July 2008 of James 4 years, Sydney 6.5 years

From BilingualWiki

July 1, 2008

Received an interesting message from my Uncle Bob (the one on Stephen's side of the family). He'd obviously looked at my website and his comments were as follows:

"I was having trouble explaining to Jose that he must leave the leveling string unencumbered to achieve the proper contour on the bank behind my house. I was struck by the importance of the disparity between the ‘true’ self as known to the language learner and the more limited self as can be presented at any given moment in the foreign language. Then, I said to myself Damn, just Damn, probably no other field of study implicates self-concept to the degree that language study does. But enough about my landscaping."

Not quite sure what to make of it, but knowing him as I do, I'm sure it was in good humor.

Started up a "reading program" with Sydney and James. She loved it. He soon lost interest. We used the words on big cards we made ages ago. I chose about 9 words I thought useful (melancia=watermelon, Sydney's favorite fruit). First we went over each card getting her to sound out the words. The phonics system is similar to English and actually easier once you know which words have which sounds. That's because every letter is pronounced in Portuguese. (Or nearly all, they do have some silent letters.) She had trouble with "i" because in Portuguese it doesn't make the long or short [i] sound, but instead sounds like a long (e). We made a list of simple rules (about 4 in sum) and wrote then in her black composition book (the one we used ages ago). A rule would be, "i=i" to remind her that the letter "i" (pronounced when saying the Portuguese alphabet as long "e") has the same sound as it's letter name, long e.

She loved the accent marks, especially the cidilla. This looks like a five, she noted. It does, just without that top horizontal line. It goes under the letter "c" and makes it sound like "s" instead of "k": ç

We also worked on the nazal "ã". When it has a tilde over it, the "a" has a nasal sound, like you've got a bad cold. It's also sort of fun to draw.

I noticed she had the same issue she had in reading English. She can sound out each letter prefectly, but then not recognize what she has said as a whole word. James would end of saying the word oftentimes after she'd sounded it out and strung loosely the sounds together.

Then we played a game with the cards. We put them faceside down and James and Sydney were on one team, I was on another. They would choose a card and read it (with some help sometimes) and if they read it correctly, they could keep it as a point. When it was my turn, I chose a card, and Sydney flashed it over towards my eyes very quickly. That way sometimes I would "get it wrong" and not get to take it as a card. Cards not won went back facedown on the table.

Then we played a different round that worked more smoothly. They chose a card, tried to read it (I helped some, reminding them of the rules we'd discussed). If they read it, they got to keep the card as a point. If not, they had to give it to me. They got all but one.

Then, to review, we wrote the date on a page of her composition book, and she wrote the words we'd worked with. Then for tomorrow, I wanted her to review. So I put a bit half sheet rectangle on half a sheet of paper fm her composition book and below it but lines for her to write. Then I chose 5 of the words we'd done and wrote them neatly, with space provided for her to write the word right next to it. Then she could write a sentence using at least 2 of those words or even ones of the others we'd done on the cards previously.

I got this idea from Leah Barber, Sydney's kindergarten teacher extraordinaire. I would like to have her make the words with alphabet letters (you can use them on a cooking sheet, like those you use to bake cookies), but I wasn't sure we had all the letters. May buy a set just for this, since the fridge ones get lost under the fridge or otherwise misplaced. Since she's used to the format from school, it should be easy and interesting for her. She really misses school which facilitates the whole process. I'll tell you how it goes tomorrow.

July 17, 2008

We got alot of attention on our visit to Nashville. People hearing the kids and me speaking Portuguese. Some were really just shocked (salespeople and such).

My dad was teasing me when I was talking to James and said, "Blah blem blag blum...that's all I hear". James said to him, very quietly and seriously as if Diddy really didn't know, "She's speaking another language."

=July 20, 2008

James got stuck wanting to tell me something today and in his frustration, sighed and said to Sydney, 'I don't want to say it in Portuguese. I'll say it to Sydney, then she can tell you." I found it interesting that he used the 3rd person...he was telling ME this.