Before our American native nanny left Hungary we had a flower planting last session with her. Although I wanted to do this activity on Earth Day, the weather did not favour us so we had to postpone it for a few weeks.
I bought the plants at a flower market that is close to our place: 6 flowers and a green plant:
Verbena
Snapdragon
Marigold
Periwinkle
Petunia
Dakota Sunspot
White-edged Swedish Ivy (a kind of mosquito repellent with leaves that has special smell if you rub it, no flower though)
You can download the flower picture here. (Buttercup is also included as E. found one in a field and we needed to check what it was). The names are added both in Hungarian and in English.
What you need:
flowers/plants of your choice
flower pots
soil (we had 5 kg for 7 plants)
shovels
watering can with water
How we did it:
Best to do it in the garden or on the balcony but the weather was very windy (still is) so I put down an old wax tablecloth on the floor and we did the planting on it indoors. In this way we did not dirt the whole living-room and it was relatively easier to clean up.
E. doesn't really like to dirt her hands. I try to come up with ideas when she needs to do so in a fun way so she can overcome this bad feeling of dirty hands.
She touched the soil/dirt with great hesitation, though.
We filled up half of a pot with dirt.
She took the plants out of its small pot and pinched off some ends of its roots (it was L.'s advice that she'd learnt from her mom)
Then, she placed the plant into the bigger pot in the new soil after having created a little hole in the middle and added more dirt on top of the roots.
We have some nice blue buckets which can be hung on our balcony so the final step was that E. put the pot in the bucket.
When we were ready with all the plants she took them all out onto the balcony and hung them up.
Let's not forget about watering the plants.
For a few days she wanted to go out and water them, but now it's been a week she last saw her plants. I need to water them, but it's true that a lot has been going on recently because of her birthday. Not to mention the fact that this strong wind we've had nowadays has destroyed the flowers and to be honest they are far from nice at the very moment. I can only hope a little later they'll revive when the weather gets better and E. will show some more interest in them.
All in all, it was great fun, a nice way to have one of our last sessions with our nanny, L. I admit it was quite messy, but E. enjoyed it and learnt a lot about planting, getting your hands dirty, decorating our home and taking care of a living creature.
Her English vocabulary expanded: she learnt quite many synonyms like shoots/sprouts, spade/shovel, throw away/dump, soil/dirt. (For the Hungarian readers: when she told Daddy about our planting project she said: ." ...aztán kosztraktunk a cserépbe")
What gardening project do you do with your kids in the spring? I'm looking forward to your answers in the comment section so we can do something new next year.
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:
(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)
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
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.)
Spring has arrived and brought us a new nanny, L. from California. Unfortunately, how long she'll stay is uncertain, but even a few months will do. Here is a fun craft activity they did together.
While E. was in the nursery I prepared the following:
The quality of the pictures are so poor... sorry.
15-16 cotton pads cut-outs
blue construction paper
green construction paper (the leaf cut-outs)
glue
green markers
L, our new nanny came at 5 and they immediately sat down to make the snowdrops excitedly. I made an example for them to follow to make the whole process easier.
They started with drawing the stems and gluing the leaves.
They also coloured the snowdrops' top green:
Some cutting and glueing:
"I need more snowdrops"
Adding some more snowdrops:
We displayed them on the living room door:
Of course, this wasn't their first occasion to meet but the 3rd or 4th. However, E. and L. hit it off at the very beginning. E. needed time to realise L. doesn't understand when she mixes some Hungarian in her talks. I'm glad to say E. uses less and less Hungarian when she speaks English, and not only when our new nanny is around. Thanks, L! We've really needed the native input.
E. started nursery in September (at the age of 27 months), but I haven't had the time to finish a review on this issue. Here it comes:
Hello, this is my first day in nursery
We decided on a private nursery as opposed to a state one because of our bilingual journey. This option puts a greater financial burden on our family in the long run but hopefully it'll be worth it.
Mini Klub is a bilingual nursery. There are two nursery teachers who speak Hungarian to the kids and one who speaks English only all day long. Although the English speaking nursery teacher is a native Hungarian, we are lucky enough, as her English is on a high level and her pronunciation is native-like. She is also a dedicated teacher and prepares a lot to entertain and "teach" the kids English.
We first met her (Ms. B.) in August before the official start when every week in the afternoon we visited the nursery's playground. E. could meet all the children and nursery teachers.
Ms. B. played with E. in the sand pit and I also had a chance to chat with her a little about the routines and English usage in the nursery. I made it clear to her that the reason why we come to this nursery is because of E.'s bilingualism.
After almost three months now, Ms. B. hasn't been talking to E. in Hungarian at all, although in some emergency situations Ms. B. needs to talk in Hungarian to other kids. Another relevant point is E. likes her a lot. (So much that in October we had several evenings when I had to play Ms. B.'s role during bath time at home.)
On the first official nursery day they hit it off. (sorry about the quality of the photos, most of them were taken secretly)
Exploring the nursery garden with Ms B.
The first few days and weeks went without any problem. I guess I was more worried and nervous about the transition than she was. Evidently, she enjoys playing there, loves the teachers and some of the kids, too.
On the first day with Ms. L. -
Of course, we couldn't avoid the initial illnesses, which gave me more possibility to increase the English time (at home).
Look, Daddy this is my box. My sign's on it.
There are quite a lot of educational activities every single day (crafts, learning shapes, colours, rhymes and songs, circle games, story time etc.) on the basis of the Montessori Method that keep them busy and occupied.
Weekly routine:
Every day:
doing exercise
developing movements
Monday:
shapes, colours
feeling by touching
concentration
improving perceptibility
numbers 1-10
Tuesday:
communication
rhymes and story telling
learning verses and poems
Wednesday
circle games
songs
auditory development
developing rhythm and a sense of music
Thursday
fine motor skills
arts and crafts
modelling clay, painting, gluing, threading etc.
Friday
love of nature
exploring our environment
plants and animals
Until the end of October every Tuesday the kids went pony-riding in the other premises of the nursery (Duna Ovi). From the middle of November (next week) they are starting ice-skating. E. just can't wait. I hope she'll like it. I'm not sure if she has understood what ice-skating means exactly.
The nursery also has a daily routine:
7.30-8.45 arrivals, free play time
8.45-9.00 doing exercise
9.00-9.05 changing nappies or toilet time
9.05-9.30 breakfast, teeth brushing
9.30-10.15 educational sessions (20 mins in English, 20 mins in Hungarian)
10.15-10.30 snack time (fruit, vegetables)
10.30-11.30 playtime in the playground (depending on weather conditions)
11.30-11.40 toilet time
11.40-12.15 lunch time
12.15-14.30 quiet time, sleepy time
14.30-15.15 waking up period, snack time
15.15-15.45 educational session (15 mins in English, 15 mins in Hungarian)
15.45 - free play time, departure
Food: healthy and varied (Daddy asked me one day looking at E.'s weekly menu if he himself could sign up for lunch at the nursery ;) - we receive the menu every week.
Educational sessions:
crafts
Look, that's my horse
preparing for special occasions like grape harvest festival, Halloween, Santa Claus day (Dec 6) or Christmas
I have a video about the educational session in English (and in Hungarian), but E. was ill and didn't take part. What's more, I should ask the nursery for permission to put the video up on my blog. So it might come later on.
Play time - if it doesn't rain cats and dogs they go out to the playground for at least an hour in the morning and another hour in the afternoon.
All in all, I am more than satisfied with this nursery and the English language input E. has been experiencing there. She plays a lot with Ms. B. and sometimes when I go to pick her up she tells me that we are in English. Every now and then, Ms. B. comes to the same direction as we do on the way home and we chat in English. E. has already made friends with another English speaking kindergarten teacher (Mrs. M.). She asked her the time in English (as I went to pick her up a little later that day).
I hope everything will go on like this in the future. My expectations were high but this nursery managed to meet them. If you have any questions about daily life in Mini Klub, just feel free to contact me.
New year - new timetable. First I though we have been spending less time with English in 2014, but I was mistaken. We are spending more time with the second language than according to the previous year's timetable.
Here is the new chart:
49 % English time, 51 % Hungarian time
Of course we are flexible, this is just the plan. An illness, some unexpected visitors or a change in our helpers' schedule can alter the timetable but this is more or less the main framework.
You can see two areas in the timetable (Friday late afternoons, and dinner-/bath time) which are neither clearly dedicated to English nor Hungarian, or, I can put it, they are the most uncertain periods of the week. The reason for this is D. has been working a lot and because of his long hours we never know if he is at home at these times or not. So when he can't make it we use English. This is how we compensate for missing daddy.
Our native nanny, A., comes twice a week, a total of 6 hours per week.
A. and E. are reading Berry and Dolly
The timing of the Helen Doron sessions has been moved from the mornings to the afternoons and on a different day (Wednesday) but we still have one occasion per week. To be honest, we are not listening to the CDs as often as we used to. It is mainly because E. is a little bored of them (me too...) and she knows them all by heart, so what for? Still, she enjoys the lessons, especially painting (I'll write more about it in another post) and moving water from a teapot or a dish to a cup. Playing with scrunchy balls -crumpled newspaper sheets with cello-tape around them- and pots are also among her favourite activities. We sometimes play with them here at home as well.
Fascinated by the baby paint
Even if it is a Grandma day (using Hungarian) at the end of the day I always try to fit in some English playtime, cooking time, shopping time or playground visit etc.
whisking egg yolk
The weekends are the trickiest. As I really want father and daughter to build a strong and warm relationship we (the three of us together or just the two of them) have quite a great number of programmes in Hungarian environments. I find this more important than the language development.
Daddy time
However, at weekends I always try to spend some hours with English. These are not long, and not so interactive or highly communicative activities, like watching videos in English, or reading a story in English.
I'm looking into our bilingual future with confidence and great hope. 2014 will be even more successful than 2013 was.
To reach our goals I am not enough as the only English speaker in E.'s life.
First, I tried to find native playmates for E., but she was too little for them. But I'll try it again when she starts being interested in playing with others, as now, at the age of 11 months, she just plays NEXT TO another child, but not WITH them.
B. is reading with E. (who is 7 months old here)
I arranged with my best friend, B., who is an English teacher as well, to talk to E. in English only. So every Friday when she has no lessons or other programmes she comes over and plays, chats, reads out to E. It's real fun as I can be with my friend and E. is also entertained IN ENGLISH. There are other family occasions where B. is also present (name days, birthdays, Easter etc), and even at these times when Hungarian is the major language used, B. speaks English to E. Sometimes it's a bit chaotic and quite challenging for B. to share her attention between two languages, but we have succeeded so far. (By the way, B. speaks four languages at a near-native level: Hungarian, Romanian, English and German). Nice example for E.
Another helper of ours is A., our British nanny. A. comes once a week (on Thursdays) for 2 hours to play with E. She loves A., smiles at her as soon as she arrives, screams and babbles a lot while A. is at our place. I may claim that E. "talks" to A. the most compared to how rarely they meet. A.'s main task is to talk, talk and talk to E. Another reason why it is so useful for her to be present in our life is that I can brush up my English. If I don't know the exact, or natural expression for some object, activites, baby language, A. is here to help me out. In the future I would like A. to come more frequently or come out with us to the playground or to the zoo. If I go back to work (which will be soon even if it'll be only part-time) I would be happier if an English speaker took care of E. while I'm away. If she has time for us as she is quite popular with moms. A. could be a kind of replacement for me. I know this idea won't be very welcomed by the Grandmas.
A. is talking to E. (10,5 moths old) about animal flashcards
At the Helen Doron Early English class, our teacher, Zs., is also a kind of helper. She provides us with another occasion to practise and learn English out of our home. E. can see that other people also use this form of communication. And it is also important that she is with other kids, too.
The same applies to MEC (Mums' English Club), except for the fact that it takes place in our home, in E.'s comfort zone.
My plan for the near future (as soon as E. can walk) is to find a playhouse where native or non-Hungarian mommies go with their little one.
Our daily schedule concerning English has developed slowly. E. is 11 months old and for a month now we've had a more or less fixed weekly agenda. Here it is:
60% is in Hungarian and 40% is in English - I wish we could keep this balance
We've just started Helen Doron English (in a later post I'll write about our experience), but it definitely increases the time spent on English and we are not at home using the minor language at last. Tuesdays and Thursdays are clearly dedicated to English. Mondays and Wednesdays are the Hungarian days. Still, on these days we have 2 or 3 hours of English input. (What is not in the chart is the 20-30 minutes when D. takes the dog out for a walk in the evening. E. and I change into English and lay the table, put away the toys or watch some videos or books in English while they're away.)
Fridays are changeable, but in general half of the day goes in Hungarian, the other half in English. Before our Hungarian playmate comes to visit us, we go out for a walk together or to the market and then we use Hungarian as English would be unnatural.
My only problem is the weekends. As the whole family is together, it's really difficult to find time and natural situations when we can use English. At weekends 1 hour of English per day is "forced" into our programme (singing, video watching, reading out) but not real communicative interactions. I'll try to find out something for the weekends. If you have any suggestions, just feel free to share it with me.
In the table above you can't see food time (which is in the given language according to which day it is) and daily sleeping time, however the latter takes away 2-3 hours per day.
At the beginning of January we took up baby swimming on Saturday mornings. I found a course at Budapest Moms (you can find the group's facebook page here), which was held in two languages. The tutor is Hungarian and in the water one of the moms do the interpreting. As the swimming pool echoes a lot it is hard to hear the Hungarian words, not to mention the English ones, however, we met a lot of non-Hungarian families (Russians, French, Dutch, Canadians etc). As for the English language, it doesn't make a big difference whether we take part in this swimming course or another, but the trainer is really professional and the pool is clean, the water is warm. So all in all we, and most important of all, E. enjoy it. It's a good family programme for the weekend. The course is finished in a week, now we are thinking of continuing it, but not sure. Good weather has arrived, we might want to spend time outside instead.
I'm a little worried about being able to keep this schedule. One thing is permanent in a baby's life that nothing is permanent. As I'm planning to work part-time soon, probably in a month or two our agenda needs to be revised.
