A Canadian Mum living in the Japanese countryside
Mar 21, 2018 15:31:28 GMT 9
Post by Kris T on Mar 21, 2018 15:31:28 GMT 9
Hi there! I'm Kris from Canada, married to a Japanese man, raising 2 boys who will be 11 and 9, both within the next week. We live in a pretty rural part of Japan with few English-speaking friends.
I've followed the Bilingual Monkeys website for years, following Adam's advice and checking out his extensive resources, but have just never got around to joining here.
When my boys were born, I knew that bilingualism wasn't going to happen naturally the way so many think it will and that I would need to work at it. I've built a pretty extensive English library for my kids, read to them from birth, spoken only English to the detriment of my own Japanese learning, and have made a trip back to Canada every year a priority. Overall, I'm pretty happy with our success. The kids have a pretty good grasp of English and when we visit/meet people in Canada, they don't realize English is their minority language. However, reading and writing continue to be a struggle. Both kids LOVE to be read to, but getting them to read themselves is challenging.
I actually took a leave of absence from work last fall and the three of us went back to Canada where they went to a local elementary school with their cousin. They loved school there--the lack of daily homework was a huge part of that. Naturally, all aspects of their language exploded and the improvement in my youngest son's reading, especially, was amazing (Mummy boast: pre-K level in early Sept to end of 2nd grade level by December).
We've been back since January and with life and school here, it's hard to get them to do English stuff. We of course still talk all the time in English and continue to read before bed, with a little independent reading thrown in, but they have homework, want to play with their friends or play video games so building/improving English is challenging. Who wants to listen to their mother?! But really it's me who needs to be more active to prepare stuff in the first place and have it available so when we do have time, it's there to grab. I procrastinate a lot, though, so I'm hoping that by checking in here, I'll be inspired by the ideas and everyone's stories to make the effort to prepare.
I've followed the Bilingual Monkeys website for years, following Adam's advice and checking out his extensive resources, but have just never got around to joining here.
When my boys were born, I knew that bilingualism wasn't going to happen naturally the way so many think it will and that I would need to work at it. I've built a pretty extensive English library for my kids, read to them from birth, spoken only English to the detriment of my own Japanese learning, and have made a trip back to Canada every year a priority. Overall, I'm pretty happy with our success. The kids have a pretty good grasp of English and when we visit/meet people in Canada, they don't realize English is their minority language. However, reading and writing continue to be a struggle. Both kids LOVE to be read to, but getting them to read themselves is challenging.
I actually took a leave of absence from work last fall and the three of us went back to Canada where they went to a local elementary school with their cousin. They loved school there--the lack of daily homework was a huge part of that. Naturally, all aspects of their language exploded and the improvement in my youngest son's reading, especially, was amazing (Mummy boast: pre-K level in early Sept to end of 2nd grade level by December).
We've been back since January and with life and school here, it's hard to get them to do English stuff. We of course still talk all the time in English and continue to read before bed, with a little independent reading thrown in, but they have homework, want to play with their friends or play video games so building/improving English is challenging. Who wants to listen to their mother?! But really it's me who needs to be more active to prepare stuff in the first place and have it available so when we do have time, it's there to grab. I procrastinate a lot, though, so I'm hoping that by checking in here, I'll be inspired by the ideas and everyone's stories to make the effort to prepare.
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