Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids

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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

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids May 5, 2016 10:38:56 GMT 9

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Post by Adam Beck on May 5, 2016 10:38:56 GMT 9

The value of making videos of your kids isn't limited to short-term fun and long-term posterity; in fact, video can be very useful for engaging your children in the minority language and observing their bilingual development over time.

I can't say that I've taken full advantage of the potential that video offers, but I have made helpful use of it in these ways...

Making birthday videos
From the time my kids were small, I've made a point of videotaping them on their birthdays and asking them questions (in English, our minority language) about their young lives. Not only are these videos entertaining, they clearly show the growth of their language ability from year to year, which can't be as easily seen from day to day.

Cloning myself (for more details, see The Busy Parent's Guide to Cloning Yourself)
For the first few years of my children's lives, I was working a busy full-time job at the newspaper in Hiroshima and struggled to provide them with sufficient language exposure. So I made short videos of myself reading picture books, singing songs, and just talking to the camera and asked my wife to play these videos for them in my absence each day.

Creating silly interviews (for full guidance, see VIDEO: Adam Beck Goes Bonkers in Interview, Reveals “Crazy Secret” for Bilingual Success)
This is a really fun activity and also quite effective for promoting use of the minority language. Watch these examples with my kids from 2015...

Creating a little movie
Short-term projects, like making a "dramatic" film, can be another fun and effective way to engage your children in the minority language--and create lifelong memories for future viewing. Here's the movie my kids and I made in the spring of 2016...

Okay, keepers, so here's your challenge...

Consider your use of video. How have you used video up to this point? What more could you do? Please tell us by posting a response! At the same time, feel free to share videos of your own kids by embedding them in your post (as I did by using the "Insert Video" button and adding the URL) or offering us the links to YouTube or elsewhere on the web.

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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Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids May 5, 2016 21:11:36 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on May 5, 2016 21:11:36 GMT 9

Yes, totally! I've used video for a long time, even though I've never actively interviewed my daughter.

She has this funny habit whenever we go past the high school a block from our house, to climb the front steps and hold a speech. Twice I've had the camera along and filmed her. Unfortunately, the noise of the cars and buses just behind us drown out part of the speeches.

More recently (a few months ago), we started a new project: book presentations. My daughter chooses a favourite book, I set up the camera, and she shows the book and talks about it. We've done two of them so far, with story books where she tells the story by the pictures. Both were books we'd only read once or twice, so I'm really looking forward to making videos of books she knows inside out (There are a number of those.)

Here is one when she was three years old (and had just started preschool in the ML), merrily mixing her languages while explaining a numbers poster to me:

And here is her first book presentation (age 5½):

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

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

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids May 6, 2016 8:07:51 GMT 9

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Post by Adam Beck on May 6, 2016 8:07:51 GMT 9

Super cute videos, Mayken!

And I love your idea for making videos of book presentations! This activity not only promotes engagement in the target language, it nurtures interest in books and literacy as well!

It's a great example of an approach that's not only playful and fun, it's highly productive. Thanks for sharing this!

Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Mar 20, 2017 23:51:34 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on Mar 20, 2017 23:51:34 GMT 9

We started a new video last night. My 6-year-old daughter (in first grade) was super excited and had already chosen a book. She wanted both to talk about the book and read it, but it proved so long that she asked for several breaks and in the end asked to finish it the next day.

She had a lot of fun especially in the "what is the book about" part where she spoke freely (as opposed to reading), but I noticed that she had more difficulty reading this story she already knew than a story she'd read to me earlier in the car which she was discovering for the first time.

I guess it was stage fright?

I'll share the video here once she's finished her reading and we've stitched it together.

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

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	Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Mar 21, 2017 6:05:58 GMT 9 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Adam Beck on Mar 21, 2017 6:05:58 GMT 9 Mar 20, 2017 23:51:34 GMT 9 Mayken said: I'll share the video here once she's finished her reading and we've stitched it together. We look forward to seeing it, Mayken!
	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" bilingualsuperkids.com

Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Mar 21, 2017 6:42:12 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on Mar 21, 2017 6:42:12 GMT 9

Mar 21, 2017 6:05:58 GMT 9 Adam Beck said:

Mar 20, 2017 23:51:34 GMT 9 Mayken said:

I'll share the video here once she's finished her reading and we've stitched it together.

We look forward to seeing it, Mayken!

Even though it's in German?

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

Nellie
Star Keeper

Posts: 616

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Australia
Children, Ages: Girl (5 years), boy (2 years)
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): English, Spanish

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Mar 21, 2017 9:05:25 GMT 9

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Post by Nellie on Mar 21, 2017 9:05:25 GMT 9

Those are really interesting (and super cute!) videos Mayken! I was particularly interested in the one where your daughter was 3 - she really spoke quite a bit of the ml even then! And what progress by the time she is 5 1/2! Out of interest, what was her daycare situation before she started pre-school - was she in ML creche, with a nanny or home with you or her father?

I am finding that my daughter does her 'rambling' speech in ML, but is starting to communicate more in the mls when she has something specific to say. I hope she will progress as well as your daughter - it's fantastic!

Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Mar 21, 2017 20:33:44 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on Mar 21, 2017 20:33:44 GMT 9

Thank you, Nellie!

My daughter was at home with me (ml parent) for the first three months, then full-time at a nanny's (ML) for three years.

At 5 1/2, she'd already been for half a year at a school with a bilingual program, where she has a German teacher one hour per day.

Add to that quite a few stays with ml family in ml country.

Tonight, we're planning to film the last part of the reading and hopefully we'll get the video stitched together soon after that. (Next time we'll take a shorter book, I think.)

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

Mayken Star Keeper Cool in two languages! Posts: 1,286 Country (residing now): France Country (originally from): Germany Children, Ages: Girl, 14 Majority Language: French Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)	Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Mar 23, 2017 6:04:22 GMT 9 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Mayken on Mar 23, 2017 6:04:22 GMT 9 OK, we haven't stitched together the reading segments yet, but here's a moment of which we made a second take because she got stuck on a word in the first sentence. But I love her expression:
	My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

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	Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Mar 23, 2017 14:41:15 GMT 9 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Adam Beck on Mar 23, 2017 14:41:15 GMT 9 So cute, Mayken! (And I think I learned a little German, too! )
	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" bilingualsuperkids.com

Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Apr 3, 2017 23:22:14 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on Apr 3, 2017 23:22:14 GMT 9

As promised, here is the video of my daughter reading a (pretty long) picture book in her minority language. The filming stretched over two days, and she asked for breaks several times, because the story was much longer than she'd expected. (It seems much shorter when Mommy reads it!)
At one point (during the first half) she also gives some explanations about the story.

For those of you who understand German, enjoy:

I hope she isn't discouraged from doing it again, though next time we'll definitely take a shorter story!

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

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	Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Apr 7, 2017 9:47:38 GMT 9 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Adam Beck on Apr 7, 2017 9:47:38 GMT 9 Mayken, your lovely daughter is getting so big and making such good progress! I barely understand a word of what she's saying but watching her read still makes me happy! Please tell her that she has a fan in Japan!
	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" bilingualsuperkids.com

Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Apr 7, 2017 23:28:38 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on Apr 7, 2017 23:28:38 GMT 9

Apr 7, 2017 9:47:38 GMT 9 Adam Beck said:

Mayken, your lovely daughter is getting so big and making such good progress! I barely understand a word of what she's saying but watching her read still makes me happy! Please tell her that she has a fan in Japan!

Thank you Adam! I will make sure to tell her.

She was really determined to read the entire book, but I think she hadn't realised how long it is - when I read it, it seems a lot shorter! And she does read better when she's not in front of a camera.

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Nov 23, 2017 23:30:09 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on Nov 23, 2017 23:30:09 GMT 9

The other weekend my daughter (now almost 7½) insisted she had a "theatre play" for me. It turned out she'd prepared a puppet theatre with a selection of her plush dolls and animals and was putting on a story from the same ml series as the one she reads in the previous video I posted. (She is behind the "curtain", reading from the book, as her "puppets" act out the story.)

The story is "Conni at the Dentist's".

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

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

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Nov 24, 2017 11:29:19 GMT 9

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Post by Adam Beck on Nov 24, 2017 11:29:19 GMT 9

Mayken, many thanks for posting this! It's not only a super-cute video, it's an excellent example of how productive the use of puppets and puppet shows can be for engaging children in their use of the target language.

I love puppets and made regular use of a variety of puppets with my kids when they were younger. (And sometimes I still pull out "Princess Pup," a really annoying dog with a high-pitched voice, who appears when my kids won't get up in the morning and calls out, over and over again: "IT'S PRINCESS PUP! TIME TO GET UP!")

Raquel
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Country (residing now): Spain
Country (originally from): Spain
Children, Ages: daughter (10) & son (7)
Majority Language: Spanish
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Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Nov 24, 2017 22:36:59 GMT 9

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Post by Raquel on Nov 24, 2017 22:36:59 GMT 9

Nov 24, 2017 11:29:19 GMT 9 Adam Beck said:

(And sometimes I still pull out "Princess Pup," a really annoying dog with a high-pitched voice, who appears when my kids won't get up in the morning and calls out, over and over again: "IT'S PRINCESS PUP! TIME TO GET UP!")

Being one of your children must never get boring!

Mayken
Star Keeper

Cool in two languages!

Posts: 1,286

Country (residing now): France
Country (originally from): Germany
Children, Ages: Girl, 14
Majority Language: French
Minority Language(s): German (and learning English)

Challenge #11: Make Videos of Your Kids Nov 25, 2017 7:02:43 GMT 9

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Post by Mayken on Nov 25, 2017 7:02:43 GMT 9

Nov 24, 2017 22:36:59 GMT 9 Raquel said:

Nov 24, 2017 11:29:19 GMT 9 Adam Beck said:

Being one of your children must never get boring!

Just what I was thinking! Adam's poor kids, they can never get rid of their crazy

dad!

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys on traveling to our minority language country

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