Hi again to all! And thanks for your words of advice, etc. re. getting my son to respond to me in English. Let me reply bit-by-bit to a few quotes:
Thomas said: I missed where you said how old your son is now. [me]He just turned 3 last week. We came to Peru when he was 2 yrs 2 mos. Thomas said: Considering that you're about to move to the US, that sounds like an advantage, not a problem. It means he has a strong rooting in Spanish which will help him keep that language once he has moved. [me]Good point. I should look on the bright side, then. Especially considering that's one of the reasons we decided to spend a year in Peru in the first place, to get him immersed in the language before settling down in the US. Thomas said: One thing I will say is that we had a problem when my son was small that some of the grandparents would make stern comments like "say it in English" or "I don't speak that language." (This last comment was made right after my son said something in English!) �E. [me]I'm expecting my family to assume that everything he says is Spanish (even when it's just poorly pronounced English) and to basically block it all out and say things like "Honey, you've got to talk English now. You're in America!" And I imagine this will exacerbate the frustration I'm sure he'll feel already. Thomas said: I would ask them not to tell him to say it in English, but simply to let him know when they have not understood. [me]OK, thanks. I'll do that. I think he'll be able to figure out that for to be understood, he needs to say it in English. (Although I doubt that his English won't be clear enough to understand for a while... The few times I've been able to get him to say things to me in English it's been pretty garbled! Hopefully it'll clear up soon with a little practice.) Thomas said: I wouldn't even try [to get him to start responding in English]. The move will be stressful enough as it is. [me]No kidding; it will be quite a transition for him going from sharing a house with his cousins and always 10-20 people in the house (!) here to a much quieter situation with just the immediate family. By the way, we'll be staying w/my parents for a month or two when we arrive, until we can get a house of our own. So not only will the transition be major, but somewhat prolonged as well. Thomas said: You can't hasten the growth of a flower by pulling on it. What's important is input input input. Water and fertilize that flower of English and it will bloom. [me]Beautiful words of wisdom, thanks. Thomas said: Ask them in advance to rail on you when the other members of your family are not around. [me]Is that to avoid friction with my husband? That's another story entirely there. At least my mom adores my husband, which helps take the edge off the comments about him being a foreigner and his English sounding funny (imagine, a Southerner having the guts to tell anyone their English sounds funny!?^-^ I grew up in Arkansas, by the way, and we're moving to Texas. And I'm sure my English will be sounding funny again after a few weeks there.) Thomas said: The biggest thing is not to make a big deal about it. Regardless of whether your parents are convinced, their role is the same. They should make sure your son feels welcome and accepted and that he hears a lot of English from them. [me] Good point. I'll push that point hard with them and also will ask my mom to talk with my son a lot. Thanks for the advice. Sorry, this is getting really long. Just a little more, I promise. Thanks also to Paige for your post, although you misunderstood our language situation. I'm the English speaker. At any rate, you did draw my attention to several issues I'm sure we'll face later on after we're in the US (such as that we'll then need to focus on him keeping his Spanish and that he may rebel against speaking a language his friends don't speak). Thanks! Thanks also to Cathy in North Carolina. I thought it was interesting how you said your daughter translated for you before, I presume from French to English. My son does that a lot from Eng. to Spanish, which I always think is neat. I'm curious: You said you had to pressure her to generate her own answers in French. How did you do that? And how did it go? Did she respond OK or clam up or get frustrated or what? Sorry for the massively long post. I'll pop back in later and see what else needs replying to -- and I'll try to be briefer. Thanks to all! Feelin' a little better now on the coast of Peru Shannon ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give the gift of life to a sick child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/h8TXDC/6WnJAA/HwKMAA/W_NqlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/multilingualmunchkin/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
