So here is the reality about full immersion (and that means no other children speak English), yes, they do pick it up at a mach speed unknown to adults, but they are quite miserable in the interim. Stella has felt lonely at her new school and has really not made any friends yet. If you know her it isn't like her, she is a super fun and friendly kid. I pray it gets better before I loose patience and pull the plug on this grand experiment.
The funny thing about kids is how they learn language. Both my babies, like most babies who are able to grow into talking adults, babbled a lot. This is part of the language learning process. It was the first step before they started making real words.
Stella is babbling. There is no other way to describe it. Yes, she is a bright articulate four year old in English but she comes home every day from her French preschool making all sorts of crazy French noises. Not words, and not anything that makes sense (like an infant) but still you can tell she is practicing the noises she is hearing.
She does this all. day. long. All weekend in her quiet time she is mumbling these sounds to herself.
Here is a video I took in the car:
It is totally happening.
4 comments:
Hey Sun! Love your posts. Stella is so grown up. Tell her hello from her aunt Lindsey and cousin Louis. I love her French babbling sounds and jealous she's learning another language at such a young age.
I love Stella's idea of sleeping in tomorrows outfit. Genius!
I think we'll start working on a package for the cousins. Louis is really enjoying his cousin Holland (my sisters daughter), and somehow want to get to know Stella even though she's far far away. Perhaps I'll have him write to her and maybe arrange a time to Skype. It might be awkward at first, but I think he'd really like it the more we do it.
All my love,
Lindsey
When my daughter attended a preschool in Germany she had the same experience. She was miserable for about the first two months. Once she had a grasp of the language she took off both in her speaking abilities and in her ability to make friends again. Man, those first few months were hard though! Hang in there!
Amazing! We're a little bit envious that we didn't think to do the same thing. Our kids aren't getting much French.
-L
She is doing wonderfully!
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