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.

January 29, 2009

Showing Appreciation- Blogger Style

Dominique Thoughts awards, Lemonade Award

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to found that I was awarded two awards from fellow Mom bloggers.

The 1st award- Noblesee Oblige was awarded to me by Melissa.

Here’s a breakdown of this award.

This Award is presented to bloggers who display consistency in any one or a combination of these conditions:

1. The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervades amongst different cultures and beliefs.

2. The Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.

3. There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.

click to read more

4. The Blog is refreshing and creative.

5. The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.

The Blogger who receives this award will need to perform the following steps:

1. Create a Post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige Award.

2. The Award Conditions must be displayed at the Post.

3. Write a short article about what the Blog has thus far achieved – preferably citing one or more older Post to support.

4. The Blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions.

5. The Blogger must display the Award at any location at the Blog.

Maintaining this site has been a learning experience for me. I’ve met many wonderful bloggers and made lots of new friends. I’ve gain a lot of technical knowledge in regards to tweaking WordPress themes, website designing, setting up and maintaining blogs and websites, newsletters and e-mail marketing.

Besides the technicality learning part. I also grew in maturity as through interacting with others online I gained fresh knowledge in how to improve my parenting skills, how to work more efficiently. I love been up-to-date with the latest development in the world and be informed about the newest technology and highlighted to the latest health issues/findings via twitter.

I feel that it is important to be able to keep up with the latest news so that I can be in a position to make an informed decision regards matters which will affect my family and my kids in particular.

Through blogging on this website it has given me a clear idea on how I wish to educate my boys and the direction that I will/am taking with them in regards to acadamic, physical, emotional and spiritual development. I do hope that my readers too share my sentiments and that we learn from each other on how to be better parents.

The 2nd award that I received is the Lemonade Award from Sophia she runs the Work-At-Home site which you see on my recommendation list on my sidebar.