Introducing a second language
Because both myself and Soner are non-native English speakers,we didn't want to teach English to Defne. Now that we are living here,she has lots of exposure to the language and given that young children learn a language so quickly,it wouldn't be a problem. But then I was also feeling a bit anxious that she would feel like a stranger when the time is ripe and she starts to nursery or school.
Then I came across this article, Giving the gift of a language by Annalisa Barbieri:
The thing about learning languages very young is that, just as they learn their mother tongue easily by being surrounded by it, they can pick up another in the same way: it becomes almost like one big language to them. It's not the difficult process it becomes after about the age of 10 or 12. Research has shown that after this age the brain handles language differently because until then it is constantly making neurological connections - after this age the hard-wiring slows down.
We decided to go for it. We ordered the BBC language course Muzzy that Barbieri mentions in her article and she just loves it.
It has been about 2 months now. She is learning English now,obviously in a very different way than we adults learn it and it is amazing. It came with a cuddly toy of Muzzy so she quickly bonded with it.
I observe that she is listening more attentively now when I speak to someone in English and sometimes repeats some of the words or remembers some words from Muzzy and keeps saying them.
4 comments:
Thanks for this post. I've thought about ordering the Spanish version of Muzzy for O, and I really need to make a decision soon :)
We're going to be back in London later in the year so D. can try out her english on LP :) It's amazing to watch children play together even if they don't speak the same language, we have some French friends and their sons play with LP happily even though they don't speak much English and she has no French!
My pre-mommy job was teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages here in the U.S. I always felt saddened when I heard stories about parents not teaching their first language to their children, or that their children would learn to speak their parents' first language but could not read or write in it.
I applaud you for teaching Defne her first language and introducing English to her too. Her mind is making so many connections now and this is certainly the best time for us to learn language (early in childhood).
I hope you'll continue to teach her your first language so that she may read and write in it too.
Lucky Defne to be growing up a bilingual! I find language acquisition fascinating (with a degree in modern languages and linguistics, you'd hope so!).
I'm hoping to teach at least a little French to my daughter, I'll definitely look into Muzzy!
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