Baby sign language

Baby sign language can be a great link between the 2 languages (English-Hungarian) we speak. It serves as a third language and helps Baby Sis to understand basic ideas even if we use different languages. The sign is always the same.

With E. I started to use the MAKATON sign language which is based on BSL (British Sign Language). Some ASL (American Sign Language) signs I also included as I sometimes find them easier like the sign for "more", for instance.

American Sign Language

Makaton

After quite a lot of research on the net I found MAKATON the most expressive and easy to remember sign collection. What's more, it is designed for children so one can find nursery rhymes and songs signed online, which makes it easier to learn and after a while (when your child is older) you can also watch a special BBC programme, Something Special.

In the following video you can hear about the benefits of signing to your child:

Actually, I created our own sign language using a mixture of BSL, MAKATON, ASL and our own signs, too.

No matter if we are in English or in Hungarian I use the same sign for an idea or object or a family member, to mention a few examples.

Just like E., Baby Sis also enjoys whenever I sign her a song, or I show her a sign while talking to her. E. helps me with signing every now and then (if she's in the mood).

How to introduce the signs:

• always face your child so (s)he can see your face and the sign too
• show the sign while you say the word
• have cheerful expression on your face
• introduce maximum 1-2 signs at once
• use and repeat the same signs for 3-5 days regularly
• then introduce 2-3 new signs every 5-6 days
• follow your child's lead (some children pick up signs more slowly or faster than others)

10+1 basic baby signs to start with:

mummy
daddy

baby

nappy
milk
happy
sleepy
bath
eat
drink
+baby's name

sleep(y)

drink

eat

Baby's name can be signed with the first letter of their name. Here is the Makaton ABC:

Here is a youtube video of two girls showing the Makaton abc:

Moving on to a higher level...

Depending on the baby's interest you can introduce 1-2 topics with 4-5 signs per week or you can choose a mixture of 10-15 favourite signs:

• foods
• animals
• more family members
• toys
• everyday objects
• colours
• action verbs

(Depending on my time and if I can get some help with the video shooting I'll put on some Makaton sign videos in the future)

Singing and signing:

Singing to your baby and telling her nursery rhymes are the best way to familiarise your child with the sounds, intonation, tune of your language(s). While singing you can sign what you sing about. You don't need to sign every word just the most important ones. Your child will be fascinated by the sound and the visual impact as well.

Make sure you check out Signing Hands youtube channel where you can find several traditional nursery rhymes and songs signed. (You can learn the signing from the son quite easily)

Here is an example: - Row, row, row your boat

More resources:

You can have a look at my Makaton Pinterest board which is full of useful signs, links and videos about sign language and great number of signs.

I hope you find this post useful and interesting. Although I'm not an expert on signing, just a mom who learnt it all by herself from the net, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Baby sister's 3 months old - beware: a long post

Time flies with 2 kids. L. is already 3 months old and loads have been going on. In this post I'll try to focus on her development and what I do with her in English though it'll be hard.

First of all, some parametres:

She is 57 cms "tall", 5.23 kgs. Her eyes are still blue. Her hair is light brown (showing tinges of ginger) and getting longer in the back and started to grow in the front. She only sleeps on Mommy or Daddy, or in the sling. She can't push herself up while on her tummy but can lift and turn her head nicely. She's got her first 2 shots at the age of 2 months. She gurgles and babbles a lot. She's smiley if her tummy is full, on the changing table or when she can look around. Though she's got a stomach ache quite often mostly in the evenings then she cries desperately. She's breastfed and I can see white lines on her lower gum so the crying might be caused by the staring of her teething.


English time:

The routine is the same as it was with E. I just started it earlier (at her birth) with L. Whenever we are just the two of us I speak English to her. I've already introduced the little song we always sing with E. before changing languages (showing the Makaton signs to L. as well):

Hello, hello how are you?
Hello, hello, it's good to see you.
I say hello, I'm happy that you came
I say hello, please tell me, please tell me, please tell me your name
Mommy (pointing at me)
L. (pointing at her)

(This song is -or rather used to be- the theme song of a BBC series Something Special. On the link you can listen to the new version of it. But you can use any song of your choice if you want to signal the beginning or the end of the language usage)

So what we do in English:

1. Lullabies

It seems I sing continuously. Whenever I try to rock L. to sleep I sing the following lullabies:

Rock-a-by baby

Hush little baby

Go to sleep lullabies (Go to sleep, Moonlight so sweet and pale, Golden slumbers)

You are my sunshine

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Sweet dreams

Row row row your boat

Lavender's green dilly dilly

(This last one I used to sing to E. ALL THE TIME. You can check out a less detailed post about E.'s first 6 months)

2. Changing table fun:

When I need to change L.'s nappy or clothes (and we are in English) I start with this rhyme:

.... (child' name) 's got a dirty nappy.
What shall we do? What shall we do?

Clean is up, clean it up
For Mommy, and for you.

When her legs are free from clothes I make her little feet march:

Oh, the grand old Duke of York

(I march with her feet) Oh, the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men,
He marched them up to the top of (Lift her feet up) the hill
and he marched them down again. (Put her feet down)

And when they were up they were up. (Lift her feet up)
And when they were down they were down. (Put her feet down)
And when they were only half way up, (Wiggle her legs)
They were neither up nor down.
(When I sing UP I lift her feet up, and when I sing down I put her feet down)

I go through her body parts with this song from the BBC series Something Special- Baby episode (The song starts at 4.03 mins in the video but it's worth watching the whole episode)

Two little eyes that open and close

Right in the middle a little nose

Two little ears on either side

one little mouth that opens wide

That's baby (2x)

Two little legs that kick and wiggle

Two little feet that like a tickle

Two little arms that stretch up high

Two little hand that wave goodbye

That's baby (2x)

The other thing she likes is tickling under her chin (or rather double chin *grin*). I chant these two rhymes:

Round and round the garden (stroking her tummy in a circle)

Like a Teddy Bear (showing the teddy bear sign)
One step, two steps (walking my fingers on her tummy)

Tickle you under there (tickle her under the chin)

Another variation can be you do the circling in the palm, the walking movement up the arm and tickle the armpit in the end

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker's man (patting the tummy)
Bake me a cake as fast as you can (patting faster)

Pat it and prick it and mark it with B (patting/rolling movements on tummy, forming a B with fingers)

Put it in the oven for baby and me. (2 palms up as if putting a tray in the oven, when saying BABY I tickle her tummy)

If you want to sing a tune here it is.

And finally 2 finger plays:

1. This little piggy went to market
This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed at home
This little piggy had roast beef
This little piggy had none
And this llittle piggy cried wee wee wee wee wee all the way home

Have a look at a video of This little piggy by Patty Shukla:

2. Two little dickie birds sitting on the wall

Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall
One named Peter the other named Paul
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul
Come back Peter, come back Paul.

Here is a video about what to do with your fingers:

3. Bath-time

As for bath-time I have a great helper apart from Daddy and that is L.'s big sister, E. She helps taking off L.'s clothes, 

prepares what we can put on her afterwards, checks and throws the nappy into the bin, helps with the splashing too :)

Great practice for E. and L. hears not only me but her big sister talk in English. Sometimes we play the changing table games together again before bath-time.

One day E. sang a song for her little sister while I was busy with something and Daddy was preparing E.'s bath (that's the noise in the background)

-----Oh, no! I can't find the video anywhere :( As soon as I find it I'll put it on--------

They're just too cute.

----- 23/07/2016 I found the video :D -------

4. Books

Baby books, of course. Black and white board books, cloth books or touch and feely books. 

Sometimes she just looks at the books while in the playpen/on the play mat and at other times I describe what she sees or tells her a story around the characters on the pages.  I'm working on a short list of useful and fun baby books you can read about in the next post.

5. Baby's Best Start

When L. has some tummy time or just looking around in her playpen I put on Baby's Best Start Helen Doron CD about once a day. I'm not showing to her anything (no pictures, no soft toys, nothing) she just getting familiar with the music. I'm planning to start the course with L. soon, maybe September. (And I think we should restart with E. as well.)

Home-made tools for language practice I.- Flashcards

As a language teacher I used a lot of card activities with my students to explain, identify, show or play things with them. It worked even with adults, but it's a hit with kids. They are colourful, fun to look at, nice to chew them or fold them (well, at least from E.'s point of view).

You can find a lot of ready-made flashcards on the net, for example, here. You just print them and can start using them. You can also find videos showing flashcards. I found them rather disappointing. A lot of them have strange visuals, or they use the American variation of the word I wouldn't use. But the most horrible experience is when the words are pronounce by a machine. It's scary. Plus, I don't want to make E. sit in front of the computer a lot.

I decided to make my own cards; it's more personal in this way, and sometimes E. could see when I prepared them, and became even more interested. And we can take with us if we want.

Of course I've read a lot about the method which was developed by Glen Doman and his flashcards, but I found it too much pressure on me. So I took it easy :)

What I do is similar to the Doman technique, but maybe not so thorough. I make flashcards about the topics E. is interested in. And the way I show them to her is not so systematic and not so fast. I'm not changing the cards so often as we play a lot with them and it's not only about showing her the cards.

So here is an example. When she was 8 months old, I was just showing her the cards and say what she could see in the picture. Later, on I mooed when the cow turned up and also showed the MAKATON sign for the cow. Then when she was around 10-11 months old I started to add extra information as well ("The cow gives us milk" - and showed the picture, showed the signs for cow and milk). When E. became 1 year old we started to name the colours as well ("Look - the cow is white and brown. It gives us milk" - I showed the signs - What colour is the milk? - and I answered: - "White". Now, at the age of 14 months, E. answers "white" and she moos as soon as she hears the word "cow".)

Sometimes I tell her a story or connect the cards to something that happened to us, or anything connected to real life. She loves those cards the most which she experienced in her own life (E.g.: body parts are great as she can identify them on me or on herself, what's more, the cards make her interactive; she asks D. to show his belly button. Among the flowers she adores the dandelion clock as we blew a lot of them when they bloomed in the park, but there are the fruits she can touch and taste like a banana or an apple).


I started with animals. As we don't have a colour printer I found some colouring pages on the net and selected some basic (later some more) animals, printed them and coloured them myself. (Quite time-consuming). Luckily I got a laminator from D. for Christmas, so I glued the coloured animals on colour paper and laminated each. It was a great idea as at the beginning E. chewed, folded and threw them away, so they really needed to be tough. Different topics have different background colours.

Animals



I thought at that time I won't make other cards but animals since she wanted nothing else but animals. We made noises that the animals made, named their colours, stated what they like eating, where they live, or sang a song about them etc.
 

 

Then she got a basket of soft vegetables (from IKEA) and I was "forced" to make some vegetable cards. (We play matching games with the soft vegetables and the cards). The same thing happened when we bought the wooden fruit box.

 

Fruit and vegetables


While we were walking in the park I realised we needed some flower cards, too. I just haven't had the energy and willpower to make tree cards, but I will one day. The flower cards are more 'professional' as they are photos printed in colour.

Flowers

I don't want E. to learn reading yet, so I didn't bother making word cards connected to the pictures. Except for the flower cards. And the reason for it is that I have difficulty remembering the names of the flowers so it is also a learning process for me. The names are on the back. Sometimes she wants to look at the words, so I show her. But I'm NOT teaching her to read.

Then the body parts came influenced by the Helen Doron songs and rhymes. At the moment we are looking at them when E. is sitting on the potty, as we can point at different body parts when she is half naked (belly button is her favourite). After making the body part cards, the time came when a box was necessary for keeping the cards in one place (that is next to the potty most of the time). So long time ago I saw a pinterest post about how to make a box for kids out of a Vanish plastic bottle. I made it and the cards can fit in it well.

Body parts

I also made musical instruments, but she has just started to become interested in them. We are going to begin using them later on.

Musical instruments

Below you can see the present collection of our cards. They are far from being ready. I'm continuously making new cards to each group.
Certainly there are more groups to come (everyday objects, furniture, baby stuff, means of transport, rooms, playground toys, tools, kitchenware etc).

The collection

 

Let's sum up what to play with cards?

 

1. Show then and say the name of the thing in the card

 

2. Matching cards and toys (toy animals, toy fruit or real ones can work well too)

 

3. Grouping (body parts on the head or fruit and vegetables in 2 groups, or according to colours in case of flowers)

4. Story telling (E.g.: chose few animals and vegetables and flowers, and build a story around them - the rabbit eats the carrot and hops into the field to smell flowers where he meets his best friend, the mouse, who is running away from the cat, because the mouse tried to drink the cat's milk)

 

5. Link the cards with sign language

 

6. Face down (put out 3-4 cards facing down and the child can turn them one by one, then name/show/point at the thing on the card - sounds boring but E. loves this too)

 

7. Sing a song (I put out some cards, e.g.: the lamb, the ladybird and the spider - I sing a song about one of the animals - Incy Wincy Spider and either E. picks up the card I1m singing about or we act out the song; the same with The Ladybird song or Ba-Ba Black Sheep song)

 

8. Odd one out (I show 3 or 4 cards of the same kind, but one is different - 3 farm animals and a wild one, or 3 yellow flowers and one red etc. -  then I ask, for instance, "Is the pig a wild animal?" - "No, it's not a wild animal." "Is the horse a wild animal?" -"No, it's not a wild animal." "Is the cow a wild animal?" - "No, it's not a wild animal."-"Is the lion a wild animal?" - "Yes, it is!" So the pig, the horse and the cow are farm animals.)

 

There must be much more games to play, just let your (and your child's) imagination fly.

 



Changing from Hungarian to English and vica cersa

Just a short post about how to sign that we are using one or the other language. At present I'm trying to use every time to talk in English to E. So for instance, when D. takes the dog out for 20-30 minutes in the morning or in the evening E. and I change into English.

Before I start speaking English I sing the 'Hello' song. It is taken from the BBC programme called Something Special. (Jump to 0:20 for the song)

Before we change into Hungarian, I sing the "Goodbye song" from the same programme. (You can find the video below - just jump to 13:20. This is where the "Goodbye song" starts. Otherwise it's a great episode on birthdays. Worth watching the whole). I also use the MAKATON signs while I sing. E. takes pleasure in it and the songs make it clear when we use one language and the other.

I'm sure there are several other ways to give a signal for changing between the languages. I look forward to your comments on how YOU do it.

Helen Doron Early English - Baby's Best Start (Booklets and CDs)

Today we have received our package. We were told to wait at least 6-8 weeks for the course material, but it has taken only 2 weeks.

I have just gone through it and I'm quite happy with it. Or I can say more than happy. I found the material nicely designed on quality paper. We got a big Helen Doron (HD) bag, which has 3 pockets:




Baby's Best Start package

• one for the CDs (4),
• one for the Sunny the Cat booklets (4)
• 4 bigger booklets with the lyrics of the songs, baby sign language, pictures of body parts, animals, flowers, birds etc.



Sunny the Cat series



I've read through the whole material and not only does it focus on the language (songs, rhymes, vocabulary, grammar patterns - of course not directly) but also on other fields of developing a baby (movement, senses - feeling, smelling, hearing, sight -, imagination). The baby sign language is more or less the same as the MAKATON signs, luckily. I was a little worried about confusing E. with other signs.

Few things I would change:

1. the CDs should be in a proper case or two
2. the paper of the Sunny booklets are quite strong, though they could be board books (I'm sure I won't give them into E.'s hands, she'd fold or tear the pages - I'm not planning to buy the whole material again for our next child)
3. if we are given a bag it should be little more useful (bigger pockets, suitable for being carried by the mom, not only the child, which is actually impossible at this age anyway)

Singing and signing

I promised a post on singing nursery rhymes together with MAKATON signing. So here it is.

The MAKATON signs can be used while you sing the traditional nursery rhymes as the Signing Hands do. These two ladies sign while singing. Have a look at this song, which is the well-known 'Ba Ba Black Sheep' with signs:

Easy to learn, right?Some of their songs, which are available on the net, give us the opportunity to learn more signs.

Some more common songs with MAKATON signs:
The Wheels On The Bus
Row row row your boat
Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Little Peter Rabbit
We wish you a merry Christmas

If you click on this you'll find more videos of other signs grouped in topics.

Something Special, the BBC series, also includes some songs like the Rainbow Song:

After you have learnt a lot of signs, you can use them with other songs or rhymes.
Within 1-2 months you can learn 50-70 signs without an effort. Of course, it doesn't mean you HAVE TO use all of them. You'll see what you and your baby really need.

How we did it when E. was 6-8 months old:

When she couldn't sit properly, but could only crawl, she got tired easily and became grouchy. This was the time when I made her lie on her back looking at me. Then I sang the songs and a signed along. She smiled and even laughed out loudly. She could enjoy it even for 15-20 minutes. This was enough for her to be refreshed and we could play again, or have her food etc.

Now, when she's 11 months old it's changed a little:

E. can stand and cruise (tiptoe along some furniture) so it's very difficult to keep her in one place. I don't bother to make her lie down any more. When we play and she sits for a while I sing two or three songs followed with the signs. No more because she moves on quickly and doesn't really care any longer. But she is screaming and/or flapping her hands with joy during the songs. We do the short singing/signing sessions twice or three times a day.

(Have you noticed how easy to misspell or misread the two words singing and signing? :)

MAKATON - sign language

M., who I met on the facebook, in connection with MEC, advised me to have a look at the MAKATON signs that she uses with her daughter to connect the two languages. No matter which language you use, use the same sign for the same thing, so the child can learn to connect the meaning. You can make up your own signs as well, or do a signing course in Hungarian. I don't want to recommend any courses as we didn't take them. Just google it: baby sign language course Budapest.

Here are some examples, signs we use on a daily basis:

Though we sign the horse in a different way:

You can find more signs here.

You can also learn from a special BBC programme for kids with special needs. The programme itself is called Something Special.

Each programme sees Justin and Mr Tumble (played by Justin) out and about applying signing in a variety of places. Topics covered include babies, pets, toys, weather, clothes, shops, food, all about me, where I live and colours. Mr Tumble always dresses up, wearing brightly-coloured clothes and even big shoes! He moves around clumsily and has lots of fun.

The language used throughout each programme is supported by Makaton signs and symbols and is designed to be understood by children in the early stages of language development. 

Full episodes are 15-20 minutes long. What I did with this programme is that I watched them one by one on youtube. I learnt the signs (they are very straight forward and easy to learn) and started using them both in English and in Hungarian (same sign for the same thing). E. was 6-7 months old when I introduced signing to her. (4-5 signs at a time). When she was familiar with these (after about 2-3 weeks) I introduced new ones. Sometimes I picked a short part of an episode (max. 5-6 minutes long) and we watched it together. This could have begun earlier as well. But never cry over split milk.

Click on the link, the first video I saw and really was fascinated by it - Something Special- Baby

I don't do the signing all the time only if E. is not paying attention or I really want to link a new expression in both languages. Most of the time signing draws her attention. In the next post I'll write about some songs which can be followed with signing. It's a hit with kids. They love it! You'll love it too.

-------------------------UPDATE 2016 -------------------------------

The programme Something Special (Mr Tumble) got renewed still it's great. On Something Special youtube channel you can even find songs signed by Mr Tumble (Justin)

Finding more inspiration - MEC

When E. became 6 months old, I was on the net all the time when she was sleeping to find more inspiration on raising a child bilingual here in Hungary. I wanted to find other moms who were in the same shoes as me. And I found one on facebook: M. organised  the so-called Mums' English Club (MEC) in her district in Budapest. It was totally free of charge.

 M. raises her daughter bilingual, too. MEC is and hour/hour and a half get-together where moms and their babies come together. Moms chat while the kids are playing. Baby rhymes and songs in English could be included but it's not a must. The main point of the club is to create an English environment for the children, where they can hear that English is another, natural way of communicating with one another.

I was over the moon to find M. who is working on the same, creating as many opportunities for her daughter to be in an English-speaking environment. We corresponded a lot, she supported me, and helped me in numerous ways:

1. M. inspired me to organise a MEC in my district
2. She introduced me to MAKATON sign language as a possible link between Hungarian and English (I'll write about it in details in another post)
3. M. recommended many books for babies - self-made, translated, or originals (see a later post)
4. She encouraged me not to give up, or shilly-shally when facing difficulties or disappointment

Thanks you, M.

You can find this group of Hungarian and non-Hungarian moms here on facebook. And this community is growing, you can find some groups in the country-side, too. It might happen that one day it'll be a Hungary-wide project.

After all, I made a poster and advertised our MEC in the library nearby, and on the net.

Soon the first MEC took place 22 January 2012. It was an hour long and only one mom and her 11-month-old baby came. Still, it was such a victory. Something I managed to make up in order to get closer to my aim.

Later on, within a month, 2 other moms contacted me and by the end of February we were four moms and four kids chatting and playing and having fun in English. Now we meet on a weekly basis, if holidays, sickness do not chime in. If the above ad has drawn your attention and you feel like joining us, do not hesitate to contact me.

Unfortunately, two of the moms are going to take their children to nursery as they're going back to work, so I need to put out some more posters in the area again to find new moms, new playmates.