Step by step towards balanced bilingualism
Dec 7, 2017 9:06:19 GMT 9
Post by David on Dec 7, 2017 9:06:19 GMT 9
So here's an update as we're closing up our stay in Germany.
I am working diligently with our daughter (now 32 months) and her younger brother is joining us for reading sessions as much as possible. I am so happy (and proud!) that Lisa is now constantly bringing books to me so I read to her -- even while she has her daily half hour of cartoons on TV and gets bored with those. I think she really values reading a book higher than a cartoon, it's quality and family time rather than some moving pictures. It's a fantastic feeling!
Just like Adam has suggested, we have "loaded up" on picture books. We must have 30-40 now and constantly are on the lookout to buy new ones. It's funny to see her try to pick up too many sometimes as she's so overeager to get them read by me. She tries to lift up 7 of them and carry them over to our sofa or armchair, and they all fall down resulting in some frustration but it's all good, just shows how much she loves it.
Just about two to three months ago (she was 2.5 years old) she started to repeat more and more what my wife and myself tell her, both in Hungarian and German. Literally repeat every sentence we say, or at least some portion she is trying to process, usually the last 3-4 words of a sentence. She didn't do that before. The key here for me is she does this in German -- while just about 6 months ago she flat out refused to speak ANY German word.
I would say her active speaking/babbling now is about 85/15 in favor of Hungarian. So within a good half year we've come this far from 100/0. What I find particularly interesting is the fact that she seems to notice now that daddy has "that language" and mommy uses that "other language". E.g. I hear her say a simple German sentence to my wife while playing, then my wife looks at her with a puzzled face. And then Lisa would repeat the same two-word sentence in Hungarian, in mommy language. This just started happening two weeks ago and we've since observed it a few times and I feel it's a major milestone.
She started attending a bilingual Hungarian/German language Kindergarten in Hungary in October. Unfortunately she is the only German speaking child around, i.e. all the kids speak Hungarian and only the caretakers speak German with her. Well, it's better than nothing we think but we also applied to an "official" German kindergarten for Oct. 2018, if accepted she'd spend time with about 50% of native speakers there. We'll see if she can get in.
All in all I feel the "work" is paying off and the good thing is it stopped feeling like "work". It became a habit for us now, and the first successes really sparked more motivation on my end. Seeing how much she enjoys it just adds to the motivation and joy I get out of reading for her. Maybe to some German native speakers our daughter comes off as "illiterate" in German but to me she has made a quantum-leap in just half a year. From denying the minority language and refusing to speak a single word of German to actively repeating it and using many nouns or phrases in German.
She'll be three in March and we'll keep up the reading schedule. I'll post an update in spring and hope (no, I am certain!) we will have made further baby steps towards bilingualism! As Adam has said: consistency is key, it is so true. I now realize this is a 10+ year project and can't wait to master the steps along the way!
I am working diligently with our daughter (now 32 months) and her younger brother is joining us for reading sessions as much as possible. I am so happy (and proud!) that Lisa is now constantly bringing books to me so I read to her -- even while she has her daily half hour of cartoons on TV and gets bored with those. I think she really values reading a book higher than a cartoon, it's quality and family time rather than some moving pictures. It's a fantastic feeling!
Just like Adam has suggested, we have "loaded up" on picture books. We must have 30-40 now and constantly are on the lookout to buy new ones. It's funny to see her try to pick up too many sometimes as she's so overeager to get them read by me. She tries to lift up 7 of them and carry them over to our sofa or armchair, and they all fall down resulting in some frustration but it's all good, just shows how much she loves it.
Just about two to three months ago (she was 2.5 years old) she started to repeat more and more what my wife and myself tell her, both in Hungarian and German. Literally repeat every sentence we say, or at least some portion she is trying to process, usually the last 3-4 words of a sentence. She didn't do that before. The key here for me is she does this in German -- while just about 6 months ago she flat out refused to speak ANY German word.
I would say her active speaking/babbling now is about 85/15 in favor of Hungarian. So within a good half year we've come this far from 100/0. What I find particularly interesting is the fact that she seems to notice now that daddy has "that language" and mommy uses that "other language". E.g. I hear her say a simple German sentence to my wife while playing, then my wife looks at her with a puzzled face. And then Lisa would repeat the same two-word sentence in Hungarian, in mommy language. This just started happening two weeks ago and we've since observed it a few times and I feel it's a major milestone.
She started attending a bilingual Hungarian/German language Kindergarten in Hungary in October. Unfortunately she is the only German speaking child around, i.e. all the kids speak Hungarian and only the caretakers speak German with her. Well, it's better than nothing we think but we also applied to an "official" German kindergarten for Oct. 2018, if accepted she'd spend time with about 50% of native speakers there. We'll see if she can get in.
All in all I feel the "work" is paying off and the good thing is it stopped feeling like "work". It became a habit for us now, and the first successes really sparked more motivation on my end. Seeing how much she enjoys it just adds to the motivation and joy I get out of reading for her. Maybe to some German native speakers our daughter comes off as "illiterate" in German but to me she has made a quantum-leap in just half a year. From denying the minority language and refusing to speak a single word of German to actively repeating it and using many nouns or phrases in German.
She'll be three in March and we'll keep up the reading schedule. I'll post an update in spring and hope (no, I am certain!) we will have made further baby steps towards bilingualism! As Adam has said: consistency is key, it is so true. I now realize this is a 10+ year project and can't wait to master the steps along the way!