E-mail from IAHP- Teaching math in different languages

[Joha]

We had discussed this issue somewhere else and came with diffeent conclusions, but I still wasn't sure about what to do. Everything came back when my mom came to visit and she saw us doing the math flash cards in English. She was "worried" about Valerie not learning enough Spanish  Anyways, I e-mailed the Institute and this is the answers I got

Fortunately, math is the same in any language. It is not part of the reading program. You can do the math program in Spanish for 2 sessions and then you can say to you child that you are going to show them again, but this time speak in English. It will not matter to your child. She is receiving the same information in English as she received in Spanish. It actually does not confuse the child who lives in a bi-lingual household.

I wasn't sure if she meant doing the 2 sets three times in one language and three times in the other or mixing them  (maybe may English wasn't good enough to understand her message ) So this was her response:

I am trying to tell you that it doesn't matter if you do the math in Spanish or English. If you do the math 3 sessions a day, one of those times you can switch to speaking in English. It does not confuse the child. If it makes you feel better, just say to your child, this time I am going to speak in English and do the 3rd session in English.

You can do your sessions in Spanish one day and switch to English the next day. You do not need to repeat just because you switched the language. Your child is taking in math facts and it doesn't matter if you present these facts in English or Spanish. The child is learning the math not the language.

I hope this gives some light to the other people trying to teach other languages and following the math program 

[hafam]

Joha

Excellent, karma to you.

I have been wondering the same thing. Now I know what to do. At least I will not have to repeat all math sessions in all the languages that I would like to show to my baby. It also means less lessons to plan.

Kathy

[purplefungi]

Thank you for e-mailing them. I have had the same questions.

[Joha]

In order to get this e-mail I had sent two messages through two different links in their website. The one I posted originally was the first one I got, but yesterday I got an e-mail from Katie Doman:

"Please forgive such a late response to your letter concerning the programs introduced by Glenn Doman. It is always a pleasure to hear from enthusiastic mothers eager to teach their babies.

   Our mothers and fathers, here at The Institutes, begin teaching their babies reading, math, and bits of intelligence, at least one other language, (reading also), music and swimming in the first year of life. They do so with love and understanding, have a wonderful time together and establish a remarkable relationship.

   May I suggest you finish math in your first language – then teach the second".

  I have to be honest, I was dissapointed by the fact I got two complety different answers from the same institute.    I e-mailed her back with the first e-mail I had gotten, so she can clarify. I'll let you as soon as I hear back from her.

Now, personally, once I got the first e-mail I tried to do one session in Spanish and the other two in English, but it didn't feel right. I know we are teaching math and not reading, but we are giving a name to the image they are seeing. So I have been doing all the sessions in English. In conclusion, I want to hear wnat Katie Doman has to said about clarifying, but I think her e-mail makes more sense to me than the first one I got. I'm going to finish all the program in English and then go over the numbers is Spanish because she will know the math part so the answer will be the same math wise.

[Questers]

Joha,

Thats very dissapointing indeed to get 2 different answers from them.

I too believe Katie Doman's mail sounds better. We are just teaching them the concept. The concept is the same in any language, only the name given to the numeral is different. In that case, it would be sufficient to teach in the primary language first, so that they understand the concept well. Names of the numeral in any other language or many other languages can be taught at any point of time in one's life.

Questers.

[shadah]

   We had this discussion in a language class I was in. We had 22 people form all different countries trying to learn German. Most of them had grown up bilingual. We concluded that we all counted in our first language. 
   For instance, a friend of mine is Polish(as in her parents are Polish), she grew up in Germany, and is now living in America. She also speaks Russian. But, in order to give out her phone number she has to think in Polish(which was her main language at home, not in school) and then mentally translate into the other language.
I hope this helps. Remembering this has made me keep our math program in English since that is our main language.

[Joha]

shadah,

Thank you so much for the input. I always do math in Spanish and then traslate the answer to English, but I thought that it was becuase when I learned English I was older.

[Xica]

I agree with Quester. K. Doman's email makes more sense to me. I am trying to teach math with LM  and the curriculum is in English which is fine because my daughter will do math in English in her school. However, if I introduce math in our daily activities I would say the numbers in Spanish and English.

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