May 2009 of James 5, Sydney 7 years
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May 1, 2009
I'm doing everything I feel I can to increase Sydney's use of Portuguese and decrease her insertions of English words when they don't come instantly to mind. Just now she was looking for plastic spoons and asked the question in Portuguese except for the main words "plastic spoons" which she said in English. I asked her to say it in Portuguese and she thought a minute "plastique...de colher"
May 6, 2009
Okay, I'm back to getting to kids to say the word three times in Portuguese if they say it in English. B-o-r-i-n-g! But it's boring enough for they to try to avoid it by saying it in Portuguese in the first place.
Today Sydney's friend Lexie was over, playing in the driveway. Sydney screamed for me to come look at a spider, but said the word "spider" in English. So as I was running over to see, I said repeatedly, "Aranha, aranha, aranha". Lexie was staring at me. I asked, "What do you thinK I'm saying? She said (proud of her language prowess) "Kill it, kill it, kill it!".
It's funny how people think they are picking up on words. My pal Bickie really does get alot of what I say in Portuguese. She's smart, pays attention, and spends time with us...I'd say that's why. Apparently at some point, she'd heard me say sharply to the kids, "Cuidado!" ("Careful!) So then today when I heard James had hit a little girl in the group, I started walking over to him with a mad face. Olive said, "Cuidado! Cuidado James. I don't even know what that means, but it seems to fit right not, Cuidado!"
May 8, 2009
I am really tired of the English speaking--- do I sound like Mommy Dearest of what??? Even today when James couldn't remember how to say something and Stephen was in the room but not listening, he asked, "Can I just say it to Daddy?" Ugh!
I decided to start yet another positive reward system. This time I have a bowl (with a top) of candy fish. They look like multicolored fish and taste like vitamins. I give them twice a day, depending on how much they've spoken Portuguese in general. I decided not to do it per time, or it would get impossible to enforce. I also write down the words that are tough and ask the later about them when they wonder if they got a fish. Usually they'll get a fish if they've learned from their mistake. James in particular tends to like game-like motivators like this. He's competitive-- wanting to know if Sydney got hers for the afternoonn.
May 15, 2008
My friend Nada said that years ago she got frustrated trying to speak her native language, Servian, to her kids. Her husband is here but she and he have been here for so long that her English is very very advanced. She says that she sometimes, oftentimes depending on whether relative are around or not, speaks Serbiana and he understands but doesn't respond except in English. She said she just hated it when he came home all excited about something and then was using mainly English. She said "I couldn't interupt him to say, 'No, in Servian' when he was telling his stories. That just feels wrong." I knew how she felt, I think. Sometimes switching over to English after school is the toughest part. I end up talking practically to myself for awhile until they get the sound of the language in their head. I tell them what I did that day, what's applicable to them (I called X's mother to see if she can sleep over Friday night? You have a dentist appointment in the morning). Eventually they ask questions about what I'm talking about and that'll switch us to English.
Even at the table, she'll start in English looking at Stephen, but if he'll not be paying attention (b/c he's working with James), she'll instead look at me and say it in Portuguese.
