Before the Birth

From BilingualWiki

These diary entries start with my pregnancy with my first child and are on-going. They describe my daily experiences--the good, the bad, and the funny-- of raising a child bilingual. Christine Galbreath Jernigan 08:31, 27 April 2006 (MST)

Anything in italicized parentheses are comments I added later to say what worked, what I modified, etc.

October 10, 2001 (7 months pregnant)

I'm just now starting to feel really pregnant and the reality of what’s going to happen to me is setting in. I feel somewhat prepared for labor through these classes I’ve taken on natural childbirth (though I’m not opposed to getting an epidural if I have to!) and books I’ve read. But as far as after labor, I feel pretty clueless.

I know I want Sydney to speak Portuguese and am trying to get some sort of picture in my mind of how we’ll do that but to be honest, I can’t even picture how we’ll survive each day, much less how we’ll do EXTRA and learn another language. I checked out some library books on the topic and they sort of discouraged teaching your child a language unless you really are fluent OR they didn’t mention teaching your child a second language at all. When I’ve mentioned what I’m thinking about doing to people who already have kids, they look at me like, “you have no idea how little time you’ll have for such!” They may be right too, I have no idea. But I won’t be teaching probably, unless I really miss working, so there will be some extra time in the day I would suspect.We’ll see. See It's Gratifying.

I asked some of the teachers I worked with (one speaks French, another speaks Chinese) if they’d considered teaching those languages to their kids. I was shocked at their resonses(especially by the woman who spoke Chinese). She feared it would slow the kids down in school. How odd that as a language teacher, she did not see that it really would not slow them down, but could only be a benefit to them.

October 24, 2001 (34 weeks pregnant)

Ok, here is my plan of things I have to do, if I’m going to help Sydney learn to speak Portuguese.

Plan for Raising Bilingual Child

(I wrote these first three before the birth.)

1 Find a Brazilian who can teach me songs/nursery rhymes in 2 or 3 tutoring sessions. Don’t have them write the words before the tutoring session, just the titles. That way they’ve thought of several before the sessions and I’ll pay them for time they spent doing so. I can also find some on line or ask some Brazilian friends (Celio/Adriana) via email and get some titles to jog her memory. (Buying the songs on tape with a book accompanying it was much easier. When I needed to ask people in person, I asked Brazilians in Sydney's playgroup.)
2 Start listening to Brazilian music and speaking Portuguese aloud when alone so the baby gets used to the sounds. My voice is higher in Portuguese and I fear it won’t be as familiar to her as my voice in English. I read that “Your voice will certainly be familiar to him from his days in your womb, as will that of your partner. In fact, it may well be that by hearing speech while still in your womb, the foundations for your baby’s future language development begin to form, even before he is born” (Bounty Pregnancy Book, Kiley, 2000, p. 58)
3 Let people know that a great gift would be Brazilian books (that you can order). That’s tough for me at this point since we’re living overseas but for her first birthday we should be back in the States and we can ask then.
(These last ones I wrote after Sydney was born, but have put them here to keep the planning ideas together.)
4 Speak Portuguese as her first words. In these first 6-8 months, the Portuguese is more for me, to get me in the habit, than actually for the baby. Once I get a language established with someone, it’s difficult for me to change.
5 Speak Portuguese to her even when my parents are near. I actually plan to use English when family members (I later change my mind on this one) are around but I feel certain when I’m only addressing something to my daughter, I will use Portuguese and my family needs to get accustomed to this so it’s not a shock later. I want them to get the “oddness” of it over with so they don’t eye us in a funny way after the baby is born.
6 Get Portuguese cable. This is a big investment actually (around $70 a month I believe) but I think for developing my language skills it’ll be well worth having. (I’ve also decided to do it right after my parents leave as a sort of “cheer me up” and “give myself a new project” when I’m a bit blue as I always am when they leave). It would also help conversation with Brazilians, because I would have more cultural ties. (I must admit, I never did this one. I couldn’t justify it since I so rarely watch tv and am not to big on children watching much tv.)
7 Hire a weekly tutor. This will be very casual and I may use a student from the institute where I taught or just put an ad near my neighborhood so the person is living nearby. It would be someone who could come to the house, have tea and converse with the baby in the same room. The objectives would be to give me a social outlet combined with Portuguese to increase my language skills and confidence in the language and to let the baby hear Portuguese in the house. (Instead I spent time with Brazilian friends and later spoke and asked questions to a Brazilian babysitter.)
8 Keep a Portuguese journal. In it, I’ll write down my thoughts on how things are going with speaking Portuguese to the baby including the following Vocabulary I need

Vocabulary I learn

People’s reactions to hearing Portuguese spoken

Friends’ and family’s reactions

Difficulties I face

How I feel I’m meeting objectives

What I’ve learned from conversation time with the Brazilian once a week

(I’ve definitely done this one in these little spiral bound black books I keep in my purse)

9 Breastfeeding Monologues. I’ve been having daily monologues with Sydney since her birth (in Portuguese of course). I tell her what day it is, how old she is, what we’re planning to do that day, etc Often times I have to look words up in the tiny Portuguese dictionary by my bed (had to look up “seal” when I told her how we were headed for the Aquarium that day.) I do it while I breastfeed. I also do the “din in the head” (link to terminology) where I tell stories to people (like Brazilian playgroup mothers) and look up words I need.

10 Get her in a Portuguese-speaking playgroup. I’m unsure how to go about this. I could start one I guess. (I found one eventually!) Or maybe just have one Portuguese-speaking friend, the kid of whoever tutors me perhaps.

November 27, 2001 (8 months pregnant)

I’m glad to have found a Brazilian playgroup. Just poked around on Google.com and found one. I’d thought of starting one myself and this will be a lot easier. Lia returned my email asking about it-- she’s the President or the leader or whatever, of the playgroup She seemed really enthusiastic about it but after reading her mail I decided to call her to let her know I’m not Brazilian. Her mail said the group was for “Brazilians interested in maintaining their language and culture though far from home.” She wasn’t home. I just don’t want to appear like I’m being deceptive or presumptuous or whatever.