language

[heaven2002]

many children start school now with poorer language then in previous years
not only in english but also in home language
it seems that these children lack a language risch environment at home
make sure you talk to your child - through play and everyday activities
share books, pictures, everyday activities like shopping
teach them the basic names of objects, people, animals, pronouns, positional langauge, colours, places before they start school
play instructional games with a young child such as
'give me the ball'
then make it harder by adding another word 'give me the red ball'
then 'give me the big red ball'
then put the big red ball under the table' etc
also when ur child is playing chat to them about what they are doing, describe their play, but do not talk to much, let ur child respond, and then respond to what they are saying, so that they can begin to unserstand how to take part in a conversation
teach them good listening behaviour (good sitting, look at the speaker, respond appropriately to what has been said' rather than responding with toatlly different topic)
if ur child speaks home language fluently but litle english then dont worry too much , if they are secure in home language research shows that they quickly pick up english when they start school, as they transfer language knowledge from their home language into their new language-english

[dhakiyya]

Another really useful technique in helping children to understand language, is to give them a running commentry on what they are doing. like "you're playing with your book. Do you like your book? Its a book about a mouse isn't it? Now you've picked up the ball. Your shaking your ball, it rattles doesn't it?" you feel like a bit of an idiot to start with, but in doing so you are paying attention to them which makes them feel loved and wanted, and also helps to avoid attention seeking bad behaviour at other times, you are also telling them the names of the objects, the actions they are doing, and they are picking up sentence construction, intonation of speech and so on. This is the technique nursery school teachers are using with children who arrive at nursery with very poor language skills for their age, but it works just as well with babies who are old enough to start doing more than just lie around looking at stuff. (even at that early stage you can still talk to them about what is going on around them, they love the sound of your voice and this will help them begin to pick up language)

[dhakiyya]

Another thing, having the TV or radio on in the background hinders babies language development because it makes it harder for them to focus on your voice. So make sure that you have significant times during the day without such background noises, where it is only voices of the family talking so the baby can pick up on the language being spoken

[.: Anna :.]

interesting comments :up:

one language related thing i was thinking about, i dnt kno if shud b in a seperate topic or this one, bt if we want to go about teaching 2nd or 3rd language from a young age wat will be the best method of that... for the people who actually do speak english in the home as 1st language so its not so simple as speak ur language at home n let them learn english @ school... bt say u want them 2 learn arabic from a young age aswell?

[ze leetle elper]

Another point regarding language is to always say the words correctly. I mean I know we (as parents and elders) get all mushy wushy :inlove: when our little angel tries to pronounce a word for the first time ie: 'wed' instead of 'red' *AWWWWW* but if we use the word with them we should always use RED even though they always say WED...this applies to any kind of communication with your child...and in any language :p Cos I know that in the asian culture there are so many words that are 'baby-fied' lol but you should try to use the corrct word each time! :up:

[ze leetle elper]

interesting comments :up:

one language related thing i was thinking about, i dnt kno if shud b in a seperate topic or this one, bt if we want to go about teaching 2nd or 3rd language from a young age wat will be the best method of that... for the people who actually do speak english in the home as 1st language so its not so simple as speak ur language at home n let them learn english @ school... bt say u want them 2 learn arabic from a young age aswell?

I don't think you should seprate the 2 in fact! Children have the amazing ability to pick up whatever languages are being spoken around them! Of course in terms of reading and writing the different languages you would have to ensure they are tutored sufficiently but in terms of speaking, if the language is used at home they will pick it up!

My cousins children speak English, Urdu (their mum) and Turkish (their dad!)...

I will start a thread re: Montessori teaching methods iA :D

[heaven2002]

interesting comments :up:

one language related thing i was thinking about, i dnt kno if shud b in a seperate topic or this one, bt if we want to go about teaching 2nd or 3rd language from a young age wat will be the best method of that... for the people who actually do speak english in the home as 1st language so its not so simple as speak ur language at home n let them learn english @ school... bt say u want them 2 learn arabic from a young age aswell?

treat the second language as u do the first
speak that language in front of the child, have converstaions with others in that language
name objects, colours, numbers in that language
it helps if that language is already embedded in ur home , in ur family

[Amaara]

yeah me thinks that there is no problem speaking/teaching both laguages...do not seperate..My nephew didnt speak a word of English when he began nursery, he's still calling the eacher in Bengali.

But generalsing, dont think it's much of a prob but theres nothing wrong with letting the chld learn both languages from a young age :)


About the mush wushy tlk...sis I totally agree. Nomatter how cute it is dot u do it! Its not goodm, your child will become usded to using 'wed' instead of 'red' and in many cases will notice that every1 finds it cute and will just do it more 4 attent. rather parent s shud find it cut(er) when a child pronounces the word exactly...

My lil sis used to called humella (humaira) becase my brother always tried to sound babyish when calling out to her.

Alhamdulillah, she tells people her actual name now though!

[.: Anna :.]

hmm so u think its no problem to learn both the languages simultaneously from same parent? as before i heard thats is good to put one language per person to teach... which i understand how it can be good, but like i cdnt commit 2 speaking ONLY arabic with kids it would be too much. so if we speak with them both english & arabic, like just sometimes one sometimes other will they learn 2 distinguish these are seperate or will they grow up speaking a kind of arab-lish only understandable 2 their family members???

[Amaara]

hmm so u think its no problem to learn both the languages simultaneously from same parent? as before i heard thats is good to put one language per person to teach... which i understand how it can be good, but like i cdnt commit 2 speaking ONLY arabic with kids it would be too much. so if we speak with them both english & arabic, like just sometimes one sometimes other will they learn 2 distinguish these are seperate or will they grow up speaking a kind of arab-lish only understandable 2 their family members???

well, insha'Allah I dont think so.

But when i comes to myself, I find myself speaking ad/bangali aka half english/half bengali, which is a problem but thats because of my lack of fluency. However I knw that alot of children are able to distinguish, especially when they are at school and it is only english spoken.

The learn to differetiate between the institutions as in school=english home=bengali(or mix 4 me)

I think i iss best to speak in both, dont shut 1 out. The 1 thing I dont like is when a person has not taught their child the language they are expected to have knowledge about ie I have some members of my family that are unable to sociolise with others simply because they cant speak the language. I believe it is imperative to have knowledge.

I remember not long ago i found that i was unable to read/speak arabic, which wasnt necessarily my parents fault (i wasnnot so much interested) but it is a daily part fo my life, not just arabic cut english and bengali and thus i and parents should find it imperative to teach the language somewhat. Obviously things progress, a child will take interest and learn to distimguish themselves.

[dhakiyya]

If you want your child to be bilingual, try to have two different people speak the different languages, so that they know they are different. If one person switches between two languages all the time, the child can get the two languages confused.

When I lived in London, this Lebanese family I knew (Anna u know the ones in the Felafel cafe :up: ) he was married to an English woman, and he only spoke Arabic to their son, and she only spoke English to him, and at three he was fluent in both languages, switching between them instantaneously as he switched between speaking to his mum and dad.

InshaAllah we're moving to Saudi very soon, so inshaAllah we will speak to our baby daughter in English at home, and outside the home she will be learning Arabic inshaAllah, at nursery and school etc inshaAllah.

[heaven2002]

hmm so u think its no problem to learn both the languages simultaneously from same parent? as before i heard thats is good to put one language per person to teach... which i understand how it can be good, but like i cdnt commit 2 speaking ONLY arabic with kids it would be too much. so if we speak with them both english & arabic, like just sometimes one sometimes other will they learn 2 distinguish these are seperate or will they grow up speaking a kind of arab-lish only understandable 2 their family members???

children have an inherent ability to distinguish between languages
like when i went school i understand that my home langauge was something to be spoken with only by people of same background
i dont think they will confuse the two
as they get older like 4/5 they will understand to adapt the language to their environment

[white muslim]

many children start school now with poorer language then in previous years
not only in english but also in home language
it seems that these children lack a language risch environment at home
make sure you talk to your child - through play and everyday activities
share books, pictures, everyday activities like shopping
teach them the basic names of objects, people, animals, pronouns, positional langauge, colours, places before they start school
play instructional games with a young child such as
'give me the ball'
then make it harder by adding another word 'give me the red ball'
then 'give me the big red ball'
then put the big red ball under the table' etc
also when ur child is playing chat to them about what they are doing, describe their play, but do not talk to much, let ur child respond, and then respond to what they are saying, so that they can begin to unserstand how to take part in a conversation
teach them good listening behaviour (good sitting, look at the speaker, respond appropriately to what has been said' rather than responding with toatlly different topic)
if ur child speaks home language fluently but litle english then dont worry too much , if they are secure in home language research shows that they quickly pick up english when they start school, as they transfer language knowledge from their home language into their new language-english

thanx for this! its good advice and info