nilex0102 komm bitte rein!

[Dorothy Zbornak]

Do you speak German to your kids?

I ask because we're doing OPOL (one person, one language) here, but since H (just turned four) started preschool last year, her German has really taken off, while I feel like her English has kind of staginated a bit. She understands everything in English (and her favorite TV shows are in English; we never watch German TV with her unless it's Bundesliga or these god-awful Augsburger Puppenkiste DVDs from my in laws) and will answer in English when prompted, but that's it. Her German just seems so much better than her English now, and it gives me the sads. I was hoping that she and Butterbaby would speak English to each other, but I don't think that's going to happen.

[dojo]

You never know what life holds for you!

[nilex0102]

I think it sounds pretty normal from what I hear. We are not exclusively OPOL and with daycare this is really hard since the kids environment is 95% English. My DS understands a good amount of German but will basically only speak English. So we are considering a German American school for him to make sure the German does not get lost.
I find it much harder to do the bilingual thing than I thought.

[ruby412]

I just want to say I'm super jealous of people who are bilingual. I so wish I had this skill. You are giving your kids an amazing gift!

[jaime183]

Jan 2, 2013 10:31:36 GMT -5 ruby412 said:

I just want to say I'm super jealous of people who are bilingual. I so wish I had this skill. You are giving your kids an amazing gift!

This.
I'm fascinated with language acquisition. I teach at a bilingual school and it is so important to continue speaking in the language even if they don't use it socially and also for you to answer in the target language. So if they ask you "can I have a drink" in german and you are the English speaking parent, make sure you only ever respond in English.
It also helps keep the respect for the language (either way English or German)

[AndyCohen]

Jan 2, 2013 10:31:36 GMT -5 ruby412 said:

I just want to say I'm super jealous of people who are bilingual. I so wish I had this skill. You are giving your kids an amazing gift!

This. DH rarely speaks French to Audrey and it makes me so sad. Sometimes I try, but then I pronounce something wrong or use a wrong verb tense and feel guilty.

[Dorothy Zbornak]

Thanks, ladies. I only speak to the kids in English, always. But I speak German to my husband, so our "house" language is German. I read to them in English, play American games, etc. There aren't any options for an English-language school around here that are feasible for us right now. I guess when she gets more into writing I'll make sure that she's also working on the English-language stuff.

I know it's awesome that she is bilingual, but I have to admit that it seems weird to me that MY little kid is going to have a different "native" language than me.

[AndyCohen]

Is having the house language as English a possibility? I feel like that would better offset the amount of German she will be speaking in a non-bilingual school.

[Dorothy Zbornak]

Jan 2, 2013 11:15:34 GMT -5 AndyCohen said:

Is having the house language as English a possibility? I feel like that would better offset the amount of German she will be speaking in a non-bilingual school.

You're totally right. The thing is, when I met my husband 10 years ago(yikes), we spoke German at the beginning. And it is next to impossible for us to change to English now. And while his English is good, it's not as good as my German, so that's how it became our default language (even though I was his English teacher .... guess I kinda suck at it).

[AndyCohen]

Jan 2, 2013 11:20:02 GMT -5 Dorothy Zbornak said:

Jan 2, 2013 11:15:34 GMT -5 AndyCohen said:

Is having the house language as English a possibility? I feel like that would better offset the amount of German she will be speaking in a non-bilingual school.

You're totally right. The thing is, when I met my husband 10 years ago(yikes), we spoke German at the beginning. And it is next to impossible for us to change to English now. And while his English is good, it's not as good as my German, so that's how it became our default language (even though I was his English teacher .... guess I kinda suck at it).

Hah, I hear you. I tried to do French in the home when I was taking French classes but I would take 20 minutes to have what should have been a 5 minute conversation because of pronounciation and translation issues.

[nilex0102]

I think it is hard for us to get the kids to speak more Germany since they don't hear it from anyone but me and that time is limited. I have books, movies for them etc but DS does not seem that interested except the ocassional things he says in Germany and telling me that German is for Oma and me ;-)

So i kind of feel my only option is to send the kids to a German school, but there is a price tag for this of course.