Austrian in the USA (English/German/Estonian)
Sept 19, 2017 23:41:44 GMT 9
Post by Marisa on Sept 19, 2017 23:41:44 GMT 9
Hi Patricia!
My daughter is 18 months old. Since she was born, I've only spoken Spanish to her (I'm originally from Spain, and we live in the US, where my daughter was born). She attends daycare, and the only language she hears there is English, and now I'm doing my very best to expose her to German (I have a basic knowledge of the language, but can't speak it well, unfortunately). Last week she had her scheduled visit to her pediatrician's office, and the nurse asked me whether she's able to say at least 15 words. I had to laugh a little. She can't articulate 15 words in any language. However, she understands everything in both English and Spanish. It's absolutely great, cute, and highly encouraging when I notice how she does something new that I didn't know she could do when I tell her something in Spanish. Compared to last month, now she puts her hands in her head and plays with her hair when I tell her "how do you wash your hair?," moves her index finger up and down near her mouth when I ask her "how do your brush your teeth?," or my personal favorite, she jumps when I sing to her a song in which she's asked to jump and then fall down, which she does!! And all this in Spanish! And yesterday, for the very first time, I asked her in German "what does the dog say?,"... and she made a cute barking sound! Bottom line, I'm surprised to see how much she understands, even if she's not producing many words yet...but that day will come, I'm sure!
As for the German resources, right now I mainly rely on Amazon.com. The Goethe Institute website has a link with some resources for children (https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/spr/unt/kum/dfk/dff.html). She enjoys the Felix und Franzi cartoons, actually, so I might have to buy the puppets at some point! I'm still hoping to find the German equivalent of Spanish Playground, a phenomenal website with all sorts of resources for Spanish...so if I eventually find it, I'll let you know!
Hope all is well!
Marisa
My daughter is 18 months old. Since she was born, I've only spoken Spanish to her (I'm originally from Spain, and we live in the US, where my daughter was born). She attends daycare, and the only language she hears there is English, and now I'm doing my very best to expose her to German (I have a basic knowledge of the language, but can't speak it well, unfortunately). Last week she had her scheduled visit to her pediatrician's office, and the nurse asked me whether she's able to say at least 15 words. I had to laugh a little. She can't articulate 15 words in any language. However, she understands everything in both English and Spanish. It's absolutely great, cute, and highly encouraging when I notice how she does something new that I didn't know she could do when I tell her something in Spanish. Compared to last month, now she puts her hands in her head and plays with her hair when I tell her "how do you wash your hair?," moves her index finger up and down near her mouth when I ask her "how do your brush your teeth?," or my personal favorite, she jumps when I sing to her a song in which she's asked to jump and then fall down, which she does!! And all this in Spanish! And yesterday, for the very first time, I asked her in German "what does the dog say?,"... and she made a cute barking sound! Bottom line, I'm surprised to see how much she understands, even if she's not producing many words yet...but that day will come, I'm sure!
As for the German resources, right now I mainly rely on Amazon.com. The Goethe Institute website has a link with some resources for children (https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/spr/unt/kum/dfk/dff.html). She enjoys the Felix und Franzi cartoons, actually, so I might have to buy the puppets at some point! I'm still hoping to find the German equivalent of Spanish Playground, a phenomenal website with all sorts of resources for Spanish...so if I eventually find it, I'll let you know!
Hope all is well!
Marisa