My focus is English with me at home. Why? Well, to begin with, we live in a Spanish-speaking country; Bear gets to hear Spanish anytime we leave the house and anytime we have guests over. Moreover, her Daddy speaks to her 99 percent in Spanish. She understands that language, no problem.
My dilemma is with the French. Although it was my native tongue, years of disuse as a result of living in an English world, makes it not my first choice for thinking or speaking. How to get Bear to learn French and English when there is only one of me? (Experts suggest one parent speak in one language and the other parent speak in the other language 100 percent of the time.) To make matters worse, Bear only sees her French-speaking grandparents on rare occasions as they live halfway across the continent.)
I have been focusing on English for the alphabet. If we send Bear to school here, she will learn the Spanish alphabet in kindergarten and have a bit of exposure to it before that through her dad. If we decide to home school her, then I will formally introduce the Spanish to her around kindergarten anyway. Does a 2 year old really need to know the alphabet in three languages? My opinion is no. In fact, I don't believe that a 2 year old needs to know the alphabet period! But this isn't the place to get into that debate.
We read alphabet books in French and English. But when I talk about the alphabet and beginning sounds, I do it in English. When Bear gets older, say 3,4, or 5, she will be able to transfer her understanding of beginning sounds (and all other reading skills) to her other languages. I know this for a fact because I only spoke French until I was 8 years old, but as soon as I learned the English alphabet sounds, I was off and reading in English, as fluently as in French. I also taught in French immersion schools and saw this same transfer of skills there.
Nevertheless, as with all her other learning, I do start introducing it in French at some point. This post coincides with the week that I have decided to speak only in French every other day. Prior to this, I would speak English mostly and use French throughout the day. I now feel a need to increase the amount of French that Bear hears throughout the week. This is also to ensure Baby Boy hears enough French in his early years.
You can read more about how we have raised Bear in a trilingual environment here.
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Note: If any of you do teach French to your children, I'd love to know of the resources you use. Thanks!
Note: If any of you do teach French to your children, I'd love to know of the resources you use. Thanks!
I am just starting to seriously think about teaching my kids French, so I really want to see what you do with your kids. I'm fairly (but not perfectly) bilingual in French and English, but French is my second language (I lived in France and attended French public schools from age 9-12 and then taught high school French for a couple years but haven't used it on a daily basis for a few years now). My kids like Muzzy, but we just check it out from the library every once in a while because it costs a fortune. They also like songs by Alain Le Lait and I let them play with the French portion of www.poissonrouge.com. Emma recently decided she really likes French, so I do want to capitalize on her interest.
ReplyDeleteMy sister started kindergarten in France, and she learned to read French and English at the same time with no trouble at all. I think she found French easier, simply because there aren't many exceptions to the phonetic rules.
I think what you're doing is great! My youngest speaks fluent Arabic and my oldest has a basic understanding. Their dad only speaks to them in Arabic. This is really trying with my family as they just assume we are confusing them. Kudos to multi-linguality in your family! I think reading and understanding are the most important things and the rest will naturally begin to fall in place. We have a different challenge with the Arabic alphabet being completely different but we hope to work through those issues as the kids are a little older.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty fascinating to me, since, as I mentioned before, we are trilingual as well. I have made a conscious decision not to introduce any Russian to Anna until she is older, and my husband is trying hard with German. Unfortunately, she picks up on inconsistency and refuses to speak any German at all. She does understand it (I think), but it doesn't help matters that my husband tends to switch to German when he scolds her and speaks in English when they play. Umm... it would be better to do it the other way around :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for addressing this issue. We are in the opposite situation. We live in the U.S. so Spanish is the minority language. We have only spoken with our children in Spanish since they were born. My oldest son has picked up quite a bit of English from t.v., the community, and English speaking friends. I taught D his letters in Spanish first. My plan is to teach him to read and write in Spanish first and then focus on English. (He mostly know the letters in English also from the Leap Frog movie my mother gave him but I only call the letters by their Spanish name when we talk about them.) I know that he will learn the letters and to read and write in English when he enters school. I am, however, considering homeschooling him since I am NOT happy with the bilingual education opportunities where we live. If we do homeschool, I will teach him to read/write in English after the Spanish is well established. (That's the plan anyhow) :) Spanishbaby was talking about the topic this week too. http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/09/ask-an-expertwhat-language-should-i-read-to-my-kids-in/
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