Update!

We basically just landed in ML country, and before jet-lag hits hard I thought I would do a quick update!

The holidays were certainly a real steamroller for my daughter’s ml1 skills! I tried to leave her as much as possible with her cousins, wherever possible without me or my husband being around. She had a fantastic time playing with them and the progress was really rapid. She still has a slight accent/intonation, but nothing that is shocking. Her vocabulary exploded and she is now talking in full, coherent sentences. I can’t imagine what would happen if we were able to stay for a month!

One very useful thing is that we acquired many ml1 books as Christmas presents. Among them are the infamous Gruffalo, but also a Princess in Black book, which is a bit « old » for her but she LOVES it! So there is lots of English reading in view.

The only « negative » is that she still regularly switches to ML with me. I ask her to say it to me in ml1, and 80% of the time she does so uncomplainingly (which in itself is a major jump forward), but I would really like for her to always address me in ml1. Amy - how did you manage to change things around with your eldest? After all this progress, I don’t want my daughter’s new willingness to communicate in ml1 to be « lost » as we go back to our normal life...

The trip, and something else I read, also made me want to redouble efforts in ml2. I read a Facebook posting (by someone I don’t know personally) the other day explaining that her 3-year-old had left France for the US, and that in a couple of months he had basically totally lost his French. This woman and husband had accepted the fact and she was noting it, but it saddened - and worried - me! So I am now going to be a bit more proactive regarding reading in ml2. I think I will specifically ask her Saturday babysitter whether she can spend some time each day she comes reading books in ml2, and I may try to read a book every day with her too (I’m on the fence about this one, because I feel as though I should spend that time reading in ml1...). I have also finally taken out a subscription to a ml2 magazine - even if it is for 4-year-olds and over, and despite the cost, I decided it was worth it. Most unfortunately, the lovely Wednesday afternoon babysitter went back home and so we are starting with another one, who I feel a lot less confident about...I guess I will see how it goes, but I am not sure that he will be able to take the same playful approach to learning that the previous one did. We will see I guess!

Anyway, to sum up, I will say that I feel quite rejuvenated in my quest to improve my daughter’s ml1 and ml2 skills - now I need to sustain both her newfound confidence and my energy to keep working on them with her!

Thanks Amy, that is really helpful! I am generally quite authoritative but was worried about creating a bad relationship with the language. However, I do agree with what you said that it is for her own good! And clearly « forcing » her will actually result in building her confidence in ml1.

Tomorrow morning I have asked the ml2 nanny to come for 3 hours to try to help « reactivate » ml2 after 3 weeks away. I can already tell that my daughter is becoming resistant to ml2 (crazy as it was her ML so recently!) and want to nip that in the bud. I think I am going to have to be very explicit with the nanny that I want her to read books, be clear about language etc. I really wish I could find opportunities, even once a month, for my daughter to interact with Spanish-speaking children. That really seems the best way of fomenting development!

Nellie,

I think the grounds to this fear existed when you were in Chile.  But now that you are in France, that your daughter is attending a bilingual school and that she is finally using ml1 80% of the time, I'd be tempted to say that the situation is different and that the risk of antagonising your daughter is significantly lower because she has experienced that language from other sources and will continue to do so.  Based on this, I'd say that now might precisely be the moment to build on these changes and shift the language balance to 100%. Especially that being back in France, as soon as she'll start school again tomorrow morning, the wretched ML influence will hit hard again.

But you are the best judge of your daughter.

What great news, Nellie!! I suspected, and hoped!, this would be the case with your daughter and I'm glad it was!! I envy all of you who have relatives abroad, especially children, with whom your children can interact.

I wish I could teleport myself and interact with your daughter in Spanish! But it sounds like you have that covered with the new nanny and the girl she brought.

I honestly don't know how you guys successfully impose a language. I tried getting my daughter to speak in the ml with her cousin (2yo, passive bilingual), to no avail. She'll switch when I tell her to, then go back to the ML as soon as her cousin speaks -in the ML- again. This is making me afraid of what will happen if my son decides to speak in the ML too.

Anyway, I'm so happy over all the progress your daughter made during the holidays, Nellie!

Haha. At least you're being positive about it! I feel the same way. I thought it was a matter of deciding what to do in the beginning and then it would be smooth sailing, but it's not.


Wouldn't that be great? But if you do come, I'd love to meet you guys. I can invite some of my daughter's friends over so that your children have plenty of Spanish speakers to play with. My daughter's school even has activities for children outside of the school for week days when there isn't school. I'm getting carried away here!

I hope so!! It would be great to see you guys. If you look into it, let me know what days you're considering, to make sure we'll be here and to look for activities in Spanish The school activities only take place a few days a year: late June, after school is over, early September, before it begins, I think July too, and non-holidays when there's no school, like at Christmas, February 15th and 16th, or Easter (March 23rd, March 26th-28th and April 2nd). I can't garantee this will be available, but I've always seen it offered, even if we have never made use of it.

The funny thing is I was thinking we all need to meet somewhere someday, do a "bilingual zoo meeting" or something similar

One week after our return and a week into the school trimester, my daughter is still speaking ml1 to me! I would say she is now speaking it 95% of the time to me! In fact, I have rarely heard her speak in ML over the past week. This is quite amazing!

We have been doing lots of reading (The Gruffalo, Hairy Maclary, and of course the Princess in Black), which is no doubt helping. I think the holidays really helped in increasing her interest in reading: first because she saw her cousins doing it a lot, second because we received many new books, and thirdly because - I suspect - she now feels more comfortable with ml1 so actually enjoys reading in it more. In fact, she has become a LOT more interested in interacting with « mummy » - even my husband has noticed it. She is normally very much a papa’s girl, so this is a big switch. I suspect that it is the fact that her improved ml1 skills mean that she enjoys talking to me more - I’m not complaining in any case!

I think I had also underestimated the importance of new reading materials. Of course we had tons of books, but being outside ml1 countries I didn’t really realise that she was ready to move on to more complicated books, and that there were so many great ones out there. This is a good thing to keep in mind as we advance!

Regarding ml2, I’ve asked the Saturday nanny to read her books several times and I realise (from the noises coming out of the bedroom) that it is not really happening. I suspect the nanny doesn’t really place much importance on reading, or...possibly...her reading skills may not be good enough to deal with the more complicated texts. I know she can read, but I just have this feeling that it is not easy for her. Anyway, so after trying and failing twice, I am now going to adopt another strategy - I’ll ask the Wednesday nanny to read with her (which definitely won’t be a problem), and most importantly I will try to read at least one book to her (and her brother!) every day in ml2. I think her ml1 is on the right track now so I can allow myself to do this - and not only will it be good for her and her brother - it will also be good for my own practice! Of course my accent is far from perfect, but I guess that is not the end of the world. It means that all of us will have at least a small « shot » of ml2 each day, which can only be good. And it also shows both children the importance I (and my husband, if I can get him on board - which I assume will happen as he will no doubt also welcome the opportunity to « practice ») place on ml2.

Nellie, this is such a breakthrough! I'm delighted for you. And I bet that as your daughter's bond grows to her mummy, so will the ml1.

Some people use the time & place technique, maybe you could do something like that for your ml2 reading. I'm considering it for the ML homework next year (time: evening, place: brand new desk).

For the ml1 resources, you should try the Gruffalo audio-book. Often, kids get curious to hear a book they really enjoyed. Yesterday, my eldest decided to put a Julia Donaldson audio-book on instead of her usual morning cartoons. It was nice to see how much she enjoyed it and sang along, and my youngest was all curious, lurking around the book and listening to everything that was being said.

Don't you worry if your daughter doesn't take to it straight away, sometimes it takes a couple of months, but I think the benefits reaped are huge.

Take care!

I agree with audio books. We just discovered these and I am wondering why we didn't try them sooner! My kids love listening to them and paging through the books. My son still prefers English (which is normal, as my daughter was the same until the last few months). But my daughter happily listens to French audio books in bed while paging through the books now every night. Of course, I also read to them in English before bed, but she stays up an hour after my son so I ask her to look at books on her own and she wants to listen to the audio in French. I highly recommend it. The only thing I wish is that they made it more clear about turning pages or did not go so fast for kids. Some of them go quite fast and the sound for turning the page is barely noticeable so kids don't notice it. And we had some books that don't even signal to turn the page. I wish they paused and made it more obvious for turning the pages for all books!