[blparent] foreign language emersion

Tue Aug 28 22:28:10 UTC 2012

So true Bran.  We do indeed plan on learning both German and Spanish
ourselves so that we can also speak to him in those languages and aid him in
any-way with learning.  Knowing how quickly kids pick things up though, it
will most likely be him helping us since he'll be receiving the emersion
during the day.  Besides studying the languages we also plan on receiving
private or small group tutoring along with traveling to German and Spanish
speaking countries whenever possible.  Spanish won't be a hard one for my
son to be around since I have lots of friends who speak Spanish and it's
around us all the time here in San Diego.  As for German, it will be the
other children in our son's school and their families, our help at home,
and different forms of media that will aid him in keeping the language sharp
in his mind.  The nice thing about these schools is that one builds a
network quickly that becomes a second family in so many ways.

Take care,

Erin

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Brandy W
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 2:47 PM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blparent] foreign language emersion

I've done child care for children who grow up bi lingual, and trilingual.
The key is this. Native speakers of the language need to be speaking it
exclusively to them, and you need to speak English to him if it is your
native language. Find retired people, other families who speak German and
spend time with them. They will appreciate it because they need a native
speaker of English talking to their children, and you need a native speaker
of German to your son. It wouldn't hurt you to learn either because he is
going to come home asking for things in German, and while you will answer
and model in English you don't want to be frustrated.

Good luck. The benefits are amazing!

Bran

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is
a spark." 
- Victor Hugo 

Brandy Wojcik  Discovery Toys Educational Consultant and Team leader
(512) 689-5045
www.playtoachieve.com
Follow me on Face Book at
http://www.facebook.com/PlayToAchieve.DiscoveryToys 

Read my new blog at www.playtoachieveballstobooks.wordpress.com

Looking forward to helping you with your educational toy needs!

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Erin Rumer
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 4:07 PM
To: NFB blind parent listserv
Subject: [blparent] foreign language emersion

Hello List,

Well, our little guy Dawson is growing quickly at 22 months old now.  My
husband and I have decided that considering Dawson's development he will be
ready to start attending a German language emersion preschool we have here
in San Diego.  We've checked into the school in great detail and love the
program and to make things even easier on Dawson, he will have his best
friend in class with him.  After giving it great consideration my husband
and I have plans for Dawson to learn German as his second language and then
around age 6 he will begin learning Spanish as a third language.  There is a
phenomenal Spanish program for kids right in our neighborhood that start the
kids at 6 and go from there.  We don't want German to stop once he begins
learning Spanish so we are strongly considering sending Dawson to a German
emersion elementary school that has stellar reviews as well as test scores
and success of kids after attending that school.

I share all of this in hopes that I could hear some stories from some of you
who have also enrolled your child in an emersion program or teach your child
another language at home in addition to them learning English.  From now
until Dawson begins the German preschool in November, I want to expose him
to some German through APS on our iPad and through the Little Pim foreign
language learning program for kids.  I know that I won't have any trouble
finding some awesome learning tools in this day-in-age of technology and my
hope is that some exposure will help prepare him for the sounds and some
words that he'll be hearing in his school.

Take care,

Erin

_______________________________________________
blparent mailing list
blparent at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blparent:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/ballstobooks%40gmail.c
om

_______________________________________________
blparent mailing list
blparent at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blparent:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/erinrumer%40gmail.com