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Part One
SINCE my kids came into the world, I’ve wanted them to be immersed in languages. In their independent playtime, I would have music or language playing in the background. For example, on their sixth month, these were the types of music I played for them:
Monday was Musical Math, Tuesday was Simple Spanish, Wednesday would be Chinese songs, Thursday was Japanese and Friday was 94.7FM. I didn’t play these for my children to mimic any word; I just wanted them to absorb and enjoy the “melody.”
WHY IS LEARNING LANGUAGES IMPORTANT TO ME?
I love languages for many reasons. I believe they bring us closer to our culture. I believe a person is richer by knowing his or her ancestry, and language is one way to do this.
My grand aunt would tell us Chinese bedtime stories in Chinese idioms. It allowed me to learn history and Chinese values at the same time.
I live in the Philippines and this is my home. I was lucky to have great teachers who became my windows to the Filipino culture. I was lucky to be given a chance to actually write and direct a Filipino play, entitled Salamin, in high school by Mr. Cedre. It deepened my love for Philippine literature. Because of this, I have always asked our house help to speak to my children in Filipino. It is one way that I say thank you to this country which has taken us in and provided us with so much care through people like Mr. Mako, the janitor in my school when I was in nursery.
Languages for me also represent the evolution of my wants and interests. When I read something, travel or develop friendships with teachers or people I meet in business, I feel learning their language allows me to know them more. When I transferred to a Spanish high school, I had to have a crash remedial course every Saturday with Señora. She had to get me up to speed with Spanish from Grade 1 to high school. I enjoyed Señora’s passion and patience. Today studying in Institución Cervantes in Spain is still in my bucket list.
Last, we can’t predict what our future environment will be. When I got married, my husband’s family spoke another local dialect. I have tried my best to understand the language so I can participate in dinner conversations. So far, I can at least understand 90 percent of their conversation. I hope to one day be bold enough to speak it fluently.
WHAT ARE THINGS I DID FOR MY KIDS TO LEARN LANGUAGES?
- Start early. Early exposure to music and storytelling CDs are good before a child is 2 years old. I’ve always preferred this medium than video, especially for the first 24 months.The Green CD is full of songs, which Meagan really liked. The Purple CD is a dictation of words and sentences. These are from Taiwan. Thanks to Liza, her ninang.
- Try to have a ‘language point person/s.’ It is good to have a one-to-one conversation in the language you would like your kids to learn. I picked this up from a very good friend from Malaysia whose parents only speak to their kids in Chinese. So I assigned our nanny to speak to the kids only in Filipino. My kids’ general language in school is English. I am the Chinese language point person in the house. (Although I think my dad did a better job in speaking Fukien, the local Chinese dialect, to us when we were kids.)
- Flash cards and visual aids. When my kids were 2, one of our nighttime rituals was Chinese flash cards. It’s just 10 flash cards that take up less than five minutes. I literally just show and pronounce the word. I don’t ask for any repetition. I use the same 10 flash cards for one week, then I change to another 10 the following week. When I felt my daughter wanted more, I did 15, then 20.
Whenever I go to China, I would ask the concierge where the biggest bookstore is. There are so many visual aids available in China that are of very good quality and very affordable. The one leftmost, I actually bought at National Book Store. For foreign languages I had no expertise in, I got videos that showed real people using them. I bought Brainy Baby videos because they always had multilingual settings. I would play the English version in the first few weeks, then in another language in the succeeding weeks.
As my kids got older, I inserted “foreign language cartoon time.” My daughter started to sing the Pooh and Tigger jingle in Mandarin and would say Tigger in Mandarin instead of English. When my son was into Disney’s Cars, I would play the movie in English first, then next time in Chinese. At first he was very hesitant, but he had no choice.
To be continued…
For inquiries, e-mail me at mommynolimits@gmail.com.