Non-speaker parent=possibility of a (native)-speaker child?

[hypatia]

Hello,
I would love for my 13mo daughter to be bilingual in Mandarin. However, this choice comes from my own belief that Chinese is an important language. I do not speak the language, do not have acquantances who speak it etc. So for the time being, she only watches Little pim and listens to some songs.

What I'd like to know is if any of you (with an older child than mine) have succeeded in getting your child to speak and understand of language which has, at the beginning at least, no signification in his/her life.

Which means did you use (tapes, dvds, nanny, playgroups..)
How old was your child when he started to use the language? Whom does it practise with?
Was there a time when your child showed no interest in the language and which measures did you apply to prevent this?

[Kimba15]

I'm in the same boat, and would be interested to hear of any ones advice

[Nikita]

I'm trying to immerse my 22 month old in quite a few languages, and looking at multi-lingual playgroups, but not in one yet. Thus my 3 moth old will be immersed far more and from earlier. 22 month old seemed quite keen on dora the explorer in French. She's never seen it in English yet, so when I finally introduce Dora in English, it might all click into place with full understanding. Will let you know down the track.
I try to learn the languages at the same time, and am trying to get baby/toddler/preschool books 2nd hand in those languages too. If anyone knows of kiddy ebook sites in different languages like Mandarin, french, german, japanese, spanish, italian, indonesian and russian, let us know. Saves on postage..books are heavy!

[ed]

well,
with my son casually I've began to listen cd's Geronimo Stilton (italian-english) he was 5 moths and he was quite interested
then we were watching some sample cartoons Peppa Pig is nice but not educational a lot...
at the moment he is watching many videos in english hope with understanding something (we are learning together)
now he likes very much repeat every new word - he saw www.mingoville.com (it's only english free site) and he was trying to repeat words quite well (after all months of listening)
the same fact is with spanish and french (we were in Paris this month and he couzld repeat greetings etc. with good pronunciation)
he prefers italian (but he knows polish too, but living in Italy we are using polish only talking together) but I hope that he could learn languages without problems at the feature
for multilingual sites - all link library has some resources,
for italian:
www.raccontastorie.com (here you should download for free animated stories in italian and poems
http://www.logosdictionary.org/pls/dictionary/new_dictionary.dic.main?u_code=4395&code_language=&language_list=&trg_lg=&word=&phrase_code=3821426&connect_value=850842&procedure_type=ST&subject_code=&num_row=10 (here audios and dictionary in many languages)
http://www.hello-world.com/songs.php (some are free)
ed

[Nikita]

Geronimo stilton...I have quite a few of them (books) in  English. wow...on cds in Italian and english?

Thank you for those links.

[kimmba]

Hi My name is Marisha, Nikita has sent me the link to this forum and I am very pleased to know that there are parents out there wanting to help their child/ren to learn a second language from young. I have done just this in 2007 by establishing a community based bilingual playgroup organization in Melbourne, offering 3 languages to participating parents. We had 5 families in 2007 and now around 150 children learning with us weekly at 7 locations in Melbourne.

Playgroup is the most in expensive and rewarding type of learning that you can provide your child to engage in a second language environment. It also provides the social engagement for those little toddlers/preschoolers to learn through play, in a second language.

I find that most of my parents travel a long distance to us on a weekly bases so that their child can learn in the fun and engaging, stimulating, language based program.

If you would like to find out more about our playgroups' venues and timetable, please visit our website: www.kimmba.com.au

We have a baby Mandarin class on Friday 11:15 to 12:00 noon that has a couple of vacancies because babies move up to toddler class very quickly, once they starting to move around by themselves, you can't have them in baby class any more. A new toddler class (Mandarin) is also starting on Tuesday 10-11:30am. This is as the result of a few parents on the waiting list to get into the existing class for more than a term, so we have to start new classes almost every term. Our Spanish class is also available on the Saturday morning, 10-11:30 am.

I am happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding how to help your child/baby to successfully learn a second language and become like a native speaker of the language.

My email address is [email protected], my phone number is 0425 703 831

Cheers,
Marisha

[hypatia]

Hi Marisha,
thank you for letting us know about your playgroup. I found it on the internet and it seems really great.. any recommendations for those living in Sydney?

[kimmba]

Hi hypatia,

Well, I guess you would need to see if there are group of parents that would like to form a "Mandarin Playgroup" and which location would that be and the date/time that they can all gather together, then find a Mandarin Preschool Language teacher to run the program. This is how I started with 1 location in Melbourne and now the 3rd year running, we have 6 other locations. I have no problem to go to Sydney and branch out but lots of organizing would need to be in place before I will go and help you to set it up.

Local paper often put up notifications for Not-profit-making organization for free and Dr.s' maternal child health centres are a good way and no cost involved way of gathering families together.

Locations that I am running are mostly churches, local Neighbourhood house or community centres or local council run activity centres, rent I am paying ranging from free to $20 per hour. To be able to keep the cost down, we will need to find the location that's supportive towards children and families' learning.

Let me know what you think and we will keep in touch. If I can help Mandarin Star to set it up  via emails, I can help you, too.

Let's branch out to Sydney and help thousands of families that would like to help their children to gain a second language learning from young.

Cheers,

Marisha

PS. My internet connection is down and we are changing provider at the moment so it may takes me a while to reply but email me, I can reply it via my phone.

[Baining]

Hi, this post is a little old but I had to write!  We knew no Chinese when we started teaching our boys.  The key is to not give up and to learn with them.  Also I hate to break it to you but they will not be fluent with just Little Pim and other like programs.  I tried.  Although I think my boys got the pronunciation down from them!  They are 6 and 8 now and they speak really well!  They are learning much more now because we know much more now!  The best way our boys have learned is when we are doing it with them!  I have a lot of game ideas, teaching techniques and just funny stuff about the joys and challenges of learning another language on my blog.  Please come subscribe and get updates on new ideas and encouragement to keep on going!  Let me know if you have any questions and what you need help on or any cute stories to share about learning!

Hope to hear from you soon! http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

[hypatia]

Thank you for letting us know about your blog!
I agree.. DVds need to be supplemented with conversations & interaction...
The next step is to find a class, playgroups, Chinese friends etc..
I will suscribe to your blog!

[Baining]

Hi Again!  I am so excited to have you will our new little group!  I love the play group idea.  There is not much here in Reno but now you got my wheels turning about starting something, hmm.   Your little one in the picture is adorable!  We have a section for cute stories that inevitably happen when learning another language so please share!  This is kinda interesting, one of my subscribers is a Chinese Comic guy and he looks through the site for funny stories to make into Chinese comics, so who knows!  Of course he makes sure it is something you want first.  Anything else you want to share too!  Ideas, questions, frustrations!  Hope to hear from you soon. 
Here is the comic guys link http://www.mandmx.com/
 
and me!
http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

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