Multilingual Parenting- A sharing experience
Last year I started on this project. I had this idea of documenting my experience of teaching the boys to speak, read and write in three or more languages. However as the year progressed I got caught up with other projects that this particular one got shelved.
This year I am taking it out of the cupboard and shaking off the dust on it. Hopefully even with my more taxing work schedule I will be able to complete this e-book by Christmas 2009.
Just a run down on my experiement so far. My boys have been introduced to English, Mandarin and Cantonese since birth.
Ryan can now speak and read very fluently in English. He too knows how to read and write in Mandarin. His Cantonese, however, is not as good. He does understand perfectly well when we speak to him in Cantonese but is very hesitant to reply in the same language. He often opts to answer in English as he is more comfortable with it.
He will be learning Japanese this year with Roy and will be taught how to read and write Japanese while I will only focus on spoken and recognition of Japanese words with Roy.( No writing till he is 3.5 to 4yrs old)
Roy can speak and read English. He understands when we talk to him in Mandarin and Cantonese too. I feel that he has more affinity with Cantonese as he is more willing to talk in Cantonese as compared to Ryan.
I intend to introduce the boys to other languages like French, German later on as they progress through elementary/secondary school.
I am looking for contributors to share their stories on how they teach their children in their native language/second or third language and the difficulties /achievements that they went through. If you are interested in sharing your story please drop me an e-mail at admin@dominiquegoh.com and I will get in contact with you.
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January 30, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
Wow! I am very impressed! Our children speak English, and learn Spanish in school starting Kindergarten. At the high school level they have other choices. I believe being fluent in other languages will benefit them as adults in their careers. Kudos to you, Dominique – what you are doing is quite an accomplishment!
February 1, 2009 @ 3:36 am
Oh my! you are an amazing mommy, you know that?!
February 3, 2009 @ 4:07 am
Hey I admire how you find all the time to do it. Writing and compiling a book is never an easy thing. It takes alot of effort and time. With your kids around and now that you are back to teaching full-time, I lift my hat off to you. You energy and parenting spirit is amazing!