I love Sean’s Deja Vuesday. They are weekly reminders of moments I might have otherwise forgotten. Today I’m turning back to a post originally on Namas Daisy titled, “Writing With My Least Dominant Hand.”
Children do learn as they live, but so do adults. Mia is in a Dual Immersion Spanish program. She is finishing her first trimester as a first grader or “grader” as she likes to refer to herself now that she is not in kindergarten anymore. Max starts kindergarten next fall and Mia is taking advantage of all the moments of not having to share the playground with her baby brother.
Max is gifted with as much language as she, except he cannot do it in Spanish….yet (though he nailed potty training in about an hour). Neither can Mommy, though I am doing everything I can to keep pace. I tell myself daily “You can do better. Just jump into conversation with the other moms and dads at pick up time, and speak a little social Spanish.”
I am quiet at pick up time. I listen and observe. I am learning. I am in the silent phase of acquiring language.
Stage 1: Listening.
If you enter Mia’s immersion classroom, the vehicle driving instruction is LANGUAGE. No, not conjugating verbs or memorizing prepared meaningless dialogue. Rather, one would see children using Spanish by speaking, reading, writing, adding, discussing fractions, measurement, conducting science experiments, arguing, singing, whispering – every bit in Spanish.
This of course is directed by the guidance of a teacher who follows the same curricula as the district’s English only classrooms, but she gives Mia a gift that I cannot – the mother tongue of Spanish with perfect delivery and high expectations.
We wanted this program for Mia, longed for it and cried when we did not get accepted during the first round of school of choice applications. Mia is able to maintain English and absorb a second tongue while her brain is most receptive to learning language. Her academic and social gains, across cultural, ethnic and linguistic boundaries are some of the most positive public education experiences I have been a part of in 20 years of teaching.
It is also the hardest and most challenging endeavor for me.
For Writer Dad and Mia, speaking Spanish is like taking a breath of fresh air. They skip rope with Spanish like we all skip rope with English. For me, speaking Spanish is like white knuckling the edge of the North rim of the Grand Canyon before dropping into the deep depths of the wild unknown.
This is a recent homework assignment which Mia attacked with enthusiastic speed, proficiently giving it her all, and finishing with the pride and detail that is our family’s trademark.
Estimados Padres,
Por favor ayuden a su hijo/a a escribir un parafo con 5 o mas oraciones acerca de las jirafas. Adentro de su folder encontraran intomacion importante acercad de las jirafas que aprendimos en clase. Nota: Esta tarea los va preparar para el ecamen de escritura del Miercoles.
Gracias,
Senora Alaniz
Translation:
Dear Parents,
Please have your child write a paragraph with 5 or more sentences about giraffes. Inside his/her homework folder you will find some important facts they have learned about giraffes. Note: This homework will prepare them for their writing test on Wednesday.
The light at the end of the tunnel was a note Mia had written to me after our last homework session. I found it written on red paper (my favorite color) and in her best first grade penmanship rolled up like a scroll tied in white ribbon. It said:
Dear Mommy, You are the best Mom. You try so hard and you are smart. Don’t give up, keep on trying because you are the best. I love you so so so sooooooo much. Thank you for helping me. xoxo Mia
If wouldn’t make you weep I don’t know what would. Her words of encouragement made me hold tighter and try harder this weekend when we had to plot out a weather pictograph and write a paragraph about it. I want to be able to skip rope with Mia and Writer Dad in Spanish. Max and I are ready, and guess what?
Max is also left handed.
I can add writing with my left hand to model for my son, so I can both feel and understand the difficulty of writing with my least dominant hand, then add it to my to do list under master Spanish. It takes time, but that is the best gift I have to give my children.
Here is Mia’s exam on Giraffes. She received a score of a “4″ which in Dual Immersion Land means advanced proficient.
Las Jirafas
Las jirafas son mamiferos. Tienen crias cuidan a sus crias las crias toman leche de su mama y tambien tienen cuellos muy largos, manchas cafes, y colas muy largos. Viven en la savana de Africa. Comen hojas verdes de los arbols y palitos. Algo de sus adapsienes son: manchas, cafes para camuflajearse, cuellos my largos para ver cuando sus en emigos van a atakar y duermen a dos horas por dia. Jirafas son amigables.
Can you translate this without running to Google?
Cindy Platt is an educational consultant and home school expert.
About Sean Platt
Jirafas son amigables.
So are the whole Platt family! Loved this post, Cindy – you write beautifully! Your whole attitude to family life and parenting is total immersion – what better way to share your kids’ journey! You’ll master Spanish very soon, because you want to, you ache to. And Sean, Mia and Max will be your very best teachers for they’ll help you learn it via the soul. I fast tracked my Greek when I lived there by learning song lyrics; it opened up super highways between my right and left brain and made daily learning easier as I learned how to feel in Greek. My inner ear started singling out words and phrases as I immersed myself. If you haven’t heard any, give Mercedes Sousa’s CD’s a listen. Powerful, powerful stuff that made me learn Spanish bcause I longed to understand the lyrics.
Thank you for sharing Mia’s precious words of encouragement with us!
Jirafas son amigables.
So are the whole Platt family! Loved this post, Cindy – you write beautifully! Your whole attitude to family life and parenting is total immersion – what better way to share your kids’ journey! You’ll master Spanish very soon, because you want to, you ache to. And Sean, Mia and Max will be your very best teachers for they’ll help you learn it via the soul. I fast tracked my Greek when I lived there by learning song lyrics; it opened up super highways between my right and left brain and made daily learning easier as I learned how to feel in Greek. My inner ear started singling out words and phrases as I immersed myself. If you haven’t heard any, give Mercedes Sousa’s CD’s a listen. Powerful, powerful stuff that made me learn Spanish bcause I longed to understand the lyrics.
Thank you for sharing Mia’s precious words of encouragement with us!
I took three years of high school Spanish, so I can catch the drift of most of what was written, but I sure wish I could have learned by immersion because I still don’t have an ear for the conversational back and forth. It’s wonderful you are giving your children this kind of opportunity to reach across cultures and connect in a special way. There were many times in my travels to Mexico and Guatemala and here locally that I wished I could sit down with someone and speak with them intelligently in their native tongue or first language.
I took three years of high school Spanish, so I can catch the drift of most of what was written, but I sure wish I could have learned by immersion because I still don’t have an ear for the conversational back and forth. It’s wonderful you are giving your children this kind of opportunity to reach across cultures and connect in a special way. There were many times in my travels to Mexico and Guatemala and here locally that I wished I could sit down with someone and speak with them intelligently in their native tongue or first language.
Janice: Immersion. It is a pretty word isn’t it? Thank you for sharing experiences and tips. Your words of encouragement and experiences gave my reset button just what it needed. Greek. How amazing is that? I moved to Taipei, Taiwan and taught English in a Chinese kindergarten for a year. I could not read anything and experienced a world the polar opposite of what I knew. I was illiterate, but adaptable. I learned a manageable amount of Mandarin, but missed my bus 13 times the first day of work because I could not decipher Chinese characters fast enough. I asked questions and tried to speak English to the younger students taking the bus because I knew they had to study English and had a working foundation. However, what I did not know about the Chinese culture was… no one speaks unless they can construct their words perfectly. Sigh! I memorized the characters for the bus I needed to get to a rural area to teach English. Necessity, immersion, joyful learning at its best. This was also BC (before children and single). My motivation to master Spanish is greater and immersion within my family indeed will be the key to unlock the brain. Thank you for helping me recalibrate.
Nameste.
Lori: I completely understand your sentiment and desire to connect with people in their first language. Cognitively, I know if I practice something 100,000 times I will internalize the information. Processes like language, music, writing …all require the practice time. Hopefully your travels will take you to a destination that will allow you and your family time to immerse your life into the culture so the opportunity to practice gives you the wings to skip rope and connect with a friend in their first language. Let’s make our dreams happen. I know it is on my “must do” list in this life. Thank you for sharing your story and good on you for understanding Mia’s words. Celebrate your ability to retain another language!
Nameste
Janice: Immersion. It is a pretty word isn’t it? Thank you for sharing experiences and tips. Your words of encouragement and experiences gave my reset button just what it needed. Greek. How amazing is that? I moved to Taipei, Taiwan and taught English in a Chinese kindergarten for a year. I could not read anything and experienced a world the polar opposite of what I knew. I was illiterate, but adaptable. I learned a manageable amount of Mandarin, but missed my bus 13 times the first day of work because I could not decipher Chinese characters fast enough. I asked questions and tried to speak English to the younger students taking the bus because I knew they had to study English and had a working foundation. However, what I did not know about the Chinese culture was… no one speaks unless they can construct their words perfectly. Sigh! I memorized the characters for the bus I needed to get to a rural area to teach English. Necessity, immersion, joyful learning at its best. This was also BC (before children and single). My motivation to master Spanish is greater and immersion within my family indeed will be the key to unlock the brain. Thank you for helping me recalibrate.
Nameste.
Lori: I completely understand your sentiment and desire to connect with people in their first language. Cognitively, I know if I practice something 100,000 times I will internalize the information. Processes like language, music, writing …all require the practice time. Hopefully your travels will take you to a destination that will allow you and your family time to immerse your life into the culture so the opportunity to practice gives you the wings to skip rope and connect with a friend in their first language. Let’s make our dreams happen. I know it is on my “must do” list in this life. Thank you for sharing your story and good on you for understanding Mia’s words. Celebrate your ability to retain another language!
Nameste
Lovely post! I love Mia’s note! I would love to enter my son into a program like that, but I’m pretty sure nothing like that exists here.
And for record, no I couldn’t translate that block of text without the help of Google and perhaps a sherpa.
Lovely post! I love Mia’s note! I would love to enter my son into a program like that, but I’m pretty sure nothing like that exists here.
And for record, no I couldn’t translate that block of text without the help of Google and perhaps a sherpa.
Very inspiring!
Reminds me we can do more to speak Chinese (Cantonese) to the kids at home. They certainly understand when their mother and I converse “secretly”, at least 80% of it!
Very inspiring!
Reminds me we can do more to speak Chinese (Cantonese) to the kids at home. They certainly understand when their mother and I converse “secretly”, at least 80% of it!
Wow, how beautiful! I know you’ll cherish that note forever! I have tears in my eyes reading that Cindy.
And no, I can’t translate that para! I understood the Jirafas and thata is all! LOL!
Wow, how beautiful! I know you’ll cherish that note forever! I have tears in my eyes reading that Cindy.
And no, I can’t translate that para! I understood the Jirafas and thata is all! LOL!
I really wish we had a dual immersion program where I live. I think it is fantastic to give children that opportunity. Other countries insist their children learn at least one other language and I think we should too.
Back in my single days I dated a man who was from Mexico. Learning English was required in his high school, but he learned it as British English, not American English. He learned it with the British accent and all. Coupled with his Mexican accent he was a little hard to understand at times.
Like Lori, I took Spanish in high school, but we did not converse with native speakers so I have a hard time following a conversation. It’s easier for me to read than to speak. I think it is such a blessing to have little Mia in an environment where she is immersed (excellent term) in the language, learning its nuances.
She did an excellent job on her giraffe report!
I really wish we had a dual immersion program where I live. I think it is fantastic to give children that opportunity. Other countries insist their children learn at least one other language and I think we should too.
Back in my single days I dated a man who was from Mexico. Learning English was required in his high school, but he learned it as British English, not American English. He learned it with the British accent and all. Coupled with his Mexican accent he was a little hard to understand at times.
Like Lori, I took Spanish in high school, but we did not converse with native speakers so I have a hard time following a conversation. It’s easier for me to read than to speak. I think it is such a blessing to have little Mia in an environment where she is immersed (excellent term) in the language, learning its nuances.
She did an excellent job on her giraffe report!
My parents spoke French at home to each other and perfect British/Canadian English to us as children. There were to be no punctuation or grammatical errors at our house. My father also signed proficiently and practiced as he watched the news. We took Spanish in our childhood school about once a week for 30 minutes. I know no Spanish. When I was 16 we moved to Cleveland, Ohio where French proficiency was required for graduation. I got by with hours of study and by the skin of my teeth.
I think it is crucial for people to learn more than one language and I like this immersion education idea/I think they are doing that in Canada too? How lucky your children are to be able to have this experience.
Where we live now should have an Asian language requirement/option.
Exciting stuff….it will come (says I with no gift for language or math)
My parents spoke French at home to each other and perfect British/Canadian English to us as children. There were to be no punctuation or grammatical errors at our house. My father also signed proficiently and practiced as he watched the news. We took Spanish in our childhood school about once a week for 30 minutes. I know no Spanish. When I was 16 we moved to Cleveland, Ohio where French proficiency was required for graduation. I got by with hours of study and by the skin of my teeth.
I think it is crucial for people to learn more than one language and I like this immersion education idea/I think they are doing that in Canada too? How lucky your children are to be able to have this experience.
Where we live now should have an Asian language requirement/option.
Exciting stuff….it will come (says I with no gift for language or math)
She’s more proficient in Spanish than I am, and I’ve taken over a year of Spanish lately. Argh. I have a LONG way to go! Tell her she’s my hero. :)
She’s more proficient in Spanish than I am, and I’ve taken over a year of Spanish lately. Argh. I have a LONG way to go! Tell her she’s my hero. :)
This reminds me to go thank my high school Spanish teacher. I hated that class in high school, and now I am so grateful for it. Now I can read about giraffes and where they live and how friendly they are! But I’ll admit, if you had read it outloud, I would have had no idea what you were talking about.
This reminds me to go thank my high school Spanish teacher. I hated that class in high school, and now I am so grateful for it. Now I can read about giraffes and where they live and how friendly they are! But I’ll admit, if you had read it outloud, I would have had no idea what you were talking about.