Track your progress 6 month update and of course pandemic!
Nov 16, 2020 22:38:00 GMT 9
Post by Vaishali P on Nov 16, 2020 22:38:00 GMT 9
Track your progress 6 month update and of course factoring in pandemic!
[Adam please post this wherever you think is appropriate!]
Follow on to my pregnancy panic Introducing Myself post!
SHORT VERSION
- There’s a pandemic, I was pregnant and now I have 2 kids so I forgive myself for literally everything; screentime is totally fine and in minority languages so boom - 2 birds 1 stone.
- Everything is online! This is good; lots of rich language opportunities online for minority languages and I’m so pleased! And staves off the English for bit longer. I feel I can control it more.
- Everything is online! This is terrible and they’re missing out on socialisation in real life (in whatever language - including body language and gestures!) This will never be as rich or as good in real life BUT - paradoxically - it’s easier to keep consistent in minority language when online as less ‘drifting’ happens; easier to keep focus for the adults at least. Sadly, no more Slovak nanny and real life Mandarin speakers for now.
- Unexpected 4th and 5th language bonus gifts from my parents!
- Amazing collection of minority resources and books. So inspiring, keeps us going through the day!
- I am more invested in languages than ever before. So deeply passionate about them and excited to share them everyday with my kids.
LONG VERSION
I panicked when pregnant (of course) and as Adam Beck rightly said, having a newborn is not the time to make plans or be hard on oneself, it is just survival mode. It was…we survived! After 3 months we could slowly start to feel a way through and 6 months seems like a good milestone place to look back and take stock of our language journey so far. So, an update!
So hilarious to look back - not only at my pregnant panic but also at making plans in general - how the universe laughed! Throw in a pandemic…
- We didn’t go to nursery! Nobody did during the first lockdown. So no need to worry about monolingual English Majority language nursery or school - that’s staved off for a while!
- My Chinese has actually improved! This is with small consistent daily steps and just shows what can be achieved little by little. What kept us sane during the 1st 3 months of newborn busy sweetness was Chinese apps on my iPhone. And switching all the screentime to either Chinese or Slovak, our 2 minority languages. And being ok with screentime as long as max 2 hours per day (as recommended by American paediatricians).
- I’m so invested in the Chinese journey I have actually incorporated it into my art PhD (my other major time hole) so I’m now creating an artistic app for learning Chinese characters as part of my research! Great other time hole and ensures I deepen my knowledge of the language to teach and learn alongside my favourite cute language partner.
- There is a 4th language! (!!!) My dad stayed with us for a few months to help with the transition to a family of 4, and I asked him to speak in Gujarati (which he still can speak fluently, although mixes in a lot of English) to further stave off the English. Since it’s another Indo-European language (and therefore in my mind ‘easier’ than the non-Indo-European ones) I’m fine with it being passive and indeed don’t want to ‘confuse’ him or stress him or pressure him. Passive knowledge is absolutely fine. And then - he surprised me a couple of times by coming out with actual Gujarati words! I have no knowledge of this language so quickly bought a Colloquial Gujarati book, hah! There are some Swahili, Arabic and Persian words mixed into my father’s particular dialect based on where he’s from, where he grew up etc, so a great mix. I’m thinking of online fun classes for my son now, as…why ever not? Could be a grandad and son bonding time.
- There is a 5th language! (!!!) I asked my mom, when we see her (when in non-lockdown) to speak in…Cantonese!! I rejected this loud and yelling language as a kid in Hong Kong and preferred the quieter English. How little I knew! Now I absolutely love Cantonese in all its yelling glory. (Why do they call it Chinese whispers? I have never met a Chinese who whispers!! They are always yelling and when on the phone, is like theatre rather than radio) Now I’m older, I really appreciate dialects and how rich they are and how important for culture and the world. Mandarin is an official language and therefore ‘artificial’ in some ways, ie they have to ensure as many people as possible understand each other. Dialects evolve naturally and Cantonese is closer to Middle Chinese and preserves elements of culture that is lost in official languages. Now I’m older, I don’t worry about language confusion. I trust the brilliant child brain to sort it out. He hasn’t responded in Cantonese and I don’t expect him to. I bought a Colloquial Cantonese book for me just in case! And I’m getting closer to my parents too by very very casually learning bits of their languages too. I realise that I am lucky to have an enormously rich language heritage in my family and living speakers of dialects, so…. Speak away! If anything it shows my kids the enormous variety of tongues on this earth.
- Also discovered I may be a slight passive bilingual! As some Cantonese words and structures pop up in my memory…that I vaguely remember in childhood and that strangely still seem to be there…amazing!
- My darling baby has had exposure to all 3 languages from birth. So far he has said GaGa, which I think is international!
- I am mixing all the language approaches as I don’t have time to think about it deeply. As long as they are getting enough exposure, or any exposure at all, to the minority languages I’m happy.
- I thought the window period was 0-3. And, he’s still 3, so we haven’t missed it. It’s a continuum not a deadline. Being 3 actually takes a whole year, and he’s 3.5, so, haven’t missed the boat, phew!
- Our wonderfully fantastic Chinese playgroup has moved online, and it’s still the best quality Chinese exposure we receive as they are so so great. Helps hugely he’s met them before in real life and is not some random teachers. We’re so lucky to have this. And the lessons are semi-private and they go into Chinese characters, which satisfies my Tiger plus Montessori needs (best of both worlds - rigour AND fun together).
- Really sadly, we had to let go - temporarily during the pandemic I told her! - of our wonderful Slovak nanny. Paradoxically, for a while she actually lived with us as she had nowhere else to go, but because we were social distancing we couldn’t mix, although whenever I could I ‘cornered’ her as far as you can corner someone when you’re socially distancing, and we all had golden Slovak conversations. She’s found her own place now, and we speak on Skype sometimes. And I said as soon as this is over she has her job back! For 2-4 hours a week, as 2 kids now. We miss her! We Skype sometimes
- Instead of going to the physical Slovak Saturday school, we do it online! And it works really well so I’m so pleased! He hasn’t met them in real life but it’s nice that again it’s semi-private. And we hear other families speak in Slovak. I’m the only non-native Slovak speaker but am able to follow along mostly. They are kind to me and don’t make me go too far out of my comfort zone. I think the main lesson to my kid is that it’s important and learning languages is important for life and a worthy activity of our time. As soon as we can, we’ll go to the physical Slovak Saturday school!
- I’m homeschooling as we are a shielding family. We are part of a bilingual nursery that paradoxically we can’t attend! But, we can attend their circle times daily online for 30 mins, so this increases his Mandarin exposure. Then, my homeschool is actually just focused time with my preschooler and I for 30 mins - 1 hour, where we do fun Chinese literacy activities (eg. playing with sand, sticking beans to the character for bean, looking at family photo albums, discovering what’s in mama’s drawers as it takes place in my art studio, making volcanoes, generally messing around…) and reading books and doing Chinese, speaking in mix of Chinese and English. (His English is by now fluent and the strongest language…that horse has bolted! But, he does also reply in Chinese).
- Resources: my Slovak nanny’s daughter very kindly helped me buy a huge amount of Slovak books, shipped from Slovakia. I trawled the entire range of Slovak books while pregnant and had to wait for 2 lockdowns to be over before she could ship them! Finally got them all so we have a decent selection of Slovak books, at long last. Even got an amazing Slovak reading pen! I’m a big fan of reading pens now as they are tech without screentime, and also buys me some time to work! Bought before Brexit actually happens! Phew! And actually - I’d recommend other European families living in the UK to do the same - buy Euro resources before prices rise…
- My Chinese library is pretty amazing now! I bought a huge bunch of Chinese books and they are here at long, long, last, with the super kind help of a bookstore and friends. I trawled the entire internet while pregnant with these! And distilled them into one book list. I also trawled lots of Chinese mother blogs and feel confident in Chinese resources and tackling the Chinese learning journey full-on, thanks to them and their inspiration. I have a LeLe reading pen and set, a Luka reading robot and Sagebooks graded readers to help me teach and learn Chinese with kids. Seems perfect and I feel all set. Has taken months, and I’ve also been working, and I feel broke all over again as all these resources are expensive, but I feel worth it.
- I do try to read Slovak at night after Chinese but usually he’s already asleep. I did make Slovak and Chinese books accessible and put most of the English ones out of reach. However, he’s shown interest in the English alphabet so not stopping this but going with the flow, but only when he wants. Would be unfair to artificially stem a child’s growth in this when it is a strong need. Still want to emphasise the Chinese characters. So just double up on them even more! And read Chinese daily at night and also throughout the day, thanks to Adam’s advice and the knowledge that reading can safeguard the language for life
- When I see my mom, we read Chinese books all together. This is nice bonding time plus she helps me with words I don’t know. She knows traditional characters, I know some simplified now. Together we find a way and can figure out the meaning. This shows my kid that deciphering and decoding a language is possible and worthy.
- I completed and also started some online Chinese adult courses and downloaded some apps.
- Preschooler can recognise around 50+ Chinese characters and takes an active interest in learning and reading, so I am so overjoyed and making it fun; really sparks my own creativity.
- Forget Slovak Sundays, didn’t work and instead just trying to get husband to speak more Slovak. Interestingly, he naturally speaks more Slovak to baby as he likely feels more confident now in general with babies! With preschooler I still have to encourage (sometimes gently, sometimes less gently). Good thing is he’s basically on board except when tired at night. And understands the bigger picture and why I’m nagging!
- My son is the language police! And tells his dad to speak Slovak too, copying me! Haha! And, wow! Although sometimes he also just insists on speaking English so we let him. Only because he’s so good about convincing his dad with the Slovak at other times. Win some, lose some.
- There is no public now. We hardly go out because of pandemic so don’t see too many people. So = more minority language exposure! Even online, the people we see are either language classes or my parents. My parents are not consistent with their minority languages and our whole family common language is English. So, English is inescapably there and…why fight it. Just increasing the minority languages wherever possible. Forked path approach ‘choose Chinese, wherever possible’
- Forget percentages and the 30% idea. Just feel it, and if it feels like a little too much English, switch to another language! We have the book resources now to prompt us.
- Got some parts of daily routine down in Chinese and also written in Chinese.
- Preschooler has recently begun to speak whole sentences to me in Mandarin that he’s clearly not parroting but making up by himself! I am Over the Moon (also a great Chinese film on Netflix, watch it)!!!!! So gratifying and totally worth it for these moments!
- Found some amazing kid’s resources in Slovak! And, through the online nursery, picking up authentic, native Slovak ways of teaching kids I never would have thought of, eg clapping out the syllables which you don’t need to do in Chinese or English.
- We have the foundations of a Chinese rich environment at home: scrolls of Chinese characters, lanterns etc to get us in the mood. And definitely got enough resources to last kids until they are teenagers (probably - at least till they’re 8 or something).
- Made some wonderful friends online - other Chinese mothers on similar journeys to me. Inspiring and better done as a community. Thanks again Adam!
MAIN CONCERNS NOW
- Is socialisation in real life! This is more to do with the pandemic than with actual languages though I suspect many people feel this way. What to do? I’d love him of course to socialise in Mandarin in real life Chinese classes and in Slovak in real life Slovak Saturday class, and even in English in nursery or indeed Mandarin.
- I do also need to up my own Slovak fluency, and study it again properly when I find the time. I did think I’d get more time when he was at nursery but since we haven’t been able to do that, trying to look at the positives of this pandemic and lockdowns bringing other opportunities
- London is not the multilingual paradise now because...in lockdown can’t go anywhere! and I don’t really want to take public transport. I miss the cacophony of tongues on the bus!
- Wish we could access the real life Chinese library! Will just have to wait till after pandemic.
- I miss Chinatown and noodle soup!
- He will still go to majority English school eventually, so I need solid language habits in place.
- Need to sort homes for all those books!
- When is safe, we still want a Chinese student or au pair if possible to live with us, if we can afford! (And we’ll try our best!)
- And the ultimate: go to China!! Is still our dream - but now is not only time and money, but also pandemic!
- And to Slovakia! Same as above but cheaper and easier.
- Find or initiate interesting classes in real life in Chinese eg kung fu taught in Chinese, calligraphy taught in Chinese etc in London. I feel more confident with this due to the power of social media and generally all the online wonderful community of parents. Just have to wait for the pandemic to pass! Totally fine now with weekend being taken up with languages. Why not? What else is there to do during a pandemic anyway? He is full of free time now so just enjoying each other…. In different languages!
- Hope to have Slovak house guests returning when is safe.
- I wonder how the 2 siblings will interact with each other?!! I have yet to find out!
- Keep ‘feeling’ the language exposure and calibrating and tweaking; if feels like too much of one, make changes. I feel more confident in being able to do this. If we got our daily routines down in minority languages as a habit would really help.
- Keep listening to Chinese music, I need reminders with this. I have the resources, I just don’t press play enough!
- Print out some Slovak songs to sing with him - again, I have, but haven’t done and don’t use - I also need to sing to baby a lot more in all languages
- Start leveraging my adult Chinese too. I’ve long exhausted my Chinese budget for this year so will have to wait for next year. At least now I know it’ll be app or online based.
And that’s it for now - will try to update my progress when baby is 1 year old and follow his speaking progress (though I suspect for him walking will come first). He’s still at the cute gaga stage now.
Your thoughts, comments and suggestions so welcome! Look forward!
[Adam please post this wherever you think is appropriate!]
Follow on to my pregnancy panic Introducing Myself post!
SHORT VERSION
- There’s a pandemic, I was pregnant and now I have 2 kids so I forgive myself for literally everything; screentime is totally fine and in minority languages so boom - 2 birds 1 stone.
- Everything is online! This is good; lots of rich language opportunities online for minority languages and I’m so pleased! And staves off the English for bit longer. I feel I can control it more.
- Everything is online! This is terrible and they’re missing out on socialisation in real life (in whatever language - including body language and gestures!) This will never be as rich or as good in real life BUT - paradoxically - it’s easier to keep consistent in minority language when online as less ‘drifting’ happens; easier to keep focus for the adults at least. Sadly, no more Slovak nanny and real life Mandarin speakers for now.
- Unexpected 4th and 5th language bonus gifts from my parents!
- Amazing collection of minority resources and books. So inspiring, keeps us going through the day!
- I am more invested in languages than ever before. So deeply passionate about them and excited to share them everyday with my kids.
LONG VERSION
I panicked when pregnant (of course) and as Adam Beck rightly said, having a newborn is not the time to make plans or be hard on oneself, it is just survival mode. It was…we survived! After 3 months we could slowly start to feel a way through and 6 months seems like a good milestone place to look back and take stock of our language journey so far. So, an update!
So hilarious to look back - not only at my pregnant panic but also at making plans in general - how the universe laughed! Throw in a pandemic…
- We didn’t go to nursery! Nobody did during the first lockdown. So no need to worry about monolingual English Majority language nursery or school - that’s staved off for a while!
- My Chinese has actually improved! This is with small consistent daily steps and just shows what can be achieved little by little. What kept us sane during the 1st 3 months of newborn busy sweetness was Chinese apps on my iPhone. And switching all the screentime to either Chinese or Slovak, our 2 minority languages. And being ok with screentime as long as max 2 hours per day (as recommended by American paediatricians).
- I’m so invested in the Chinese journey I have actually incorporated it into my art PhD (my other major time hole) so I’m now creating an artistic app for learning Chinese characters as part of my research! Great other time hole and ensures I deepen my knowledge of the language to teach and learn alongside my favourite cute language partner.
- There is a 4th language! (!!!) My dad stayed with us for a few months to help with the transition to a family of 4, and I asked him to speak in Gujarati (which he still can speak fluently, although mixes in a lot of English) to further stave off the English. Since it’s another Indo-European language (and therefore in my mind ‘easier’ than the non-Indo-European ones) I’m fine with it being passive and indeed don’t want to ‘confuse’ him or stress him or pressure him. Passive knowledge is absolutely fine. And then - he surprised me a couple of times by coming out with actual Gujarati words! I have no knowledge of this language so quickly bought a Colloquial Gujarati book, hah! There are some Swahili, Arabic and Persian words mixed into my father’s particular dialect based on where he’s from, where he grew up etc, so a great mix. I’m thinking of online fun classes for my son now, as…why ever not? Could be a grandad and son bonding time.
- There is a 5th language! (!!!) I asked my mom, when we see her (when in non-lockdown) to speak in…Cantonese!! I rejected this loud and yelling language as a kid in Hong Kong and preferred the quieter English. How little I knew! Now I absolutely love Cantonese in all its yelling glory. (Why do they call it Chinese whispers? I have never met a Chinese who whispers!! They are always yelling and when on the phone, is like theatre rather than radio) Now I’m older, I really appreciate dialects and how rich they are and how important for culture and the world. Mandarin is an official language and therefore ‘artificial’ in some ways, ie they have to ensure as many people as possible understand each other. Dialects evolve naturally and Cantonese is closer to Middle Chinese and preserves elements of culture that is lost in official languages. Now I’m older, I don’t worry about language confusion. I trust the brilliant child brain to sort it out. He hasn’t responded in Cantonese and I don’t expect him to. I bought a Colloquial Cantonese book for me just in case! And I’m getting closer to my parents too by very very casually learning bits of their languages too. I realise that I am lucky to have an enormously rich language heritage in my family and living speakers of dialects, so…. Speak away! If anything it shows my kids the enormous variety of tongues on this earth.
- Also discovered I may be a slight passive bilingual! As some Cantonese words and structures pop up in my memory…that I vaguely remember in childhood and that strangely still seem to be there…amazing!
- My darling baby has had exposure to all 3 languages from birth. So far he has said GaGa, which I think is international!
- I am mixing all the language approaches as I don’t have time to think about it deeply. As long as they are getting enough exposure, or any exposure at all, to the minority languages I’m happy.
- I thought the window period was 0-3. And, he’s still 3, so we haven’t missed it. It’s a continuum not a deadline. Being 3 actually takes a whole year, and he’s 3.5, so, haven’t missed the boat, phew!
- Our wonderfully fantastic Chinese playgroup has moved online, and it’s still the best quality Chinese exposure we receive as they are so so great. Helps hugely he’s met them before in real life and is not some random teachers. We’re so lucky to have this. And the lessons are semi-private and they go into Chinese characters, which satisfies my Tiger plus Montessori needs (best of both worlds - rigour AND fun together).
- Really sadly, we had to let go - temporarily during the pandemic I told her! - of our wonderful Slovak nanny. Paradoxically, for a while she actually lived with us as she had nowhere else to go, but because we were social distancing we couldn’t mix, although whenever I could I ‘cornered’ her as far as you can corner someone when you’re socially distancing, and we all had golden Slovak conversations. She’s found her own place now, and we speak on Skype sometimes. And I said as soon as this is over she has her job back! For 2-4 hours a week, as 2 kids now. We miss her! We Skype sometimes
- Instead of going to the physical Slovak Saturday school, we do it online! And it works really well so I’m so pleased! He hasn’t met them in real life but it’s nice that again it’s semi-private. And we hear other families speak in Slovak. I’m the only non-native Slovak speaker but am able to follow along mostly. They are kind to me and don’t make me go too far out of my comfort zone. I think the main lesson to my kid is that it’s important and learning languages is important for life and a worthy activity of our time. As soon as we can, we’ll go to the physical Slovak Saturday school!
- I’m homeschooling as we are a shielding family. We are part of a bilingual nursery that paradoxically we can’t attend! But, we can attend their circle times daily online for 30 mins, so this increases his Mandarin exposure. Then, my homeschool is actually just focused time with my preschooler and I for 30 mins - 1 hour, where we do fun Chinese literacy activities (eg. playing with sand, sticking beans to the character for bean, looking at family photo albums, discovering what’s in mama’s drawers as it takes place in my art studio, making volcanoes, generally messing around…) and reading books and doing Chinese, speaking in mix of Chinese and English. (His English is by now fluent and the strongest language…that horse has bolted! But, he does also reply in Chinese).
- Resources: my Slovak nanny’s daughter very kindly helped me buy a huge amount of Slovak books, shipped from Slovakia. I trawled the entire range of Slovak books while pregnant and had to wait for 2 lockdowns to be over before she could ship them! Finally got them all so we have a decent selection of Slovak books, at long last. Even got an amazing Slovak reading pen! I’m a big fan of reading pens now as they are tech without screentime, and also buys me some time to work! Bought before Brexit actually happens! Phew! And actually - I’d recommend other European families living in the UK to do the same - buy Euro resources before prices rise…
- My Chinese library is pretty amazing now! I bought a huge bunch of Chinese books and they are here at long, long, last, with the super kind help of a bookstore and friends. I trawled the entire internet while pregnant with these! And distilled them into one book list. I also trawled lots of Chinese mother blogs and feel confident in Chinese resources and tackling the Chinese learning journey full-on, thanks to them and their inspiration. I have a LeLe reading pen and set, a Luka reading robot and Sagebooks graded readers to help me teach and learn Chinese with kids. Seems perfect and I feel all set. Has taken months, and I’ve also been working, and I feel broke all over again as all these resources are expensive, but I feel worth it.
- I do try to read Slovak at night after Chinese but usually he’s already asleep. I did make Slovak and Chinese books accessible and put most of the English ones out of reach. However, he’s shown interest in the English alphabet so not stopping this but going with the flow, but only when he wants. Would be unfair to artificially stem a child’s growth in this when it is a strong need. Still want to emphasise the Chinese characters. So just double up on them even more! And read Chinese daily at night and also throughout the day, thanks to Adam’s advice and the knowledge that reading can safeguard the language for life
- When I see my mom, we read Chinese books all together. This is nice bonding time plus she helps me with words I don’t know. She knows traditional characters, I know some simplified now. Together we find a way and can figure out the meaning. This shows my kid that deciphering and decoding a language is possible and worthy.
- I completed and also started some online Chinese adult courses and downloaded some apps.
- Preschooler can recognise around 50+ Chinese characters and takes an active interest in learning and reading, so I am so overjoyed and making it fun; really sparks my own creativity.
- Forget Slovak Sundays, didn’t work and instead just trying to get husband to speak more Slovak. Interestingly, he naturally speaks more Slovak to baby as he likely feels more confident now in general with babies! With preschooler I still have to encourage (sometimes gently, sometimes less gently). Good thing is he’s basically on board except when tired at night. And understands the bigger picture and why I’m nagging!
- My son is the language police! And tells his dad to speak Slovak too, copying me! Haha! And, wow! Although sometimes he also just insists on speaking English so we let him. Only because he’s so good about convincing his dad with the Slovak at other times. Win some, lose some.
- There is no public now. We hardly go out because of pandemic so don’t see too many people. So = more minority language exposure! Even online, the people we see are either language classes or my parents. My parents are not consistent with their minority languages and our whole family common language is English. So, English is inescapably there and…why fight it. Just increasing the minority languages wherever possible. Forked path approach ‘choose Chinese, wherever possible’
- Forget percentages and the 30% idea. Just feel it, and if it feels like a little too much English, switch to another language! We have the book resources now to prompt us.
- Got some parts of daily routine down in Chinese and also written in Chinese.
- Preschooler has recently begun to speak whole sentences to me in Mandarin that he’s clearly not parroting but making up by himself! I am Over the Moon (also a great Chinese film on Netflix, watch it)!!!!! So gratifying and totally worth it for these moments!
- Found some amazing kid’s resources in Slovak! And, through the online nursery, picking up authentic, native Slovak ways of teaching kids I never would have thought of, eg clapping out the syllables which you don’t need to do in Chinese or English.
- We have the foundations of a Chinese rich environment at home: scrolls of Chinese characters, lanterns etc to get us in the mood. And definitely got enough resources to last kids until they are teenagers (probably - at least till they’re 8 or something).
- Made some wonderful friends online - other Chinese mothers on similar journeys to me. Inspiring and better done as a community. Thanks again Adam!
MAIN CONCERNS NOW
- Is socialisation in real life! This is more to do with the pandemic than with actual languages though I suspect many people feel this way. What to do? I’d love him of course to socialise in Mandarin in real life Chinese classes and in Slovak in real life Slovak Saturday class, and even in English in nursery or indeed Mandarin.
- I do also need to up my own Slovak fluency, and study it again properly when I find the time. I did think I’d get more time when he was at nursery but since we haven’t been able to do that, trying to look at the positives of this pandemic and lockdowns bringing other opportunities
- London is not the multilingual paradise now because...in lockdown can’t go anywhere! and I don’t really want to take public transport. I miss the cacophony of tongues on the bus!
- Wish we could access the real life Chinese library! Will just have to wait till after pandemic.
- I miss Chinatown and noodle soup!
- He will still go to majority English school eventually, so I need solid language habits in place.
- Need to sort homes for all those books!
- When is safe, we still want a Chinese student or au pair if possible to live with us, if we can afford! (And we’ll try our best!)
- And the ultimate: go to China!! Is still our dream - but now is not only time and money, but also pandemic!
- And to Slovakia! Same as above but cheaper and easier.
- Find or initiate interesting classes in real life in Chinese eg kung fu taught in Chinese, calligraphy taught in Chinese etc in London. I feel more confident with this due to the power of social media and generally all the online wonderful community of parents. Just have to wait for the pandemic to pass! Totally fine now with weekend being taken up with languages. Why not? What else is there to do during a pandemic anyway? He is full of free time now so just enjoying each other…. In different languages!
- Hope to have Slovak house guests returning when is safe.
- I wonder how the 2 siblings will interact with each other?!! I have yet to find out!
- Keep ‘feeling’ the language exposure and calibrating and tweaking; if feels like too much of one, make changes. I feel more confident in being able to do this. If we got our daily routines down in minority languages as a habit would really help.
- Keep listening to Chinese music, I need reminders with this. I have the resources, I just don’t press play enough!
- Print out some Slovak songs to sing with him - again, I have, but haven’t done and don’t use - I also need to sing to baby a lot more in all languages
- Start leveraging my adult Chinese too. I’ve long exhausted my Chinese budget for this year so will have to wait for next year. At least now I know it’ll be app or online based.
And that’s it for now - will try to update my progress when baby is 1 year old and follow his speaking progress (though I suspect for him walking will come first). He’s still at the cute gaga stage now.
Your thoughts, comments and suggestions so welcome! Look forward!