Wednesday, October 27, 2010

More language on a walk

Times when Sasha would nap on our walks have passed. Nowadays, it's all about looking around, exploring, meeting people and animals... While walks have always been part of our daily routine, now they have become part of his awake time.

For me this means, every walk (which may last an hour to three hours) can be an opportunity to teach him more Russian. As I push the stroller towards Cheeseman park, I point out squirrels, dogs, cars, people, bicycles... At this point, he can already recognize what I mean when I point out a dog. So, just saying (in Russian): "Look! It's a dog!" is not enough. I narrate with details: "Do you see two dogs over there -  a black one and a white one?",  "Look at that big, shabby dog across the street!", "Do you see a dog coming towards us?", "What does that dog say? Woof! Woof!". The same applies to squirrels, which fascinate Sasha beyond description. And so, I go into details about each squirrel in the park, its ears, nose, fuzzy tail and what it is munching on.

The way I see it, the more narration, the more contexts I provide Sasha with. His brain can then decipher my speech and identify the words that he has heard before in similar contexts. Animals excite all children at his age, and that excitement means high level of interest which translates into high motivation to learn.

Of course, each walk can also be a missed opportunity. We walk the same streets every day. And depending on the hour, we might not meet any dogs on the way to the park. But I don't want to be silent as we walk, I want to pack him with more phonetics and grammar. And so, I sing on the way to the park. (I wonder if the locals think of me as "that crazy singing lady with the stroller".) My repertoire includes mostly songs about walking, travel, and wander.  I know that, at this age, Sasha cannot really understand each word I am singing, but it gives him more exposure to Russian phonetics (the sounds of the language).

At the park, we are surrounded by English, obviously. And even though I converse with other parents and children in English, I still address Sasha in Russian only (One Parent One Language method), including description of what's going on around us: "Oh, that girl is just having so much fun on the swing!", "See how those children are going down the slide?", etc. This creates some confusion, mostly between me and toddlers. A four year old claimed that I said: "Snickerdoodle". I tried to explain to him that I was speaking Russian, which is a different language. He did not understand that. His parents commented that he has not been exposed to any language other than English, so he would not know what is a language.

I am sure that Sasha will know that concept, because he has exposure to more than one language.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Thoughts - Half of world languages might disappear by 2100

In a Wall Street Journal article about a new language recently discovered in Himalayas, the author gives a sad statistic: every two weeks, the last fluent speaker of a language dies. What this means for all of us is that we might lose as many as half of the world languages by the end of this century! Isn't that terrifying and sad?!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Russian and Montessori

I am fascinated by the Montessori method. Although there are many opponents of Montessori here, who say that the Montessori method does not provide enough structure and lets students fall behind, I see how this method can boost creativity and adventure spirit in small kids. And those qualities are very important for learning.

But here is what I am struggling with. On one hand, I would like to use some of Montessori techniques with Sasha. On the other hand, I feel that my narration during his play helps him to acquire Russian language faster. And narration leads to direction: I often find myself leading him towards certain toys and objects, when I try to talk to him during play.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

First words

I have added a page that will keep track of Sasha's words. As of now, his vocabulary is only in Russian. Once he starts using English words, I will add a page to track his English vocabulary.

I am tracking words that Sasha has used in context and the use was not prompted by adult's repetition. Here are some examples:

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The talking puppy

My family sent Sasha a Russian speaking puppy for his first birthday. In actuality, it is Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Learning Puppy that speaks Russian and is sold in Russia. It is great to have a toy that speaks my language, for a change. Not that I think that Sasha can learn any words from this puppy, but there are many ways to incorporate it into our daily plays.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hawaiian Pattycake

This is not necessarily about teaching languages to your child, but about how you can customize Patty Cake rhyme for your particular culture. This what my Hawaii-grown husband came up with:

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Twinkle twinkle little star - Russian translation


I love picking out children books at the Denver Library. But with our setup at home (I use Russian with Sasha and my husband uses English with him), I cannot read majority of them to my son, unless they are picture books. Picture books are easy to translate in Russian as I go, but the poems are a different thing.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Zoo and Russian playgroup


On Tuesday, Sasha and I had a zoo date with another Russian speaking mom and her daughter.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Language DVDs for bilingual babies?

There are several DVD series and individual DVDs out there that may attract those parents who are interested in raising their child in two or more languages: Bilingual Baby, Baby Einstein: Language Nursery, Brainy Baby...

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Russian playgroup - still no success

If I will be the only one around here whom Sasha can hear speaking Russian, the chances are he will not value Russian language as highly as English.