This is how we're doing so far...

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Caro C.
Junior Keeper

Posts: 29

Country (residing now): Colombia
Country (originally from): Colombia
Children, Ages: Toddler girl, 3 plus exepcting baby
Majority Language: Spanish
Minority Language(s): English

This is how we're doing so far... May 4, 2019 0:13:44 GMT 9

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Post by Caro C. on May 4, 2019 0:13:44 GMT 9

Hello, everyone. So my baby girl turned 3 months old a week ago. And I want to share with you how it's going with the process. I guess my best point in favor is that I’m addicted to books. So I’ve been reading to my daughter at least once a day every day--of course, children's books. Also I’m focused on speaking in English to her but I think it's an effort that sort of falls short...like repeating almost the same basic words/sentences to her over and over again with no real speech (“I love you my beautiful Salomé you are so sweet, I love you my baby girl”) and sometimes also there are long periods of silence, like breastfeeding (usually, like now, I’m on the cell phone / tablet or reading), changing diapers or bathing her (I’m just focused on the task making sure she is calm). There’s a part of me yelling “what else could I say to her? Should I say more?” Just some minutes ago I remember what Adam says about the hammering and told myself that maybe I should do a bit of that while breastfeeding, reading and saying out loud rhymes from this book that he recommends and I bought. Yesterday I was on the line for the ATM and meanwhile decided to tell her the story of how her dad and I met...at least that was an attempt of providing some speech in a natural/spontaneous way.

Another thing I have are songs and this works in two ways: 1) I sort of have my own repertoire = three songs, one was just one line/verse that I came up with when she was just some days old, now like some weeks ago it occurred to me another line/verse to add. The other one it’s also my invention using the melody from a song in Spanish...a song that my mom ends up singing after catching up with the tone, this is also like a two verses song, and last I created my own translated version of a Spanish song which is Sammy el heladero = Sammy the ice cream seller. 2) I put on a playlist of songs in English that I really like, know and I’m able to sing so that my girl listens to me, and gets used to the language, however I don’t do this very often. In addition to this, a month ago or so we had a free demo class at a place that offers this kinder music program for babies. The cool thing is that the songs are in English so my plan is to pay just for one month of subscription (a class per week) to have access to the material (songs) and then just keep going on my own, I’m just waiting for Salomé to be able to hold her head by herself.

The other thing I have is a set of finger puppets, to talk to my girl and make up stories. Honestly I believe that my flaw right now is consistency and maybe creating like a routine. The puppets and the singing are not something I do very often. Besides, one thing that is really killing me is the fact of not being able to NOT speak Spanish around my daughter, I mean I can’t avoid talking in Spanish to my mom, to my husband, to friends and relatives when Salomé is there. I heard once that the language development starts at 3 months old and last week she started cooing and babbling a lot, my sister came to visit and Salomé was more into making noises (talk to her and to my niece) than into eating, and last night some friends came and she was calm and quiet just paying attention, but all of this was Spanish...

So anyway this is how we're doing, so far. What do you think?

Adam Beck
Head Keeper

Author of "Maximize Your Child's Bilingual Ability" and "Bilingual Success Stories Around the World"

Posts: 2,176
Country (residing now): Japan
Country (originally from): USA
Children, Ages: Girl, 19 and Boy, 16
Majority Language: Japanese
Minority Language(s): English, Spanish

This is how we're doing so far... May 6, 2019 11:55:58 GMT 9

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Post by Adam Beck on May 6, 2019 11:55:58 GMT 9

May 4, 2019 0:13:44 GMT 9 Caro C. said:

So my baby girl turned 3 months old a week ago. And I want to share with you how it's going with the process. I guess my best point in favor is that I’m addicted to books. So I’ve been reading to my daughter at least once a day every day--of course, children's books. Also I’m focused on speaking in English to her but I think it's an effort that sort of falls short...like repeating almost the same basic words/sentences to her over and over again with no real speech (“I love you my beautiful Salomé you are so sweet, I love you my baby girl”) and sometimes also there are long periods of silence, like breastfeeding (usually, like now, I’m on the cell phone / tablet or reading), changing diapers or bathing her (I’m just focused on the task making sure she is calm). There’s a part of me yelling “what else could I say to her? Should I say more?” Just some minutes ago I remember what Adam says about the hammering and told myself that maybe I should do a bit of that while breastfeeding, reading and saying out loud rhymes from this book that he recommends and I bought. Yesterday I was on the line for the ATM and meanwhile decided to tell her the story of how her dad and I met...at least that was an attempt of providing some speech in a natural/spontaneous way.

Caro, I think you and Salomé are off to a good start! You're staying mindful and proactive and these are the two essential qualities for nurturing language development from day to day and long-term success over the years of childhood.

My main suggestion, for the moment, would be to get into a habit of narrating your time together with her instead of allowing "long periods of silence." I know this can be challenging, particularly at first, but, for example, when you're changing her diaper, you could say, "Now I'm taking off your diaper. Oh, what a messy diaper! We don't like messy diapers, do we? Let's change it, okay? I have a nice new diaper for you. Let's put on your new diaper. You'll feel so much better, won't you? So I'll just wipe you clean first, okay? There, how's that? Now here comes the new diaper. Look! There's a little picture on it! What's that, Salomé? Yes, it's a bear! What a cute bear!"

In other words, take advantage of each interaction, as fully as you can, by narrating the "play-by-play" of these experiences, moment by moment. (You can also talk about your day and your memories; describe the setting of the situation or any photos/pictures that are available; sing songs, etc.) Remember, our central aim is to provide as much input in the target language as possible, and to achieve that, we need to be talkative. Ultimately, the more talkative you are in English during these first few formative years, the more talkative your daughter can be, too, when she starts speaking. The quantity of speech is extremely important for generating strong and satisfying progress so I would encourage you to continue developing your efforts in this direction, along with maintaining the many other good efforts that you're now making.

Bilingual SuperKids: Supercharge the success and joy of your family's bilingual or multilingual journey with powerful private coaching from Adam Beck, author of "Maximize Your Child's Bilingual Ability" and "Bilingual Success Stories Around the World"
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Raquel
Star Keeper

Posts: 1,234

Country (residing now): Spain
Country (originally from): Spain
Children, Ages: daughter (10) & son (7)
Majority Language: Spanish
Minority Language(s): English

This is how we're doing so far... May 6, 2019 19:31:17 GMT 9

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Post by Raquel on May 6, 2019 19:31:17 GMT 9

Reading your post reminded me of when my eldest was little, and I was worried I wasn't talking enough. I would hear my mom say things to her and think "I don't know how to say that in English!" and even when I did, I thought that it was something I wouldn't say, because it was harder than speaking your first language. We, bilingual parents, pay a lot of attention to language and everything we do about it. This makes us be very hard on ourselves. When I told my mom about this, she was surprised by it. She felt like I talked a lot to my daughter.

Narrating, as Adam Beck suggested, is a great way of finding something to talk about to your baby. I used to do this a lot.

I don't think you need to keep your daughter from hearing you and others speak Spanish. My husband and I spoke Spanish to each other all the time before my son was born. My daughter heard Spanish around her all the time, but it was never directed to her, that's the key. In fact, she learned to listen to English and ignore Spanish. We could talk about whether to give her chocolate, and she wouldn't even register it, because we were speaking in the language to ignore. I'm not saying this will be the case with your daughter, it wasn't with my son, who listens to everything in both languages. Just know you can still socialize, IMHO. Being a new mom is lonely enough without any limitations. If you can't meet with ML-speaking friends, then things get really tough.

Caro C.
Junior Keeper

Posts: 29

Country (residing now): Colombia
Country (originally from): Colombia
Children, Ages: Toddler girl, 3 plus exepcting baby
Majority Language: Spanish
Minority Language(s): English

This is how we're doing so far... May 8, 2019 12:35:50 GMT 9

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Post by Caro C. on May 8, 2019 12:35:50 GMT 9

May 6, 2019 11:55:58 GMT 9 Adam Beck said:

Adam, thank you very much for your support and advice. Actually I’m happy to say that this somehow matches with what I did today. Remember the singing frog from this episode of Looney Tunes? Well I started to sing to my baby with that very same tune “Hello my baby, hello my sweetheart I’m going to give you a bath” and then another improvised line while taking her clothes off; then, while bathing her, the line changed to “Hello my baby, hello my sweetheart I’m giving you a bath” and then when dressing her it was “hello my baby, hello my sweetheart I just gave you a bath”. A very little move but it’s something, right? Still I’ll try to be more mindful and proactive with this suggestion of yours in mind.

Caro C.
Junior Keeper

Posts: 29

Country (residing now): Colombia
Country (originally from): Colombia
Children, Ages: Toddler girl, 3 plus exepcting baby
Majority Language: Spanish
Minority Language(s): English

This is how we're doing so far... May 9, 2019 5:16:16 GMT 9

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Post by Caro C. on May 9, 2019 5:16:16 GMT 9

May 6, 2019 19:31:17 GMT 9 Raquel said:

I don't think you need to keep your daughter from hearing you and others speak Spanish. My husband and I spoke Spanish to each other all the time before my son was born. My daughter heard Spanish around her all the time, but it was never directed to her, that's the key. In fact, she learned to listen to English and ignore Spanish. We could talk about whether to give her chocolate, and she wouldn't even register it, because we were speaking in the language to ignore. I'm not saying this will be the case with your daughter, it wasn't with my son, who listens to everything in both languages. Just know you can still socialize, IMHO. Being a new mom is lonely enough without any limitations. If you can't meet with ML-speaking friends, then things get really tough.

You know, it's a bit weird for me to write your name to address you and then continue the rest in English, I mean your name sets my mind in Spanish, haha. Anyway, Raquel, you really have no idea what a relief is to me reading these words from you. Thanks for pointing this out.

Raquel
Star Keeper

Posts: 1,234

Country (residing now): Spain
Country (originally from): Spain
Children, Ages: daughter (10) & son (7)
Majority Language: Spanish
Minority Language(s): English

This is how we're doing so far... May 9, 2019 18:01:49 GMT 9

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Post by Raquel on May 9, 2019 18:01:49 GMT 9

I don't blame you! I was very tempted to write an expression in Spanish to you yesterday, but I thought it wouldn't be fair to those who wouldn't understand it, so I stuck to English.

Hey, no problem!! Parenthood is mainly about survival, especially when they're babies. Sure, you need to make sure your daughter gets as much exposure to English as possible (radio, music, but mainly you talking to her), but you also need to think of yourself and hang out with your friends, get some rest (as much as one can with a baby) and make this difficult -yet wonderful- time an easier one on yourself.

Caro C.
Junior Keeper

Posts: 29

Country (residing now): Colombia
Country (originally from): Colombia
Children, Ages: Toddler girl, 3 plus exepcting baby
Majority Language: Spanish
Minority Language(s): English

This is how we're doing so far... Mar 18, 2020 13:49:25 GMT 9

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Post by Caro C. on Mar 18, 2020 13:49:25 GMT 9

Hello everyone. So my baby girl is now 13 months old. As you can imagine I really can't track our progress in the development of the ml (English) yet since she is not speaking yet although very "talkative" = babbling a lot. I just wanted to tell really quick how it is going so far and a significant experience that changed my view of my role as a mom raising my child plus the benefit of enhancing the ml.

So basically I gotta confess that talking actively to my baby was really hard during these first months or should I say year. But now as I started to see her more interested in the world around her and willing to participate and engage, I've been able to talk to her a lot more/constantly. This first year went by mostly within books (reading to her, not as often as I would've liked to but still the effort has paid off, she is sort of an avid reader, at least a baby more into books than into screens -which we won't allow her to access till she turns 2) and music (a long playlist of songs in English gathered by Adam's suggestions of artists such as Raffi and Sandra Boyton plus my own addition, a singer that I discovered once on the internet, JJ Heller, usually I play it over and over again when my girl is by herself in the crib or playing with her toys while I take care of other things). Also from these songs I chose a few that are perfect as lullabies so that's another playlist to sometimes help her go to sleep.

Now, here is the experience I had that changed my way of seeing things. So far I'm a stay-at-home mom, not really by choice but just because that's how it is. Although I have a degree it was hard for me to build a career with employment related to the field and long periods of work, finding a job to me was a struggle. So now I'm a married woman, mom to one baby girl, taking care of her because I don't have a job, my husband works but thank God I don't depend economically on him (own savings plus my mom's monthly economic support)...and I used to think that my reality was kind of wrong...you know, I should be able to have an income, I shouldn't be home nor receiving money from my mom, I mean I'm 30. But in a seminar of something related to God and His word, although it wasn't really the subject the speaker said something that made me think differently: what if I see my mom's support not as something to be ashamed of but as a blessing? what if I decide to make the most out of the time I have with my baby? and what if I take care of her early childhood education? so... what if I do homeschooling in her first years of life? The point may be about raising well your child and passing on to her the values you want her to hold, but also, beyond that, there's the point of enhancing the ml by teaching her constantly the world around her (classes and everything, day to day activities, of course I would have to study for that) in the ml? I mean I can do it and would love to... I could help her be fully proficient in both languages English and Spanish by teaching her at home...

So with this new outlook/decision I'm very happy and optimistic about our bilingual journey and I started to enjoy my motherhood a lot more.

Rachel O
Junior Keeper

Posts: 18
Country (residing now): Germany
Country (originally from): Malaysia
Children, Ages: 1 son, 3 years old
Majority Language: German
Minority Language(s): English, Cantonese

This is how we're doing so far... Jan 17, 2021 22:45:31 GMT 9

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Post by Rachel O on Jan 17, 2021 22:45:31 GMT 9

Hi Caro, totally understand about speaking to your baby initially was hard, for me, it took a while before I can talk and narrate non-stop in Cantonese to a baby, who I do not know if he understands me or not, and with nobody else present who can understand me either. So it is kind of like talking to myself all the time, hah, but I got used to it and then it turned really fun when they start to show signs of understanding and interactions. Will be even more fun when they start talking back in that language to you! So keep at it, you are doing great mama! For us what works initially is, narrating whenever possible, keep talking as if my son understands me, read a lot, and sing songs!

Caro C.
Junior Keeper

Posts: 29

Country (residing now): Colombia
Country (originally from): Colombia
Children, Ages: Toddler girl, 3 plus exepcting baby
Majority Language: Spanish
Minority Language(s): English

This is how we're doing so far... Jan 25, 2021 8:57:42 GMT 9

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Post by Caro C. on Jan 25, 2021 8:57:42 GMT 9

Hi, Rachel. Nice to meet you. Thanks for your encouraging words. I wasn't able to do the narrating life part as you refer (it didn't come out, it didn't flow) and although maybe her speech development it is NOT above the average due to that lack of investment -I mean I did my best but may've had fallen short, like not so intentional- I think she is doing quite well in both languages for her age. She is turning 2yo the day after tomorrow (on the 26th) and knows different words in both languages as well as a few that she know how to say both in English and in Spanish like mano-hand, head-cabeza and chocolate that is written the same way but pronouced different... maybe also she has a couple of 2-3 words sentences in ML but still we are doing good. A little minority language win is the word blankie to refer to her favorite blanket while the word cobija it is not yet in her repertoire... actually a couple of nights ago I put that blankie to the laundry and it kind of became an issue for my not yet slept little girl, then we learned how attatched she is to it since the other blankets didn't work, haha. In addition to that, my biggest prop right now is music, to provide a wider minor language exposure and it's cool to see her sometime asking for it "music, music" and dancing/jumping to the melody of the songs. I feel satisfied with the process in general, considering her age, although if I talke a look at Henrique, the son of Alan (on instagram also @ bilingualdad) that is just two months older than my daughter well... he is doing/going way much better... his son is speaking a lot more in the mL, (also English). Lockdown was a blessing for us raising bilingual kids, right? Maybe my daughter for now is understanding more than talking in the mL. Today I was aware of the fact that she understands when I ask her to "hug Tobby" (our dog) for pictures and then also I asked for a hug for me and she gave it to me.

Rachel O
Junior Keeper

Posts: 18
Country (residing now): Germany
Country (originally from): Malaysia
Children, Ages: 1 son, 3 years old
Majority Language: German
Minority Language(s): English, Cantonese

This is how we're doing so far... Jan 25, 2021 20:21:11 GMT 9 via mobile

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Post by Rachel O on Jan 25, 2021 20:21:11 GMT 9

Hi Carl, you're both doing great

don't compare to another child, as from my experience (observing various kids around here), everyone has a different timeline in their "talking", be it bilingual or monolingual, every kid just develop their own way and learn whatever they want at their own pace.

my neighbor's son doesn't really like to talk until when he turned 3, he started talking in full sentences!

I agree that music is great too, my son also loves singing in all languages and we just go along and keep introducing more songs to sing and dance together. It's also fun to learn seasonal (Christmas, winter etc) or situational songs (brush teeth, raining etc)

All the best and check out Adam's challenge list to help progress your bilingual journey

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