Update!

Last week was a good one for the mls, because my husband was away so there was no ML at home. Also, as there was a lot of snow, I kept my daughter home on Wednesday, so we had extra time together. On Saturday, I took both children to a workshop for « bilingual » (French-Spanish) children that I had seen was being started by a parent. The children were aged 2-4, and for the most part not speaking much, but they could clearly understand Spanish. I was a bit disappointed as my daughter became so shy the moment we stepped in the door and basically refused to say anything. But at least she was exposed to more people, including children, speaking ml2, and in a different setting.

Otherwise, I haven’t been very conscientious about reading in the last few days. Of course I’m still doing some, but not as much as I could. I have felt very tired and not so motivated. Hopefully it is just a blip!

I really have to work out how to use the quotes function on my phone!

Amy - yes you are right, we need some new books! Going to the library is on my to-do list this week. I have definitely noticed that my daughter thrives on novelty too. As for your question about how much of the time she speaks to me in ml1 now, I would say 95%! It is rare that she will speak to me in ML, and when she does I sort of look at her and say "Sorry? What's that?" and she will try to say it in English.

So that is just such amazing progress. I wish I had a better idea of her level compared to a monolingual speaker. I suspect she is not quite at the level of most children of her age and social background, and she has a slight accent (maybe it is more of an intonation), but she is certainly doing very well. I wonder how things will progress in the next few years!

I am a bit disappointed today because I signed my daughter up for an ml2 holiday programme next week, and apparently it is very likely that it will be cancelled due to there not being enough enrolments. I was really thinking that my daughter would benefit so much from it, so this is a bit of a last-minute setback and doesn't give me much time to decide on another option. There are several ml1 holiday programmes, but most of them are only half-days and on the other side of the city, which is not the most practical for me - especially with a little baby who I have to take with me everywhere. So I'm hesitating. I'm considering just keeping her with me, as I can provide the ml1 input (for free!). But then she misses out on the social dimension and hearing others speak. Actually, for ml1 it bothers me less at this point as there are more opportunities, but it's rather hard to find ml2 opportunities!

I'm also very impressed with 95%! You have done an amazing job to turn things around and get to that point. I love hearing about other people's success - it keeps me hopeful that all my efforts will work. What a shame if your ml2 holiday programme is cancelled.

Nellie, your story is such an encouraging example for others. And the moral of the story is simply this: As long as we continue moving forward day by day, with faith and perseverance, our persistence will pay off in time.

Thanks Adam and Raquel! Yes it's funny - I really was finding it SO hard to believe that things could turn around and yet they really have! And a funny story: this afternoon when I picked my daughter up, I asked her what languages the other children at the 'camp' spoke, and she said "French and English". So I said, "Oh, like you!". And she replied: "NO, not like me - I speak English and French AND SPANISH". What a difference to six months ago when she announced to me that she ONLY spoke Spanish!

Tomorrow, if I can find the energy (!), I will go to visit the specialised ml1 library. I'm really hesitating because apparently there is a public library specialised in languages that will open up soon near where I live. I wish I had a better idea of just how many resources they will have, so that I could decide whether it really is worth paying for the private one.

So in the end, I looked up the catalogue of the whole public library system and searched for books that my daughter loves, to see whether they had them. Then I compared with the private library. It turns out that the private library really does have a far wider selection of books available - not just for my children, but also for me...which is not such a big deal now, but as my daughter gets older I would like her to see me reading in the mls. And I calculated that the price of a household card would be equivalent to buying one or two books a month. Anyway, so I went to visit the private library and after seeing the set-up, decided to go for it! So now we have access to so many resources in ml1, between the public and private libraries, which is great! As for ml2, the selection is far more limited unfortunately, but I guess it’s better than nothing.

This week is school holidays and we will go for three days to London! My husband has a work trip there so I decided to tag along with the children. 😀 So we have a few days of ml1 immersion coming up!

Nellie,

I am sooooo jealous! I loooooove London! And this is such a great opportunity for a ml1 family trip! Hope you have a great time there and that it gives your daughter one of those ml1 booster shots!

Awwwwww! You're so lucky Nellie!

I'm delighted to read how well your trip went and hear about how your daughter has discovered other little bilingual peers. What a change of attitude (towards languages that is ) since last September! Brilliant!

It sounds like things are going well! It’s great when the children can see other kids speaking the ml language or adults. It definitely helps with their motivation. Does your friends' son attend English school in London or French school? We live in an area with loads of French people. The snow was a big surprise. It hasn’t snowed like that my entire time living here! I’ve been here over ten years. I think maybe it did once but I was away that time. I’m ready for spring now!