Questions about ml@h method & language development
Jan 23, 2019 6:11:18 GMT 9
Post by Laura Catherine on Jan 23, 2019 6:11:18 GMT 9
Hola! I want to start by saying that although I don't post here often, I gather a lot of inspiration and support from all of you. A huge thanks for everything you share on here!
I posted last fall about concerns some family and friends had about how my daughter will learn English if we are doing ml@h. A summary of our situation: My daughter will be 2 at the end of February. I am a non-native-Spanish teacher who speaks exclusively to my daughter in Spanish. My husband is a native English speaker, but has really discovered how much he enjoys learning Spanish. He's learned a lot since her birth and speaks to our daughter in Spanish, too (about 85% of the time, I would estimate). Besides grandparents and friends, she does not get much comprehensible English input (she is not in daycare and stays at home with my husband). Essentially without planning on it, our method has become ml@h, rather than OPOL, like I initially thought before she was born.
As my daughter approaches her second birthday, she does appear to be a bit delayed and behind her peers (which I understand is not caused by her learning another language). She knows about 60 words and they are all nouns, which doesn't allow her to string together any phrases. Of those words, about 5 of them are English and the rest are Spanish. We're working hard on language development daily through modeling, reading, and singing. She understands everything we tell her in Spanish. I suppose at this point she is monolingual with Spanish being the ML, but I know eventually the ML will become English.
My questions for families out there are:
--Are there any non-native speakers of languages out there successfully raising bilingual kids?
--Anyone doing ml@h with two non-native-speaking parents? I sometimes worry the input we're giving her isn't rich and natural enough, even though I know I am an advanced Spanish speaker.
--Has anyone doing ml@h discovered how to help their child(ren) when they can't interact with their peers in the community language? My daughter will play with peers at story time and play dates by pointing and gesturing. I know she'll learn English when she gets to school in a couple years. In the meantime, I am concerned that during this period before she enters school, she will be frustrated that she can't communicate with other kids and only with Mamá and Papá.
I really appreciate any support!
I posted last fall about concerns some family and friends had about how my daughter will learn English if we are doing ml@h. A summary of our situation: My daughter will be 2 at the end of February. I am a non-native-Spanish teacher who speaks exclusively to my daughter in Spanish. My husband is a native English speaker, but has really discovered how much he enjoys learning Spanish. He's learned a lot since her birth and speaks to our daughter in Spanish, too (about 85% of the time, I would estimate). Besides grandparents and friends, she does not get much comprehensible English input (she is not in daycare and stays at home with my husband). Essentially without planning on it, our method has become ml@h, rather than OPOL, like I initially thought before she was born.
As my daughter approaches her second birthday, she does appear to be a bit delayed and behind her peers (which I understand is not caused by her learning another language). She knows about 60 words and they are all nouns, which doesn't allow her to string together any phrases. Of those words, about 5 of them are English and the rest are Spanish. We're working hard on language development daily through modeling, reading, and singing. She understands everything we tell her in Spanish. I suppose at this point she is monolingual with Spanish being the ML, but I know eventually the ML will become English.
My questions for families out there are:
--Are there any non-native speakers of languages out there successfully raising bilingual kids?
--Anyone doing ml@h with two non-native-speaking parents? I sometimes worry the input we're giving her isn't rich and natural enough, even though I know I am an advanced Spanish speaker.
--Has anyone doing ml@h discovered how to help their child(ren) when they can't interact with their peers in the community language? My daughter will play with peers at story time and play dates by pointing and gesturing. I know she'll learn English when she gets to school in a couple years. In the meantime, I am concerned that during this period before she enters school, she will be frustrated that she can't communicate with other kids and only with Mamá and Papá.
I really appreciate any support!