Hello from Buenos Aires, Argentina!
Jun 1, 2016 0:04:02 GMT 9
Post by Pablo on Jun 1, 2016 0:04:02 GMT 9
Hello!
My name is Pablo and I'm from Argentina. I'm an English translator and teacher, but I'm currently working as an ESL teacher for adults. I'm married to an English translator too, but she has never worked as a translator. We have 2 daughters: Maru, 7 and Juli, 3.
We (or should I say I?) have always been really interested in the idea of a bilingual upbringing for our children and when we knew our first daughter was coming, we (or should I say I?) decided to start learning about the subject more seriously.
So, I read a couple of books, The Bilingual Family was the first, and started our bilingual journey.
Sadly, I can't say we stuck to one specific method. We sort of mixed methods. Mainly because at the beginning it felt really awkward for us to speak ONLY English to our baby daughter (our mother tongue is Spanish), so we sort of spoke English in some situations and gradually we introduced the language in other contexts.
I remember that bath time was a very special "English moment" and that really helped me feel English was a natural language to use with my daughter.
So, English became more and more common in our daily life, but again, we were not using any specific methods. We just used either English or Spanish when we interacted with our daughter. She has always watched TV in English and we have our story time before she goes to bed (these have been our 2 pillars when it comes to language exposure).
At some point (when Maru was around 2 and a half) I started noticing that Spanish was becoming much more dominant and I decided to make some little adjustments to our bilingual journey. I began to speak English almost 90% of the time and my wife increased English exposure to about 70% (she is the main caregiver). That proved to be a huge improvement in her language acquisition, with some code switching (or mixing, he he) involved. I remember one rainy day she said “Look Daddy! It's llueving!” (llueve = rain).
With my second daughter things have been different. She has been more exposed to English (her older sister Maru speaks a lot of English to her when they are playing).
I have noticed something in both my daughters, and I think it is due to not sticking to just one method only. They seem to have a sort of "passive bilingualism stage" where they are fully bilingual in terms of comprehension, but Spanish is way more dominant when speaking. And, suddenly, like magic, one day they just start spitting out words in English. It's really amazing. Has anyone experienced something similar? It's very interesting. It's like the ml is building up very slowly and suddenly, it comes out naturally.
Anyway, my second daughter Juli is in that "passive bilingualism stage" now, and although I speak English to her, she almost always chooses Spanish to answer. She uses English in very specific situations, like when she plays with her sister, or when she is does an activity that she associates with English.
Well, that's basically my bilingual journey up to now. I know it hasn't been the best for our children, but it is what we felt comfortable with.
Obviously I want my daughters to have almost the same level in both languages, that's how I came across this forum (I bought Adam’s book, Maximize your Child's Bilingual Ability), so I'm really looking forward to learning about your experiences and advice on how to achieve this higher goal now.
Bye for now!
Pablo
My name is Pablo and I'm from Argentina. I'm an English translator and teacher, but I'm currently working as an ESL teacher for adults. I'm married to an English translator too, but she has never worked as a translator. We have 2 daughters: Maru, 7 and Juli, 3.
We (or should I say I?) have always been really interested in the idea of a bilingual upbringing for our children and when we knew our first daughter was coming, we (or should I say I?) decided to start learning about the subject more seriously.
So, I read a couple of books, The Bilingual Family was the first, and started our bilingual journey.
Sadly, I can't say we stuck to one specific method. We sort of mixed methods. Mainly because at the beginning it felt really awkward for us to speak ONLY English to our baby daughter (our mother tongue is Spanish), so we sort of spoke English in some situations and gradually we introduced the language in other contexts.
I remember that bath time was a very special "English moment" and that really helped me feel English was a natural language to use with my daughter.
So, English became more and more common in our daily life, but again, we were not using any specific methods. We just used either English or Spanish when we interacted with our daughter. She has always watched TV in English and we have our story time before she goes to bed (these have been our 2 pillars when it comes to language exposure).
At some point (when Maru was around 2 and a half) I started noticing that Spanish was becoming much more dominant and I decided to make some little adjustments to our bilingual journey. I began to speak English almost 90% of the time and my wife increased English exposure to about 70% (she is the main caregiver). That proved to be a huge improvement in her language acquisition, with some code switching (or mixing, he he) involved. I remember one rainy day she said “Look Daddy! It's llueving!” (llueve = rain).
With my second daughter things have been different. She has been more exposed to English (her older sister Maru speaks a lot of English to her when they are playing).
I have noticed something in both my daughters, and I think it is due to not sticking to just one method only. They seem to have a sort of "passive bilingualism stage" where they are fully bilingual in terms of comprehension, but Spanish is way more dominant when speaking. And, suddenly, like magic, one day they just start spitting out words in English. It's really amazing. Has anyone experienced something similar? It's very interesting. It's like the ml is building up very slowly and suddenly, it comes out naturally.
Anyway, my second daughter Juli is in that "passive bilingualism stage" now, and although I speak English to her, she almost always chooses Spanish to answer. She uses English in very specific situations, like when she plays with her sister, or when she is does an activity that she associates with English.
Well, that's basically my bilingual journey up to now. I know it hasn't been the best for our children, but it is what we felt comfortable with.
Obviously I want my daughters to have almost the same level in both languages, that's how I came across this forum (I bought Adam’s book, Maximize your Child's Bilingual Ability), so I'm really looking forward to learning about your experiences and advice on how to achieve this higher goal now.
Bye for now!
Pablo
