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?!

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.

Learn words in sentences

I stumbled upon this video on one of the blogs that I am following.

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:

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.

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:

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.

The Zoo and Russian playgroup

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

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...

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.