multi language kids

by Mulan 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  Mulan

  I am taking care of two of my grandchildren this week, while their parents are at a business seminar.

  Today when I took them to school, a large group of kids got off of a school bus and were chatting away in Spanish. Then some other kids walked past talking in an Eastern European language, I think. Some others were talking another language I didn't recognize.

  My daughter had told me that more than half of the students there were multi lingual, but it was kind of eerie hearing it in person. Almost like being in another country. I know there is at least one family from Iceland, many more from Ukraine, and dozens from Mexico. Lots of Asians too, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese (large numbers), and Chinese too. I think the local English speaking kids are a minority.

  Just sharing.
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  Lady Lee

  What a wonderful rich environment to grow up in.
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  Ellie

  Make the most of it, its great for kids to hear lots of languages, my little girl is learning Welsh, a bit of a useless language imo but it should make it easier for her to pick up other languages in later life.
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  kid-A

  Your grandchildren are very lucky. Exposure to different languages and cultures is the best education a child can get. Really teaches kids to respect, tolerate and embrace diversity.
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  Mulan

  What a wonderful rich environment to grow up in.

  Exactly what I think too.

  I just wish that other languages were required in our schools like they are in Europe. They are offered for a price later in Elementary school, but are not part of the regular day or regular curriculum. That's sad. In Middle School and HIgh School, you can take a language, but it really doesn't prepare you to converse in it.

  I know there will come a day when you will have to know Spanish. I understand it a bit, but can't speak it at all. I have a close friend who is Mexican-American, and a relative or two who are fluent, so just being around it, you can pick it up a bit.
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  Undecided

  Learning a different language might be interesting but I don't think we should have to push "1" in the USA on the telephone to get an English speaking rep. We are being overrun by illegal immigrants from Mexico here in NC.

  Ken P.
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  lola28

  Learning a different language might be interesting but I don't think we should have to push "1" in the USA on the telephone to get an English speaking rep.

  Learning a second language is not just "intresting" but in many cases knowing a language other than English can really come in handy.

  lola
• 

  poodlehead

  Here is some bit of trivia for all you from the US. Although English is the common language, there is no official language in the USA. Interesting?

  My feel is we should be tolerent of all languages and cultures because that is what being American is about. We all have come from somewhere else. That is unless you are Cherokee! So learn all you can.

  When I was seven my parents and I traveled with a singing group from all around the world. I could make small talk in about 15 different languages. I wish I had kept up with it. But now I have almost forgoten everything.

  Now I am trying to learn Spanish, because my inlaws are from Puerto Rico. And although they do speak english I miss alot of there conversations. (Basically I want to know when they are talking about me behind my back) lol.

  So be sure and have the kids make the best of that experience. I do miss speaking and learning so many different cultures.
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  outnfree

  Statistics (darned if I can remember where from!?) say that before 2020, more than half of the population in the United States will be Spanish-speakers. It is my contention that we English-speakers have got to face the music and realize that the melting pot is evolving and becoming more and more Hispanic.

  In my opinion, based on said statistics, American children should be immersed in Spanish (with English grammar & Western literature) for at least grades K-3 in grammar school. This, because it is much easier to acquire a second language when one is young. Beginning in fourth grade, children could elect whether or not to continue on a Spanish track or switch to English immersion. Spanish track students would continue studying English language arts, and English track students would study Spanish grammar and literature. In high school, two years of instruction in a third foreign language would be mandatory. I would suggest Chinese and Arabic be added to the standard offerings of French and German (Spanish instruction no longer being "foreign").

  All parents who are multi-lingual should be speaking to their children in a tongue other than English from birth. Oh! how I wish I had done this! -- our children would be tri-lingual by now!

  I am a bit of a radical on this, I know. Bringing humanity closer together by encouraging cross-cultural competence is the reason I am studying to become a secondary school French and Spanish teacher.
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  divejunkie

  My children are being raised bilingual - English and Spanish. I think it's a great gift that we are giving them (almost as big as not raising them JW :) The first language they learned was Spanish - that is what we use about 90% of the time at home.
  
  They love the fact that they can talk with a lot of people from different countries.
  
  Research shows that children that learned a second or third language early in life perform better academically in other areas as well.
  
  When they started school we enrolled them in a school with a Dual Language Program - Spanish inmersion.
  The school was in a predominantly anglo neighborhood, but because of the special program had a lot of american kids from all backgrounds-black, asian, greek, italian, latino, etc. All the kids that were in the program took half of their day's instruction completely in English and the other half completely in Spanish. They all learned to read and write in Spanish first. The school's standarized test scores were always in the 90% and above for grades 3-5. All the students took the state tests in Spanish in 3rd and 4th and then switched to English for the tests in 5th. The enviroment in the school was awesome. They celebrated all cultures and all holidays in some form. By the time they got to 5th grade the students were truly bilingual and biliterate in at least two languages - many of them were trilingual because of their parents as well.
  
  Don't knock it because Spanish is the language of the "illegal inmigrants" - bottom line: the 3 most widely spoken languages in the world are mandarin, english and spanish. Why not take advantage of the accesibility to learn 2 out of the 3?