Thank You!
Aug 5, 2015 11:14:30 GMT 9
Post by Nikoya on Aug 5, 2015 11:14:30 GMT 9
Hello Adam,
I just wanted to write in to say Thank You!
I am not sure this is the right place to say what I want to say, but I have been reading extensively on Bilingual Monkeys, and your articles have given me lots of ideas to work on with my daughter. Every day I seem to be learning something. I saw the interview videos of you and your children. They are so animated and lively!
I also read through some of the Challenges posts, which have inspired me a lot! I think it is only from now that the bilingual journey with our children is going to start effectively. At least, I am trying to be mindful of what I am doing on a daily basis from now on. Till a few weeks ago, I did not know where to begin and what to unravel, but now I seem to be having a direction!
After trying out a few of your ideas with my daughter, I have now come to realize that she is not able to express her thoughts clearly, be it in any language. This could partly be attributed to shifting cities/countries, coupled with our own bilingual environment at home. So now I have to try to shift the focus a bit and think out of the box so that she can just let her thoughts go crazily! She has a tendency to hold back her thoughts a lot. Now that the summer holidays are still on, and she has completed all of her school homework (except for the extras), there could not be a better time than now to begin!
I haven't really been journaling my experiences, although I was very consistent in writing diaries as a child and have a lot of collections of my own. Over time I have just lost the habit and now I realize that it's high time to bring it back. I think that's what helped me to learn languages from the early part of childhood. Many of your articles just emphasize such simple things but as an adult we lose focus somewhere down the line. There seems to be many areas to improvise on my daughter.
I have now decided to make a journal of my bilingual journey consistently, make reading a regular habit with both my kids (I admit I haven't done this consistently - better late than never). In addition to that, I am now trying to get my daughter to read one book a day on her own, anything that captures her interest - either picked from school or the local library. So, after she reads, I have been asking her to write a few sentences on what that book is about in English. By doing so, I am able to understand what she needs to improve on. And I have been trying to encourage her to say the same in Japanese - this is not working yet, but I hope to have a breakthrough some day.
So this is just to say a BIG Thank You, and I hope to get inspired more every day, and also would love to contribute when I can come up with some ideas.
I just wanted to write in to say Thank You!
I am not sure this is the right place to say what I want to say, but I have been reading extensively on Bilingual Monkeys, and your articles have given me lots of ideas to work on with my daughter. Every day I seem to be learning something. I saw the interview videos of you and your children. They are so animated and lively!

After trying out a few of your ideas with my daughter, I have now come to realize that she is not able to express her thoughts clearly, be it in any language. This could partly be attributed to shifting cities/countries, coupled with our own bilingual environment at home. So now I have to try to shift the focus a bit and think out of the box so that she can just let her thoughts go crazily! She has a tendency to hold back her thoughts a lot. Now that the summer holidays are still on, and she has completed all of her school homework (except for the extras), there could not be a better time than now to begin!
I haven't really been journaling my experiences, although I was very consistent in writing diaries as a child and have a lot of collections of my own. Over time I have just lost the habit and now I realize that it's high time to bring it back. I think that's what helped me to learn languages from the early part of childhood. Many of your articles just emphasize such simple things but as an adult we lose focus somewhere down the line. There seems to be many areas to improvise on my daughter.
I have now decided to make a journal of my bilingual journey consistently, make reading a regular habit with both my kids (I admit I haven't done this consistently - better late than never). In addition to that, I am now trying to get my daughter to read one book a day on her own, anything that captures her interest - either picked from school or the local library. So, after she reads, I have been asking her to write a few sentences on what that book is about in English. By doing so, I am able to understand what she needs to improve on. And I have been trying to encourage her to say the same in Japanese - this is not working yet, but I hope to have a breakthrough some day.
So this is just to say a BIG Thank You, and I hope to get inspired more every day, and also would love to contribute when I can come up with some ideas.