Raising bilingual children

[reineke]

Hi

Anyone trying to teach their child foreign or community languages? Any success stories? Problems? Tips? Suggestions? Any local (Honolulu) schools or preschool programs I should be aware of?

Thanks.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Raising bilingual children

I've raised my four bilingually...but it was easy for us, because we already live in a foreign country. I spoke the minority language (English) exclusively, and they absorbed the French language at school and in the community.

I think that was the trick....to speak the minority language at home.

The one thing I could've done better, though, was to read and (especially) write more with them in English.

[timkona]

Re: Raising bilingual children

English first....the Queens version, as written in Websters Unabridged, with a strict "in-home" Pidgin Vaccine Concoction that I brew myself. (ancient secret recipe not for sale or trade)
Pidgin....the local South Kona vernacular as spoken by many children under 8
American Sign Language.....her first language, way before she could talk
Spanish....its her heritage, and I'm near fluent in spite of my skin color, being from N. Cali and all
Hawaiian....she learns from Kumu at Hula, and from Kumu at school
Japanese....cuz it sounds neat, even when you screw it up a little
Music.....yup, the kind on paper, that is the same as each key on the piano

Language is very near the top of my favorite subjects.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Raising bilingual children

we are a bilingual household. My children are educated in the Hawaiian immersion schools and we speak both English and Hawaiian at home.

[GnosticWarrior]

Re: Raising bilingual children

I have a suggestion. According to Jim Rogers China will be the next super power. He currently has a Chinese nanny for his "Baby Girl" and is teaching her the language. He claims that English, Spanish, and Chinese are the three most widely spoken languages in the world and if any American parents want to give their children an advantage in the Global world, they should teach them Spanish or Chinese.

I wish I was exposed at an early age. I hear its easier to learn. Now, I'm too old to make the effort to learn. I think the only way is if I lived in a particular country and was forced to learn.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Raising bilingual children

I have found that the children of immigrants are best if they begin to learn before they'e ten yeras old. After that, it gets harder for them.

Moral...start them young.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Raising bilingual children

I wish I was exposed at an early age. I hear its easier to learn. Now, I'm too old to make the effort to learn.

I agree with the first part - studies seem to show that learning skills for language (including music) slow down after about age 13.

But I disagree with the second part. You're not too old to learn - you just hold yourself back with that thought. You just need to find a way to get back into the excitement of learning - maybe an immersion program, or a private tutor. Or plan a trip to a land where the language you wish to learn is spoken more extensively than English - plan it out for a year or two down the road, and make it your goal to become conversational, if not fluent, by the time you take the trip.

[CranBeree]

Re: Raising bilingual children

hmm..my daughter is being taught Hawaiian by her Tutu

and my mom speaks to her in visayan (filipino dialect)

and she watches Dora for Spanish. .. but then i took Spanish as my 4 yr concentration during high school so at one point i could speak it fluently..then throuout the years i forgot because it was so rarely used.

i sometimes wonder if my kid thinks were all nuts!

[1stwahine]

Re: Raising bilingual children

i sometimes wonder if my kid thinks were all nuts!

On my father's side they spoke Ilocano. However, my dad and aunts spoke excellent English. In fact, two of my aunts were English teachers. One, my English teacher.

On my mother's side they spoke Spanish. MAMA can understand both Filipino and Spanish.

In our household growing up it was kapakahi...yeah, Cran. Now I know why I'm Pupule!!!!

Den when I married ~ my husband spoke Visayan and Tagalog!

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Auntie Lynn

btw: It was strictly ENGLISH when I raised my children!

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Raising bilingual children

i sometimes wonder if my kid thinks were all nuts!

Well, she's gonna have to face up to the truth some day...

[GnosticWarrior]

Re: Raising bilingual children

But I disagree with the second part. You're not too old to learn - you just hold yourself back with that thought. You just need to find a way to get back into the excitement of learning -

Yes, you're right on this part. No one is really too old to learn. And I do have a growing list of things that I wish I had more exporsure or known of its importance. The only musical instrument I've learn to play is the basic requirments of the flutophone and recorder in elem. school. (I sucked at it) I also had to withdraw from Japanese in college. Lucky, for me UH West Oahu did not have any foreign language requirements.

However the older one gets, your mind becomes less pliable. One should maybe instead focus on their comparative advantages. I think at this stage in the game, its about finding your fit and using what you were given. And perhaps being an advisor in developing a better cirriculum for the next generation. But yes, nothing is impossible. If there's a will, there's a way.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Raising bilingual children

Bottom line - if you want to do it, there's likely no one stopping you but yourself. After decades in music and music-related jobs, yet not as a "musician" myself, I have spent the last several years learning to play a variety of instruments and studying the "language" of music, and I'm pushing 50. Imua, GW!

[reineke]

Re: Raising bilingual children

Thanks for responding.

How do you work with your kids? Do you read to them from storybooks, let them watch cartoons in a foreign language or do you simply chat with them occasionally? How often do you talk to them in Hawaiian etc? Do you find yourself reverting to English too soon? When I was a kid my mom would teach me French through fairytales. I'm not new to the subject of foreign languages but with a three-year-old I find myself scratching my head a little.

Gnostic, the first one is always the hardest but certainly not impossible. I don't think they did you a favor by removing the foreign language requirement. Most of your life you'll be too old or too young for something. If you want to do it, just go for it. Your economic theory is a bit shaky for this particular purpose. First, you have no one to trade with, and second your cost can be as low as 30 minutes of dead time somewhere in a bus. BTW, you're not the first one I hear mention recorders. I asked my wife about it but she grumbled something about popular kids and how she got stuck with a recorder while the cool kids got to play the clarinet

[Lei K]

Re: Raising bilingual children

As I learn more and more 'olelo Hawaii I teach my kids everything I know. My 7 year old is only kinda getting it but my 4 year old is reeeeeaaally getting it. When my mother comes over my house and she says something to him he says, "Tutu, in Hawaiian." He's taken to naming his stuffed animals off things in Hawaiian. He got mad at his stuffed bunny and named him Pilau.

I put on his Kindergarten forms I just turned in that he speaks both English (fluent, of course) and Hawaiian (learning) at home. He is getting in the habit of saying more and more Hawaiian words and a few sentences. I told him at school he will have to speak English and if he does speak Hawaiian to kokua people to understand what he just said.

In elementary here it's common for the kids to learn Spanish so hopefully *crosses fingers* they will all know three languages. Dora is excellent for learning Spanish and so is Diego. My kids have picked up a lot of Spanish from those two programs. Language is awesome.

I hope starting younger with my 9 month old will go even better.

[reineke]

Re: Raising bilingual children

Hi

I remember you from another thread where I think you mentioned your Portuguese heritage. Have you ever thought about learning it yourself or (if you already speak it) teaching it to your children? The problem with certain languages unfortunately is the lack of interesting and child-friendly material.