MERCI MERCI MERCI ! I am raising my children in Louisiana Creole which is a francophone and is my heritage language ! This is a big encouragement and I am so glad to see someone doing Chanel like this !
Always feel so motivated and encouraged by your videos! I’m ten months in to raising my daughter in my non-native language Spanish and there’s been such joy to see her begin to understand and respond using signs to what I’m saying to her. A fun one recently is I’ll say “cuán grande es la bebé?” And she’ll lift her hands up above her head with a big smile and I’ll respond with “tan grande!”. If others try to get her to do it in English she doesn’t get it yet. I know English will come easily to her so I’m not worried about that at all right now. It just makes me feel good to know that front loading Spanish to her now is starting to pay off and she really is understanding :). Thanks for all you do to share your experience and encourage others!
Thank you for creating this channel!! I want to raise my children bilingual. Both my fiance and I are Dutch and I want them to know English too as English is spoken all over the world and Dutch not at all at most places haha The thing I struggle with the most is being around other Dutchies, because everyone understands English so I feel like they can really judge me when I make a mistake or whatever. The story about the playground in Quebec helped me so thank you 😊 Also it feels so good knowing you're not alone in this. Keep up the great work everyone! 🤗
Wow thank you so much for your comment! You're so right--it's one thing to speak a language when you don't think anyone can understand. It brings a whole added layer of difficulty to the situation when you worry that your skills are being judged by listeners around you. So glad to know that someone else can relate. And I'm certain that your English is fabulous :). Keep it up and thanks for watching and commenting!
I found your channel because I'm thinking about how to raise my future kids with my boyfriend in the Netherlands. My native language is Dutch, his is Bulgarian and between us two we mostly converse in English, as his Dutch is between A2 and B1 level and my Bulgarian below A1. One Language One Parent seems interesting yet challenging if the minority language parent works fulltime, but from what I've seen it seems the most appealing way to do it in our situation. I have to admit I was also one of those 'politely judgy' people when I watched another video of yours about the OPOL method, but you're doing it all so consciously that I can't do anything but admire you for it. You've clearly put in a LOT of thought into this and that's wonderful!
I really wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences ❤ I live in quebec and my son is learning French at school. my native language is Spanish and I speak English to my son. My husband is a Spanish speaker and he speaks Spanish all the time to my son. I wish people were more open-minded and respectful. I always get critics from relatives for not speaking my native language to my son and I feel really uncomfortable. People think children will get confused and they will not use the minority language in the future. I believe kids need exposure to different cultures and I know he will have enough exposure to be able to speak the three languages
Thank you for this!! I have probably around a B2 or C1 level with Mandarin, and just started speaking it with my 9mo yesterday. Your videos give me so much confidence that I can have a positive impact on my daughter and raise her to be bilingual! 🎉
Great. And one could say also that the children could learn to read and write since they are two year old. You could start with simple words like "mama" in big and red letters.
Thanks for your videos they are very helpful and allowed me to be more serene about taking this step toward raising my daughter bilingual (French majority / English minority ). Especially since I’ll be the sole minority speaker for a while. I found a lot of my anxiety addressed in your videos. So thank you so much.
Thank you so much for watching my video and taking the time to leave a comment about how this has helped you. It makes me happy to know that! This is tough work, so anytime we can honest about our struggles I think it helps us band together and motivate each other. Keep it up!
Finnish immersion pre-school! Dang, that's niche! I mentioned your channel in a Refold livestream recently because people had questions about raising my kid in Swedish. Great to see you're uploading regularly! I definitely recognised some of these. I've actually had nothing but super positive reactions about it from Australians, to the point that I sometimes feel guilty because I'm not actually as committed as you have been. Although I have recently become more motivated since Austen (my almost 3 year old) was saying "Hej då!" to all the kids at his preschool as we left haha.
Wow thanks so much for watching and the shout out! I'm definitely trying to upload more regularly and actually have a few videos already filmed. I hope to get them out soon! My son goes to a Spanish immersion preschool. A Finnish immersion school would be super niche indeed! My town definitely doesn't have one, but for those places that have been able to create them, that's incredible! It's exciting that you're hearing your son use Swedish more and more. And definitely don't feel guilty! Any level of exposure props the door open, so to speak, for Austen to experience another culture and language that he may never have otherwise experienced. You should feel proud because it's a lot of work to come as far as you (and he) have come 🙂. Keep it up! .
I'm raising my young children in Swedish too! The oldest is 5 and youngest is 10 mo. We can't have conversations just yet as they mix words a lot and will only the oldest can ask questions etc but they love singing songs and Bolibompa and Bluey in Swedish amongst other things so from their engagement and output I know we must be headed in the right direction 😅 Lycka till!
Great video as always. This is sooooo relatable, all of it (even the experience of traveling to Quebec and using non-native French). My baby is only 16 months so your videos help me know I'm doing the right thing. Oddly enough, I feel most self conscious about speaking French around people I know but who aren't that close more than anyone else, including native speakers. French is the only foreign language I speak very well - that's why I speak it to my daughter - but it can be perceived as super bougie in the states lol. That just kills me. I have to learn to get over that the most.
Thanks for watching, David! I'm so glad you can relate because it can be lonely out here haha. I'm also glad that you're benefiting from our journey at a pretty hard time (before babies start speaking much). You're probably hearing lots of French now which must be so rewarding 🙂. What you described is also pretty tough and I definitely remember feeling that way and still do sometimes, although my family and friends are all used to it now. This might not be what you are referring to, but I have found it helpful when I sense tension or worry that someone feels excluded or uncomfortable to start translating what I say. Most people have said it doesn't bother them when I first tell them that I'll be speaking to my sons in French and ask if that bothers them, but then still seem a little uncomfortable. It's tricky navigating these sorts of situations and adding our own insecurities as non-native speakers only complicates this. If it's any consolation, this situation is becoming more and more rare for me as my confidence grows (and my French skills, too) and as my children speak more and more French. Good luck and thanks for following our journey!
@@LiveYourLanguage Thanks so much! I have been meaning to get back to you for a while now, just kind of wrapped up in life, you know how it is haha. Hopefully you'll still see this. We actually have the same three languages. The baby's main input is native Spanish, from her mother. Then non-native French from me. Then English from my mother who lives with us. So I'm in a weird place where I am hearing some French but it's not dominant - maybe 10-15% of words depending how how you view words that are the same in Spanish and French lol. It's kind of how you described your older son's English when he was young. She understands everything I say in French, but only says each word one way, and that's usually in Spanish because my wife is with her between 10-5 on weekdays as I work from the home office. We've been in Ecuador for 5 weeks now visiting my wife's family, and she's actually had a greater turns towards Spanish since it's now the super-dominant language with my wife's family around and very enthusiastically talking to her as much as possible - which likely causes me to talk to her a bit less. For example, she went from un, deux to uno, dos lol. And her English has really regressed. Anyway, it'll all work out in the end. Question for you. The baby has had very little screen time so far - but when she does, we think it's logical that it be in French to help me out linguistically. Any things you suggest for toddlers?
@@thecavsman Thanks for getting back to me and please, don't worry about the delay. I completely understand! How cool is it that we have the same three languages? I love being on TH-cam because I get to meet so many different people who I share so much with. My suggestions for screen time when it becomes a thing for you all is Petit Ours Brun, T'choupi, and Ane Trotro for younger ages. Those were the ones we started out with and they seemed calm and simple compared to some of the other shows out there that seem to noisy and overwhelming for a child who had never really watched TV. As my preschooler approaches age 4, I have noticed he seems to do well with with Blippi Wonders in French and Daniel Tiger in French (I think it's called Le village de Dany). I was a little disappointed by the French versions of Paw Patrol (Pat Patrouille) and French Dora the Explorer (instead of sprinkling in Spanish they sprinkle in English, which is my majority language!). I hope this helps and of course if you find things you like, please don't hesitate to share! I read all my comments even if I can't always respond :).
Love it! My son actually often spontaneously translates what I say to him in German (non-native, minority language) into English (native, dominant, majority language). He’s very competent at it.
Thanks for watching! That's awesome because you know he understands you and knows the vocabulary in English too 🙂. English might be his dominant language and when he does that you're getting a peek into his little amazing bilingual mind. Keep it up!
I studied Spanish for 4 years in high school, studied abroad in Mexico, and visited several other latin american countries. I love the language and the culture. But I get a bit self-conscious about speaking it with my child as I'm not a native speaker. My spanish-speaking friends don't have as much availability to spend time with us so I'm hoping to make new friends soon to help encourage more use of the language inperson. So far, I only watch TH-cam vids in spanish with my son.
Music is something I think about all the time. As a child I loved children's songs (until a late age, arguably even until now) and I collected so many different tapes and CDs and learned hundreds of them. All of them in English. When I wake up in the middle of the night I think "Is it better to make up new lyrics or to have some kind of OPOL-exception for singing?" Like you, my impulse is to do the former. But I live in fear of my child singing that song in front of native speakers and them finding something wrong with the lyrics and knowing, as a result, that they were just made up by me lol At the same time, my translations of American children songs are something I don't think 'my native speaker' wants to look at eek
Thanks for watching! So I have a lot of thoughts on this issue and my attitude has changed over time (maybe I should make a video about this). Since the language has become established us, I have started singing more and more in my native language, particularly for songs with cultural or personal significance. In my case, these were Christmas songs and some Motown music I grew up with on my dad's side. I realized that I actually did not sing as much because my discomfort with and lack of knowledge of French songs. When I occasionally did sing in English, my children would become mesmerized (not because I'm a particularly good singer, either). I think there is something special about music and I'd never want my children to lack exposure to those special songs or lose a huge part of their heritage because of my choice to raise them in French. Especially considering that interaction is the most important part for little kids, my attitude is that you should go ahead and sing in your native language when it means the most to you. That may definitely include songs of your childhood. Thanks as always for your comment!
@@LiveYourLanguage Merci ! I really appreciate your advice and thoughtful response! I would love to see a video about it, but to be fair I love all of your videos 😅
Your videos are so helpful and inspiring! Thanks for all the hard work. I think you mentioned it and I may have missed it. At what age did y’all introduce the third language?
Thanks for watching! I introduced Spanish, our third language, at age 2 for my oldest casually through songs and through morning binder activities to get him familiar with the idea. But he really started acquisition when he was age 3 when he joined Spanish immersion preschool after French was well established (I was not communicating with him in Spanish, only French). My baby started Spanish at age 12 months when our au pair joined our household. For the baby his Spanish is definitely stronger then his French so I'm working to rearrange our schedule so that French is well established too . I hope that helps!
@@LiveYourLanguage This is really helpful I appreciate it!! It makes sense to firm up their skills in one area before adding another language into the mix. I can imagine it gets a bit tricky with multiple children and tailoring the environment to the different places they're at with their learning. Best of luck!!
Dear Stephanie, I just found your TH-cam videos and they are wonderful❤! I am also a mom (almost 2 year old daughter) raising my child in my non- native language. Because of my unique situation, I’m doing it slightly differently than you are though. I was wondering if we could have a chat or consultation about it, because I have some questions. Or, can you recommend an expert that I can have a video consultation with? I want to use whatever method is most effective to bring up a fully bilingual child and I’m not sure how to proceed. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer 😅
Stephanie, I enjoy your posts. I really appreciate that you put a video of your child speaking French, really gives us an idea. I've been doing Spanish since my 8 yr old was born, and 6 month ago have started French. I am an ophthalmologist, and I find that there are ties between language acquisition and amblyopia treatment (when vision is not poor due to lack of a proper focus or lack of use of the eye during critical times of development). Recent studies have shown that the dosing of treatment, patching the good eye, does not have to be as high as previously thought. I would love to know what is the "dose" of language needed. I am looking into that. I have taken the liberty to paste an idea I have regarding a better way to do language in schools, better than the immersion method, in my opinion, and much less resource intense. I've posted it below, I apologize if that is not welcome. I'd be interested in your thoughts on it. Language learning consisting of 2 years of immersion followed by tailored language classes Standard language immersion might be thought of as the gold standard in language learning in the United states. We feel that it has many advantages but feel It Is too resource intensive for many schools, inadvertently devotes too much time to comprehension learning, and not enough to speaking skills. Additionally, it is our belief that excessive immersion of the language, in science, math, and history, for example, does not lead to further language gains. Comprehension has already been established and those activities do not expressly work on speaking skills, thus the time is not effective for language advancement. The excessive Spanish immersion can lead to the student feeling that Spanish is an intrusion in their day. We propose a new style of language learning that uses immersion learning In kindergarten and first grade and then transitions to Spanish classes In second through 8th grade. The Spanish classes in second through eighth grade differ from traditional Spanish classes in that students have already obtained comprehension of the language and thus are able to participate in many different language activities not possible in standard language curriculums, allowing access to more activities and advancement. Those activities are divided in two main categories one-on-one conversation and learning with native speakers on online platforms multimedia activities in group language class (similar to activities that we adults partake in when learning a language, tailored to grade level) Resource sparing: In this plan one bilingual teacher would split time between kindergarten and first grade, where instruction will be 50% in Spanish those 2 years. One other Spanish teacher will be needed for Spanish class for 2nd graders to 8th graders in this program; this Spanish teacher will also teach Spanish to the students not in this pathway. No additional teachers will be needed for this program, but one kindergarten / first grade teacher will need to be bilingual. This program also uses online platforms that have native language instructors via Zoom or Google meets and these instructors generally cost $10 an hour. We estimate that each student will use these platforms 90 minutes a week. (15$x 33 weeks of instruction=$500). (Students can continue sessions with their online instructor during summers if the family chooses this.) More time devoted to speaking skills using what stimulates the child: Excellent comprehension is gained during 50% immersion during kindergarten and first grade, allowing for effective Spanish classes in subsequent years that will maintain and build comprehension and fluency. Half of the time will be spent talking with and learning from Native speakers on online platforms: Attached is a short video of my daughter talking with her teacher from Venezuela online. Her teacher engages her in conversation and follows a curriculum. The other half will be group practice with songs and multimedia activities varying with the age of the patients. An example is a video (will be) attached of my nephews (in immersion Spanish schools) and daughter (learning Spanish from me at home) doing a lesson on the song “Shiny” in the movie Moana. Kevin Miller kmgalveston yahoo
The irony of your feeling embarrassed in Québec, is that in Québec native speaking parents would most likely think it was normal for non-native speakers to speak French with their children (i.e. they are assimilating to the majority language). It is more embarrassing (theoretically speaking) if you are speaking French with your child in front of a bunch of Québécois parents at a park in the US, because that is more likely to be perceived as unnatural (i.e. you are anti-assimilating)
Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to comment. It's encouraging to hear from others that it will work at that level and your skills will certainly grow with time. I'm sure your child will speak English, but I want to encourage you to be careful not sacrifice the amount of input and interaction you would normally provide for the sake of only speaking English. If you stay silent when you don't know the vocabulary, your child is missing out on some good input so try your best to look up words and phrases you want to say in the moment. In your case, I might suggest a more flexible approach to OPOL or leaning on the time and place method while you keep improving your skills. Keep learning and keep exposing your child to English however you can; just know that it's ok to lean on your native language as well while you move past the intermediate stages. I hope this helped!
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MERCI MERCI MERCI !
I am raising my children in Louisiana Creole which is a francophone and is my heritage language ! This is a big encouragement and I am so glad to see someone doing Chanel like this !
Always feel so motivated and encouraged by your videos! I’m ten months in to raising my daughter in my non-native language Spanish and there’s been such joy to see her begin to understand and respond using signs to what I’m saying to her. A fun one recently is I’ll say “cuán grande es la bebé?” And she’ll lift her hands up above her head with a big smile and I’ll respond with “tan grande!”. If others try to get her to do it in English she doesn’t get it yet. I know English will come easily to her so I’m not worried about that at all right now. It just makes me feel good to know that front loading Spanish to her now is starting to pay off and she really is understanding :). Thanks for all you do to share your experience and encourage others!
Thank you for creating this channel!! I want to raise my children bilingual. Both my fiance and I are Dutch and I want them to know English too as English is spoken all over the world and Dutch not at all at most places haha The thing I struggle with the most is being around other Dutchies, because everyone understands English so I feel like they can really judge me when I make a mistake or whatever. The story about the playground in Quebec helped me so thank you 😊 Also it feels so good knowing you're not alone in this. Keep up the great work everyone! 🤗
Wow thank you so much for your comment! You're so right--it's one thing to speak a language when you don't think anyone can understand. It brings a whole added layer of difficulty to the situation when you worry that your skills are being judged by listeners around you. So glad to know that someone else can relate. And I'm certain that your English is fabulous :). Keep it up and thanks for watching and commenting!
I found your channel because I'm thinking about how to raise my future kids with my boyfriend in the Netherlands. My native language is Dutch, his is Bulgarian and between us two we mostly converse in English, as his Dutch is between A2 and B1 level and my Bulgarian below A1. One Language One Parent seems interesting yet challenging if the minority language parent works fulltime, but from what I've seen it seems the most appealing way to do it in our situation.
I have to admit I was also one of those 'politely judgy' people when I watched another video of yours about the OPOL method, but you're doing it all so consciously that I can't do anything but admire you for it. You've clearly put in a LOT of thought into this and that's wonderful!
I really wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences ❤ I live in quebec and my son is learning French at school. my native language is Spanish and I speak English to my son. My husband is a Spanish speaker and he speaks Spanish all the time to my son. I wish people were more open-minded and respectful. I always get critics from relatives for not speaking my native language to my son and I feel really uncomfortable. People think children will get confused and they will not use the minority language in the future. I believe kids need exposure to different cultures and I know he will have enough exposure to be able to speak the three languages
Thank you for this!! I have probably around a B2 or C1 level with Mandarin, and just started speaking it with my 9mo yesterday. Your videos give me so much confidence that I can have a positive impact on my daughter and raise her to be bilingual! 🎉
Great. And one could say also that the children could learn to read and write since they are two year old. You could start with simple words like "mama" in big and red letters.
Thanks for your videos they are very helpful and allowed me to be more serene about taking this step toward raising my daughter bilingual (French majority / English minority ). Especially since I’ll be the sole minority speaker for a while. I found a lot of my anxiety addressed in your videos. So thank you so much.
Thank you so much for watching my video and taking the time to leave a comment about how this has helped you. It makes me happy to know that! This is tough work, so anytime we can honest about our struggles I think it helps us band together and motivate each other. Keep it up!
Finnish immersion pre-school! Dang, that's niche!
I mentioned your channel in a Refold livestream recently because people had questions about raising my kid in Swedish. Great to see you're uploading regularly!
I definitely recognised some of these. I've actually had nothing but super positive reactions about it from Australians, to the point that I sometimes feel guilty because I'm not actually as committed as you have been. Although I have recently become more motivated since Austen (my almost 3 year old) was saying "Hej då!" to all the kids at his preschool as we left haha.
Wow thanks so much for watching and the shout out! I'm definitely trying to upload more regularly and actually have a few videos already filmed. I hope to get them out soon!
My son goes to a Spanish immersion preschool. A Finnish immersion school would be super niche indeed! My town definitely doesn't have one, but for those places that have been able to create them, that's incredible!
It's exciting that you're hearing your son use Swedish more and more. And definitely don't feel guilty! Any level of exposure props the door open, so to speak, for Austen to experience another culture and language that he may never have otherwise experienced. You should feel proud because it's a lot of work to come as far as you (and he) have come 🙂. Keep it up!
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I'm raising my young children in Swedish too! The oldest is 5 and youngest is 10 mo. We can't have conversations just yet as they mix words a lot and will only the oldest can ask questions etc but they love singing songs and Bolibompa and Bluey in Swedish amongst other things so from their engagement and output I know we must be headed in the right direction 😅 Lycka till!
Great video as always. This is sooooo relatable, all of it (even the experience of traveling to Quebec and using non-native French). My baby is only 16 months so your videos help me know I'm doing the right thing. Oddly enough, I feel most self conscious about speaking French around people I know but who aren't that close more than anyone else, including native speakers. French is the only foreign language I speak very well - that's why I speak it to my daughter - but it can be perceived as super bougie in the states lol. That just kills me. I have to learn to get over that the most.
Thanks for watching, David! I'm so glad you can relate because it can be lonely out here haha. I'm also glad that you're benefiting from our journey at a pretty hard time (before babies start speaking much). You're probably hearing lots of French now which must be so rewarding 🙂. What you described is also pretty tough and I definitely remember feeling that way and still do sometimes, although my family and friends are all used to it now. This might not be what you are referring to, but I have found it helpful when I sense tension or worry that someone feels excluded or uncomfortable to start translating what I say. Most people have said it doesn't bother them when I first tell them that I'll be speaking to my sons in French and ask if that bothers them, but then still seem a little uncomfortable. It's tricky navigating these sorts of situations and adding our own insecurities as non-native speakers only complicates this. If it's any consolation, this situation is becoming more and more rare for me as my confidence grows (and my French skills, too) and as my children speak more and more French. Good luck and thanks for following our journey!
@@LiveYourLanguage thank you for this insight!!
@@LiveYourLanguage Thanks so much! I have been meaning to get back to you for a while now, just kind of wrapped up in life, you know how it is haha. Hopefully you'll still see this. We actually have the same three languages. The baby's main input is native Spanish, from her mother. Then non-native French from me. Then English from my mother who lives with us. So I'm in a weird place where I am hearing some French but it's not dominant - maybe 10-15% of words depending how how you view words that are the same in Spanish and French lol. It's kind of how you described your older son's English when he was young. She understands everything I say in French, but only says each word one way, and that's usually in Spanish because my wife is with her between 10-5 on weekdays as I work from the home office. We've been in Ecuador for 5 weeks now visiting my wife's family, and she's actually had a greater turns towards Spanish since it's now the super-dominant language with my wife's family around and very enthusiastically talking to her as much as possible - which likely causes me to talk to her a bit less. For example, she went from un, deux to uno, dos lol. And her English has really regressed. Anyway, it'll all work out in the end. Question for you. The baby has had very little screen time so far - but when she does, we think it's logical that it be in French to help me out linguistically. Any things you suggest for toddlers?
@@thecavsman Thanks for getting back to me and please, don't worry about the delay. I completely understand! How cool is it that we have the same three languages? I love being on TH-cam because I get to meet so many different people who I share so much with.
My suggestions for screen time when it becomes a thing for you all is Petit Ours Brun, T'choupi, and Ane Trotro for younger ages. Those were the ones we started out with and they seemed calm and simple compared to some of the other shows out there that seem to noisy and overwhelming for a child who had never really watched TV. As my preschooler approaches age 4, I have noticed he seems to do well with with Blippi Wonders in French and Daniel Tiger in French (I think it's called Le village de Dany). I was a little disappointed by the French versions of Paw Patrol (Pat Patrouille) and French Dora the Explorer (instead of sprinkling in Spanish they sprinkle in English, which is my majority language!). I hope this helps and of course if you find things you like, please don't hesitate to share! I read all my comments even if I can't always respond :).
Thanks so much, your videos are so inspiring
Love it! My son actually often spontaneously translates what I say to him in German (non-native, minority language) into English (native, dominant, majority language). He’s very competent at it.
Thanks for watching! That's awesome because you know he understands you and knows the vocabulary in English too 🙂. English might be his dominant language and when he does that you're getting a peek into his little amazing bilingual mind. Keep it up!
What an incredible gift for 2023! A new video from Stephanie :)
I’m super excited to have a kid and go through these same experiences!
I hope you get to experience them, too! You're off to a good start by doing some research. Thanks for watching!
I studied Spanish for 4 years in high school, studied abroad in Mexico, and visited several other latin american countries. I love the language and the culture. But I get a bit self-conscious about speaking it with my child as I'm not a native speaker.
My spanish-speaking friends don't have as much availability to spend time with us so I'm hoping to make new friends soon to help encourage more use of the language inperson. So far, I only watch TH-cam vids in spanish with my son.
Music is something I think about all the time. As a child I loved children's songs (until a late age, arguably even until now) and I collected so many different tapes and CDs and learned hundreds of them. All of them in English. When I wake up in the middle of the night I think "Is it better to make up new lyrics or to have some kind of OPOL-exception for singing?" Like you, my impulse is to do the former. But I live in fear of my child singing that song in front of native speakers and them finding something wrong with the lyrics and knowing, as a result, that they were just made up by me lol At the same time, my translations of American children songs are something I don't think 'my native speaker' wants to look at eek
Thanks for watching! So I have a lot of thoughts on this issue and my attitude has changed over time (maybe I should make a video about this). Since the language has become established us, I have started singing more and more in my native language, particularly for songs with cultural or personal significance. In my case, these were Christmas songs and some Motown music I grew up with on my dad's side. I realized that I actually did not sing as much because my discomfort with and lack of knowledge of French songs. When I occasionally did sing in English, my children would become mesmerized (not because I'm a particularly good singer, either). I think there is something special about music and I'd never want my children to lack exposure to those special songs or lose a huge part of their heritage because of my choice to raise them in French. Especially considering that interaction is the most important part for little kids, my attitude is that you should go ahead and sing in your native language when it means the most to you. That may definitely include songs of your childhood. Thanks as always for your comment!
@@LiveYourLanguage Merci ! I really appreciate your advice and thoughtful response! I would love to see a video about it, but to be fair I love all of your videos 😅
Your videos are so helpful and inspiring! Thanks for all the hard work. I think you mentioned it and I may have missed it. At what age did y’all introduce the third language?
Thanks for watching! I introduced Spanish, our third language, at age 2 for my oldest casually through songs and through morning binder activities to get him familiar with the idea. But he really started acquisition when he was age 3 when he joined Spanish immersion preschool after French was well established (I was not communicating with him in Spanish, only French). My baby started Spanish at age 12 months when our au pair joined our household. For the baby his Spanish is definitely stronger then his French so I'm working to rearrange our schedule so that French is well established too . I hope that helps!
@@LiveYourLanguage This is really helpful I appreciate it!! It makes sense to firm up their skills in one area before adding another language into the mix. I can imagine it gets a bit tricky with multiple children and tailoring the environment to the different places they're at with their learning. Best of luck!!
Dear Stephanie, I just found your TH-cam videos and they are wonderful❤! I am also a mom (almost 2 year old daughter) raising my child in my non- native language. Because of my unique situation, I’m doing it slightly differently than you are though. I was wondering if we could have a chat or consultation about it, because I have some questions. Or, can you recommend an expert that I can have a video consultation with? I want to use whatever method is most effective to bring up a fully bilingual child and I’m not sure how to proceed. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer 😅
Stephanie, I enjoy your posts. I really appreciate that you put a video of your child speaking French, really gives us an idea. I've been doing Spanish since my 8 yr old was born, and 6 month ago have started French. I am an ophthalmologist, and I find that there are ties between language acquisition and amblyopia treatment (when vision is not poor due to lack of a proper focus or lack of use of the eye during critical times of development). Recent studies have shown that the dosing of treatment, patching the good eye, does not have to be as high as previously thought. I would love to know what is the "dose" of language needed. I am looking into that. I have taken the liberty to paste an idea I have regarding a better way to do language in schools, better than the immersion method, in my opinion, and much less resource intense. I've posted it below, I apologize if that is not welcome. I'd be interested in your thoughts on it.
Language learning consisting of 2 years of immersion followed by tailored language classes
Standard language immersion might be thought of as the gold standard in language learning in the United states. We feel that it has many advantages but feel It Is too resource intensive for many schools, inadvertently devotes too much time to comprehension learning, and
not enough to speaking skills.
Additionally, it is our belief that excessive immersion of the language, in science, math, and history, for example, does not lead to further language gains. Comprehension has already been established and those activities do not expressly work on speaking skills, thus the time is not effective for language advancement. The excessive Spanish immersion can lead to the student feeling that Spanish is an intrusion in their day.
We propose a new style of language learning that uses immersion learning In kindergarten and first grade and then transitions to Spanish classes In second through 8th grade. The Spanish classes in second through eighth grade differ from traditional Spanish classes in that students have already obtained comprehension of the language and thus are able to participate in many different language activities not possible in standard language curriculums, allowing access to more activities and advancement. Those activities are divided in two main categories
one-on-one conversation and learning with native speakers on online platforms
multimedia activities in group language class (similar to activities that we adults partake in when learning a language, tailored to grade level)
Resource sparing: In this plan one bilingual teacher would split time between kindergarten and first grade, where instruction will be 50% in Spanish those 2 years. One other Spanish teacher will be needed for Spanish class for 2nd graders to 8th graders in this program; this Spanish teacher will also teach Spanish to the students not in this pathway. No additional teachers will be needed for this program, but one kindergarten / first grade teacher will need to be bilingual.
This program also uses online platforms that have native language instructors via Zoom or Google meets and these instructors generally cost $10 an hour. We estimate that each student will use these platforms 90 minutes a week. (15$x 33 weeks of instruction=$500). (Students can continue sessions with their online instructor during summers if the family chooses this.)
More time devoted to speaking skills using what stimulates the child: Excellent comprehension is gained during 50% immersion during kindergarten and first grade, allowing for effective Spanish classes in subsequent years that will maintain and build comprehension and fluency. Half of the time will be spent talking with and learning from Native speakers on online platforms: Attached is a short video of my daughter talking with her teacher from Venezuela online. Her teacher engages her in conversation and follows a curriculum. The other half will be group practice with songs and multimedia activities varying with the age of the patients. An example is a video (will be) attached of my nephews (in immersion Spanish schools) and daughter (learning Spanish from me at home) doing a lesson on the song “Shiny” in the movie Moana.
Kevin Miller kmgalveston yahoo
The irony of your feeling embarrassed in Québec, is that in Québec native speaking parents would most likely think it was normal for non-native speakers to speak French with their children (i.e. they are assimilating to the majority language). It is more embarrassing (theoretically speaking) if you are speaking French with your child in front of a bunch of Québécois parents at a park in the US, because that is more likely to be perceived as unnatural (i.e. you are anti-assimilating)
Hi. I love your channel. I speak to my baby in English (non native minority language). My level is B2+ almost C1. Do you think it will work? 😬
Yes. I did this with my older child and its now his dominant language and not spanish. Now 11 yrs old.
Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to comment. It's encouraging to hear from others that it will work at that level and your skills will certainly grow with time. I'm sure your child will speak English, but I want to encourage you to be careful not sacrifice the amount of input and interaction you would normally provide for the sake of only speaking English. If you stay silent when you don't know the vocabulary, your child is missing out on some good input so try your best to look up words and phrases you want to say in the moment. In your case, I might suggest a more flexible approach to OPOL or leaning on the time and place method while you keep improving your skills. Keep learning and keep exposing your child to English however you can; just know that it's ok to lean on your native language as well while you move past the intermediate stages. I hope this helped!
@@TitaAguirreGarcia This is so encouraging!