One of Hannah's favorite past-times is going to the bookcase she has in her room and taking the books out while she looks at their cover. She also has books in the baskets on the floor in her bedroom, so everything is within her reach. So she is always grabbing books off the shelves, even in my office, putting them on the floor and then going through the pages in them.
Today, we went to Kids Space, to participate in the Mommy and me course. She liked it a lot. But what was interesting to see was that when the two workshop leaders picked up a book and started reading, she was the first kid in the room to immediately tune to the books. This was interesting because when it came to games she was not the first one to catch on to them. She would do her own thing for a couple of minutes. But when she heard the teachers reading, she immediately approached them and tried to touch the book. The books were in English, and although she is not used to hearing books in English, she did not reach negatively to them! And she was tired when we left the Kids Space!
Taking these classes is a learning experience for me since I don't have the education in English. So when parents sing the songs, the song about the spider, etc., I never know the words. And I am a little self-conscious. But I say to myself: Well, they don't know the Spanish songs I know! Just kidding... But what is interesting is that if I feel in the minority because I don't know the songs in English, one can only begin to imagine how a child who does not speak English or does not have references in English can feel in the classroom... Not a good feeling!
We had a wonderful time today!!! Kuki
P.S: She also did some artwork.... Well, I did it.... It'
Random Thoughts
13 years ago
4 comments:
After reading your post I was thinking --> Wow!!! it is so amazing and special that Hannah already has such a great curiousity for books. I was also thinking about your situation and not being familiar with children's songs in English. I too had a somewhat similiar situation growing up and amazingly enough I always felt special because I had my school songs and my home lullabies. I think that Hannah might be one of the luckiest kids ever to have the best of both worlds!
After reading your post I was thinking --> Wow!!! it is so amazing and special that Hannah already has such a great curiousity for books. I was also thinking about your situation and not being familiar with children's songs in English. I too had a somewhat similiar situation growing up and amazingly enough I always felt special because I had my school songs and my home lullabies. I think that Hannah might be one of the luckiest kids ever to have the best of both worlds!
So now if she's so tune to books already, what is your expectation (or I should say prediction) about her future profession? A great teacher like you? A scholars? Or someone heading the totally different field?
I think kids who grow up with bilingual background is such a nice asset for them and they should try every effort of maintaining the native-like proficiency throughout their lives.
I am also passionate about this topic and want the same for my kids. It all started when I moved back home with my family a few years ago when my youngest sister was 10 years old. I was 23 and had just graduated with a bachelors in Spanish. Since my family had grown up overseas my sister Maya had been exposed to several languages as well but none of them were in a full immersion setting really. My family had just gotten back from 3 years in Brazil when I moved back home with them in the US. Since she was already familiar with Portuguese I decided to try and speak only Spanish to her to make our home a somewhat full immersion style home with the hopes of her becomming bilingual. She understood everything I said because it was so close to Portuguese and I allowed her a season to just soak in the Spanish and make that transfer. Then after a few months I wouldn't do what she was asking me for unless she spoke to me in Spanish. Sometimes she got frustrated with this but it worked pretty well, I guess... until she got older. Once she started going to high school she didn't respond to me in Spanish like she used to and it didn't matter if I told her I wasn't going to give her what she was asking for, she'd go ask someone else instead or just get it herself! But all this to say, she often speaks to me in Spanish still especially on the common house talk/ commands/ expressions, etc... It's cool though. Now she has a gift without ever needing to have taken a class in Spanish!
Post a Comment