in Spain is 90% a lie and the other 10% is true but way too expensive).
As you can see, his English input in a regular day is around 2 to 2.5 net hours, and this fact hammers away at my mind all day long. My only relief is that apparently the hours that he spends with me are like “high intensity time” because of the emotional bond, so that makes English stick better (or so I like to believe).
On a weekend day, we wake up late and I try to give him as much English input as possible until bedtime. Songs, games, drawing, animals, playground--all adapted to his age. As simple as that.
Why do you want your child to know more than one language?
In the end what we want for our kids is opportunities. Speaking English fluently is something scarce in the Spanish labor market. Only four or five people out of 85 do it in my company (a BRITISH company, for God’s sake!), most of them young people. Directors, even not-so-old ones, just suck at it. (So I’ll be one of the last ones to be fired.)
Having said that, there is an obvious career perspective in my decision, and I’m sure that the working environment for my little one in 20 years time won’t be the same as it is now (the whole world speaking Chinese, perhaps?), but still I firmly believe it’s the right thing to do. As a late learner of English, I saw a whole world open up in front of my eyes/ears, and I want my boy to be able to enjoy this too. I thing it’s the best (and only at the moment) inheritance that I can pass on to him.
How well does your son understand and speak the different languages?
We perceive that he understands equally well English and Spanish. We check from time to time through identification games, e.g. we put all his animal figures on the sofa and ask him to bring us one. He recognizes them all (around 12) and responds to things like “give it to mummy,” “put it down,” and “pick it up.” He also has some kind of code with the hands for each song and every time he hears a word or see something related to the song, he automatically starts doing the song movements. And when we read a book together and he is asked to point at something he does it correctly (e.g. “Where is the spider?” he points at it, and then “Where does the spider live?” and he points at the spider web).
But so far, we have primarily met English-mother-tongue mothers who are living in the US or the UK but choose to use another language with their children. Today, however, I’m delighted to introduce Dani, a Spanish man living in Spain, married to a fellow Spaniard, who has embraced the challenge of teaching their toddler son his own non-native English.
Please join me in welcoming Dani and his family to my blog!
Who are the members of your family?
Papi: 30 years old, born in Madrid, working (in Madrid) for a British multinational (insurance business). As everyone in Spain, I learnt English at the school following the standard WRONG method that we all suffer in this country, i.e. memorizing lists of vocabulary, learning just through reading, no listening, no speaking… awful. Then at 23 after some intensive courses and some practice I spent seven months working in Ireland (customer attention) which meant a great boost in my fluency. Since then I have continued learning every day and now I use English at work about 30% of the time on a daily basis. I spent also 2.5 years working for a German company and I learned German until level C1 (a little above intermediate) but I’m now losing almost everything, since I stopped when my little punk was born. I also speak some Italian (only some). I found out that I love languages a little bit late, and now I’d like to have the time to study and practice more.
Mum: 33 years old, born in Madrid, works (in Madrid and one to two days a week traveling) for an engineering company. She didn’t spend time abroad but still she understands English pretty well and speaks English well enough to maintain a conversation. She is absolutely into our bilingual project, and gives support with sentences, words and songs here and there. She is an awesome mum and wife. What can I say….
In-laws/caretakers: Supporting and loving Spanish granny and grandpa. They sold a family business so now they are retired; they are the big rock upon which we stand to raise our little kid. Always helpful and tender. I don’t think we’ll be able to pay them back for what they do for us EVERY DAY. They don’t speak or understand any other language but Spanish.
Son: D. Jr. is 17 months old. He enjoys exploring around, riding his toy motorbike, reading stories with Papi, and singing songs and dancing with Papi and Mami. We also love to imitate animal sounds and to prowl around the house (if someone could have shown us a picture of this when we were younger and partying like crazy...LOL). Since his birth I have tried to read stories to him as much as I could and for as long as he showed interest, in order to get him used to English sounds. We know this is working because it's still one of his favorite things in the world now. He is very
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
Between mum and dad: Spanish, because it feels really weird to speak English between us.
Mum to kid: Spanish mainly, but lots of English words and expressions come in the way too.
Dad to kid/Dad to kid and mum: English 100%. If I don’t know a word or idiom, I’ll find another way to say the same thing, then check in the internet (God bless smartphones) and integrate the new expression/word immediately.
Rest of family to kid: Spanish.
What is a typical day in your son's life like?
On a a work day: He wakes up at 7:45 and has breakfast with mum and/or dad, depending on mum’s business trips. These days Papi makes breakfast, dresses him, and gets him ready for nursery, all in English. We sing songs in English on our way to the nursery for the 8:45 drop off. No English program is available in the area, so it’s just in Spanish. (We are trying to change this, but all you have read about English or bilingual education programs in Spain is 90% a lie and the other 10% is true but way too expensive).
Then mum or granny picks him up at 13:15 after lunch, and then siesta. Wake up at 16:00 and then play in the playground/sandbox with kids and grandpa until papi/mum picks him up at around 19:00 or 19:30. Then bath, dinner, English Pocoyo, and story, and go to bed at 21:30.
As you can see, his English input in a regular day is around 2 to 2.5 net hours, and this fact hammers away at my mind all day long. My only relief is that apparently the hours that he spends with me are like “high intensity time” because of the emotional bond, so that makes English stick better (or so I like to believe).
On a weekend day, we wake up late and I try to give him as much English input as possible until bedtime. Songs, games, drawing, animals, playground--all adapted to his age. As simple as that.
In the end what we want for our kids is opportunities. Speaking English fluently is something scarce in the Spanish labor market. Only four or five people out of 85 do it in my company (a BRITISH company, for God’s sake!), most of them young people. Directors, even not-so-old ones, just suck at it. (So I’ll be one of the last ones to be fired.)
Having said that, there is an obvious career perspective in my decision, and I’m sure that the working environment for my little one in 20 years time won’t be the same as it is now (the whole world speaking Chinese, perhaps?), but still I firmly believe it’s the right thing to do. As a late learner of English, I saw a whole world open up in front of my eyes/ears, and I want my boy to be able to enjoy this too. I thing it’s the best (and only at the moment) inheritance that I can pass on to him.
How well does your son understand and speak the different languages?
We perceive that he understands equally well English and Spanish. We check from time to time through identification games, e.g. we put all his animal figures on the sofa and ask him to bring us one. He recognizes them all (around 12) and responds to things like “give it to mummy,” “put it down,” and “pick it up.” He also has some kind of code with the hands for each song and every time he hears a word or see something related to the song, he automatically starts doing the song movements. And when we read a book together and he is asked to point at something he does it correctly (e.g. “Where is the spider?” he points at it, and then “Where does the spider live?” and he points at the spider web).
As he is still very young, he is producing baby utterances, sort of “ZTAH” for “STAR”, “PAH” for “PANTS” or “WUH” for “WOUND,” but you can see that the seed of an English word is there. The Spanish baby-word for “STAR” (ESTRELLA) would be something like “TEYA” or “YEYA” so you can tell “ZTAH!” is not Spanish. I keep track of the evolution in a white board monthly. He does animal sounds as well but I don’t count them as words (WUAWUA! for “DOGGY” or MUU for “COW”).
If you take a deeper look, it seems so amazing how he’s started to say things related to what he usually does with his mum and grandparents in Spanish, and those related to games and things that we do together (animals and stuff like that) in English.
I have also noticed that he is getting used to managing two words for each concept. He understands both terms, and then he picks just one of the words to name that thing, normally the shorter one or the one containing syllables that he produces already, e.g. PULPO= “PUH-POH,” for OCTOPUS (way more complicated in English, plus he now controls “POH POH” very well for POO). I’m fascinated by this process.
How have you been able to expose your child to the culture(s) where the different languages are spoken?
Do you have any advice for us?
I can identify several situations in which I have had to make decisions about my language use with my son:
Family: In my case, I haven’t had enough time to go through many experiences, but with the family (primarily in-laws), I say things first in English and then in Spanish. Everybody is really supportive so we haven’t had any problems. Plus, my in-laws are actually grasping some English.
Playground: There are awkward moments at the playground when playing with other kids. I get THE LOOK ¿(,) (,)? from other parents when they hear me talking to my boy. If you are a native English speaker and you speak English to your kids, it’s perceived as natural. If you are Spanish and all your family is Spanish too….“What’s wrong with you? Why would you do something like that to your own kid!!” or “Look at him! He thinks he is sooo cool speaking English…. They’ll get it at the school; there is no need to do that, for crying out loud! You’ll mess his brain up.”
At the beginning I felt self conscious, and even sometimes I felt like other parents could speak English better than me and correct me and say, “Look, if you want to do this, at least you could do it right” (I know, I sometimes freak out), but I care every time less about this things. I might make some mistakes, I must say that my English is far from flawless, I don’t have phrasal verbs down pat, and I only know some English idioms, but I think this is working and I feel confident enough to keep going.
Cousins: D. Jr. has several three-to-four-year-old cousins and their reaction is so fun. They look at us like only a child can look, then they go with the flow and try to say things in English to D.Jr. They ask me how to say things and then they say it! It’s so fun. In this situation I say things in English for my boy and immediately after the same in Spanish, and then I talk about how we speak English together, trying to make it normal. My sister and brother-in-law think that it’s okay, but somehow unnecessary.
If you take a deeper look, it seems so amazing how he’s started to say things related to what he usually does with his mum and grandparents in Spanish, and those related to games and things that we do together (animals and stuff like that) in English.
I have also noticed that he is getting used to managing two words for each concept. He understands both terms, and then he picks just one of the words to name that thing, normally the shorter one or the one containing syllables that he produces already, e.g. PULPO= “PUH-POH,” for OCTOPUS (way more complicated in English, plus he now controls “POH POH” very well for POO). I’m fascinated by this process.
How have you been able to expose your child to the culture(s) where the different languages are spoken?
I’m planning to do so through periods of time in the UK/Ireland/USA as he grows up. Maybe student exchange programs, vacations, and so forth.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you?
What resources and activities have been most useful to you?
Definitely reading stories and singing songs together. We saw a spout the other day and he was really upset because the incy wincy spider was not inside it. He was like, “Hm! The song explicitly specifies that she went up the water spout so do NOT try to trick me you all, it’s gotta be here somewhere….” It was so fun and we (I) talked about it for a long time. So songs and stories have proven to be great English triggers.
Do you have any advice for us?
I can identify several situations in which I have had to make decisions about my language use with my son:
Family: In my case, I haven’t had enough time to go through many experiences, but with the family (primarily in-laws), I say things first in English and then in Spanish. Everybody is really supportive so we haven’t had any problems. Plus, my in-laws are actually grasping some English.
Playground: There are awkward moments at the playground when playing with other kids. I get THE LOOK ¿(,) (,)? from other parents when they hear me talking to my boy. If you are a native English speaker and you speak English to your kids, it’s perceived as natural. If you are Spanish and all your family is Spanish too….“What’s wrong with you? Why would you do something like that to your own kid!!” or “Look at him! He thinks he is sooo cool speaking English…. They’ll get it at the school; there is no need to do that, for crying out loud! You’ll mess his brain up.”
At the beginning I felt self conscious, and even sometimes I felt like other parents could speak English better than me and correct me and say, “Look, if you want to do this, at least you could do it right” (I know, I sometimes freak out), but I care every time less about this things. I might make some mistakes, I must say that my English is far from flawless, I don’t have phrasal verbs down pat, and I only know some English idioms, but I think this is working and I feel confident enough to keep going.
Cousins: D. Jr. has several three-to-four-year-old cousins and their reaction is so fun. They look at us like only a child can look, then they go with the flow and try to say things in English to D.Jr. They ask me how to say things and then they say it! It’s so fun. In this situation I say things in English for my boy and immediately after the same in Spanish, and then I talk about how we speak English together, trying to make it normal. My sister and brother-in-law think that it’s okay, but somehow unnecessary.
I think many people see this as pretentious and trying to be “special” (but with a negative connotation). I try to ignore all this, but it has a social impact and I’m afraid my kid will eventually perceive it. I think the key here is enrolling him in a REAL immersion school to make English part of his life at home AND out of home. We’ll see how things go.
What do you wish you had known when you started?
I tend to worry too much about this. Uncertainty is something added that you have to deal with when you make the decision of raising a baby bilingually. You can become a worrywart! Sometimes you can even lose track of the final goal. Maybe the smart thing to do is to set realistic goals. He doesn’t need to be Shakespeare and it’s not YOUR challenge, and it’s not about showing everyone how smart your kid is because he speaks English. It’s just about giving tools to your kid so he can survive in the jungle. Anything else must be left apart (I sometimes have to say this to myself).
Muchas gracias, Dani, and best of luck to you and your family--keep in touch!
What do you wish you had known when you started?
I tend to worry too much about this. Uncertainty is something added that you have to deal with when you make the decision of raising a baby bilingually. You can become a worrywart! Sometimes you can even lose track of the final goal. Maybe the smart thing to do is to set realistic goals. He doesn’t need to be Shakespeare and it’s not YOUR challenge, and it’s not about showing everyone how smart your kid is because he speaks English. It’s just about giving tools to your kid so he can survive in the jungle. Anything else must be left apart (I sometimes have to say this to myself).
Muchas gracias, Dani, and best of luck to you and your family--keep in touch!
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
profile: Reb's bilingual child--now children!--four years later
(Re)introduce us to your family!
I am American; My husband is French. We live in Lille, France. I’ve lived in France for 15 years. My husband and I have been together for ten years. He’s also lived in Scotland and Denmark so he’s fluent in English. Suzanne is five; Max is almost two (in August 2011).
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
We are both fluent in French and English (written and spoken). Before the kids were born, we spoke a mix of the two.
How are you exposing your children to both English and French?
At home, we adhere very strictly to OPOL – one parent one language. My husband speaks only French to everyone and I speak only in English to everyone (pets included). I never speak directly to either of my children in French, although they both hear me speaking French to other people. It was a lot of linguistic gymnastics at first, but we got used to it pretty quickly.
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
It is important that they are able to speak to their French and American families. Language is also a connection with culture, so they need to speak “American” to have that connection with their mother’s culture and to be able to spend time in the US in the future (ie summer camp or high school year abroad, etc.).
How well do your children understand, speak, read, and write the different languages? How do they feel about them? Do they have a preference for what they speak in which contexts? How has their language use evolved as they grow?
Suzanne speaks and understands English as well as any monolingual five-year-old. The only difference is that she uses some French grammar in her English speaking and sometimes uses French expressions translated into English when she speaks to me. When she does speak to me in French, it’s to tell me the exact words someone at school used or because it’s part of an expression that she doesn’t know in English. But, most of the time, she actually does translate the French into perfect English for me. Even when she’s with her friends or at school, she speaks to me in English, which I’m really proud of. (Sarah adds: As well you should be!)
Max clearly understands English. But he uses more French than his sister did at the same age. He says many words and expressions in English, but his French vocabulary is clearly stronger because of the social context of the French-only nursery school. Most recently I was surprised by how many words he knows in French because I’d never heard him say them before. Sometimes he says things I don’t understand and then realize it must be French; and sometimes he says things in French that I do understand. I repeat it back in English which usually brings him to say it in English as well. When he does say something in French, if I tell him I don’t understand or tell him to “say it like Mommy,” he will usually use the English word. He has just begun stringing nouns together which make micro-sentences mixing both languages. Max uses English for home activities and food (things associated with me) and seems to use more French for common objects and verbs.
Suzanne usually speaks English to her brother. I get the impression that English is more the language inside the house as well as being the mother tongue, which it is called for a real reason I now understand! Having her speak English to her brother is really helpful to me because it not only adds an added English presence in the house, but also creates a little bond and provide me with support.
I think Suzanne feels happy to speak English. A few months ago, Suzanne was really upset because her friends asked her to say something in English and she couldn’t, like her brain was blocked. We explained to her that it was normal and that even if it was hard now, she’d be so happy later to have English. And, happily, the other day she told me that speaking two languages wasn’t hard for her.
How have you been able to expose your children to the cultures where the different languages are spoken?
When Suzanne was born, I sought out other English speakers where we live. We try to get together once a week so the kids can spend time together. Seeing each other regularly when we all only had one kid was much easier than when we all had our second. I feel it’s important for the kids to know it’s okay and normal to be bilingual. It also gives the parents support. We listen to English radio (BBC), read lots of books in English, and watch mainly English language movies and programmes.
We also have a three-week visit from Grandma every six months, which helps reinforce the language. Unfortunately, we don’t get to the US very often.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you?
Books have been an amazing resource. Cebeebies radio (BBC for children) has also been great to put on as background noise when we get home. (Reb also has organized a bilingual storytime at the public library!)
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children bilingually?
I have to say it was much easier raising a bilingual family when there was only one child. Because Suzanne is older and is now social, Max is exposed to more French than Suzanne was at the same age. He hears me speaking more French. Also, I feel that I’m not as aggressive with his English as I was with Suzanne’s. For instance, I distinctly remember ignoring Suzanne when she spoke to me in French whereas for Max, I find myself responding to his French request by reinforcing it in English without making him repeat in English like I did to Suzanne. This reinforces his understanding of English without reinforcing his use of the language. That said, kids are very different and there are many factors that contribute to their learning of both languages. It’s hard not to compare.
Another challenge is self-doubt. I wonder if I’m missing part of my kids’ personality because I don’t know their French selves. They have this whole other part of themselves that I never see. And as a parent, it’s hard to accept that you may not know your kids. But I think that’s true for anything in parenting…or I hope so.
There is also the challenge of transmitting the culture with the language. The American friends I have here try to do “American” things like Thanksgiving, Halloween…and I’ve also gone to Suzanne's school to do some lessons on English and American holidays.
Do you have any advice for us?
The best advice I can give is be consistent and strict. It is essential to stick to a system that works for you. We are really strict with OPOL but have friends who aren’t. And the result is that their kids don’t speak the minority language (my English friend actually says his thing in English and then repeats in French to make sure his kids understand, which defeats the point. The proof is in the pudding….)
Another difficult situation is when we are with family in an all-French situation. At first it was hard, until I created an English universe when we are in such situations. I always make sure there is an English presence no matter where we are so that the kids are never completely detached.
It’s hard to encourage your kids to use the minority language when they have friends in the majority language. But, I tend to speak English to their friends too so they see it’s kind of cool. I encourage Suzanne’s friends to say things in English so that everyone knows it’s okay and so Suzanne won’t feel a stigma.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
To be honest, I don’t think I would do anything differently so far. I would just remind myself that kids are resilient and adaptable.
I did a lot of reading before the kids were born – and based on my own studies of second language acquisition – I felt fairly prepared for the intellectual part of raising kids bilingually, but not for the emotional part. I definitely wasn’t prepared for the emotional tie I had with my native language. It’s hard not to take your child’s language acquisition personally. I think it’s important to understand the various ways to raise your kids bilingually so you can choose the right system for you. Be prepared….!
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
How has it affected my entourage? How has my entourage handled the OPOL situation in the family?
Luckily, both of our families are very supportive of the way we raise the kids. It’s especially helpful when we are with my husband’s family in a very French situation and I speak English, which no one really understands. They could have felt left out or angry, but they don’t. There are some non-English friends who felt alienated and it has caused strife in some of my relationships. But as the kids have start to grow up, I realize how important it is for me to be with bilingual people who understand the importance of my own language and culture.
Dear Readers, isn't it wonderful to hear from a mother who has been successful raising her kids bilingually, despite significant challenges, and who says that she wouldn't have it any different! Reb, thank you so much for updating us on your family's strategies and progress.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
profile: Franck's trilingual family, adding Chinese now!
Please introduce us to your family.
My name is Franck. I was born and raised in Alsace, France. I grew up speaking with my parents and friends Alsatian, a German dialect, and learned French in school. I have lived in the US for 12 years, where I met Cristina, my wife, who is from the Basque Country in Spain. We both work in large retail and consumer goods companies and live in West Orange, NJ. We are passionate about teaching our kids languages.
Elena, our daughter, is six years old. She speaks French with me, Spanish with my wife, and English at school. She loves drawing, ballet and tennis. Pablo is three years old and is doing the same, although with a more limited vocabulary. He is a big soccer fan.
We all go as a family to Chinese school on Saturday afternoon to learn Mandarin.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
I am a native French speaker and my wife a native Spanish speaker, which makes it easy for us to teach our languages to our children. When my wife and I met, we did not speak each other’s languages, only English. We took classes for one year so that we could communicate with our respective families.
With our kids around, I speak French to my wife, and she answers in Spanish. We speak in English in front of the children when friends are around.
How are you exposing your children to the other languages?
We strongly believe in making every moment in the day together a language learning opportunity. I usually read at least one ten-minute story a day in French. When I cook, I like to have one of the kids with me to explain the vocabulary in French. When we play soccer, I make an effort to talk a lot about how to play in French. In the car I only put French nursery songs.
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
We believe that learning is fun and we want them to communicate easily with their grandparents in Spain and France. It will also give them broader opportunities in the future to build relationships with people. And we believe that speaking more than one language will help build a more peaceful world.
How have you been able to expose your children to the cultures where French and Spanish are spoken?
Every year we spend one week in France and one week in Spain to see family.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you? What, on the other hand, has not been useful?
Useful: a lot of books, audiobooks in French, iPod and iPad. Playing with dolls and playing soccer also makes it fun and interactive. A lot of songs in the car. Watching a cartoon in French on YouTube five minutes per day.
I believe everything can be a useful activity if you weave in some language learning.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children multilingually?
Finding the time. We both work full time away from home. The first one comes home at 7:30pm at the earliest. The market share of French is limited at home, and I need to find every possible opportunity to squeeze some French in.
Do you have any advice for us--for example, how do you encourage your children to use the minority/second language, or how do you cope with family members who don't speak the child's second language?
Reading princess stories in the second language works the best with my daughter, and also playing together with her dolls or puppets in French. It makes it interactive.
When my in-laws are in town, they do not understand French. So I tell things to Pablo and Elena in French, and translate it right away in Spanish. I basically tell them things in the two languages so that my in-laws do not feel left out.
If any of the adults in the household are non-native speakers of the language they use with the children, please tell us a little about how that works for your family.
My wife and I made the commitment to learn each other’s language. That was the biggest step I believe that helps us raise trilingual children.
We continue maintaining our languages. I read novels in Spanish, my wife in French (mainly on days off or on vacation). Vacation with our families is also very helpful
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
I am in the process currently. However, I like to read a lot about other parents’ experiences, I learn a lot from it. Using the iPad, YouTube, a story in French every night, CDs in the car are all ideas I got from friends.
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
I would like to know if parents have used the second language to learn a third one. I am trying to teach Chinese to my son with a French method. I would like to talk with parents who have tried it and how they did it.
Readers, parents of multilingual children, do you have any suggestions for Franck as he uses his children's second language to help them learn a fourth?
I'd also like to highlight his candid statement that when both parents work long days, it is very hard to give the children lots of input in the minority languages. When I gave a conference presentation earlier this year about raising children with more than one language, I asked the attendees what they found most challenging about the process; most of them felt similarly constrained. I know I'm very lucky to be working part-time and spending half my weekdays immersing Griffin in his second language. Kudos to you single parents and parents who both work full-time who still manage to enrich your children's lives with two or more languages! And Franck, thank you for sharing your story.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
profile: Swiss-German and more with Jennifer's magpie family
Meet Jennifer, an American poet who writes Magpie Days, who with her Swiss husband R is raising their children bilingually (even multilingually, if you count their understanding of High German and incipient French studies at school). Please read on to learn about their fascinating mix of languages in Switzerland and their choice to switch from OPOL to English-only at home! Jennifer, thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us.
Our older son, Small Boy, age six, is currently crazy about soccer, but in the cold weather he transitions to his winter passion of hockey. Basically if he can run around outside blowing off energy, he likes it. The Boychen is three years old and mostly loves what his big brother loves. He got on proper ice skates for the first time this year and will be tagging along to hockey practice before we know it. We live in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland (a canton is pretty much like a state). Ours sons also spend a lot of time with R's parents Grossmutti (grandma) and Grossvati (grandpa), who are Swiss. R and I met in the US but as a family with children we have always lived in Switzerland.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
R speaks Swiss-German (native), “high German” (as native as a Swiss can get, and I’ll explain a bit about Swiss German v. “high German” in a minute), English (near-native), and French (very good). I am a native English speaker and speak “high German” at a high intermediate level and understand it at a near-native level. I understand Swiss-German fairly well.
Swiss-German is a dialect of German. There are actually dozens of Swiss-German dialects in Switzerland: if you grow up in Zurich you’ll have a slightly different vocabulary and accent than if you grow up in Basel than if you grow up in Bern than if you grow up in Chur, and so on. Strictly speaking R speaks Bernese, the dialect of the region around Bern. “High German” is the German you would learn if you studied German in school, the German spoken in Germany (not that there aren’t dialects in Germany, too), the German a newspaper or novel would be published in. Swiss-German can be very different from “high German;” many Germans would tell you they can’t understand half of what Swiss people say when they speak in dialect.
A native Swiss-German child’s first language, then, is Swiss. They do not start learning “high German” (also called “written German”) until the first grade when they begin to learn to read and write in school. So in a sense “high German” is, for many Swiss, a first foreign language, which is why I say my husband’s “high German” is as native as it gets for a Swiss.
What languages are you exposing your children to, and how?
We’re raising our boys bilingually in English and Swiss. They are exposed to a lot of “high German,” though, because that is the language I speak with Swiss people (I have reached the point where I understand Swiss but I don’t speak it) and because a lot of children’s TV programming comes to us from Germany; also, when we read to them in German, the books are in “high German.” (There are story-and song-books available in Swiss, but I leave that for my mother-in-law.)
In the German-speaking part of Switzerland the kids are required to learn French in school (and in the French-speaking part they have to learn German). My boys aren’t there yet, though, but I am all for them learning French.
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
Well, we live in Switzerland and the boys will go to public school here, so not speaking Swiss isn’t an option. And my in-laws don’t speak English, so for the boys to have a relationship with their grandparents, uncle, and cousins, it has to happen in Swiss.
As for English, it never occurred to me not to speak to the boys in my native language. Plus I’m a poet; I operate in English. I speak German well enough that I could live my daily life in German if I had to (it would be exhausting, but I could do it), but English is the language of my heart. I love rhymes and poems and stories and have a long list of the books from my childhood I can’t wait to share with the boys. I can’t imagine not being able to share that with them. And on a purely practical level, being monolingual Swiss doesn’t get you very far in today’s world. On the practical side, having English as a native language is a huge advantage.
How well do your children understand and speak the different languages? How do they feel about them? Do they have a preference for what they speak in which contexts? How has their language use evolved as they grow?
Both boys understand Swiss and English at a native level appropriate to their ages (6 and 3) and probably understand less German than a similarly-aged kid growing up in Berlin, but I’d say they understand German just fine.
I think my older son Small Boy’s spoken Swiss is stronger than his spoken English; when he was first starting to talk I’d say he used Swiss 75% of the time even though I always only spoke to him in English. He would often address me in Swiss (he still does). I always responded to him in English, but I never pretended I didn’t understand the Swiss or refused to reply until he spoke English. That never made sense to me although I know there are families that are that serious about one-parent-one-language (OPOL) and maybe if I had done that Small Boy would be more linguistically balanced.
Probably it just would have really annoyed him, though – since I speak German in front of him all the time out in the world, he knows perfectly well I understand it. My husband once asked Small Boy – he was maybe four at the time - why he always spoke Swiss, and Small Boy said “Otherwise they don’t understand you at the grocery store.” Which is a pretty brilliant answer, actually: he figured out early that he has the best chance of getting what he wants/needs by speaking Swiss.
Swiss schools don’t introduce reading and writing until the first grade, so Small Boy doesn’t read or write German. I’m teaching him to read in English, and he’s reading at the level of the Bob Books – simple pure phonetic words.
The Boychen, age three, seems quite balanced linguistically. He switches between the two depending on context quite well – Swiss with the grandparents, for example – and the languages seem quite distinct in his mind whereas with the Small Boy I sometimes get the feeling that when he slips into Swiss when talking to me he doesn’t quite realize it at first.
What’s fascinating to me is when I listen in on the boys playing together, sometimes the game is in English and sometimes in Swiss and I haven’t figured out how the decision is made to play in which language. It seems very fluid when it’s just the two of them.
How have you been able to expose your children to the cultures where the different languages are spoken?
Swiss is covered since we live here and are surrounded by Swiss family and Small Boy goes to public Kindergarten. For the US side it’s harder. We take long vacations there when possible, and tell stories, and I buy the boys lots of books in English but it’s all very on the surface compared to the way they’re tapped in to the local culture. To take a small example, the Small Boy is a huge fan of the Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara but I’m not sure he knows who Lance Armstrong is.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children with more than one language?
Because I always speak English with the boys, every time I open my mouth I out myself as a foreigner. Sometimes I’d just like to be an anonymous mom at the playground.
Do you have any advice for us?
I personally think that for a bilingual kid language preference is a part of their identity. It’s more than just language, it’s really a part of how they see themselves and their place in the world. Small Boy has always leaned towards Swiss over English. I don’t know if this is because he wants to fit in, because it was easier for him to start learning the language he heard out in the world around him, because it’s what his beloved Grossmutti speaks or what, but it’s clearly his native tongue. I try to let him have that preference – to choose that identity for himself – as much as I can without damaging his chances to learn native English. I think we need to tread carefully so that encouraging use of a language doesn’t become forcing or that it not be seen as a rejection of the child’s preferred language. So although we recently changed over to being an English-only household, I also try to be relaxed about when they slip into Swiss.
You switched to English-only at home?
From the time Small Boy was born until just a little after his fifth birthday we stuck with the one-parent-one-language approach (OPOL) and were very consistent with this. R spoke Swiss to the boys, period, and I spoke English. But after the Small Boy started Kindergarten his Swiss became increasingly dominant (and he already had a strong preference for the Swiss); he would come home from Kindergarten and it would take forever for him to switch back over to English. I’d ask and ask if he could say that in English, please.
Because at that time the Boychen was deep in his learning to talk stage it seemed that his Swiss was starting to dominate because he heard so much of it from his older brother. So R and I made the decision to switch over to English only in our family after five years of one-parent-one-language. It has definitely made a difference, especially with the Boychen – he is very balanced linguistically and switches between the two languages depending on context much more consistently than the Small Boy who still slips into full-on Swiss a lot.
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
It’ll all be fine. You’ve got to trust your instincts. Like with our switching over to English-only – a lot of advocates of strict OPOL would say that was a no-no. There are a lot of books and resources and theories out there about how to do, but as with all things parenting: you know your kids best and only you know your own priorities.
Our older son, Small Boy, age six, is currently crazy about soccer, but in the cold weather he transitions to his winter passion of hockey. Basically if he can run around outside blowing off energy, he likes it. The Boychen is three years old and mostly loves what his big brother loves. He got on proper ice skates for the first time this year and will be tagging along to hockey practice before we know it. We live in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland (a canton is pretty much like a state). Ours sons also spend a lot of time with R's parents Grossmutti (grandma) and Grossvati (grandpa), who are Swiss. R and I met in the US but as a family with children we have always lived in Switzerland.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
R speaks Swiss-German (native), “high German” (as native as a Swiss can get, and I’ll explain a bit about Swiss German v. “high German” in a minute), English (near-native), and French (very good). I am a native English speaker and speak “high German” at a high intermediate level and understand it at a near-native level. I understand Swiss-German fairly well.
Swiss-German is a dialect of German. There are actually dozens of Swiss-German dialects in Switzerland: if you grow up in Zurich you’ll have a slightly different vocabulary and accent than if you grow up in Basel than if you grow up in Bern than if you grow up in Chur, and so on. Strictly speaking R speaks Bernese, the dialect of the region around Bern. “High German” is the German you would learn if you studied German in school, the German spoken in Germany (not that there aren’t dialects in Germany, too), the German a newspaper or novel would be published in. Swiss-German can be very different from “high German;” many Germans would tell you they can’t understand half of what Swiss people say when they speak in dialect.
A native Swiss-German child’s first language, then, is Swiss. They do not start learning “high German” (also called “written German”) until the first grade when they begin to learn to read and write in school. So in a sense “high German” is, for many Swiss, a first foreign language, which is why I say my husband’s “high German” is as native as it gets for a Swiss.
What languages are you exposing your children to, and how?
We’re raising our boys bilingually in English and Swiss. They are exposed to a lot of “high German,” though, because that is the language I speak with Swiss people (I have reached the point where I understand Swiss but I don’t speak it) and because a lot of children’s TV programming comes to us from Germany; also, when we read to them in German, the books are in “high German.” (There are story-and song-books available in Swiss, but I leave that for my mother-in-law.)
In the German-speaking part of Switzerland the kids are required to learn French in school (and in the French-speaking part they have to learn German). My boys aren’t there yet, though, but I am all for them learning French.
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
Well, we live in Switzerland and the boys will go to public school here, so not speaking Swiss isn’t an option. And my in-laws don’t speak English, so for the boys to have a relationship with their grandparents, uncle, and cousins, it has to happen in Swiss.
As for English, it never occurred to me not to speak to the boys in my native language. Plus I’m a poet; I operate in English. I speak German well enough that I could live my daily life in German if I had to (it would be exhausting, but I could do it), but English is the language of my heart. I love rhymes and poems and stories and have a long list of the books from my childhood I can’t wait to share with the boys. I can’t imagine not being able to share that with them. And on a purely practical level, being monolingual Swiss doesn’t get you very far in today’s world. On the practical side, having English as a native language is a huge advantage.
How well do your children understand and speak the different languages? How do they feel about them? Do they have a preference for what they speak in which contexts? How has their language use evolved as they grow?
Both boys understand Swiss and English at a native level appropriate to their ages (6 and 3) and probably understand less German than a similarly-aged kid growing up in Berlin, but I’d say they understand German just fine.
I think my older son Small Boy’s spoken Swiss is stronger than his spoken English; when he was first starting to talk I’d say he used Swiss 75% of the time even though I always only spoke to him in English. He would often address me in Swiss (he still does). I always responded to him in English, but I never pretended I didn’t understand the Swiss or refused to reply until he spoke English. That never made sense to me although I know there are families that are that serious about one-parent-one-language (OPOL) and maybe if I had done that Small Boy would be more linguistically balanced.
Probably it just would have really annoyed him, though – since I speak German in front of him all the time out in the world, he knows perfectly well I understand it. My husband once asked Small Boy – he was maybe four at the time - why he always spoke Swiss, and Small Boy said “Otherwise they don’t understand you at the grocery store.” Which is a pretty brilliant answer, actually: he figured out early that he has the best chance of getting what he wants/needs by speaking Swiss.
Swiss schools don’t introduce reading and writing until the first grade, so Small Boy doesn’t read or write German. I’m teaching him to read in English, and he’s reading at the level of the Bob Books – simple pure phonetic words.
The Boychen, age three, seems quite balanced linguistically. He switches between the two depending on context quite well – Swiss with the grandparents, for example – and the languages seem quite distinct in his mind whereas with the Small Boy I sometimes get the feeling that when he slips into Swiss when talking to me he doesn’t quite realize it at first.
What’s fascinating to me is when I listen in on the boys playing together, sometimes the game is in English and sometimes in Swiss and I haven’t figured out how the decision is made to play in which language. It seems very fluid when it’s just the two of them.
How have you been able to expose your children to the cultures where the different languages are spoken?
Swiss is covered since we live here and are surrounded by Swiss family and Small Boy goes to public Kindergarten. For the US side it’s harder. We take long vacations there when possible, and tell stories, and I buy the boys lots of books in English but it’s all very on the surface compared to the way they’re tapped in to the local culture. To take a small example, the Small Boy is a huge fan of the Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara but I’m not sure he knows who Lance Armstrong is.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children with more than one language?
Because I always speak English with the boys, every time I open my mouth I out myself as a foreigner. Sometimes I’d just like to be an anonymous mom at the playground.
Do you have any advice for us?
I personally think that for a bilingual kid language preference is a part of their identity. It’s more than just language, it’s really a part of how they see themselves and their place in the world. Small Boy has always leaned towards Swiss over English. I don’t know if this is because he wants to fit in, because it was easier for him to start learning the language he heard out in the world around him, because it’s what his beloved Grossmutti speaks or what, but it’s clearly his native tongue. I try to let him have that preference – to choose that identity for himself – as much as I can without damaging his chances to learn native English. I think we need to tread carefully so that encouraging use of a language doesn’t become forcing or that it not be seen as a rejection of the child’s preferred language. So although we recently changed over to being an English-only household, I also try to be relaxed about when they slip into Swiss.
You switched to English-only at home?
From the time Small Boy was born until just a little after his fifth birthday we stuck with the one-parent-one-language approach (OPOL) and were very consistent with this. R spoke Swiss to the boys, period, and I spoke English. But after the Small Boy started Kindergarten his Swiss became increasingly dominant (and he already had a strong preference for the Swiss); he would come home from Kindergarten and it would take forever for him to switch back over to English. I’d ask and ask if he could say that in English, please.
Because at that time the Boychen was deep in his learning to talk stage it seemed that his Swiss was starting to dominate because he heard so much of it from his older brother. So R and I made the decision to switch over to English only in our family after five years of one-parent-one-language. It has definitely made a difference, especially with the Boychen – he is very balanced linguistically and switches between the two languages depending on context much more consistently than the Small Boy who still slips into full-on Swiss a lot.
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
It’ll all be fine. You’ve got to trust your instincts. Like with our switching over to English-only – a lot of advocates of strict OPOL would say that was a no-no. There are a lot of books and resources and theories out there about how to do, but as with all things parenting: you know your kids best and only you know your own priorities.
Friday, February 25, 2011
profile: Geeks in Rome
Meet Eurydice of Geeks in Rome, the newest family to be "profiled" here on Bringing up Baby Bilingual. Thank you so much, Eurydice, for sharing your experiences with us!
Hi! My name is Eurydice and I have two kids: a six-year-old son and a daughter who is 3.5. I am an American, married to an Italian, and we live in Rome. I learned French, Spanish and some Latin in school. Picked up Italian when I moved here. Tried to self-teach myself Arabic several years ago but then I had kids so that and some other hobbies were put on hold.
My mom is a retired language teacher and is fluent in German, Spanish and Chinese. She only taught me bits of those languages when I asked her to. But she gave me a love for languages since we traveled a lot and we would always study a new language for months before a trip and use it as much as possible (to try to read and talk) when we were there.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
I am the only one in the house who speaks English to the kids. I only speak English with them and my husband speaks Italian. I speak to my husband in Italian. Unfortunately I had a very short maternity leave with both kids, so their full-time exposure to English was only for a few weeks. Plus add a few weeks a year when we’re on vacation in the States... and it still adds up to very little major exposure to English.
What languages are you exposing your children to, and how?
The kids are exposed to my English and then almost always Italian. Many of their sitters only spoke Italian and their school is Italian. About 90% of their books and DVDs are in English. Thankfully Rome is very international so they are aware that other people and kids speak English. I have lots of English-speaking friends who come over every so often and when possible I video Skype with family so the kids can join in.
I think living where there is a large English-speaking ex-pat community helps tremendously. When I lived in a small Italian village (before I had kids) I was friends with an Irish woman who stayed at home with her kids and only spoke English with them. They grew up refusing to speak English back to her. I think they thought it was some weird mommy-language and were embarrassed by it. I made a point of talking to her when her kids were around so they could see it was a real language and not something their mom just made up. She said her oldest didn’t speak willingly until he turned 10 and spent a month with her family in Ireland. Somehow it sunk in then that English was very real and terribly necessary, even in Italy.
I dread when my kids start learning English in school. English instruction in Italy is notoriously awful. They rarely have mother-tongue teachers and the teachers’ accents are atrocious. Don’t even get me started on the grammar. I am so afraid they will pick up major mistakes in school. Already the kids try to correct my pronunciation of “The Hulk” and other American characters because that’s not how all their (Italian) friends pronounce it. Sends chills up my spine.
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
I think it’s pretty obvious why I want my kids to know English. They need it to communicate with the other half of their family in the States and it will help them tremendously job-wise knowing more than one language. I grew up learning foreign languages because of school and because my mom took me all over the world.
I love languages and word play and I try to spread that same love and curiosity to my kids. I think a second or third language makes you a more empathetic person because to truly understand another culture you need to understand its language. I love trying to grasp other mindsets and life-views based on their languages.
How well do your children understand, speak, and read English and Italian?
My kids understand me fully. And my son totally understands the highly intellectual BBC documentaries on dinosaurs. I have him explain stuff to me; I pretend I didn’t hear what the narrator said or I ask a question about what’s happening and he’s very accurate. He has a decent vocabulary and amazing retention. I can use a new word twice and he will start using it correctly when it comes up in conversation.
I always spoke to my kids as if they were smart adults, using a wide variety of words and a string of synonyms in describing something. I never did “baby talk” when they were infants mostly because I find it annoying. My kids often ask me how to say some word in Italian, so that makes me think their English vocab in some ways outpaces their Italian.
My son’s use of the past tense is pretty poor. However, when he was 3 he developed his own version of the past tense by saying “I went to go... “ or “I went to see...” to mean I went or I saw. I thought that was a very creative way to get around remembering irregular past tenses. I usually repeat a correct version of what he says in a conversational tone so it doesn’t seem like I’m correcting him. He’ll say “I went to run all day.” I’ll say “Oh wow!! you ran all day!! You must be exhausted!”
My daughter has excellent pronunciation. My son definitely has a slight Italian accent. He trills all the r’s. Whereas my daughter does the American “r” sound very well. However, she can’t trill the Italian “r” and pronounces all her Italian “r’s” like a soft “d” or “n.”
I’m unsure of my son’s reading ability. They love to “read” books on their own. My son did ask me what “chicco” meant when he was a little over 4 and I saw it was written on a box in the room. I have no idea if he was reading the box or had just heard someone use the word.
This year he starts first grade, so that will give me some clue to his reading and writing abilities. I figure when he can read/write in Italian, it won’t be that hard to read/write English. He has already asked me to help him in that department. So that’s positive.
How do they feel about their two languages? Do they have a preference for what they speak in which contexts?
The kids speak to each other in Italian unless they are imitating something they saw on an English DVD and they will use lots of English words in their play-acting. They mostly use Italian with me with some English words thrown in.
When we go to the States (for three to four weeks once a year) they start speaking English all the time (to me and each other) after a few days. Even when we return to Italy, their brains are still on English mode and they’ll be stuck in English for another two weeks.
How has their language use evolved as they grow?
My son was aware at a very young age that he was dealing with two distinct languages. I’m thinking like when he was two. He knew exactly with whom he had to speak English and with whom he had to use Italian. He had the two languages neatly divided and rarely mixed them up. He always used English with me until he was at school all day (at three years old).
Both kids use mostly Italian and will throw in English words when needed (when they don’t know the Italian equivalent or the English word conveys it better.) They brag to kids on the playground that their mommy speaks English and that they speak Italian and English.
They do things like: before we go to a doctor, I double check with the kids what all their symptoms or problems are and they tell me, “Yes, Mommy, but you have to make sure you explain that to the doctor in Italian.” It’s just really neat how they accept I do speak Italian but will only use English with them. They don’t seem to resent it or be annoyed. It seems so normal to them.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you? What, on the other hand, has not been useful?
My mom saved all my books I had as a kid, so we have all of them plus books people have recommended. I loved my books, so that love I have for the characters and stories shows when I read to them.
I love singing and, when I can, I’ll have a CD of some musical on in the kitchen and belt it out. When we’re in the States and have to drive everywhere, I put show tunes on and we sing them. I have thus brainwashed the kids into loving Cole Porter!!
My Italian in-laws are very musical and so they sing to them and give the kids Italian CDs. They have great songs. I want to record my in-laws singing for posterity. The folk songs are witty and very very funny.
I’m not big on tv nor are the kids. But I do let them watch any DVD we have. They are very good at only watching a bit then turning it off on their own. My son loves National Geographic for kids or BBC documentaries or anything to do with space. My daughter loves Pingu and Heidi (only in Italian) so she doesn’t get very much English exposure with DVDs. She does like one Dr Seuss' (Horton etc...) DVD, which has pretty challenging words for a three year old.
Other than that, I just read and talk to them a lot. I teach them songs and fun games in English. You can’t go wrong with that.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children bilingually?
As I mentioned above, the dismal level of English instruction in the schools is my worst fear. I can’t afford for them to go to English-speaking schools. So I will have to be more involved when they start having English lessons and homework. I really really don’t want to tell them their teacher doesn’t know what she is saying, so I will have to think of a nicer way to tell them.
Luckily, there are lots of foreign kids at their school. Ironically, the expensive English schools are packed with Italians and the Italian schools are filled with foreigners. I think it will help them having other Americans in class this year. Strength in numbers!
Do you have any advice for us?
At one point I was feeling tremendously inadequate because I don’t force my kids to speak to me in English. I know some people who do and yet, I just don’t feel right doing it.
I really cherish my kids communicating with me. My son can verbalize very sophisticated, deep thoughts that amaze me and I want to hear what his brain is thinking. I worry that if I were to inhibit that free-flow by insisting he only say it in English... that he would just stop talking to me. If it comes out easier and better and faster in Italian, so be it.
I want my kids to know that whatever they have on their minds they can tell me and I don’t care how they tell me. I won’t judge them and I think telling them Italian isn’t the tool I want them to use with me... well... it seems elitist to me and close-minded.
When I told my mom (who is a language teacher) what I was feeling and asked her what she thought she blew me away saying: “Your job is to be a mother, not an English teacher.” She totally validated my gut feeling.
However, after reading some posts on your (or Moxie’s??) blog, I was amazed at how many people said they were unable to “think” in the second language when they had not been forced to use it as a kid. That makes me feel guilty again that I’m shortchanging them somehow. I think I will try to invent some kind of game like an “All English Breakfast” where everything has to be in English. Mostly I cheat and take advantage of my friends by telling them to pretend they don’t know Italian so the kids have to speak to them in English. Just passing the buck!
Since my husband speaks very little English, I joke with him telling him he’d better learn fast or the kids will start plotting behind his back in English. I told the kids we have to teach daddy English and they get a huge kick out of that. They think it’s just too cool to tell daddy what to do! He’s a really good sport and they have a lot of fun. He likes to read to them in English with this god awful accent so the kids will crack up.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
This is a huge experiment for me. I have no idea if what we’re doing is right or working. My mom loves hearing about our experiences.
I picked up a lot of advice from my mom when I was growing up and other language teachers for language learning, but for me the key is loving language and especially the language you are “teaching.” If there is love and joy behind it, kids will find it compelling.
Song is incredibly important. I wish I did more of it. I’m convinced musically-inclined kids/adults are better language learners. My daughter has a very good ear and my son has excellent pitch. He could hum Ennio Morricone tunes (from Sergio Leone films) perfectly when he was fairly young. He was the one who told me that the Alphabet Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star were the same tune!! I had never ever realized it before!!
I think anything that makes kids laugh works. I have yet to crack open my Shel Silverstein book for them. I want to see if they can memorize Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout like I did as a kid.
I’m still grappling with how to make them speak to me in English more. I really do see how it may be hindering their ability to “think” in English though I do see glimpses of them speaking in Italian with English syntax sometimes.
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
If we lived in the US, I highly doubt I would speak to them in Italian. I would want my husband to use Italian with them all the time, but using it on them just seems so “unnatural.” It doesn’t feel right. I wonder if other people feel this way about a language they learned as an adult (not via a parent.)
I used to worry people (Italian in-laws especially) would think I was rude for talking to my kids in English. No one understands English over here so it’s like talking behind people’s backs in front of them. At first relatives were curious, wanting a translation of everything I was saying, then they got bored once they found out I was only asking the kids mundane crap like “Do you want more milk?” How do others handle this situation?
If it’s a multi-way conversation I will use Italian, but if I need to communicate just with my kids I will use English with them in front of others. I have no idea what people on the bus think: I’m blabbering on in English and the kids answer in Italian. They probably think what my in-laws think: that the kids really don’t know English. That it’s just going in one ear and out the other.
Sarah again--Wow! I love all these cool ideas and fascinating questions! What do the rest of you think about these issues? What about Eurydice's story resonates with you?
(And if you're a new reader to this blog, you might be interested in seeing the other profiles I've published of bi/multilingual families.)
Hi! My name is Eurydice and I have two kids: a six-year-old son and a daughter who is 3.5. I am an American, married to an Italian, and we live in Rome. I learned French, Spanish and some Latin in school. Picked up Italian when I moved here. Tried to self-teach myself Arabic several years ago but then I had kids so that and some other hobbies were put on hold.
My mom is a retired language teacher and is fluent in German, Spanish and Chinese. She only taught me bits of those languages when I asked her to. But she gave me a love for languages since we traveled a lot and we would always study a new language for months before a trip and use it as much as possible (to try to read and talk) when we were there.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
I am the only one in the house who speaks English to the kids. I only speak English with them and my husband speaks Italian. I speak to my husband in Italian. Unfortunately I had a very short maternity leave with both kids, so their full-time exposure to English was only for a few weeks. Plus add a few weeks a year when we’re on vacation in the States... and it still adds up to very little major exposure to English.
What languages are you exposing your children to, and how?
The kids are exposed to my English and then almost always Italian. Many of their sitters only spoke Italian and their school is Italian. About 90% of their books and DVDs are in English. Thankfully Rome is very international so they are aware that other people and kids speak English. I have lots of English-speaking friends who come over every so often and when possible I video Skype with family so the kids can join in.
I think living where there is a large English-speaking ex-pat community helps tremendously. When I lived in a small Italian village (before I had kids) I was friends with an Irish woman who stayed at home with her kids and only spoke English with them. They grew up refusing to speak English back to her. I think they thought it was some weird mommy-language and were embarrassed by it. I made a point of talking to her when her kids were around so they could see it was a real language and not something their mom just made up. She said her oldest didn’t speak willingly until he turned 10 and spent a month with her family in Ireland. Somehow it sunk in then that English was very real and terribly necessary, even in Italy.
I dread when my kids start learning English in school. English instruction in Italy is notoriously awful. They rarely have mother-tongue teachers and the teachers’ accents are atrocious. Don’t even get me started on the grammar. I am so afraid they will pick up major mistakes in school. Already the kids try to correct my pronunciation of “The Hulk” and other American characters because that’s not how all their (Italian) friends pronounce it. Sends chills up my spine.
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
I think it’s pretty obvious why I want my kids to know English. They need it to communicate with the other half of their family in the States and it will help them tremendously job-wise knowing more than one language. I grew up learning foreign languages because of school and because my mom took me all over the world.
I love languages and word play and I try to spread that same love and curiosity to my kids. I think a second or third language makes you a more empathetic person because to truly understand another culture you need to understand its language. I love trying to grasp other mindsets and life-views based on their languages.
How well do your children understand, speak, and read English and Italian?
My kids understand me fully. And my son totally understands the highly intellectual BBC documentaries on dinosaurs. I have him explain stuff to me; I pretend I didn’t hear what the narrator said or I ask a question about what’s happening and he’s very accurate. He has a decent vocabulary and amazing retention. I can use a new word twice and he will start using it correctly when it comes up in conversation.
I always spoke to my kids as if they were smart adults, using a wide variety of words and a string of synonyms in describing something. I never did “baby talk” when they were infants mostly because I find it annoying. My kids often ask me how to say some word in Italian, so that makes me think their English vocab in some ways outpaces their Italian.
My son’s use of the past tense is pretty poor. However, when he was 3 he developed his own version of the past tense by saying “I went to go... “ or “I went to see...” to mean I went or I saw. I thought that was a very creative way to get around remembering irregular past tenses. I usually repeat a correct version of what he says in a conversational tone so it doesn’t seem like I’m correcting him. He’ll say “I went to run all day.” I’ll say “Oh wow!! you ran all day!! You must be exhausted!”
My daughter has excellent pronunciation. My son definitely has a slight Italian accent. He trills all the r’s. Whereas my daughter does the American “r” sound very well. However, she can’t trill the Italian “r” and pronounces all her Italian “r’s” like a soft “d” or “n.”
I’m unsure of my son’s reading ability. They love to “read” books on their own. My son did ask me what “chicco” meant when he was a little over 4 and I saw it was written on a box in the room. I have no idea if he was reading the box or had just heard someone use the word.
This year he starts first grade, so that will give me some clue to his reading and writing abilities. I figure when he can read/write in Italian, it won’t be that hard to read/write English. He has already asked me to help him in that department. So that’s positive.
How do they feel about their two languages? Do they have a preference for what they speak in which contexts?
The kids speak to each other in Italian unless they are imitating something they saw on an English DVD and they will use lots of English words in their play-acting. They mostly use Italian with me with some English words thrown in.
When we go to the States (for three to four weeks once a year) they start speaking English all the time (to me and each other) after a few days. Even when we return to Italy, their brains are still on English mode and they’ll be stuck in English for another two weeks.
How has their language use evolved as they grow?
My son was aware at a very young age that he was dealing with two distinct languages. I’m thinking like when he was two. He knew exactly with whom he had to speak English and with whom he had to use Italian. He had the two languages neatly divided and rarely mixed them up. He always used English with me until he was at school all day (at three years old).
Both kids use mostly Italian and will throw in English words when needed (when they don’t know the Italian equivalent or the English word conveys it better.) They brag to kids on the playground that their mommy speaks English and that they speak Italian and English.
They do things like: before we go to a doctor, I double check with the kids what all their symptoms or problems are and they tell me, “Yes, Mommy, but you have to make sure you explain that to the doctor in Italian.” It’s just really neat how they accept I do speak Italian but will only use English with them. They don’t seem to resent it or be annoyed. It seems so normal to them.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you? What, on the other hand, has not been useful?
My mom saved all my books I had as a kid, so we have all of them plus books people have recommended. I loved my books, so that love I have for the characters and stories shows when I read to them.
I love singing and, when I can, I’ll have a CD of some musical on in the kitchen and belt it out. When we’re in the States and have to drive everywhere, I put show tunes on and we sing them. I have thus brainwashed the kids into loving Cole Porter!!
My Italian in-laws are very musical and so they sing to them and give the kids Italian CDs. They have great songs. I want to record my in-laws singing for posterity. The folk songs are witty and very very funny.
I’m not big on tv nor are the kids. But I do let them watch any DVD we have. They are very good at only watching a bit then turning it off on their own. My son loves National Geographic for kids or BBC documentaries or anything to do with space. My daughter loves Pingu and Heidi (only in Italian) so she doesn’t get very much English exposure with DVDs. She does like one Dr Seuss' (Horton etc...) DVD, which has pretty challenging words for a three year old.
Other than that, I just read and talk to them a lot. I teach them songs and fun games in English. You can’t go wrong with that.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children bilingually?
As I mentioned above, the dismal level of English instruction in the schools is my worst fear. I can’t afford for them to go to English-speaking schools. So I will have to be more involved when they start having English lessons and homework. I really really don’t want to tell them their teacher doesn’t know what she is saying, so I will have to think of a nicer way to tell them.
Luckily, there are lots of foreign kids at their school. Ironically, the expensive English schools are packed with Italians and the Italian schools are filled with foreigners. I think it will help them having other Americans in class this year. Strength in numbers!
Do you have any advice for us?
At one point I was feeling tremendously inadequate because I don’t force my kids to speak to me in English. I know some people who do and yet, I just don’t feel right doing it.
I really cherish my kids communicating with me. My son can verbalize very sophisticated, deep thoughts that amaze me and I want to hear what his brain is thinking. I worry that if I were to inhibit that free-flow by insisting he only say it in English... that he would just stop talking to me. If it comes out easier and better and faster in Italian, so be it.
I want my kids to know that whatever they have on their minds they can tell me and I don’t care how they tell me. I won’t judge them and I think telling them Italian isn’t the tool I want them to use with me... well... it seems elitist to me and close-minded.
When I told my mom (who is a language teacher) what I was feeling and asked her what she thought she blew me away saying: “Your job is to be a mother, not an English teacher.” She totally validated my gut feeling.
However, after reading some posts on your (or Moxie’s??) blog, I was amazed at how many people said they were unable to “think” in the second language when they had not been forced to use it as a kid. That makes me feel guilty again that I’m shortchanging them somehow. I think I will try to invent some kind of game like an “All English Breakfast” where everything has to be in English. Mostly I cheat and take advantage of my friends by telling them to pretend they don’t know Italian so the kids have to speak to them in English. Just passing the buck!
Since my husband speaks very little English, I joke with him telling him he’d better learn fast or the kids will start plotting behind his back in English. I told the kids we have to teach daddy English and they get a huge kick out of that. They think it’s just too cool to tell daddy what to do! He’s a really good sport and they have a lot of fun. He likes to read to them in English with this god awful accent so the kids will crack up.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
This is a huge experiment for me. I have no idea if what we’re doing is right or working. My mom loves hearing about our experiences.
I picked up a lot of advice from my mom when I was growing up and other language teachers for language learning, but for me the key is loving language and especially the language you are “teaching.” If there is love and joy behind it, kids will find it compelling.
Song is incredibly important. I wish I did more of it. I’m convinced musically-inclined kids/adults are better language learners. My daughter has a very good ear and my son has excellent pitch. He could hum Ennio Morricone tunes (from Sergio Leone films) perfectly when he was fairly young. He was the one who told me that the Alphabet Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star were the same tune!! I had never ever realized it before!!
I think anything that makes kids laugh works. I have yet to crack open my Shel Silverstein book for them. I want to see if they can memorize Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout like I did as a kid.
I’m still grappling with how to make them speak to me in English more. I really do see how it may be hindering their ability to “think” in English though I do see glimpses of them speaking in Italian with English syntax sometimes.
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
If we lived in the US, I highly doubt I would speak to them in Italian. I would want my husband to use Italian with them all the time, but using it on them just seems so “unnatural.” It doesn’t feel right. I wonder if other people feel this way about a language they learned as an adult (not via a parent.)
I used to worry people (Italian in-laws especially) would think I was rude for talking to my kids in English. No one understands English over here so it’s like talking behind people’s backs in front of them. At first relatives were curious, wanting a translation of everything I was saying, then they got bored once they found out I was only asking the kids mundane crap like “Do you want more milk?” How do others handle this situation?
If it’s a multi-way conversation I will use Italian, but if I need to communicate just with my kids I will use English with them in front of others. I have no idea what people on the bus think: I’m blabbering on in English and the kids answer in Italian. They probably think what my in-laws think: that the kids really don’t know English. That it’s just going in one ear and out the other.
Sarah again--Wow! I love all these cool ideas and fascinating questions! What do the rest of you think about these issues? What about Eurydice's story resonates with you?
(And if you're a new reader to this blog, you might be interested in seeing the other profiles I've published of bi/multilingual families.)
This post is part of the February Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
What about Griffin?
You know, I've bombarded dozens of people--mostly strangers!--with my questions and then published profiles of their families on this blog; but while I have probably answered a lot of them myself along the way in the 4.5 years I've been writing here at Bringing up Baby Bilingual, I've never actually written out answers to my own questions all in a row.
And, well, I'm not going to do that now either. But one of the students who volunteered with my Reading Buddies program is now a student at Colorado State University, where I used to teach, and she contacted me because she's doing a paper on bilingualism for her English class. So as long as I was typing answers to her questions, I may as well share them here!
1. What made you decide to raise your son bilingually? What advantages, if any, do you hope this will give him, and are there any disadvantages which weighed against those?
So many reasons and advantages! For example,
• Facilitate travel, future study abroad opportunities, and career possibilities
• Develop an awareness of and interest in other countries and their inhabitants
• Train the brain to make it easier to acquire other languages and to be able to better understand how languages work
Disadvantages? It takes a lot of effort on my part, almost certainly more than it would if he were being raised monolingually, and I occasionally get funny looks or nosy questions when we're in public together. (Just two days ago, someone asked me, "Is your son adopted?" She couldn't fathom any other reason why a parent would choose not to speak English with her child in the US.) Also, as Griffin grows up and can communicate better, my monolingual husband has more and more trouble understanding us when we speak French.
To me, though, these are all minor drawbacks. It helps a lot that my husband, my family, and my in-laws are all very supportive of our raising him bilingually.
2. Living in an English-speaking society, how do you promote the French language in your son's upbringing?
• Read copious amounts of books and magazines in French (purchased at conferences, yard sales, eBay, online, and more)
• Translate books and songs from English to French for him
• Play lots of music in French (CDs, Radio Ouistiti)
• Sing to him and recite nursery rhymes in French
• Watch DVDs, videos, and YouTube clips in French
•Play games online in French (see the category "French Language for Kids" in my sidebar)
• Attend a weekly French playgroup
And, well, I'm not going to do that now either. But one of the students who volunteered with my Reading Buddies program is now a student at Colorado State University, where I used to teach, and she contacted me because she's doing a paper on bilingualism for her English class. So as long as I was typing answers to her questions, I may as well share them here!
1. What made you decide to raise your son bilingually? What advantages, if any, do you hope this will give him, and are there any disadvantages which weighed against those?
So many reasons and advantages! For example,
• Facilitate travel, future study abroad opportunities, and career possibilities
• Develop an awareness of and interest in other countries and their inhabitants
• Train the brain to make it easier to acquire other languages and to be able to better understand how languages work
Disadvantages? It takes a lot of effort on my part, almost certainly more than it would if he were being raised monolingually, and I occasionally get funny looks or nosy questions when we're in public together. (Just two days ago, someone asked me, "Is your son adopted?" She couldn't fathom any other reason why a parent would choose not to speak English with her child in the US.) Also, as Griffin grows up and can communicate better, my monolingual husband has more and more trouble understanding us when we speak French.
To me, though, these are all minor drawbacks. It helps a lot that my husband, my family, and my in-laws are all very supportive of our raising him bilingually.
2. Living in an English-speaking society, how do you promote the French language in your son's upbringing?
• Read copious amounts of books and magazines in French (purchased at conferences, yard sales, eBay, online, and more)
• Translate books and songs from English to French for him
• Play lots of music in French (CDs, Radio Ouistiti)
• Sing to him and recite nursery rhymes in French
• Watch DVDs, videos, and YouTube clips in French
•Play games online in French (see the category "French Language for Kids" in my sidebar)
• Attend a weekly French playgroup
• Attend a French storytime (granted, we've only been doing this for less than two months)
• Hire French-speaking babysitters (this has been with limited success, though one of the three did have a French mother and thus a beautiful accent)
• Invite French-speaking friends to spend time with us and make sure that they do speak French with me around him
• Research to learn about additional resources and to establish contacts with other parents raising children with French and English in Anglophone countries (in other words, write this blog)
• Use Skype to communicate with Francophone friends (okay, so I haven't actually done this yet, because it's hard to motivate Griffin to sit still and converse in front of the computer)
• Dream of family vacations to Francophone countries (some day!)
3. Do you encounter challenges in parenting greater/other than you would expect with a monolingual child?
I have spoken exclusively French with Griffin since he was born. It's very challenging to be a non-native speaker of the language I use with my son for two major reasons:
I'm simply not as fluent in French as in my native language, English, which means that I am regularly searching for words and phrases to express ideas that I never needed to say before becoming a parent (such as "He had a diaper blow-out on his onesie while sitting in the bouncy chair"). Also, since I stopped teaching when he was born, I am no longer around other French teachers very often, and I miss speaking French to grown-ups on a daily basis.
And in a way, I have rejected the intimacy that comes from sharing one's native language with one's child. No matter how I try to translate the songs, books, and rhymes from my childhood, they're just not the same when rendered in French, so he will never love them the way I did. The lullabies I sing him are now dear to my heart, but it took a year or two for me to feel that way. The sweet nothings I whisper in his ear are always in French. It doesn't always feel natural.
• Hire French-speaking babysitters (this has been with limited success, though one of the three did have a French mother and thus a beautiful accent)
• Invite French-speaking friends to spend time with us and make sure that they do speak French with me around him
• Research to learn about additional resources and to establish contacts with other parents raising children with French and English in Anglophone countries (in other words, write this blog)
• Use Skype to communicate with Francophone friends (okay, so I haven't actually done this yet, because it's hard to motivate Griffin to sit still and converse in front of the computer)
• Dream of family vacations to Francophone countries (some day!)
3. Do you encounter challenges in parenting greater/other than you would expect with a monolingual child?
I have spoken exclusively French with Griffin since he was born. It's very challenging to be a non-native speaker of the language I use with my son for two major reasons:
I'm simply not as fluent in French as in my native language, English, which means that I am regularly searching for words and phrases to express ideas that I never needed to say before becoming a parent (such as "He had a diaper blow-out on his onesie while sitting in the bouncy chair"). Also, since I stopped teaching when he was born, I am no longer around other French teachers very often, and I miss speaking French to grown-ups on a daily basis.
And in a way, I have rejected the intimacy that comes from sharing one's native language with one's child. No matter how I try to translate the songs, books, and rhymes from my childhood, they're just not the same when rendered in French, so he will never love them the way I did. The lullabies I sing him are now dear to my heart, but it took a year or two for me to feel that way. The sweet nothings I whisper in his ear are always in French. It doesn't always feel natural.
On the other hand, since I have to deliberately think about French when I talk to my son, it means that I am perhaps more present for him, attending more, reflecting more. And this brings with it a different sense of intimacy because I have chosen--and continue to choose--to speak French with him. We communicate carefully, actively, lovingly, even though it's my second language.
But it will be his first!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Profile: French in Mississippi with Tracy's family
Meet Tracy, who shares an inspiring story of how her dedicated efforts to raise her daughter bilingually have resulted in a toddler whose stronger language is French, even in the deep South, even with a parent who is a non-native speaker!
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Introduce us to your family--
• Parents'/caretakers'/adults' names, occupations, nationality—Parents are Steve, an American writer and English professor, and Tracy, a SAHM and freelance writer/editor with dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship.
• Kids' names, ages, interests—Colette, who will be three in December, loves painting, swimming, animals and anything train-related.
• Where you currently live—Jackson, Mississippi
• Other countries you've lived, if applicable—Canada (Quebec)
• Anything else relevant? I (Tracy) lived in Montreal for a decade then worked at the French Embassy in Washington, DC, for four years.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
English (both native speakers) and French (Tracy only—I will only claim near fluency, as my experience raising Colette to be bilingual has really taught me how much French I still have left to learn!)
What languages are you exposing your child to, and how?
Steve speaks to Colette in English and I speak to her in French. We own many French books, CDs and DVDs, and we have a babysitter who speaks French (as her second language). I have also managed to hire native French-speakers to hang out with us occasionally (I wish I could do that more, but francophones are a rare commodity in this part of the country).
Why do you want your child to know more than one language?
I believe speaking more than one language allows a person to feel comfortable in more places and connect with more people. I believe that bilingualism promotes open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity, two qualities I value highly. I worked so hard to learn French; I love the idea that I can give my daughter the gift of learning the language with ease.
And then there are all the cognitive benefits! There’s a really interesting article about the latest research findings here.
How well does your child understand and speak the different languages?
French is Colette’s default language at this point, and she is considerably stronger in French than in English (although her English isn’t bad). Until recently, she thought everyone spoke French (except maybe her dad), but she has started to address people in English. Her comprehension is excellent in both languages. What astounds me most is that she seems to have developed a fundamental understanding of French grammar that still eludes me sometimes.
How have you been able to expose your child to the cultures where French is spoken?
Only through books, CDs and DVDs at this point. We’re hoping to enroll Colette in a weeklong immersion camp in New Orleans next year and to travel to France with her the following year.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you?
Books, of course, are invaluable.
DVDs are fantastic, since they allow Colette to hear conversational French spoken by native speakers (we use VLC to play Region 2 DVDs). She’s a big fan of a cartoon donkey named Trotro. The CDs of a children’s singer named Alain Schneider are fun, clever and great for expanding her vocabulary (mine too, for that matter). One song, for example, might contain a dozen synonyms for the verb “walk.” I also subscribed Colette to a magazine called “Popi,” which she really likes. She’s thrilled to receive something in the mail every month, and the pamphlet for parents that comes with each issue helps me pick up parenting vocabulary. It’s expensive, but worth the cost. Two books readily available in the U.S. are among Colette’s favorites and have been since she was tiny—Usborne’s First 100 and First 1,000 Words in French. Generally, however, I tend to avoid French-as-a-second-language books in favor of books aimed at native speakers.
Another great free resource is Radio Oustiti, an online radio station that plays good music, airs stories, and offers activities (we just heard a short piece on arctic animals and were able to download a pdf of the animals mentioned). Colette already calls out "Ouistiti!" when I put it on.
In terms of my own French, wordreference.com—especially the forums that allow you to get feedback from native speakers—is a lifesaver.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children?
Immersion is best. Don’t lapse into English—be it for your own comfort or someone else’s.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your child with more than one language?
My greatest challenge is the lack of a French-speaking community and related resources where we live. It is extremely expensive to order books from France or even Canada. I’ve had some luck buying books on eBay, but the selection is limited. I have searched high and low for another French-speaking child, with no luck. Because I have been unable to find a French-speaking community here, I worry that Colette’s French will rapidly fade into the background once she starts preschool next year. I have heard time and again that children start to reject the minority language at a certain point; hopefully this child will be different.
My other big challenge is my own imperfect French; it can be frustrating when you’re trying to explain something to your child and you keep second-guessing yourself about word gender or placement.
Please tell us a little about being a non-native speaker of the language you use with your child.
I always have both a French dictionary and a French-English dictionary close at hand, and my purses and pockets are filled with scraps of paper covered with words and grammar questions to look up. As I said above, wordreference.com is invaluable. If Colette brings me an English-language book, I read it to her in English; my early attempts to translate as I went were too pathetic. And besides, it’s a real joy to share books like The Cat in the Hat with her in my native language.
Do you have any advice for us?
I have been fortunate in that everyone in both my and my husband’s family has been extremely supportive, even though none of them speak French. Early on, I would switch into English in front of other people because I felt it was rude to say things to Colette that they couldn’t understand. Now I don’t worry about that. My approach is to be up front with people about what I’m doing and then just go about my bilingual business. I’ve found that most people are really impressed when they hear a two-year-old speak a language they don’t understand! If you come up against any naysayers, send them the link to the article mentioned above.
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
If anyone knows any French speakers within a reasonable driving distance of Mississippi, please send them my way!
Sarah here--so much of this resonated with me that I'm getting dizzy with all the nodding, from the cost of buying French children's books to the amazing helpfulness of the native speakers on the Wordreference.com forums to her advice not to to worry about what the monolinguals think when they overhear you speaking another language to your kid. Tracy and Colette are proof that you can raise your child bilingually wherever you live, whatever your native language happens to be! Tracy, thank you so much for answering our questions and letting me profile your family here.
Friday, September 17, 2010
profile: English and Danish in Denmark
Meet another bilingual family, this one living in rural Denmark! Karen, the mom, is American and works as a freelance English teacher to business professionals. Her husband, Niels, who is Danish, is an energy engineer. Their daughter, Christina, four years old, enjoys drawing, building with Legos or wood blocks, singing and playing instruments, biking, collecting worms, and helping her parents bake. Christina is growing up bilingual in English and Danish. Thanks for answering my questions, Karen!
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
We both speak English and Danish fluently. Niels lived in the U.S. for many years. Karen has been living in Denmark for over seven years, and completed the government-provided schooling to learn Danish, and then has worked in the Danish workforce since then.
What languages are you exposing your child to, and how?
Christina is exposed to Danish and English in the following ways: Karen speaks English to her. Niels speaks Danish to her. We parents speak English together, unless in the company of other Danes. This is what we've done since she was born. She has monolingual Danish-speaking grandparents, aunt, and preschool.
English is very common here, though the people in farming and smaller businesses aren't good at it. The preschool is in a small town, but nevertheless has several children of non-Danish backgrounds, many of whom are bilingual. No other bilingual Danish/English, however. Christina is proud of her English abilities, such as they are.
Why do you want your child to know more than one language?
She needs to know Danish because we live in Denmark. We want her to know English because Karen is American, and Christina has American relatives. Fortunately, English is also an extremely useful language to know, so it has appeal to most people.
How well does your child understand the different languages? How has their language use evolved as they grow?
Christina understands both languages perfectly. She speaks Danish at an age-appropriate level, and speaks “Danglish” to me (Karen). She is only recently saying sentences with more than one or two English words in them to me. I made a point of her focusing on English last year after we'd visited the U.S for a month. While there, I expected her English to develop, but there was only a little improvement. So when we got home, I started working with her in a more purposeful way.
After some initial reluctance, she became more enthusiastic about repeating after me, and saying the words or sentence she'd just said in Danish again in English. I now have stopped focusing on it so much, but praise her when she says something right in English. Her speaking fluency in English is nowhere near her speaking fluency in Danish. From what I've observed, she has dramatically cut down using English words to Danish speakers, and somewhat increased using English words with me.
How have you been able to expose your child to the cultures where the different languages are spoken?
Christina is exposed to the Danish-speaking culture in her daily life, and she has been to the U.S. for a month when she was a little over 3. Her American relatives have been here to visit for 2 weeks when she was 2 ½.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you? What, on the other hand, has not been useful?
Reading books in English have been very helpful, but most especially getting English nursery rhyme and song books. She took a much greater interest in saying those rhymes than anything before, including me singing to her.
It was not useful to press her too much to speak English. She would state that her tongue was tired. When I backed off, she was more responsive.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your child with more than one language?
The challenges have been with my feelings. I was reluctant to use English in public, but after reading a couple of books about raising children in a bilingual household, I followed the advice to not make the secondary language feel like a secret, or something that's only used at home. It's proven helpful to me and to her development and confidence in it.
Do you have any advice for us?
Use whatever resources you can find to make it easy and fun. Be patient, and don't expect the child to become equally fluent in both. I've had to let go of that desire, and it's made me more relaxed about it. Be willing to be the interpreter at all times if there are others around who don't speak the second language, and don't make it seem like a burden to anyone involved.
If any of the adults in the household are non-native speakers of the language they use with the children, please tell us a little about how that works for your family.
It works well, because Niels is so fluent that there's never anything said that he wouldn't understand. Christina will sometimes compliment him on his English.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children?
It's always an advantage to get to know another language. It makes many things easier to understand, such as cultures, lifestyles, ways of thinking and attitudes. It supposedly helps with other brain development, though I can't attest to that. It should be as inviting as possible; i.e. one language shouldn't be used solely to discipline. There should be some connection to the language, through songs or holidays, etc. As an English teacher, I feel that grammar lessons are tedious and a turn-off. Teaching by example and repetition and real-world situations tend to be far more effective, whatever the age.
Sarah here again: I love your attitude, Karen, how you're not putting pressure on Christina and yourself to make her "fluent by five" or anything like that, and how you're focusing on making English as appealing to her as Danish currently is. I wonder what it will be like for her when she starts taking English classes in school--will she realize all of a sudden how cool it is that she understands English so well? Thanks again for sharing!
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
We both speak English and Danish fluently. Niels lived in the U.S. for many years. Karen has been living in Denmark for over seven years, and completed the government-provided schooling to learn Danish, and then has worked in the Danish workforce since then.
What languages are you exposing your child to, and how?
Christina is exposed to Danish and English in the following ways: Karen speaks English to her. Niels speaks Danish to her. We parents speak English together, unless in the company of other Danes. This is what we've done since she was born. She has monolingual Danish-speaking grandparents, aunt, and preschool.
English is very common here, though the people in farming and smaller businesses aren't good at it. The preschool is in a small town, but nevertheless has several children of non-Danish backgrounds, many of whom are bilingual. No other bilingual Danish/English, however. Christina is proud of her English abilities, such as they are.
Why do you want your child to know more than one language?
She needs to know Danish because we live in Denmark. We want her to know English because Karen is American, and Christina has American relatives. Fortunately, English is also an extremely useful language to know, so it has appeal to most people.
How well does your child understand the different languages? How has their language use evolved as they grow?
Christina understands both languages perfectly. She speaks Danish at an age-appropriate level, and speaks “Danglish” to me (Karen). She is only recently saying sentences with more than one or two English words in them to me. I made a point of her focusing on English last year after we'd visited the U.S for a month. While there, I expected her English to develop, but there was only a little improvement. So when we got home, I started working with her in a more purposeful way.
After some initial reluctance, she became more enthusiastic about repeating after me, and saying the words or sentence she'd just said in Danish again in English. I now have stopped focusing on it so much, but praise her when she says something right in English. Her speaking fluency in English is nowhere near her speaking fluency in Danish. From what I've observed, she has dramatically cut down using English words to Danish speakers, and somewhat increased using English words with me.
How have you been able to expose your child to the cultures where the different languages are spoken?
Christina is exposed to the Danish-speaking culture in her daily life, and she has been to the U.S. for a month when she was a little over 3. Her American relatives have been here to visit for 2 weeks when she was 2 ½.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you? What, on the other hand, has not been useful?
Reading books in English have been very helpful, but most especially getting English nursery rhyme and song books. She took a much greater interest in saying those rhymes than anything before, including me singing to her.
It was not useful to press her too much to speak English. She would state that her tongue was tired. When I backed off, she was more responsive.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your child with more than one language?
The challenges have been with my feelings. I was reluctant to use English in public, but after reading a couple of books about raising children in a bilingual household, I followed the advice to not make the secondary language feel like a secret, or something that's only used at home. It's proven helpful to me and to her development and confidence in it.
Do you have any advice for us?
Use whatever resources you can find to make it easy and fun. Be patient, and don't expect the child to become equally fluent in both. I've had to let go of that desire, and it's made me more relaxed about it. Be willing to be the interpreter at all times if there are others around who don't speak the second language, and don't make it seem like a burden to anyone involved.
If any of the adults in the household are non-native speakers of the language they use with the children, please tell us a little about how that works for your family.
It works well, because Niels is so fluent that there's never anything said that he wouldn't understand. Christina will sometimes compliment him on his English.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children?
It's always an advantage to get to know another language. It makes many things easier to understand, such as cultures, lifestyles, ways of thinking and attitudes. It supposedly helps with other brain development, though I can't attest to that. It should be as inviting as possible; i.e. one language shouldn't be used solely to discipline. There should be some connection to the language, through songs or holidays, etc. As an English teacher, I feel that grammar lessons are tedious and a turn-off. Teaching by example and repetition and real-world situations tend to be far more effective, whatever the age.
Sarah here again: I love your attitude, Karen, how you're not putting pressure on Christina and yourself to make her "fluent by five" or anything like that, and how you're focusing on making English as appealing to her as Danish currently is. I wonder what it will be like for her when she starts taking English classes in school--will she realize all of a sudden how cool it is that she understands English so well? Thanks again for sharing!
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Profile: Portuguese and Spanish with Marcela's family in the US
Please welcome Marcela into the Bringing up Baby Bilingual family. She kindly answered my questions about raising her children with Portuguese and Spanish in the US--no English yet at all! I know some of you are also focusing on the minority language(s) at home to ensure that your children have a strong base before they start school and are bombarded by the majority language. Marcela and I would love to hear about your strategies and challenges and choices--please share them in the comments below! Thank you, Marcela.
Introduce us to your family--
• Parents'/caretakers'/adults' names, occupations, nationality--We're the parents--Edson and Marcela. Edson is a dialysis tech at our local hospital and working on his RN degree which he'll thankfully get at the end of this year! Marcela is a SAHM that also works part time from home. Edson is Brazilian and Marcela is Chilean.
• Kids' names, ages, interests--Our kids are Lucas (3) and he LOVES anything that has to do with trucks, trains or dirt. Gabriela (Gabi) is 8 months old and she likes playing with her brother's toys and hanging out with mom.
• Where you currently live--Provo, Utah
• Other countries you've lived--Edson has lived in Brazil and I have lived in Brazil and Chile.
What languages are spoken by the adults in your household and at what level of proficiency?
We both speak Spanish and Portuguese fluently but Edson says his Spanish is "Portunol" than pure Spanish. His Spanish is good, it definitely gets him by, but it's not grammatically correct all of the time. However, when we're both home, we speak in Portuguese to each other. I learned English in school. I went to ESL classes from Kindergarten all the way through 5th grade. By that time (5th grade), I was only going to my ESL class for an hour and the rest was all English. I was pretty fluent by then and was able to test out. Edson learned English by speaking to Americans in Brazil. He worked with them in Brazil but his vocabulary was very limited to his work. Once he got here, he was able to fully pick it up.
What languages are you exposing your children to, and how?
What languages are you exposing your children to, and how?
I speak only Spanish to the kids and Edson speaks only Portuguese to them. When Lucas watches TV, it's usually Spanish cartoons, and his Disney movies are all in Portuguese. He also gets some exposure with English whenever he goes to Church or plays with the kids outside.
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
Why do you want your children to know more than one language?
Aside from the obvious reason of helping them in their future, we both feel it's very important for our kids to be able to communicate with their family. My parents don't speak English and neither does anyone in my husband's family. I have a brother that only taught his kids English and they aren't able to communicate with my parents and I think it's a true shame to not be able to do so.
How well do your children understand the different languages? Do they have a preference for what they speak in which contexts? How has their language use evolved as they grow?
How well do your children understand the different languages? Do they have a preference for what they speak in which contexts? How has their language use evolved as they grow?
Lucas understands and speaks both Spanish and Portuguese really well! He mixes very few words from one to the other but the amazing thing is that he knows which language he needs to speak with whom. I've noticed that when Lucas is playing by himself, he talks to his cars in Portuguese. So I'm guessing he has a preference for it. His language has evolved a ton ever since he started watching more TV (as a result of my needing to work from home), especially since he hears slang in Portuguese from the Disney movies, he just says it all the time!
How have you been able to expose your children to the cultures where the different languages are spoken?
How have you been able to expose your children to the cultures where the different languages are spoken?
We Skype quite a bit with both of our families. Lucas and Edson went to Brazil in July so he was able to fully immerse himself in their culture. My parents frequently fly out here as well, so they get their Spanish culture in as well. We also go to library readings for kids in Spanish.
What resources and activities have been most useful to you? What, on the other hand, has not been useful?
What resources and activities have been most useful to you? What, on the other hand, has not been useful?
Our library has a few Spanish books which are helpful. I wish they would have more and in other languages. I would love to be able to have more books in Portuguese but unfortunately, those are hard to come by and buying them online is sometimes really expensive. The library readings are great because he gets to see other kids that speak his language as well.
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children with more than one language?
What challenges have you faced as you raise your children with more than one language?
It hasn't been a problem yet but I'm scared of what will happen in the future once the kids are going to school and learning English. It will become their social language and I'm scared that they won't want to speak at home anymore and then turn into one of those kids that understand the parents' language but don't speak it. We plan on having more family vacations to both Chile and Brazil in the future but until that point in our lives, I'm scared of them rebelling against the languages. Or even telling us that since both Mom and Dad speak English, why can't we all just speak English?
Do you have any advice for us?
Do you have any advice for us?
Just keep at it! It's very important to be consistent with the target language and if you don't know a word, look it up! That way you and your child are both learning and you're still using the language. As far as those people we encounter who don't speak either Spanish or Portuguese, we just explain the situation and have a little patience with them. We still speak to the kids in Spanish or Portuguese when we have to say something and then translate it for the other people around if they seem uncomfortable. Most of the time, I've found, people are fine with us speaking our languages to them.
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
What do you think parents, caretakers, teachers, and/or researchers need to know about teaching a second language to children? What do you wish you had known when you started? What, if anything, would you do differently now?
It's very rewarding! To know that your kids' minds are like sponges and can pick multiple languages up in just a snap is great! One thing to keep in mind is that because they're learning more than one language, it doesn't mean they're slow. We've had people treat Lucas like he was a child with developmental difficulties because of it. That really bothered me because he's extremely smart--he just doesn't speak your language yet. I wish I would've known to pick up more books/movies for the kids to watch. Also, I would've researched more to find mommy groups that were in the same situation so that the kids could get together and learn together as well.
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
Answer your own question now--what did I not ask about that you would like to comment on?
It's more of a question--I guess I'm struggling with when to introduce English (formally) to Lucas. Should I let a preschool do it? Or should it be me? If it is me, then will he not want to speak to me in Spanish anymore?
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