Comments on: Schools of Thought http://balancedmeltingpot.com/2009/11/02/schools-of-thought/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:20:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: deborah822 http://balancedmeltingpot.com/2009/11/02/schools-of-thought/comment-page-1/#comment-91 deborah822 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:29:01 +0000 http://balancedmeltingpot.com/?p=333#comment-91 That's great that you encuraged bilingualism in such a natural way. I hear sometimes from parents who say they spoke their mother tongues to the children, but they simply answered in the dominant language (usually the one heard at school). The biggest challenge is keeping them fluent when they don't hear it as much. Now that we will be in a Spanish-speaking environment and the children will be taught in French, I am going to have to remember to keep English in the home. Otherwise, they will lose the fluency in that, as well. That's great that you encuraged bilingualism in such a natural way. I hear sometimes from parents who say they spoke their mother tongues to the children, but they simply answered in the dominant language (usually the one heard at school). The biggest challenge is keeping them fluent when they don't hear it as much. Now that we will be in a Spanish-speaking environment and the children will be taught in French, I am going to have to remember to keep English in the home. Otherwise, they will lose the fluency in that, as well.

]]> By: radha http://balancedmeltingpot.com/2009/11/02/schools-of-thought/comment-page-1/#comment-90 radha Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:38:56 +0000 http://balancedmeltingpot.com/?p=333#comment-90 i never considered language as a choice . they knew english and Tamil ( my mother tongue) and Hindi at home and with friends . only regret is that they never caught arabic since dad never spoke it much ( with him being away from saudi) and me being non-arabic in nature. of course spanish they picked up at school. can't force languages.. it gets rusty whennot used i never considered language as a choice . they knew english and Tamil ( my mother tongue) and Hindi at home and with friends . only regret is that they never caught arabic since dad never spoke it much ( with him being away from saudi) and me being non-arabic in nature.
of course spanish they picked up at school. can't force languages.. it gets rusty whennot used

]]> By: deborah822 http://balancedmeltingpot.com/2009/11/02/schools-of-thought/comment-page-1/#comment-82 deborah822 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:52:59 +0000 http://balancedmeltingpot.com/?p=333#comment-82 Thanks for the vote of confidence - sometimes I wonder what the heck I should be doing. You're right, I've had the thought about which languages are more marketable, etc., but my rationale is that maybe if they start learning other languages young it will help with their ability to continue to do so as adults. So, Mandarin isn't completely out of the question :-) Thanks for the vote of confidence – sometimes I wonder what the heck I should be doing. You're right, I've had the thought about which languages are more marketable, etc., but my rationale is that maybe if they start learning other languages young it will help with their ability to continue to do so as adults. So, Mandarin isn't completely out of the question :-)

]]> By: Noel Maurer http://balancedmeltingpot.com/2009/11/02/schools-of-thought/comment-page-1/#comment-80 Noel Maurer Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:51:33 +0000 http://balancedmeltingpot.com/?p=333#comment-80 Thing is, you can't really pick. You can try to nudge the kids towards language acquisition, but it's going to be the external environment what determines whether it'll take. So I'd do what you're doing. Sure, at some level Mandarin would be more useful than French, but good luck getting them to learn that above a phrasebook level, no matter how hard you try, without moving to China or Singapore. And maybe not even Singapore. Thing is, you can't really pick. You can try to nudge the kids towards language acquisition, but it's going to be the external environment what determines whether it'll take.

So I'd do what you're doing. Sure, at some level Mandarin would be more useful than French, but good luck getting them to learn that above a phrasebook level, no matter how hard you try, without moving to China or Singapore. And maybe not even Singapore.

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