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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
 LauraM Pro Member United States Joined 5161 days ago 77 posts - 97 votes  Studies: German Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 10 16 January 2011 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I love your way of thinking, Lucky Charm!
However, much of what you say that "should" be done is unrealistic for many of us. With 8 children in various stages (college, work, high school, diapers, grade school), leaving every year to the country of the target language would be challenging beyond words. Also, since both my husband and myself are native English speakers (altho as a child I was fairly fluent in Spanish, then later German). We have not the funds (nor desire) to acquire a nanny, play groups are too "temporary and restricted" in my opinion to rely on, therefore we do GO, but I would not rely on this to make my child bilingual. I would not discourage non-native speakers from using the foreign language with their child at all. If you have a good command of the language, I say DO IT!!!!! I would never tell my Brazilian best friend, Oh my gosh, Dayse, your English is not very good, therefore you shouldn't expose your children to your use of it. Also, altho not everyone has the benefit of an immersion school, thankfully, we do! However immersion schools, as I am learning, are great for teaching one to read and write in German, but if I left it to the school my child would NEVER be able to successfully interact socially auf Deutsch, as proved by all the other American children at the school. That said, I do think visiting the target country is INVALUABLE if and whenever possible! And the supplemental materials, YES, you are absolutely right! My 2 year old watches ONLY German films. I have, in fact, spent a small fortune on a couple hundred DVDs and thousands more on books in the target language... While I am hesitant to tell anyone what is the right or wrong way to do something, I enjoy sharing my own experience and I love hearing everyone else's strategy when it comes to children and bilingualism. BTW, thanks Parasitius, for the info! Edited by LauraM on 16 January 2011 at 8:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ygangerg Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5127 days ago 100 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, French Studies: German | Message 10 of 10 22 January 2011 at 3:49pm | IP Logged | ||
I teach English to 6-12 year olds of various first languages (mostly Spanish, with Arabic, Italian, Romanian and others mixed in). I can say firsthand that it is certainly difficult to explicitly "teach" a language to 6 and 7 year olds! Around 8 or 9 years old I can explain past tense, plurals etc. without causing too much anguish. But because (being the only English speaker in the room) I cannot fully immerse the youngsters, I do my best teaching the 6 year olds basic nouns like body parts, family members, and foods. I make sure they recognize these words when I say them and that they learn to say them themselves, and we are beginning to use sentences like "My daddy is a teacher," "My mommy is a baker." They are also decent at recognizing some commands I've pounded into their heads, like "raise your hand" and "sit down." Those who commented have been mostly correct: it's pretty close to impossible to explicitly "teach" a toddler/ young child. If they can be immersed, that's the way to go. However, I believe any and all exposure helps in the long run. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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