Update!
Mar 5, 2018 6:15:09 GMT 9
Post by Nellie on Mar 5, 2018 6:15:09 GMT 9
Well, we had a lovely time in London! It was snowing most of the time, which was beautiful, and we managed to visit a few museums. For me, the best part was being able to catch up with friends. In terms of language development, it was also very interesting: my best friend, who is French, lives in London and has a British partner and a son six months' younger than my daughter. It was so interesting to watch, because my daughter was "faced" with a child whose situation is reversed - French as ml and English as ML. It was wonderful for me to see how naturally she switched between English and French with him (and of course I was secretly glad that most of the time she spoke in English to him!).
I love that it now seems so natural for her that children will have several different languages, and I thought the same yesterday when we attended a birthday party at which the other children were also bilingual: mostly English/French, but one French/Spanish. Between themselves, I believe they probably spoke mostly French, but just overhearing the adults speaking a mix of the three language must have been very beneficial! I had a long trip on public transport home, and as luck would have it the mother of the French/Spanish-speaking child had almost the same itinerary. So we had a solid conversation in Spanish, which my daughter participated in. I love it when these unexpected opportunities to practice the mls come up - apart from anything else, I'm sure that they help in making my daughter realise the benefits of being multilingual!
I love that it now seems so natural for her that children will have several different languages, and I thought the same yesterday when we attended a birthday party at which the other children were also bilingual: mostly English/French, but one French/Spanish. Between themselves, I believe they probably spoke mostly French, but just overhearing the adults speaking a mix of the three language must have been very beneficial! I had a long trip on public transport home, and as luck would have it the mother of the French/Spanish-speaking child had almost the same itinerary. So we had a solid conversation in Spanish, which my daughter participated in. I love it when these unexpected opportunities to practice the mls come up - apart from anything else, I'm sure that they help in making my daughter realise the benefits of being multilingual!