bilingual unschooling
tatyland_usa
Hello,
I have a question about home/unschooling. I speak Spanish/English and my DH English. Now I want my son to be bilingual 100%. What should I do when it comes to reading and writing or other subjects that he may be interesting in... He must be able to read and write in English too..
There are a lot of resources in English but I haven't found any in Spanish yet.
So, How do I make sure he is learning English if I only speak Spanish to him?
Anybody has a suggestion?
Thank you so much!!!
Monica
I have a question about home/unschooling. I speak Spanish/English and my DH English. Now I want my son to be bilingual 100%. What should I do when it comes to reading and writing or other subjects that he may be interesting in... He must be able to read and write in English too..
There are a lot of resources in English but I haven't found any in Spanish yet.
So, How do I make sure he is learning English if I only speak Spanish to him?
Anybody has a suggestion?
Thank you so much!!!
Monica
BRIAN POLIKOWSKY
Do you live in a spanish or english speaking country?
Alex Polikowsky
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Alex Polikowsky
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Monica Van Stelton
Hi Brian
I live in California! In a English speaking area.
Thanks
Monica
I live in California! In a English speaking area.
Thanks
Monica
--- On Tue, 10/20/09, BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:
From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...>
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] bilingual unschooling
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 9:21 AM
Do you live in a spanish or english speaking country?
Alex Polikowsky
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BRIAN POLIKOWSKY
Its Alex, Brian's wife !<G>
Well why are you worried he won't learn English ????
He lives in an English speaking country!
I speak Portuguese to my kids, I am from Brazil.
My kids speak much better English than Portuguese right now.
Just naturally speak to your child in the language you want.
Alex Polikowsky
http://polykow.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingmn/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Well why are you worried he won't learn English ????
He lives in an English speaking country!
I speak Portuguese to my kids, I am from Brazil.
My kids speak much better English than Portuguese right now.
Just naturally speak to your child in the language you want.
Alex Polikowsky
http://polykow.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingmn/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Monica Van Stelton
Hi ALex,
hahaha!! I'm from Argentina!!! I LOVE Portuguese.. It's music to music to my ears!
I am just worried that he may not know how to read/write in English or do math in English...I guess when he starts having friends and taking classes of his interest he may learn it then or with my husband.
Thank you! Obrigada!
Monica
hahaha!! I'm from Argentina!!! I LOVE Portuguese.. It's music to music to my ears!
I am just worried that he may not know how to read/write in English or do math in English...I guess when he starts having friends and taking classes of his interest he may learn it then or with my husband.
Thank you! Obrigada!
Monica
--- On Tue, 10/20/09, BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:
From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...>
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] bilingual unschooling
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 2:28 PM
Its Alex, Brian's wife !<G>
Well why are you worried he won't learn English ????
He lives in an English speaking country!
I speak Portuguese to my kids, I am from Brazil.
My kids speak much better English than Portuguese right now.
Just naturally speak to your child in the language you want.
Alex Polikowsky
http://polykow. blogspot. com/
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/unschoolin gmn/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
zurro
Saludos Monica,
Our daughter is Argentine by birth from our year abroad!
DH is French and speaks only to dd in French, but we speak in English together. However, we both make a point to read and bring life in from both languages. She also understands that daddy has French words and mommy has English words. But her English is a bit more advanced because I spend more time with her overall and we play with friends in English.
What language do you and your husband speak at home? That alone has a huge bearing on the language of choice for kids. You may find also that your son will at some point not want to even speak in Spanish. A friend went through that even though she spoke Spanish 100% of the time to him, her and her husband spoke in English and he had English outside. She would have to literally rush the Spanish and then say it in English. So he naturally gravitated towards English because that was what he heard the majority of the time and what he used to communicate with friends. You may eventually find that you want to spend time in Argentine simply to be sure his Spanish is coming along :)
Have your husband spend time reading with him as well and playing math games or incorporating numbers etc. Just make it fun and go with the flow.
Also one thing I did was read a lot about raising bilingual kids. While those resources weren't necessarily unschooly, they gave me a lot more insight into how kids minds function in bilingual or multilingual households.
Laura Z
http://arippleintheocean.typepad.com
Our daughter is Argentine by birth from our year abroad!
DH is French and speaks only to dd in French, but we speak in English together. However, we both make a point to read and bring life in from both languages. She also understands that daddy has French words and mommy has English words. But her English is a bit more advanced because I spend more time with her overall and we play with friends in English.
What language do you and your husband speak at home? That alone has a huge bearing on the language of choice for kids. You may find also that your son will at some point not want to even speak in Spanish. A friend went through that even though she spoke Spanish 100% of the time to him, her and her husband spoke in English and he had English outside. She would have to literally rush the Spanish and then say it in English. So he naturally gravitated towards English because that was what he heard the majority of the time and what he used to communicate with friends. You may eventually find that you want to spend time in Argentine simply to be sure his Spanish is coming along :)
Have your husband spend time reading with him as well and playing math games or incorporating numbers etc. Just make it fun and go with the flow.
Also one thing I did was read a lot about raising bilingual kids. While those resources weren't necessarily unschooly, they gave me a lot more insight into how kids minds function in bilingual or multilingual households.
Laura Z
http://arippleintheocean.typepad.com
--- In [email protected], Monica Van Stelton <tatyland_usa@...> wrote:
>
> Hi ALex,
> hahaha!! I'm from Argentina!!! I LOVE Portuguese.. It's music to music to my ears!
> I am just worried that he may not know how to read/write in English or do math in English...I guess when he starts having friends and taking classes of his interest he may learn it then or with my husband.
> Thank you! Obrigada!
> Monica
>
> --- On Tue, 10/20/09, BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:
>
> From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...>
> Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] bilingual unschooling
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 2:28 PM
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> Its Alex, Brian's wife !<G>
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> Well why are you worried he won't learn English ????
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> He lives in an English speaking country!
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> I speak Portuguese to my kids, I am from Brazil.
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> My kids speak much better English than Portuguese right now.
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> Just naturally speak to your child in the language you want.
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> Alex Polikowsky
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> http://polykow. blogspot. com/
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> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/unschoolin gmn/
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duckgirl01
Everything I have read about bilingual learning is that, when surrounded by two different languages, kids will naturally lag behind in both languages for awhile, but eventually they will catch up. I seem to remember that the age when they tend to catch up is when they are 10-12, but don't quote me on that. What I took from my reading is that you shouldn't worry about them "being behind", because they will eventually get it. This topic seems kind of strange to have, from an unschooling perspective anyway, at least to me, because I'm not concerned whether my kids are "behind" on any one subject anyway. This includes language. I'm pretty confident my kids will learn a language that is useful to them as they need/want to.
We are living in Costa Rica right now, and our third child was recently born here. There are plenty of expat families here that make their kids attend public school here for the express purpose of learning Spanish quickly. I find the idea of pushing my child to learn Spanish very unappealing. Even though I admit it would be nice if the kids learned Spanish, I think this comes from my own wish that I could go back in time and have learned more languages earlier. I'm trying not to impose those personal wishes on my children. *I* want to learn Spanish, but my kids may not have that motivation right now. My 6 year old son, especially, does not like being stuck in situations with only Spanish speakers where he cannot understand what is going on. So I'm being sure to support him. If he wants to learn Spanish, I'm trying to give him plenty of opportunities to do so, but I'm not forcing it. It's true that we have to survive here, and Spanish helps, but I'm not going to make things stressful for my son if I can help it. He has access to our Spanish speaking housekeeper, my Roseetta Stone computer program, and whatever Spanish interactions we have in everyday life.
Trish
We are living in Costa Rica right now, and our third child was recently born here. There are plenty of expat families here that make their kids attend public school here for the express purpose of learning Spanish quickly. I find the idea of pushing my child to learn Spanish very unappealing. Even though I admit it would be nice if the kids learned Spanish, I think this comes from my own wish that I could go back in time and have learned more languages earlier. I'm trying not to impose those personal wishes on my children. *I* want to learn Spanish, but my kids may not have that motivation right now. My 6 year old son, especially, does not like being stuck in situations with only Spanish speakers where he cannot understand what is going on. So I'm being sure to support him. If he wants to learn Spanish, I'm trying to give him plenty of opportunities to do so, but I'm not forcing it. It's true that we have to survive here, and Spanish helps, but I'm not going to make things stressful for my son if I can help it. He has access to our Spanish speaking housekeeper, my Roseetta Stone computer program, and whatever Spanish interactions we have in everyday life.
Trish
--- In [email protected], Monica Van Stelton <tatyland_usa@...> wrote:
>
> Hi ALex,
> hahaha!! I'm from Argentina!!! I LOVE Portuguese.. It's music to music to my ears!
> I am just worried that he may not know how to read/write in English or do math in English...I guess when he starts having friends and taking classes of his interest he may learn it then or with my husband.
> Thank you! Obrigada!
> Monica
>
> --- On Tue, 10/20/09, BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:
>
> From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...>
> Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] bilingual unschooling
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 2:28 PM
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> Its Alex, Brian's wife !<G>
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> Well why are you worried he won't learn English ????
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> He lives in an English speaking��country!
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> I speak�Portuguese to my kids, I am from Brazil.
>
> My kids�speak much better English than Portuguese right now.
>
> Just naturally speak to your child in the language you�want.
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>
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> �
>
> Alex Polikowsky
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> http://polykow. blogspot. com/
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> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/unschoolin gmn/
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Monica Van Stelton
Hi Trish
Thank you for your response! Well... I do not want to push anything on my son. I believe in providing rich opportunities and let him pick what he likes but it is very important for him to learn both languages because my family lives here in LA and their English is limited, especially my dad. So, he needs to be able to speak both, since my husband doesn't speak Spanish and we live in the US.
I guess I, myself, answer that question. I am bilingual since I moved in the USA when I was 22 in 1999. I can read/write and speak both languages and my only contact to English before US was the TV and some in high school. So I guess if he really wants to speak any language he will.
Thank you!!!
Monica
Thank you for your response! Well... I do not want to push anything on my son. I believe in providing rich opportunities and let him pick what he likes but it is very important for him to learn both languages because my family lives here in LA and their English is limited, especially my dad. So, he needs to be able to speak both, since my husband doesn't speak Spanish and we live in the US.
I guess I, myself, answer that question. I am bilingual since I moved in the USA when I was 22 in 1999. I can read/write and speak both languages and my only contact to English before US was the TV and some in high school. So I guess if he really wants to speak any language he will.
Thank you!!!
Monica
--- On Tue, 10/27/09, duckgirl01 <hippytrish@...> wrote:
From: duckgirl01 <hippytrish@...>
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Re: bilingual unschooling
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 8:34 AM
Everything I have read about bilingual learning is that, when surrounded by two different languages, kids will naturally lag behind in both languages for awhile, but eventually they will catch up. I seem to remember that the age when they tend to catch up is when they are 10-12, but don't quote me on that. What I took from my reading is that you shouldn't worry about them "being behind", because they will eventually get it. This topic seems kind of strange to have, from an unschooling perspective anyway, at least to me, because I'm not concerned whether my kids are "behind" on any one subject anyway. This includes language. I'm pretty confident my kids will learn a language that is useful to them as they need/want to.
We are living in Costa Rica right now, and our third child was recently born here. There are plenty of expat families here that make their kids attend public school here for the express purpose of learning Spanish quickly. I find the idea of pushing my child to learn Spanish very unappealing. Even though I admit it would be nice if the kids learned Spanish, I think this comes from my own wish that I could go back in time and have learned more languages earlier. I'm trying not to impose those personal wishes on my children. *I* want to learn Spanish, but my kids may not have that motivation right now. My 6 year old son, especially, does not like being stuck in situations with only Spanish speakers where he cannot understand what is going on. So I'm being sure to support him. If he wants to learn Spanish, I'm trying to give him plenty of opportunities to do so, but I'm not forcing it. It's true that we have to survive here, and Spanish helps, but I'm not
going to make things stressful for my son if I can help it. He has access to our Spanish speaking housekeeper, my Roseetta Stone computer program, and whatever Spanish interactions we have in everyday life.
Trish
--- In unschoolingbasics@ yahoogroups. com, Monica Van Stelton <tatyland_usa@ ...> wrote:
>
> Hi ALex,
> hahaha!! I'm from Argentina!!! I LOVE Portuguese.. It's music to music to my ears!
> I am just worried that he may not know how to read/write in English or do math in English...I guess when he starts having friends and taking classes of his interest he may learn it then or with my husband.
> Thank you! Obrigada!
> Monica
>
> --- On Tue, 10/20/09, BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@ ...> wrote:
>
> From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@ ...>
> Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] bilingual unschooling
> To: unschoolingbasics@ yahoogroups. com
> Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 2:28 PM
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> �
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> Its Alex, Brian's wife !<G>
>
> Well why are you worried he won't learn English ????
>
> He lives in an English speaking��country!
>
> I speak�Portuguese to my kids, I am from Brazil.
>
> My kids�speak much better English than Portuguese right now.
>
> Just naturally speak to your child in the language you�want.
>
>
>
> �
>
> Alex Polikowsky
>
> http://polykow. blogspot. com/
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> http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/unschoolin gmn/
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BRIAN POLIKOWSKY
De nada Monica!
I love Argentina and have life long friends there.
I would not worry about English. Your kids will learn if they live in an English speaking country.
There are lots of homeschooling groups that get together in Southern Ca.
Go make friends and play with those kids. There are also many uschooling families around you.
Once your kids have English speaking friends they will blossom!
Don't they watch TV in English??
Alex Polikowsky
http://polykow.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingmn/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I love Argentina and have life long friends there.
I would not worry about English. Your kids will learn if they live in an English speaking country.
There are lots of homeschooling groups that get together in Southern Ca.
Go make friends and play with those kids. There are also many uschooling families around you.
Once your kids have English speaking friends they will blossom!
Don't they watch TV in English??
Alex Polikowsky
http://polykow.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingmn/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Monica Van Stelton
Hi
yes there are homeschooling groups I joined one a few month ago. And tv is in English but we do not watch tv much, especially when baby is awake.
Thank you for answering!
Monica
yes there are homeschooling groups I joined one a few month ago. And tv is in English but we do not watch tv much, especially when baby is awake.
Thank you for answering!
Monica
--- On Tue, 10/27/09, BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:
From: BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...>
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Re: bilingual unschooling
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 8:31 PM
De nada Monica!
I love Argentina and have life long friends there.
I would not worry about English. Your kids will learn if they live in an English speaking country.
There are lots of homeschooling groups that get together in Southern Ca.
Go make friends and play with those kids. There are also many uschooling families around you.
Once your kids have English speaking friends they will blossom!
Don't they watch TV in English??
Alex Polikowsky
http://polykow. blogspot. com/
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/unschoolin gmn/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]