James 2- 2 1/2 Years, Sydney 4- 4 1/2 Years, Foreign Exchange Student (Mariana)17-18 Years, Montegnard Family of 8
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February 21, 2006
Sydney can circumnavigate well in Portuguese and English—I loved overhearing her tell a story of a rooster. She couldn’t remember the name “rooster” so she said, “that bird, you know, the one with that red thing here (pointing to her head).”
It made me think about how language students need to learn these skills fm the beginning, since they will not know much vocabulary. They should know “thing” “something” “anything,” and other categories (names of fruits, vegetables, colors, numbers). One evening after learning 1-20 in Portuguese, one of my students told me she felt so much better just knowing the numbers!
She really has a good idea now of what’s Portuguese and what’s English. I notice if she code-switches, that she says the English word or expression
E eu falei pra ele ‘Nao pode ficar, get outa here, agora’, mas ele ficou, Mamae!”
She’s gotten in the habit of repeating the new word when I correct her. The correction is not always overt unless I feel she isn’t getting and it’s something important for her to learn now. Below I’ll but the code switched word, the English one in other words, in bold)
S: Entao, eu fui para …o farm e vi muitos animais. (So, I went to the FARM and saw lots of animals)
C: (with lots of animation) Voce foi para a fazenda?
S: Sim, fui na fazenda e ela tinha 4 porcos! (Yes, I went to the farm and it had 4 pigs!)
C: E que mais? (and what else?)
S: umas little chicks (Some little CHICKS)
C: Tinha pintinhos? (there were chicks?)
S: Sim, pintinhos pequininhos!! (yes, little tiny chicks!!)
February 21, 2006
Sydney can circumnavigate well in Portuguese and English—I loved overhearing her tell a story of a rooster. She couldn’t remember the name “rooster” so she said, “that bird, you know, the one with that red thing here (pointing to her head).”
It made me think about how language students need to learn these skills fm the beginning, since they will not know much vocabulary. They should know “thing” “something” “anything,” and other categories (names of fruits, vegetables, colors, numbers). One evening after learning 1-20 in Portuguese, one of my students told me she felt so much better just knowing the numbers!
She really has a good idea now of what’s Portuguese and what’s English. I notice if she code-switches, that she says the English word or expression
E eu falei pra ele ‘Nao pode ficar, get outa here, agora’, mas ele ficou, Mamae!”
She’s gotten in the habit of repeating the new word when I correct her. The correction is not always overt unless I feel she isn’t getting and it’s something important for her to learn now. Below I’ll but the code switched word, the English one in other words, in bold)
S: Entao, eu fui para …o farm e vi muitos animais. (So, I went to the FARM and saw lots of animals)
C: (with lots of animation) Voce foi para a fazenda?
S: Sim, fui na fazenda e ela tinha 4 porcos! (Yes, I went to the farm and it had 4 pigs!)
C: E que mais? (and what else?)
S: umas little chicks (Some little CHICKS)
C: Tinha pintinhos? (there were chicks?)
S: Sim, pintinhos pequininhos!! (yes, little tiny chicks!!)
March 1, 2006
It is sometimes just so great to have a code language. We just returned from a trip to Nashville with the kids. Waiting for her plane was a dwarf. Her friends were right behind Sydney waiting on her to walk over to them. Sydney started laughing and pointing at her. I could immediately tell her to stop and explain the situation to her without her friends or her understanding.
It is also good for when I really want her to do something to the point I’m willing to bribe. She’s funny about hugging people she doesn’t know well (which is normal, I’d say), but when we went to visit my grandparents in Nashville, we stayed around an hour and as we left my grandmother wanted a hug from Sydney. I just smiled at Sydney, trying to pre-empt the sad face/cling to my leg bit I knew from experience was coming. I said to her nicely, “Go hug her and later I’ll give you M & Ms” I’m sure the parenting magazines would say that’s not the way to motivate your kid and the nutritionists would argue for offering an all-natural nut bar instead, but chocolate WORKS when you’re in the thick of things.
I heard her talking to Stephen last night telling hi, “I used to read the English books in Portuguese and the Portuguese books in English, so I ‘transated’ them.” So she has this meta-awareness of what language she’s speaking or what languages things are in.
She is so curious when she hears other languages being spoken. She’ll hear German and stop as if she’s really trying to understand, then say, “That’s not Spanish!”
March 13,2006
A friend of mine, Vorakarn, stayed with us this past weekend. He and I met while we were teaching in Brazil. It was really interesting to watch him interact with Sydney. I had told her beforehand that Vorakarn spoke Portuguese (to preempt her saying something rude, thinking she and I had our code language). She spoke with Vorakarn a bit (I wasn’t in the room), and later said (all in Portuguese, though), “(Question-mark expression) Vorakarn speaks Portuguese. He asked me “O que é isto?” (What’s this?) but then, he didn’t know the word for “vase. How can he not know “vase”? That’s weird. Maybe he doesn’t really speak Portuguese.” I asked my friend about it later and he said he was asking her about which type of flower was in the vase and she misunderstood.
Vorakarn spent a good amount of time with the kids and at one point said of Sydney, “She’s using meta-cognition!” (when put in wiki, add to Category: Terminology making m-c a link [metacognition| http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/assessment/glossary.html] I was SO HAPPY that someone finally noticed how truly amazing it is…how she knows which language she’s speaking, flows from one to the other based on who’s in the room and what language they speak, how she can talk about both languages.
We also discussed her circumnavigation skills and how they are honed in both languages from having to figure out a way to say something, even when she can’t remember the word.
I also noticed how much she mixed English into her Portuguese while Vorakarn and Stephen were around. Once she and I were alone or with only James, she was back to Portuguese only.
April 2, 2006
It seems harder to get James to speak in Portuguese. I overhear Sydney saying, “suco?” (juice?) to see if he wants juice and he forever answers in English, “juice!”
April 13,2006
Stephen noticed that James isn’t enunciating very well. I told him I wasn’t worried about it b/c
1. He’s the 2nd child and children after the 1st tend to start speaking later than the oldest.
2. He’s a boy and boys tend to start speaking later than girls (he can’t help but compare her to our daughter, Sydney who was also a late talker but really enunciated once she started)
3. He’s learning 2 languages. Slows things down a bit, as you would imagine.
I poked around on the internet and found, “When do children start talking? According to the website, most children begin talking at age one and combining words at age two. By age two, toddlers are forming short sentences which are 60-70% understandable to others. Those who are behind at age two are warning us of a potential problem.”
James was a little late in putting 2 words together but caught up around 26 months so no biggie. I wouldn’t say he’s putting together sentences, unless you count “Nao, that!”
April 14, 2006
I asked Sydney a question today (it would have involved a quote from someone speaking in English) and she asked, in Portuguese, “Voce quer em ingles ou portugues?” (“Do you want it in English or in Portuguese?”) I said Portuguese. She said, as an aside, “Mas se Daddy chegar, vamos falar em ingles.” (But if Daddy comes, we’ll speak in English.”)
Also, sometimes she’ll talk to James in the baby talk he uses. One day when Stephen was around, she was saying talking to James (in English) using James’ baby-talk pronunciation: “Mong Key” (for Monkey…he says it in an odd way and separates the two syllables). I said to her, “Fala direito pra ele” “(Say it right to him)” and she switched to speaking to Portuguese, “macaco.” (monkey).
I heard Sydney telling Stephen, “Mamae’s English is getting worse.” I’m assuming that’s in response to my really working these last couple of weeks since I went to NY to get her back into all Portuguese. She was throwing in English word into every other sentence so I sort of gently cracked down.
April 18, 2006
Last night Sydney did something for the first time that made me think, “oh no!” She didn’t remember the word in Portuguese and when I said, “o que?” (the what?) She said, “Voce sabe…bathroom” as if she was coaching me to just give her the word she needed since surely I knew it. We’ll see if this is a pattern…I hope now. I’m really working hard to be consistent…it’s like constantly teaching, sometimes exhausting sometimes exciting.
April 20, 2006
I’m already debating what to bring to the Brazilian group on Tuesday. (it’s only Thursday the week before and I’m already thinking about it). Because they never like what I bring. Oh, actually they did like pistachios…maybe I’ll just stick to those (easy prep). I’ve had this problem for years…maybe I should just ask one of them what I should bring…maybe there’s some American food they’d like to try, chicken and dumplings or something. That group was the catalyst for me praying in Portuguese and now when we say our prayers at the table before meals (even with relatives around and with Stephen), I pray in Portuguse. Now it feels so natural that praying aloud in English feels weird…like I’m just putting on a show for the people around me and not really talking to God. It’s interesting how we really can make new habits.
Sydney is very helpful with teaching James words. Just this week he’s let loose and starting talking more. Today I insisted he say “suco” instead of “juice.” He said something sorta close to “suco” and I praised and praised him. Then when he responded, “yeah,” I said, “Sim mamae” and he said, “Si mama”. He calls me “Mi mama”—sorta feel like I’m teaching him Spanish or something.
Sydney’s learning Spanish at preschool. She loves to count in Spanish. Then she’ll do it in Portuguese. She can get to thirty with some help.
I never did ask a Brazilian why it’s rude to eat a banana on the beach. I know that in general, Brazilians don’t eat on the go and like things to be well presented. They wouldn’t drink a canned drink directly from the can or a bottled drink from the bottle unless many it had a straw and they were at the beach. They use a knife and fork for many foods we use our hands for. They would never carry a loaf of French bread under their arms like the French do. They’d instead have it all wrapped up in white paper before leaving the bakery. I’ll ask next time I talk to a Brazilian…it may have sexual overtones so I should probably ask Gloria (Bria’s mom whose involved with Sydney’s preschool) and not the women at the Brazilian group. We’ll see.
April 25, 2006
I asked my friend Gloria why eating a banana on the beach would be considered rude. She laughed and said that people of a certain level of social class do not bring their own food to the beach. They lie on the beach, play volleyball, etc. and when they’re hungry/thirsty, they go to a little bar/restaurant along the beach’s edge and sit outside eating a little something and having a beer. I asked if eating a banana on the beach would be worse than eating an apple on the street just to see if there were any sexual implication of a banana’s shape. She laughed that sort of “Well, yeah a banana is sorta different.” But it’s mainly the idea of eating a piece of fruit while walking around. If they want an apple, the cut it and put it on a plate. Otherwise, she said, you look like a poor person or someone without much education in manners and in general. Interesting.
May 25, 2006
James is saying so many new words that I can hardly keep up. Mainly he wants to speak English, but will repeat Portuguese after I’ve said it if I ask him to. (Except with the word “suco” (“juice”). He’ll say the mas (“more”) part in Portuguese, but thinks it’s sort of a game to say, “No juice!” when I say, “Oh, voce quer suco? (“Oh, you want juice?”).
June 7, 2006
Lately it’s been hard to get Sydney to stay in Portuguese. She tends to say the in-between words in Portuguese no problem, but as soon as she hits a big word, she’ll say it in English even though I know she knows it. In the past, I’ve been a little lenient on her putting in an English word now and then when she’s in the middle of a story she’s excited about. It seemed like interrupting her to insist on Portuguese would be like correcting someone’s grammar while they were telling a joke.
But I’m changing my policy on even that because there are at least a couple of English words per sentence at this point. I find it exhausting and frustrating and am working hard not to show her my frustration. I have asked her to speak Portuguese to me, but always in a very nice way, as if it would be a personal favor to me. I think she’s finally realized that I can understand her when she speaks English. In fact, I’m surprised that took so long because when my husband is with us, I understand her English more or less even though I speak back in Portuguese. She’ll respond just to me in Portuguese and then turn to Stephen and speak English.
I think the deal is that she’s been having more playdates with kids who only speak English. She sees me speaking English to them. She has one friend, Robbie, who I continue to speak some Portuguese to and she translates for him, but in general she seems me speaking English to other kids and thinks, “Hey, I can speak it to her too!”
My response has been to be consistent. When she says, “Eu nao sei onde esta meu ‘bear’” (“I don’t know where my bear is”), she’s said most of the sentence in Portuguese. Still, I’ll ask “Voce nao sabe onde esta o que?” (“You don’t know where what is”). If there bear is near, she’ll just point to it or call it “aquela coisa” (“that thing”) or even, “aquele negocio marrom” (“that brown thing-a-majig).” I love that she can get her meaning across even if she doesn’t know the word, that’s a great skill. But she does know what the word means. So I’ve started saying, “What do you call that? When she still hasn’t said the word “urso” (“bear”). She usually only has to think a second and she’ll remember and say the word.
But man, it’s tiring for us both. I think this summer will help because she’s just now out of preschool and she’s not in English from 8:30-1:00 each weekday. I saw an ad for a Brazilian babysitter from this email update from the Brazilian association. I may call her and have her come a few hours in addition to Stella’s four hours. I could use the time to work and it would be improving her Portuguese. Plus it’d just be fun.
June 20, 2006
Talked with my friend Pascale today. She visited with her hubby and 2 kids (boy age 4, girl age 6). It was so fun hearing them speak French to the kids. They are doing the, speak-English-in- Public-and-French-at-home deal, but I think since I understand French, they felt comfortable to speak in French around me. I noticed that there were times with the daughter would address her mom Pascale in French, and Pascale would respond in English. I asked her how the bilingual stuff is going and she said the problem is that she doesn’t notice what language she’s speaking. I’ve seen such a pattern with this awareness “problem” with native speakers.
I would have to borrow from psychology and point to the area of mindfulness. Once a parent learns skills of how to be more observant of their own behavior, they will likely note which language they are hearing/speaking. From there they can work on sticking to the language plan they’ve outlined.
June 21, 2006
I get so frustrated with trying to get Portuguese-speaking babysitters. I found a 14 year old through the Association of Brazilians in the Triangle and set her up to come. We talked at length about how she was to only speak Portuguese. I paid her an extra $4-5 an hour to do so. I explained, no television, no responding to English (and I showed her how I do this with enthusiasm and gentleness).
When I got home, there were English books all over the family room floor and when I asked Sydney how it went and if she liked speaking Portuguese to Anna, she said, “She spoke English too. To read books. I wanted her to read them in Portuguese.” By that she means to sorta translate as I do if she really wants to hear a book she only has in English (generally it’s something like Goldilocks that I already know the storyline to). I guess that’s a lot of ask of a babysitter to translate books, but she could have suggested Sydney choose a book in Portuguese.
August 5, 2006
I think we’re going to have a Brazilian foreign exchange student. She’s younger than I would prefer (17), but I think it’d be so good for the Portuguese, the babysitting, and just to get to know her. I read her application and she likes kids, likes parties, seems very self-confident with a fun family. I’ve called her and she’s so excited to come here.
