Learning 3 languages...

[PennQuaker09]

We're definitely going to try this with our kids. We live in the New York area and the big thing here is hiring Chinese speaking nannies and things of that nature. My sister in law has a Japanese speaking live in nanny . . . but a lot of people here are obsessed with getting their kids into prestigious preschools and what not. I, for one, think it's absolutely pointless to send 3 and 4 year olds to $20,000+ preschools.

Anyway, we're going to figure out what language that we would like to have them exposed to. I'm a German speaker and Nate speaks Spanish. In addition to that, we both know Latin.

 

[Geoff L]

20k Pre Schools wow, but then how much are the cheaper ones? My kids both attend/ed Montessori Preschools and I have been very pleased with the results.

Don't know if it is appropriate to put this here or start a new thread so mods feel free to move it if need be. As my kids are getting older I am giving them a bit more TV time. Id like to recieve input from others on TV programs that they reccomend for children 4 and 7 years of age. My main objective is for their language development but as I have lived in Asia for 20 years I have no idea of what I could download that would interest them other than "Dora the Explorer" as everything else on TV here is Japanese and I doubt it is avaliable in English. The Disney channel here doesn't impress me much so I would appreciate ideas on programs and if you have the time why you reccomend them.

Thanks in advance.

Geoff

 

[mmynedshlp]

I agree, wouldn't it be nice if they taught children at least spanish through school? They would pick up on it so much easier.

hmm I dont know about other places but most of our schools here in Anchorage have immersion.
we have a russian, korean, and spanish one that I know of.
In the classes that are immersion they speak the immersion language and learn in it too. Usually the school will do announcements in both langauges because the whole school is not immersion.
The immersion schools are really popular even if the child is not in a immersion class. They seem to have higher education standards.
My daughter goes to an immersion school but is not in an immersion class.

 

[PennQuaker09]

20k Pre Schools wow, but then how much are the cheaper ones? My kids both attend/ed Montessori Preschools and I have been very pleased with the results.

Don't know if it is appropriate to put this here or start a new thread so mods feel free to move it if need be. As my kids are getting older I am giving them a bit more TV time. Id like to recieve input from others on TV programs that they reccomend for children 4 and 7 years of age. My main objective is for their language development but as I have lived in Asia for 20 years I have no idea of what I could download that would interest them other than "Dora the Explorer" as everything else on TV here is Japanese and I doubt it is avaliable in English. The Disney channel here doesn't impress me much so I would appreciate ideas on programs and if you have the time why you reccomend them.

Thanks in advance.

Geoff

Believe it or not, 20K is cheap.

As far as TV, my kids are not old enough and I really don't think there is going to be too much tv watching going on in our house. I'll have to think about and research that one a little bit.

 

[Ari2]

My husband and I are looking into language programs for when our kids are older. I think it's a great idea. One of my nieces spends part of her day in classes that only use Japanese. Another niece will probably start learning Chinese in first grade.

I know some Spanish, Italian, Latin, and ASL. My husband is fluent in German and French and can read classical Latin (very cool, but not hugely practical). With the exception of Spanish, we probably wouldn't push any of these languages (although I'd teach them ASL for fun and some Latin and Greek prefixes and suffixes to make them geeky). At this point, we're thinking more of either Chinese or Japanese.

 

[Sirk]

I have the unpopular opinion on this one.

We're American, lived in Korea when I was little and both my parents were fluent so that was spoken, my Nana came over from Luthuania and that was spoken in her house.
As a kid it confused me. To this day I sometimes switch the order of words around because that would be proper in Other Language.

I waited till Lita was 4-5 to start introducing Hebrew beyond daily prayers. They still absorb it. She knows more than I do now.

 

[Dadu2004]

Ya know what's really fun is teaching children sign language. I taught Delaney how to do some basic signs, and she picked it up really quickly.

 

[Geoff L]

I have the unpopular opinion on this one.

We're American, lived in Korea when I was little and both my parents were fluent so that was spoken, my Nana came over from Luthuania and that was spoken in her house.
As a kid it confused me. To this day I sometimes switch the order of words around because that would be proper in Other Language.

I waited till Lita was 4-5 to start introducing Hebrew beyond daily prayers. They still absorb it. She knows more than I do now.

Mixing the languages and grammatical structure is a well known issue for children living in a multi lingual environment. As with all things it affects different children in different ways, as illustrated in various posts. My own kids often use Mandarin grammatical order when they speak English but that is not much different to younger children speaking either "I want drink water" and will sort itself out.

 

[dollypaul123]

Children's learn things very fast. So i do suggest parents to teach childrens all different languages at their young age. We should also see whether children have that much capability to learn.
----------------
Dolly

 

[gerrr]

Dolleypaul - Banned after just one post. Harsh. Was it the grammar mistakes? I didn't find them that offensive.

 

[chic]

Hi all,I am new to the forum. This is my first post and it happens to be my favourite topic. I am trilingual Asian married to an Aus. I spoke 3 non-native languages by the time I was 2yrs old. This is not easy for most families now because lifestyle has changed and the environment has become less attractive to children.

If you wish your child to speak 3 languages, it is best to begin with the mother tongue and a language which is needed for his future academic learning, primarily one that is used for every subject. Mother tongue because the child needs to feel the sense of belonging and security from the family; academic language to aid him as a tool to progress intellectually.

I was raised by monolingual parents but the environment and school taught me to become multi-lingual. My daughter is also trilingual and is learning her 4th language spanish with me. I learn language with a child because it is the best way to have a systematic approach.

 

[Dadu2004]

Welcome Chic....good first post.

 

[chic]

Hi there, thanks for the welcome. I love the pictures.