| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | I want to teach my 4 1/2-year-old two more languages...please help! Thread poster: Jessica Klingberg
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Gina W
United States
Local time: 08:16
Member (2003)
French to English
| It's still not too late | Apr 21, 2005 |
Berni Armstrong wrote:
... what a pity you did not start off speaking your own languages to your children and let them learn English from contact in the community or from hearing you two speak to each other in that tongue. Your four year old would now be speaking three languages with relative ease.
However, that is not going to help you now, is it, sorry.
A 4 1/2 year old is still young and at a good age to begin learning. I think the important thing here is where to go from now, not what "should have" been done. You would be surprized how quickly those young children pick up the language, just being exposed to it and being shown different words and objects, etc.
[Edited at 2005-04-21 17:09]
| | | | Jessica Klingberg 
United States
Local time: 08:16
Member (2002)
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER | We are making progress with my 4-year-old!!! | Apr 21, 2005 |
I appreciate Berni's honesty and the title of his post even made me and my husband laugh (in an appreciative sort of way!) But I do agree with you that children can still be taught at this age. In only two days of speaking Spanish to my children I have seen some progress and have become quite encouraged! The baby absorbs all my words like a sponge, not surprisingly. But my 4-year-old also seems very intrigued at the changes going on. I am being very careful not to tire him out with Spanish,... See more I appreciate Berni's honesty and the title of his post even made me and my husband laugh (in an appreciative sort of way!) But I do agree with you that children can still be taught at this age. In only two days of speaking Spanish to my children I have seen some progress and have become quite encouraged! The baby absorbs all my words like a sponge, not surprisingly. But my 4-year-old also seems very intrigued at the changes going on. I am being very careful not to tire him out with Spanish, I am talking to him using lots of hand gestures but I stop if he seems overwhelmed. However, he must be listening in when I talk to the baby because this morning I caught him repeating to himself IN SPANISH a small conversation I had had with my 1-year-old!
I've also been doing some research on Total Physical Response and I ordered James Asher's book off the internet yesterday. I am curious to see if this is something that might be useful to us. Summer's almost here, pre-school will be out, and then we'll have lots of time to fill; I'm hoping we can do some language progress over the summer. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Never too late! | Apr 21, 2005 |
I hope I didn't give the impression that I thought it now too late. I firmly beleive that it is never too late to teach a child your native tongue. I was just lamenting the fact that too many parents are taken in by ignorant propaganda, or peer (or family) pressure, and go along with the discredited (and patently false) idea that learning more than one language somehow confuses the child.
It was not meant as a criticism of Jessica, and I am pleased that she didn't receive it... See more I hope I didn't give the impression that I thought it now too late. I firmly beleive that it is never too late to teach a child your native tongue. I was just lamenting the fact that too many parents are taken in by ignorant propaganda, or peer (or family) pressure, and go along with the discredited (and patently false) idea that learning more than one language somehow confuses the child.
It was not meant as a criticism of Jessica, and I am pleased that she didn't receive it that way. I was just obliquely advising others who were considering the task to start as early as possible.
Have you checked out "The Bilingual Families Mailing List" Jessica? You could always "lurk" there for a while to see if it is the "place" for you, if you are not sure. I found it an invaluable help in the early days.
PS Congratulations Jessica on the progress so far, keep at it!
[Edited at 2005-04-21 21:15] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jessica Klingberg
United States
Local time: 08:16
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Already on the list... | Apr 22, 2005 |
Hi Berni, I subscribed to the "Bilingual Families Mailing List" yesterday and I'm already reading through the threads. I'm also slowly reading through the threads in this forum. It will take some time but it's great to have so much support and so much information available on this topic. Again, thanks to everyone for your input and encouragement!
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John Pilgrim
Netherlands
Local time: 14:16
Dutch to English
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| A couple of thoughts | Apr 28, 2005 |
I'm no expert, but being one half of a multilingual couple, this is a subject we've put thought into and picked up a few hints and tips on.
Firstly I would say that you yourself should only try to teach your child a language of which you are a native speaker. If you genuinely also speak Spanish with real native-speaker fluency, then go for it; if not, find another way, like Spansh-speaking friends, etc. Othewise your children will grow up making the same mistakes you do. German is n... See more I'm no expert, but being one half of a multilingual couple, this is a subject we've put thought into and picked up a few hints and tips on.
Firstly I would say that you yourself should only try to teach your child a language of which you are a native speaker. If you genuinely also speak Spanish with real native-speaker fluency, then go for it; if not, find another way, like Spansh-speaking friends, etc. Othewise your children will grow up making the same mistakes you do. German is no problem because your husband is a native speaker.
I would also like to encourage you by saying it's never too late. A Persian-Japanese couple I knew in the UK who had not brought their children up speaking either of their native languages were getting desperate because their children (aged 7 and 4) showed no interest and even a little resistence to anything other than English - once you go to school in England being bilingual is seriously not cool! But then they started to become more responsive. You never can tell. I guess they may not achieve the same fluency as they could have done, or maybe they will.
Certainly with your 1.5-year-old there is still everything to play for, and I would say that with care your 4.5-year-old has still not missed the boat.
The other suggestions on this board are really interesting and helpful, by the way, so thank you very much to everybody. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Exposure is the key | Apr 28, 2005 |
John Pilgrim wrote:
Firstly I would say that you yourself should only try to teach your child a language of which you are a native speaker.
I don't necessarily agree with you here John. The important thing is exposure to the language at an early age. If real native speakers are used later as reinforcements then they will help iron out errors. It is crucial, IMHO, to get kids exposed to other languages. Perhaps it is true that a non-native with a good level will never teach their child perfect Spanish, English, or whatever, but perhaps that is not the aim. Perhaps they will learn enough to have a good grounding in that language which would be useful to them later on.
On the Bilingual Families list there were many Swedes, Finns, or Spaniards who were teaching their kids to speak English using the family language at home technique. (There were also a few Esperanto speaking parents and even one family whose home language was Latin! ....I kid you not!)
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