November of James 3.5 Years, Sydney nearly 6 Years
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November 1, 2007
Sydney in kindergarten hasn't made as big a dent in her Portuguese as I'd imagined. She uses more English when she's only with me in short spirts and I tell her the word in Portuguese and she repeats it (or I ask her to repeat it). Sometimes I give her the first syllable and she gets the rest. I really try not to be frustrating.
She's learning to read and I really haven't taken much time to help her do so in Portuguese. Sometimes she asks me how to write a word in Portuguese and there are certain letters that are confusing b/c of how they are pronounced in English. A Portuugese letter "I" is pronunced just like the English letter name for "E". But I'm glad she's interested.
It's just lately that James will hear me say to him, "Diga 'Oi'" or "Diga 'Obrigado'" ("Say 'h'" or "say 'thank you'") to English speakers and then really respond to them in English. Sydney is great at doing that.
November 8, 2006
Using Portuguese with those who don't understand it is getting really normal. It's only strange when my parents come to town and in situations like that (even when we're talking fast enough that Stephen doesn't understand us) because Sydney and I and sometimes James are cracking up laughing and when asked to translate we know it won't be funny. (Play on words, or just a "had to be there" type of joke).
I'm getting more used to translating though. Sometimes my parents would ask Sydney to translate and she did really well. It's interesting because she never uses the same words I would use to translate what we say into English. Not that either of us is going a better job- just different.
November 9, 2007
The kids still make fun of my parents' accent when they say "nao". It comes out sounding like the English word "now" and cracks them up (the nazel sound is hard to do). Diddy would try to speak some Portuugese to James, using "si" for "yes". That's Spanish, though. In Portuugese it's "Sim" that comes out sounding like "sing". Anyway so James heard that and laughed, sayign that's wrong. My dad asked how to say it and James had to think a long time. He finally said, "Sim". He also responded "Oi" when my dad asked him to say "hi". I love how they can do that-how the concept of another language isn't so odd to them.
November 11, 2007
Today we attended Barbee's Chapel. It's a congregation that's almost entirely (if not entirely) African American. It's our church's sister church and we visit each other from time to time. The woman sitting next to me is caucasion and is from our church. She told me she had to take her young children out one Sydney at Barbee's Chapel, both screaming. She asked how my kids would do with the service being loud. I thought, "fine. why not?" And, they did great. I think alot of it has to do with what they've been exposed to. James did whisper to Stephen that "the lady is talking too loud. I wanna go home" but was fine to stay. She was talking into a microphone that wasn't working so she was saying somethings in a very loud voice but it wasn't intelligible, so I could see why it would be odd for a 3 year old. Getting excited, making alot of happy noise, dancing, loud music, they've been exposed to it from an early age. The service was just great!
November 13, 2007
I've found playing bingo with the kids, especially with one of them being the caller, a great way to work with numbers, especially the tough ones above 30. It lends itself to any language.
I was listening in on Sydney's conversation with Stella today. Stella was teaching her a French word (using Portuguese, of course) and Sydney informed her that she already spoke French. That, in fact, she spoke French and Spanish. She's really proud of that-- loves talking to me in French (just little phrases like, "how are you" nothing complicated at all...stuff she learns in kindergarten) and loves to say words I don't know (like the word for 'monkey'). As for Spanish pride, she told me and then sang for me the "Dias de la semana" ("Days of the Week") song. Then she told me how she was helping others learn it and that her teacher said, "Well, I'll just go home and let Sydney teach you this." I cracked up. Not sure if her teacher was saying it in a sarcastic or loving way, but in either case, it's funny. I don't want her to be a know-it-all, but am glad she's confident.
November 14, 2007
Sydney was so funny today. She asked what treat I had put in her lunch for tomorrow. I told her it was something sweet but good for her. She said, in English, "raisins with yogurt on top". I looked quizically. She said it again. I gave the same puzzled look.She said, "voce entente ingles" ("you understand English). I said, "Mas nos falamos portugues" (but we speak Portuguese). She said in Portuguese that seh didn't know how to say it. I asked her to explain it using other words. She said, "E preto mas nao parece preto porque tem iogurte branco encima" (It's black but donen't look black b/c it has yogurt on it." I was so proud of her and made a big deal of how great that was. I told her someday she'd be so glad she learned different languages, that it would even help her in math. She laughed like I was an idiot and said, "Matematica??? Como? Matematica? Isto nao faz sentido nem um pouquinho." ("Math??? How? Math? That doesn't make any sense!" She kept laughing as if I were just joshing. Whatever.
November 24, 2007
I've been teaching Pronunciation III at NC State this month and have really enjoyed it. The students are around my age or younger. I've really tried to teach them some things they need to introduce themselves: how to pronunce their names in a way Americans can remember, how to shake hands not to hard/soft, etc. The first day, a man from South Korea came into the room. I shook his hand and introduced myself, using my first and last name. He said, "I am Mr. Parks. You can call me Mr. Parks." I politely explained that in this circumstance, given our similar ages and that I'm his instructor, that I would use his first name. He said ok and proceed to give me the most difficult name I think I've ever heard. I wanted to say, "So, let's go back to Mr. Parks". Since I'm the pronunciation teacher, it's embarrasing not to know how to say his name.
I also teach them how to speall their names aloud for others. One girl was trying to say "j" but it sounded like "a" so I said, "often you say "k" as in "kite" or "J" as in... (paused b/c i oculdn't think of a good "j" word right off the top of my head. Another student, spanish speaker, piped up enthusiastically, "J for Jorge." I had to laugh.
I thought I was done with teaching English and would stay on the teacher training side, but I really have enjoyed this class and will teach Pron I, II, and II next semester. English isn't as beautiful as Italian or Portuguese, but the history is really interesting and I've been able to use what I learned as an English literature major and as a history student.
Sydney's had no problem language-wise in kindergarten. Even with goofy slang. She said that one boy in her class said, "Your momma's skinny!" to which she retorted, "Well, your momma's fat." Can't we're already in the "your momma" stage.
