Esther from Madrid
Aug 4, 2014 20:34:22 GMT 9
Post by Esther on Aug 4, 2014 20:34:22 GMT 9
Hi everyone!
I'm the mother of 'two little bilingual monkeys' (ages 8 and 6) trying together with my husband to 'feed' them everyday with Spanish (Ml) and Dutch (ml).
We live in Spain and from the beginning we used the OPOL strategy (Spanish-mom, Dutch-dad). They also attend a Dutch school once a week for a few hours since they were 4 years old. My husband and I speak English to each other and never intended to use English with our children when they were younger, but since they are learning English at a school as a second language, we are starting to think that we might introduce it somehow in our interaction with the kids.
Our daughter is doing reasonably well with the Dutch (and with English too!). We think that she's got a talent for languages. But our son's case is different (as every child is different, even with the same parents!). His passive knowledge of the ml is good enough as we observe when my husband talks or reads to him. But he just uses a few words in Dutch when talking to his father (my son knows that dad speaks fluent Spanish, so it's not worth making the effort!). Only when we are with the Dutch family he uses a little bit more of the ml, but I would say not so much either. He's shy, so he doesn't talk so much to Dutch relatives and unfortunately our children are the only kids in the Dutch family.
Despite all this we (especially my husband) keep on trying to make our 'little bilingual monkeys' as fluent in Dutch as possible. Thanks to that I'm also improving my poor Dutch!
I'd like to learn from other 'keepers' how they manage their 'bilingual monkeys' in bilingual matters and that's the reason why I've made up my mind to join this Zoo.
Greetings from now
I'm the mother of 'two little bilingual monkeys' (ages 8 and 6) trying together with my husband to 'feed' them everyday with Spanish (Ml) and Dutch (ml).
We live in Spain and from the beginning we used the OPOL strategy (Spanish-mom, Dutch-dad). They also attend a Dutch school once a week for a few hours since they were 4 years old. My husband and I speak English to each other and never intended to use English with our children when they were younger, but since they are learning English at a school as a second language, we are starting to think that we might introduce it somehow in our interaction with the kids.
Our daughter is doing reasonably well with the Dutch (and with English too!). We think that she's got a talent for languages. But our son's case is different (as every child is different, even with the same parents!). His passive knowledge of the ml is good enough as we observe when my husband talks or reads to him. But he just uses a few words in Dutch when talking to his father (my son knows that dad speaks fluent Spanish, so it's not worth making the effort!). Only when we are with the Dutch family he uses a little bit more of the ml, but I would say not so much either. He's shy, so he doesn't talk so much to Dutch relatives and unfortunately our children are the only kids in the Dutch family.
Despite all this we (especially my husband) keep on trying to make our 'little bilingual monkeys' as fluent in Dutch as possible. Thanks to that I'm also improving my poor Dutch!
I'd like to learn from other 'keepers' how they manage their 'bilingual monkeys' in bilingual matters and that's the reason why I've made up my mind to join this Zoo.
Greetings from now
Very positive podcast review of my book Bilingual Success Stories Around the World at Kletsheads 
