FAQ

In the last couple of weeks I have bumped into a lot of mums who asked me similar questions about raising our daughter bilingual in a totally monolingual environment. So I collected a bunch of questions and my answers to them with some links from earlier blog posts:

1. Do you speak to her English only?
   
   
   No, I don't. I can't do that. My mother tongue is my mother tongue, no matter how high my level of English is. (High level of language command is relative. I always feel my English is deteriorating.)
   
   
   I assigned certain times to speak English. When E. was a baby we had a timetable which meant that we used a little bit more English than Hungarian as she spent loads of time with me. Then we needed to change our schedule, still we had 50-50 % balanced language usage. (When she was around 2). Nowadays, (she's almost 3) we are in trouble with the balance between the two languages as we do not spend so much time together therefore there is less English in her life. BUT! Her English basis is so strong that she asks for changing languages when she feels she misses one of them (it's usually English)
   
   
   Even today, whenever there are just the two of us she says: - Uh-uh, Mommy. We need to change into English. We are just two.
   or
   - I've already changed into English, because there is only Mommy and I.
   
   
2. When do you speak English to her and when Hungarian?
   
   There are many methods you can follow. What I use is a special one: I call it the timetable method. By now we don't have a timetable any more. Whenever we can, we speak English, as the Hungarian input of the environment is too influencing.
   
   
3. When did you start talking to her in English?
   
   When we took her home from the hospital. At first, I was just singing songs and chanting rhymes to her in English. I wasn't sure about what I was doing and it felt strange. Then I got some inspirations after having read some books and contacted some other moms in the same shoes. From the age of 6 months I've been talking to her in English just like in Hungarian.
    
4. Wasn't she late with speech development?
   
   Not at all, although it would have been perfectly normal. She was about 1 year old when she could say 6-8 English words (and Hungarian ones too). Actually, her first word (bib) was in English. Of course, these words were fuzzy and not distinct for the untrained ears. But by the time she turned 18 months these words had become clear and a LOT more had been added to them. Not to mention, she started to build up 2-3 word sentences at that time too.
   
   I have to admit that the period between the age of 12 and 18 months was filled with more English sessions that Hungarian.
   
   
5. Doesn't she mix the languages?
   
   She does! At first she didn't, however, nowadays more and more. I'm not worried about it... okay... I am a little bit concerned, but I know if we keep up the balance between the languages she'll have all the language tools in both languages to express herself. Most of the time she mixes Hungarian into her English because she doesn't know a word or she can't express something due to lacking a structure.
   
   Though it happens the other way round, too. She makes her grandparents puzzled when she asks for some stories with the telescope in it (mind you, pronounced it with a perfect British accent) or when she says she wants to play on the see-saw at the playground. Sometimes she names some bugs (bumble bees, wasps, ants) or plants (pansies, daffodils, shepherd's purse etc) she sees in the park in English. They can sort out this teeny-weeny language problem... for the time being.
   
   
6. What do you do when she mixes the languages?
   
   I keep on talking in the given language. I don't change. And I do NOT advise you to let your child take the lead (although it is also an option.) I go on talking, let's say, in English when she says some Hungarian words or sentences here and there. If I know she could say it in English I ask back: - What did you say? or - What's that in English?
   
   If I am aware of the fact that she can't express herself, I simply repeat in English what she said in Hungarian. Some sources suggest not to make your child repeat a word or sentence, yet sometimes I ask her to repeat just to reinforce we use English and help her fix a structure she cannot use (at all, or properly). Nonetheless, I'm not forcing it. Normally, she repeats expressions after me by herself. If she doesn't want to, we move on.
   
   Also, you can pretend you do not understand what your child says, but in our case (we do not follow the One Parent One Language -OPOL-strategy; she can hear me talk both Hungarian and English) it wouldn't work as my daughter knows that I understand and speak both. The other problem with this could be that your child can get frustrated if he or she can't put an idea or a wish across.
   
   
7. What English activities/programmes can you take part in?
   
   We used to have a native British nanny for almost 2 years. I'm really grateful for her as she meant that I could have some free time (cooking, washing, ironing, shopping, cleaning etc.) while I knew English was still in focus in my daughter's life. Now we are looking for a new nanny. If you happen to know someone in Budapest who would be interested I would appreciate it.
   
   I've organised a Mums' English Club (MEC) in the library nearby, where mums gather with their little ones and chat in English while the kids play away. At the end of our sessions we sing some English songs for the kids. An afternoon session of MEC is badly needed but I haven't had time to find a place where we could go free of charge.
   
   We've been taking part in the well-known Helen Doron School's programme since E. was 10 months old. We are planning to leave it, but I'll write about that in a later post.
   
   For almost a year we took part in a swimming course which was instructed both in English and Hungarian. We met there some non-Hungarian families who communicated mainly in English, so E. could hear during the swimming sessions that English is not just Mommy's crazy language.
   
   We also visited Rhyme Time sessions (singing and playing in English) for a few times, but we do not go regularly.
   
   
8. Does Daddy speak English to her?
   
   He does. Daddy speaks a lot of languages, it's no problem for him at all. What's more, practising English regularly helps him improve his spoken skills as well. I suppose he also enjoys our English session;
   
   Again, at the beginning we did it differently. When Daddy arrived home from work we changed into Hungarian, but the whole day was in English. Nowadays, as I'm starting to work, E. is spending more time with the grandparents or she is in the nursery (not to mention that our native nanny, A. has left) we have been trying to fit in as many English sessions as we can.
   
   We have plenty of dinners, weekend programmes, playground visits, craft activities and bath times in English with Daddy. I'm very lucky, because my husband is very supportive concerning our bilingual project.
   
   
9. Can she say sentences?
   
   Haha. This has been the funniest question so far I've received. Sure she can. :) Sometimes very complicated ones. I was really amazed when she said a passive sentence in the playground (- Look, Mommy, the other swing is taken) or when she talks to her soft toy using present perfect (- What have I told you?). One day she was replaying a Berry and Dolly episode (Gingerbread) that we watch in English.
   
   The following left her mouth: - I'm making gingerbread with the cookie cutter and then I'll put it out in the winter (sic) to cold (sic). Magpie, (that is me) come and take it away.
   Later in the story: - Don't take away that belongs to somebody else.
   
   Here is the episode:
   
   
   
   
   Not only her sentences but her vocabulary is also outstanding. I'm often surprised at how eloquent words she knows. The other day she called a pan saucepan. I don't think I have ever used this word with her. Or she can name different kinds of onions: leek, garlic, spring onion as well as varied expressions for the eating process: munch, chew, stuff your face, digest, feed, bite
   
   
10. How do you "teach" her (sic)?
    This is exactly how this question is asked most of the time.
    
    And the answer is : I do not teach her.
    
    What I do is to play with her in English just like in Hungarian. We do the daily routines in both languages. I try to prepare everyday and special activities for her which give us a chance to meet a lot of new situations:
    
    - experimenting,
    - prepping for holidays of the English speaking world,
    - doing fun craft activities,
    - cooking and baking
    - doing housework together
    - exploring nature
    - reading books and singing a lot as well as watching videos
    
    These are just a few examples. In short, we LIVE our lives in 2 languages.
    
    
    +1. How shall WE start?

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started" - Mark Twain

So just start it.

If you want to get some ideas read through the blog... HAHA. Believe me, it'll be much easier to find your own ways. But you can get some ideas here. (Feel free to search for keywords if you're looking for something exact)

Start with some songs that you sing to your child while changing nappies or waking him/her up.

Search some videos online around a topic (cars, shapes, animals, numbers, planets etc.) that your child is interested in and watch them together. You can also explain what you see in the videos.

Learn some rhymes/songs with sign language and play with your munchkin.

Flashcards are almost always fascinating for children, but rather time-consuming to prepare your own home-made ones. On the other hand, our own flashcards are much more attractive to my daughter. You can find really good flashcards online, which you only need to print (and perhaps laminate).
If you don't mind spending some money, you can buy some beautiful ones.

And I haven't mentioned the endless opportunities that books offer to speak and practise a foreign language.

Again, these are some very basic ideas to start with your little one from an early age.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me either in the comments or via email. You can come an visit my facebook page as well.

Enjoy!

Getting familiar with the ABC

I do not want to brag, but yes... a little I do. E. is so  interested in the letters and the ABC that, I do not exaggerate if I say, within a year or two she'll be reading. In this blog post I would like to collect some fun activities we've been doing with the ABC.

-Videos/Songs

The very first favourite. E. was watching this video her mouth agape in amazement when she was 8-10 months old. Phonic Song 2 by KidsTV123

The traditional one is always the best (Upper- and lowercase) The ABC Song by KidsTV123

A song about how to pronounce the letters - Phonic Song by KidsTV123:

Since the age of 2 we have been watching a lot of Mother Goose Club songs: (ABC song with Eep the Mouse)

She could watch it all the time. Sometimes she wants to watch them all day (if I let her).


- Magnetic alphabet

I bought the first set of magnetic alphabet when E. was about 18 months old. She loved them at once.
First, it was just one pack of upper case letters. We used it on the fridge, but the letters always fell under it. So I had a magnetic word game at home (for adults, the letters are too tiny for little children) and I started to use one of its steel boards (You can also use a steel tray or a magnetic whiteboard)

Then I bought another pack of both upper- and lower case letters later when we started making up words at about the age of 20-22 months. (Frankly, we don't really use the lower case letters yet - age 2,5 years. Update: at the age of almost 4 we still do not really use the lower case letters)

At the very beginning we just put together the alphabet from A to Z. We sang the ABC song and/or the phonic song while arranging the letters.

Adding the missing letters to the alphabet with Daddy

 I told her words starting with certain letters, like  E. for her name or D for daddy, M for mummy, A. is for our nanny's name etc. As time passed I added some more words, such as E. is for elephant, egg, or A is for apple, ant and so on, not just names. I always tried to include things that she knew or she was really interested at that time. Within a few days she was the one who said the words: - B is for ball and bubble.

Next, we made up short words she was already familiar with.
Daddy, Mummy, M. (our dog), dog, cat, yes, no, hat, rat, egg, bat and so on. I have no intention to teach her how to read. She is the one who, from time to time, comes to me with the letters to play with. She'll work it out by herself.

- Matching game with the magnetic letters

What you need:

• letters (magnetic, felt, play dough, cut out from cardboard, drawn on bottle tops)
• plastic surface (e.g.: whiteboard, but I used an A/4 sheet that I spoiled while laminating. 
• markers (not permanent!!!)
• sponge or tissues to wipe the surface if you want to reuse it

First, I wrote three words on the laminated sheet (also drew some basic pictures)

I put the letters of these words mixed in a little container 

E. came and emptied the container.

And matched the letter. The interesting thing was that I didn't need to tell her toe start from left to right.

She wanted to do it with our nanny, too.

When she got bored with it I wiped the surface off and at another time I made a new one with: yes, no, love, sun, hot, rat as you can see it in the photo.

She had to start with her letter, E.

 It was summer time we last did this activity, and now sometimes she "reads" letters on her clothes or, some book's title.

- Search for the letters - sensory bin (autumn)

What you need:

• a container
• bark (you can buy it in a packet at animal stores)
• small object connected to autumn in some ways (berries, grapes, apples, pears, twigs, conkers, pumpkins, leaves etc. What I did was I chose 1 bunch of grapes made of plastic, 2 apples made of felt, 3 golden leaves, 4 pumpkins made of felt, 5 real conkers.)
• letters (wooden, foam, felt, magnetic, whatever) of A-U-T-U-M-N
• a sheet of the object and the letters of autumn shown

Throw the bark into the container and hide all your chosen objects in the bark. Put the sheet in front of your child and whenever they find something among the bark, place them in the right group, or if it's a letter, then on the right letter.

And the search can begin.

This activity gives you and your child plenty of opportunity to talk about not only the letters, but also colours, autumn fruit, trees, leaves and berries, and in this case numbers too.

I still have several activities, but I'll need to come back with them in another post. Try them, enjoy them and let me know how they worked out for you.

Over 100 words

E. turned 16 months on Monday and I am not exaggerating if I say she can use much more than 100 words in each language (Hungarian and English).

The calculation was done by D. He added up all the functional language (thanking, asking, giving, objecting, greetings etc.) and words of different topics we've been dealing with (see the collection bellow) and the sum must be over 100 words, getting closer to 200.

Now I'm collecting the ones that E. uses confidently in the right context (and not just parroting them or not the ones she understands because in this case there are a thousand words, I guess). Of course, these words and expressions are not 100 % clear. (She tends to pronounce the "k"  sound  "p", the "g" sound "b" or the vowels sometimes melt into one another). Still, it's her great achievement.

Now I'm trying to focus on her English only:

 



Peek-a-boo

Functional language:

• Thank you
• Please
• Pick it up
• Here you are
• There (if she wants to go somewhere)
• Let's go
• Come on
• Bye-bye
• Hi/Hello
• Don't like it
• Like it
• Cheers (when drinking)
• Up
• Out (of the playpen or high chair)
• not comfy (on the potty)
• Oops (when something is fallen)
• Oh, no! (when something goes wrong)
• Peek-a-boo (when she hides behind the curtain)

Family members:

• mommy
• daddy
• granny
• papa (for grandpa)
• baby
• + names of our family members (7 people), our native nanny (A.) and my best friend (B.) 

Animals: (if she doesn't know the name of the animal she says the sounds they make)

• doggie

  

  Our poor mixed-breed

• froggie
• cat/kitty
• cow
• sheep
• kangaroo
• hippo
• bear
• mouse
• rat
• panda
• butterfly
• ladybird
• bee
• pig
• duck
• ant
• turtle
• whale
• dino

Fruit:

Window pictures

• apple
• pear
• grapes (a bunch of grapes)
• banana
• kiwi
• orange
• plum
• lemon
• cherries
• strawberries
• apricot
• peach
• tomato
• berry

Vegetable:

• aubergine
• onion
• potato
• broccoli
• mushroom
• pumpkin

Other foods:

water

• cheese
• bread
• salami
• sausage
• honey
• water
• milk
• mayonnaise
• ketchup
• butter
• yogurt
• coffee
• ice creme
• ricecake

Flowers:

• peony
• lilac
• begonia
• pansy
• daisy

Flag of Portugal - E.'s favourite right now

Countries/Flags/:

• Norway
• Belgium
• Portugal
• Hungary
• the European Union
• Turkey
• Italy

Colours: (the clearest utterances)

• red
• orange
• yellow
• green
• blue
• purple
• pink
• black
• white
• grey



Bubbles

• brown

Shapes:

• oval
• triangle
• heart
• star
• pentagon
• rectangle

Everyday object/Toys:

• spoon
• plate
• knife
• fork
• bottle
• kitchen
• teddy
• book
• playground
• sandpit
• bath
• colour pencil

  

  drawing star

• crayon
• paper
• drawing
• nappy
• creme
• toothbrush
• man (a plastic figurine)
• clock
• high chair
• door
• playpen

  

  Sandpit

• video
• dummy
• potty
• poopy
• pee pee
• peg
• mill
• car
• choo-choo train
• ball
• puddle
• big
• bubbles
• bin
• balloon
• sun
• cloud

Hat and jeans

Clothes:

• jacket
• slippers
• hat
• trousers
• jeans
• shoes
• cardigan
• boots
• pyjamas
• socks

Body parts:

• head
• pinkie
• nose
• ear
• knee
• mouth
• toe
• eyes

Musical instruments: (she's not so intereted in this topic although she is quite musical)

• drum
• piano

Breeds of dog: (I introduced some dog flashcards 3 days ago)

• Westie
• Shar-pei
• bulldog
• puli
• mixed breed

E. is making up more and more combinations, like big puddle, red pinkie (for polished fingernails), purple plum, pencil drawing, banana yogurt, black doggie etc.

If it goes like this, in two more months she'll say sentences. She's amazing, a little genius. Am I proud? Hard to say how much :)

Helen Doron Baby Days II.

August has arrived so we have taken part in another few days at our Helen Doron Language School. Here is the summary of our 3 sessions:

Day1: Fruits

I was really happy as this is one of E.'s favourite topics. Her eyes sparkled when she saw a picture of an apple and a straberry in the teacher's hand. She looked at me and glowed with delight. I felt she knew the whole session will be about fruits. So I wasn't surprised at all when in the middle of the lesson she was brave enough to say apple, pear and nana (for banana). She says strawberry in Hungarian (she always chooses the easier word of the two languages - very smart). The activities we had:

• matching half fruit

• matching fruit with their shapes
• sticking fruit on a big tree
• taking plastic fruits out of a pelican's beak then put them back
• turning flashcards facing down
• fruit song ( I like bananas...)

And of course the usual revisions, like the Uppety song or the Waving song.



E. is waving to Rosie, the doll (on the 3rd day)

The teacher in me would have included the colours a little bit.

I was taken aback when the picture of an avocado came up. Well, we live in a different eating culture here in Hungary.

However, the main point is E. enjoyed herself a lot. I haven't seen her this active yet. And the number of mums and kids was better than at the beginning of July (6 mums with 6 kids - too many).

Day2: Animals

E. wasn't in a good mood today. We had a rough night and she was clinging to me all day. It was the same at the lesson. She was much less active, which was a pitty. As I could see the other kids were a little bit less patient than they usually are. But again E. said quite a few animal names and the sounds they make, too. (hippo, doggy, miaow, hee-haw)

 

I liked the 'Abracadabra' game. It was about showing 3 animal pictures and the same animals in soft toys. Then the teacher covered the toys with a blanket and made one of the animals disappear as she lifted the blanket up. Then she asked which animal was missing and made the kids match the soft toys and the animal pictures. It could draw and keep children's attention.

We also listened to some real animal sounds and had to find the picture of the animal we could hear. It was also good fun, though there was some technical glitch, which also happened when we were listening to the animal sound song.

Another great activity was a bowl of water with plastic animals in it. I was scared to see the bowl full of water but nobody got wet, luckily, and the kids took great pleasure in splashing a bit in water. (Not to mention how refreshing it was in this heat). It is also a nice activity from sensory point of view. One of the reasons why I like the Helen Doron Early English is the wonderful combination of several kind of development involved at the lessons.

We also revised a little bit of the fruits (matching Velcro-ed fruit with their shape and matching one type of fruit with two of its kind with a marker on a white board - E. was interested in the latter as we started to do a little bit of drawing together).

Fruit activity - sorry, taken with a mobile

After that the kids chose a toy animal from a big bag (E. said: 'choseone' as if it were one word) they had to lift it up and put it down, then turn it round while we were listening to the Uppety song.

All in all, it was a good day with plenty of varied activities, nice hand puppets, real-life animal sounds, some sensory game and great deal of moving around. I just wish E.'d had a better mood.
We finished on time and we could get home to our weekly Mums' English Club.

Day 3: Actions

This day was all about moving around. It was lovely, though towards the end the kids got a little carried away. But let's start with the beginning.

The group shrank a little, there were only 4 mums with their kids. We were banging drums, the door, the chair (E. sometimes hit her head a bit) with the drumsticks.

E. is picking drumsticks for banging

The children were swinging in a blanket one by one, walking around slowly and quickly, turning around, clapping hands, touching face, stacking building blocks, pouring water, and most important of all, blowing bubbles among others. What else would a little explorer wish to do? All the activities were engaging and great fun for the kids. This time I managed to take some nicer photos. Have a look. The pics speak for themselves.

Pouring water from a cup to a bowl

"Stacking, stacking, stacking it up"



I'll try it

The lesson fell apart a bit by the lesson. One child was eating, the other one was whining (wanted more bubbles), the third one was taking the pictures off the wall, instead of indulging themselves in the Waving song - Whatever! It was a great day. They all got really excited because there were a lot impulses.

Every time I am amazed how brave E. is to say English words, more and more every day. She likes taking part in these sessions. She said purple, bubble, water, more, try it and shouted in the middle of the lesson: ORANGE ORANGE ORANGE. This must be the sign of her being entertained and feeling relaxed :) Well, I've already reached my main aim, then.

Potty training

Potty training gives us another chance to widen our vocabulary and we can make it fun (in English) for E. to sit on it.

Potty place

For her 1st birthday E. got a potty from I. Granny. I thought it was a little early to start, but as soon as she got hold of the potty, she sat on it swaying her legs with a wide smile on her face. So this was a sign she is open to sit on it at least. I assigned an area for the potty and made it into a fun place as you can see below.




I was lucky as after a few goes she peed and after a week she also pooped into the potty. But it takes time to sit and wait for the outcome, so while she is sitting on the potty I'm next to her and entertain her both in English and Hungarian, depending on which day or which time period we are in.

These toys and books can be played with when E. is sitting on the potty, so when she goes there to play, I put her on the potty. Then comes the potty song. The tune is the same as Twinkle, twinkle little star and the lyrics:

Tinkle, tinkle little tot,
Now you sit upon the pot

Any second you will see

Sprinkle, splash as you go pee

Tinkle, tinkle little tot,
Now you sit upon the pot

(I found it on baba-angol.hu, but I couldn't link it properly for some reasons)

While E. is sitting on the potty we are looking at the books. Sometimes she points at a picture and I say the name, but nowadays if I ask: "Where's the teddy?" or "What's this?" She can point or tell me the thing I'm pointing at.

The following words she can say from the books:

 

English:                                       

apple

pear

nana (banana)

tick-tock (clock)

teddy (plus showing the sign)

ant

baby

ye (yellow)

blue

teeth

head

bread

red

ack (black)

book (plus showing the sign)

duck

neigh (horse)

mun (monkey)

bib

tree

meow (cat)

coocoo (pigeon)

baa-baa (sheep)

dod (dog)

eat (plus showing the sign)

 

Hungarian:

eper



inni

még (shows her self-created sign)

ebből (picking which bottle she wants to drink from)

dinnye

apa

anya (said first on Father's Day - ironically)

Mana (our dog)

éni (én is - me too)

i-á (for the donkey)

légy (fly- her favourite animal)

hinta (and she starts swinging)

kicsi (said only once)

pá-pá (waving goodbye when we finish with the book)
bé (béka - frog)

She can point at several other pictures if I say their names. What we often play is that she chooses two or three pictures and she points at them one after the other and I say their names (or if it's an animal I give the sound they make). She enjoys it a lot and points at the different pics faster and faster, then laughs out loud.

 

Other activities:

 

When we have finished with the books, we can look at flash cards (I change the flash cards - 5 at a time - every third or fourth day). We have a lot of animal cards, as E. is crazy about them, but I also made some fruit, vegetable and flower cards too. I'm in the process of making body parts, musical instruments and colour cards since she is starting to be more and more interested in them.

Another great activity she loves playing is counting the clothes pegs. Actually, I saw the Helen Doron teacher using pegs during the lessons and E. liked it a lot. So I put five pegs of different colours in a plastic cup and we count them or I name the colours then E. repeats them. The same goes with the plastic bottle caps - in the name of recycling. Yellow is her favourite colour. It's hard to take it away from her when we have finished. When D. is playing with E. on the potty, he shakes all the five caps in his big hands, then spread them on his palms and E. has to point at the colour D. is saying. It's also quite enjoyable.

 

Potty toys

As you can see in the picture above, we have some musical instruments and a toy mobile phone, a FisherPrice Frog  which sings English songs if you push the flashing shape on his tummy and a peek-a-boo doggy. (The mobile and the frog are from a secondhand shop for half the price of the original) Well, I won't go into details in connection with them. Use your imagination. :)

 

You can put ANYTHING next to the potty to play with. These are just a few ideas. Our only rule is that she can play with these things when she is sitting on the potty (both in English and Hungarian). But, to be perfectly honest, she sits there happily even for 10-15 minutes if she is in the mood to play with these potty toys. Sometimes I can hardly make her leave the place.

 

And a little extra: I believe in rewards. So if we find something in the potty after getting up, E. gets a sticker (you can see the plastic box in the top right corner with a lot of stickers on). In fact, she gets one sticker for pee-pee and two for poopy. Now she can (or at least tries to) stick them on by herself.

 

The box is almost full of stickers :D I need to make another one from a 5-litre plastic bottle.

 



First bithday - first words?

Wow! A year has passed. It was a really emotional day with a lot of English.
Both of our helpers (A. and B. - haha) were here.

A. told me after she had been playing for 2 hours with E. that she was trying hard to say words in English. Yes, the first words are coming... and they seem to be English ones. Here are some words E. has been trying to pronounce lately:

English word	E.’s utterance
bib	bab
duck	dut
ball	ba or da (it’s more like the Hungarian word for it)
lamp	bamp
book	boo
apple	a or ap

It's great feedback for me. I've been waiting for her first close-to-a real-word utterances so badly.

Since the weekend party when she received tons of presents, she's been playing a lot with the new wooden fruit cutting set. Now she's trying to say banana (in E.'s language "nana")

 I guess we are on the right track.