Noha, if you want to know more about right-brain teaching, don't forget to read the article on the website (second on the list in the Teaching Babies menu). There are also articles about right-brain instant math: go to Teaching Babies => Math.

Hope you find them interesting!

Teresa, thanks so much for these references - I had heard of TweedleWink and will look forward to reading the ebook.

Maddy

Hi Forsythia and Vivian

I would like to reply to both of your posts here...

Forsythia, congratulations on your trilingual home - what an awesome environment for your children to be growing up in! Thanks for sharing the anecdote about your son responding to you when you switched to a different language - very cute!

As for second brains, all I can say is that when I became fluent in Russian, I felt like a different person in that language. And it was because things are expressed in a totally different way. I, at other times, was freely conversant in French and Spanish and I didn't feel so different in those languages - probably because their syntaxes more closely match English's. Does that make sense? (I think Russian syntax is more similar to German - but I've never learned German.)

I would love to hear from bilinguals and trilinguals about whether they feel different in different languages. From the neuroscientific point of view, language processing is actually taking place in the same part of the brain (or to be precise, of the Broca's area) - whereas for people who become fluent later in life, a different part of the Broca's area gets used for the foreign language. This explains why my Russian accent could be excellent when I was on good form, but lousy when I was tired or ill. If I were bilingual rather than fluent in Russian, being sick or tired would never affect my accent. (A fellow language student - a German who spoke flawless English - once recounted to me that, despite her seeming bilingualism, she was still liable to blurt out something like "Vindscreen vipers" if she was drunk!)

Vivian, I wouldn't be so worried about your teaching strategy. How old is your son now? You only speak to him in English - is that right? If you are concerned about whether he is learning anything from the flash cards, you might like to consider the multi-sensory method of reading instruction. The advantage is it teaches the meanings of words, so you can easily see what your child has learned. We would recommend Robert Titzer's Your Baby Can Read DVDs or our very own Little Reader - or you can make your own cards with personalized photographs! You don't need to worry about him getting confused by the different languages, as children are geniuses in this regard!

Maddy

Hi Noha

Good question! The possibility of something called neurological "crowding" is mentioned by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, the critics whose points I address in the "Teaching will harm the child" and "Teaching is pointless" articles. However, I haven't been able to find any data to back up the hypothesis, so it appears to be just that - a hypothesis.

To explain what it means, Professor Huttenlocher (a pediatric neurologist at the University of Chicago) is quoted as saying, "One has to consider the possibility that very ambitious early enrichment and teaching programs may lead to crowding effects and to an early decrease in the size and number of brain regions that are largely unspecified and that may be necessary for creativity in the adolescent and adult."

So this would appear to exist as a theoretical possibility. As far as we know however, no parent has so far been able to damage their child's brain through teaching them at a young age And if you were going to stuff your child's brain so full of knowledge as to risk neurological crowding, then I doubt very much that you would be following the cardinal rule of making sure every lesson is a joyful experience.

I think it would be safe to assume that if your child is enjoying her lessons, then you are not damaging her brain!

Maddy

Hi nhockaday

I was going to do the Speaking + Signing section of the site next, but you make a very good point - summer is upon us! So I will do the swimming article first. It will be up shortly - and I will reply to this thread again when it is.

Thanks nhockaday

Best wishes

Maddy (Editor, BrillBaby)

Hi Noha

This is a really interesting topic 

1. How do you prevent them from mixing the two languages together, as in saying for example spanish and english words in the same sentence? What if you want them to speak both fluently but separately?

I have some experience of this - I babysat some bilingual kids in Israel and it was fascinating to observe their speech habits.

What I actually found was that the kids mixed English and Hebrew together seamlessly. This one little girl was crying and kept repeating, "I want my buck book!" I was going, "What book is that?" It turned out "buck book" was the Hebrew word for bottle!

I would tell the kids that they had to speak English to me because I didn't know Hebrew, but they would inadvertently slip in some Hebrew words. I don't know the exact age of the "buck book" girl, but I would say about three or four.

Meanwhile, my husband's daughter grew up bilingual in English and Cantonese, and at the age of two, made up "Christmas Aabaak" ("aabaak" meaning "uncle" in Cantonese) to mean Father Christmas or Santa Claus.

What I know for sure is:

- Children *will* mix the two languages - and it's adorable and completely harmless for them to do so! They won't know the difference between the two languages when they're very small, but at a certain age they will figure it out.

- You absolutely do not have to worry about your child mixing up the two languages when (s)he is older.

If you and your spouse have different native languages, then this is a golden opportunity. By each speaking your native language, you are giving your child the greatest linguistic gift possible. Otherwise, if one of you is merely fluent in another language, then it's fine to use it sometimes - but you should preferably speak in the language that comes most naturally, most of the time.

2. When is a good time to start teaching a third language? Schools usually start at Grade 1 here (around 6 years old)...is that the optimum? How much time generally should you leave between each new language?

It is never too early to start teaching a third language. Six is a very good age to start (and young enough for the child to be able to speak without an accent). You do not need to leave a set amount of time between languages. Children really are geniuses in this regard!

Best of luck Noha, and I hope you will share some cute Spanglish phrases of your child's in due course  :-*

Maddy

Just wondering if anyone else is teaching their baby(/ies) any of the above - as I am!

Sign language, using Baby Signing Time! DVDs; reading using Your Baby Can Read! DVDs and Little Reader; math (was) using Glenn Doman flash cards - but my DD was just too bored! So I'm going to try again in 6 months.

Btw I'm writing about all of this on my blog on BrillBaby.com (I'm the editor).

Looking forward to comparing teaching experiences!

Also, does anyone out there have an older kid who they taught as a baby? Have you noticed the benefits of early learning carrying on as your kid has gotten older? We'd love to hear from you!

Anyone out there PG or trying to conceive?

As a new mom, I remember that pregnancy lasts a lo-ong time! And there's no way to imagine the way you're going to feel until it happens to you (and keeps on happening... those are some pretty dramatic changes!).

My DH and I have just moved our bed up to the alcove in our room to prevent our DD (8 months) from rolling off the bed in the middle of the night (which she has done - we had pillows on the floor, thankfully). As I scoot in and out via the foot of the bed, I'm reminded of how difficult it was to get out of bed while in the 3rd tri. I mean, I couldn't even roll over by the end - I had to use my arms to push up to sitting first.

Man, I don't miss being pregnant!

We used BabyPlus - starting quite late, at 33 weeks' gestation. My DH called it "the infernal drums"! Anyone using BabyPlus or doing some other form of baby education? Any thoughts on it?

Also, anyone used BabyPlus with one of their babies but not with another? Notice any difference?

Hi everyone
 
This is Maddy, mother to Naimah (DOB 22 Sept 07) and editor of BrillBaby. com.
 
I'm discussing my experiences of teaching Naimah sign language and instant math, as well as other parenting issues, on my blog.  Go to the BrillBaby homepage and click on Editor's Blog.
 
If you're teaching anything to your baby at home (or taking your baby to classes of any description), I'd love to hear from you.  Besides interesting happenings and observations of my own, I'd like to include other parents' on the blog, so feel free to email me.
 
Meanwhile, if you have anything to ask me about pregnancy, parenting or teaching babies, feel free to start a new thread on the Forum.
 
And do remember to introduce yourself here! I look forward to chatting with you guys
 
Maddy x