This is the second year all in one!
Year 2 / El segundo año - May 2008- May 2009 1 year old to two years old. From his first birthday, things started to get more interesting from an output point of view. Below I explain both the input activities and his output in language divided into different periods during the year until his second birthday. I also make some reference to his catalan and Spanish.
A partir de los 12 meses las cosas se volvieron más interesantes desde el punto de vista del Output. A continuación, por períodos detallo las actividades (input) y su lenguaje verbal (output) A veces hago referencia al catalán o el castellano.
INPUT
YouTube nursery rhymes: Some were of Indian origin.
Simple to more ‘complex’ones:
Ba ba black sheep.
Hickory Dickory Dock
London bridge is falling down.
Other songs:
My bonnie lies over the ocean and ‘row row row the boat’ (also the first year with him sitting on me as a boat). They love doing the movements with these type of songs.
‘Twinkle Twinkle little star’ which may have spawned his obsession with stars! This song has remained a favourite.
Bob the Builder: song. “Big fish little fish, cardboard box”. Fascinated by the song and pictures. Can we fix it? Yes we can.
“Ring a ring a rosey” and dancing with him falling down.
He begins to repeat “Fall down”. And after 3-4months (1yr 3 months) “We all fall down”. His first (finite) complete sentence.
BOOKS.
Book with 6 objects in different colours:
Tractor, banana, apple, bath, orange,
Progressed from
1)getting him to identify the objects. Where’s the tractor?
2) Getting him to say the object. What’s this? - a tractor. Yes, IT’s a tractor, etc
3) The colours.
Introducing the colour: This is a green tractor ,What colour is it?
Then matching a blob with the colour of the object with the object from a set of 5 alternatives. This took a while. Little by little and with much repetition he learned to say the objects and finally use the colours as well. What colour’s the tractor? What’s this? It’s a green tractor.
(At 2 years and 7 months he took out the book one day and went through it saying all the objects with their colour and adding comments. It’s a blue bath with taps. Ooo, the water’s hot. Daddy touch the water! )
I can’t believe how useful such a simple book has been! You get them to use it in more and more complex ways till they ‘grow out of them’.
Another great book was one with a Farm and music (based a bit on Old MacDonald). Each page has more and more animals and a voice that asks the child to find the matching animal on a cube and then put it in the slot on the right page. This integrates understanding a question, animals, counting and manipulating a shape and matching. It was great as a learning tool and attractive with its song (although a bit repetitive for an adult!). Interestingly, a 2 yr 11 months he picked it up again and went through each page correctly matching the animal to the correct page and then singing the song. Children will come back to and exploit books and songs, etc in different ways at different ages.
TV.
From Christmas 2008 (1 year and 5 months) he started to become more interested in children’s TV. CBeebies. Teletubbies, in the night garden, etc . Since this time he was gradually able to sit for longer and watch up to an hour or hour and a half once or twice a day. As I will mention later, this has been an invaluable supplement to his English.
Routines - don't underestimate the constant repetition and frequency you can build up through doing the routines with the 'baby'.
Bath time and my showers.
We worked on the going down and gone referring to the disappearing water down the plughole.
Going to the playgroup ( a 5-minute walk) MEGA INTENSIVE LANGUAGE INPUT
Commented on the weather. What’s the weather like today? Look Marc, it’s sunny, cloudy, windy, wet, raining, etc.
Stopped to look in the motorcycle shop window to learn, boots, jacket, helmet, bag, etc
Commented on things happening. Look a red car. Look, a plane (which later became another favourite word).
Changing and dressing him. I always sing to him or put vocabulary in small tunes and melodies to make them more interesting and memorable. ‘Nice clean nappy,la la la la!”
I always sang: “I put my blue jeans on.” Others are up to you, but “We are the champions” by Queen, “Wake me up before you go go.”
I get him to comb his hair and rub the prongs and say ‘ coooommmb’ almost as an onomatopoeic word which fascinated him. The lesson here is to make words interesting and involve them in the activities as well as making routines a time to ‘teach’ the child.
THE SECRETS
This second year is probably the most important as you lay down the rules of language interaction with the child. Remember the two rules:
1) Never respond to any other language except English.
2) Make a sacrifice and immerse them in English - max the exposure through direct super interactive speaking to the child(ren) focussing on questions and describing behaviour and things happening around them. Remember, DON'T just be with them in silence. They'll never learn to speak English like that!! Try and spend at least two very language intensive hours with them per day and as soon as they are interested in TV make sure they watch Cbeebies for a couple of hours when you're not there.
Their are differences between children, but if your child is 'normal' then if they don't end up speaking English to you, it's because you haven't followed those two basic rules. The system really does work.
You are to blame, not them.
OUTPUT - when language appears
From 13 months he made clearer sounds and began to try and say ‘light’, which sounded like ‘laa’. This was his first obsession, pointing to all types of lights and lamps and saying the word which he eventually said in Catalan: ‘’Llum’ from about 14 months. Finally, on our Christmas visit to the UK in 2008 (6 months later 1 yr 7 months), he suddenly looked at a wall light and said: ‘Light’ and then hardly ever said ‘llum’ again. The moral here is never give up! They say certain words and pronounce them when they are ‘ready’, although the amount of exposure is an important variable to ensure this happens and never accept the ‘foreign’ word as acceptable to you.
I worked on” going” and “gone” at bath time and he started saying ‘gone’ from 14 months and then repeated it for anything that was missing: ’mummy’, ‘ball’.
Then “ball gone”. Then, near the end of the second year:’ the ball’s gone’
The next step was to use the possessive’s, which non-natives find so hard:
March 2009: 1 year 10 months
“Daddy’s cup” then ”Marc’s ball”, and then in ad finitum.
I used questions to elicit this: What’s this? Daddy’s cup / Mummy’s car / Marc’s bed
March 14th 2008.
Is it raining?
- Rain, no. It’s gone!
April – May 2009 1 year 11 months - 2 years
Introduced alternative sentences. E.g. instead of ‘bye bye’ I said ‘ see you later’, then see you later alligator’.
Phrases:
“I want / I like” - started to use them but confused the meaning. Used ‘don’t want’ without the subject. And sentences such as:
Not raining / not working/
Finished sentences:
It’s all gone (instead of all gone).
First use of past tense: Oh look it fell. (after repeating this to him hundreds of times). Still not bothering to get him to differentiate ‘drop/fell.
Corrected the pronunciation of:
“triangle’ that he pronounced “treeangle’ – We listened to James Blunt on Sesame Street singing a spoof version of his hit called ‘Triangle’ to ‘cure’ this.
He says ‘on’ but not ‘turn on’ for lights and I was trying to get him to turn on and off the lights saying” turn it on / turn it off’ He has sometimes said ‘open the light’ influenced from the Catalan, and even at 2 years 9 months he occasionally said it.
He’s started getting picky about songs on youtube and shouts ‘don’t want’ to which I replied:
Say: “I don’t want ‘row the boat’” which he attempted to repeat.
Friday, August 20, 2010
The First Year / El primer año
INTRODUCTION - INTRODUCCIÓN
This blog has been organised in chronological order and by INPUT, the language I supply, and OUTPUT, the language the ‘subject’, my son Marc, uses. You ‘ll notice that there was significantly less output than input in the first 18 months, which of course is to be expected.
He organizado el blog en orden cronológico y por INPUT – los estímulos, actividades, lenguaje, etc que yo ‘doy’ desde fuera, por decirlo de una manera, y el OUTPUT, las palabras o lenguaje que el ‘sujeto’ mi hijo Marc dice o utiliza. En los primeros 18 meses hay menos output y más input y por a poco voy de mes a mes a quincena a quincena hasta semana a semana según el tiempo y la cantidad de cosas nuevas que hay.
Del 0 (16/05/09) a 12 meses - From 0 (16/05/09) to 12 months
Como casi todos los bebés del mundo Marc no dijo ninguna palabra inteligible hasta los 12 meses, y quizás lógicamente la primera era “caca” y luego “mummy” y luego “Daddy”. Sin embargo, hay muchos padres que creen oír palabras e incluso hasta frases de los sonidos que emiten. Las palabras serán los equivalentes a ‘mama’ , ‘papa’, ‘caca’, ‘pi pi’, ‘bibi’ etc, según cuál es la más fácil de decir.
Los principios
Desde el principio le hablaba en inglés. No era un caso de “no me va a entender de todas formas, entonces da igual que le hable en inglés, catalán o castellano.” Todos los estudios demuestran que desde el primer día los bebés responden a estímulos del exterior, entonces hay que aprovecharlo y empezar a acostumbrar su oído a los sonidos que luego emitirá. Incluso, es ahora cuando muchos padres deciden en qué idioma le hablarán. No te caigas en tópicos y lo que te dirán personas mal informadas de que 2 idiomas (o 3) le confundirán. Los millones de casos en el mundo a lo largo de la historia avalan la teoría y la práctica de que 1 padre – 1 idioma desde el principio es el método que mejor funciona.
Yo quería que me llamara ‘daddy’ que es el equivalente a ‘papá , y me identifica en inglés con mi cultura y la manera habitual de dirigirse al padre. Mi mujer utiliza ‘mummy’ ó ‘mami’ que se aproxima mucho al inglés. Mi mujer me llama ‘el pare’ en catalán cuando habla con Marc. Aunque no me importa que me hable de la relación ‘padre’ en tercera persona en otro idioma, por ahora, después de 2,5 años creo que es mejor cuando se dirige a mí se utiliza mi ‘título’ que me identifica ‘daddy’ porque no me llamo ‘pare’.
The beginnings
From the very beginning I’ve spoken to Marc in English. Even if they don’t seem like they’re taking it in because ‘they’re just babies’, in fact they are assimilating the words and studies show that they respond to words and sounds from the very first day. So, don’t waste this opportunity to get them used to the sounds of a language. Parents decide during the first year (or even before they are born) what language they’re going to speak to the child. There are so many advantages to a child of speaking more than one language that it’s a shame to let this opportunity pass if you are a native speaker of another language. Don’t listen to the unfounded arguments of some who say that a child will get confused learning more than one language at a time. The millions of people around the world who are successful bilinguals are testimony to the fact that a child can easily ‘cope’ with the acquisition of 2 or even 3 languages if they are clearly separated by parent or speaker.
I wanted Marc to call me ‘Daddy’ as this identifies me with my language and culture. My wife uses ‘mami’, which sounds as near as you can get to ‘mummy’ in English. I’ve also tried to get my wife to use ‘Daddy’ instead of ‘Pare’ (‘dad’ in catalan) when she asks him to call me to activate his connection with me in English.
INPUT
As I’ve already mentioned, we’ve used the 1 parent 1 language method from the beginning. I use English, and my wife Catalan with an occasional intrusion from Spanish.
I tried to optimize my encounters with Marc singing to him and speaking to him in ‘baby language’. I used the baby changing table in the morning as an opportunity to speak and sing to him with ‘nonsense’ rhymes I made up to incorporate target vocabulary, such as ‘nice clean nappy, nice clean nappy, la la la …” or songs that seemed suitable such as “Blue Jeans. –When I wake up in the morning light, I put on my jeans and I feel, alright!! Ipull my blue jeans on, I pull my old blue jeans on…etc. which he is now able to sing along to at the age of 2.5 years. Other useful songs are Old Macdonald due to the animals and their noises which vary greatly between languages! I used the ‘usual’ baby situational phrases “Oh dear, Marc’s got a sore botty’, “Has Marc got a sore bottie then?” It seems that instinctively we use the name of the baby in the third person. I also used “You’ve got a sore bottie, haven’t you?. Another consideration was what forms of certain verbs to use, which may seem a strange thing to think about to some parents! I’ve opted for the ‘have got’ form which is the dominant form in colloquial southern England English. I notice that I often use both forms, I have or I’ve got, probably from having lived in Ireland for 11 years from 12-23 years. With Marc I always try to be consistent with the forms as providing a good model from the beginning is extremely important. It is also one of the reasons why you should always use your native language as you are unlikely to help your child with a second language and you’ll be unable to transmit the subtleties of the language or your culture. Your native language is your heritage.
Le hablaba como cualquier bebé con las frases pero siempre en inglés mientras su madre ha utilizado siempre el catalán, aunque usa ‘mi amor’ en castellano en vez de ‘amor meu’ y ‘besitos’ en lugar de ‘petonets’ y varios ejemplos así que de todas formas son habituales entre bilingües en Cataluña.
Utilizaba el cambiador por las mañanas para establecer una rutina y le cantaba mucho. No infravalores el poder del canto. Los ritmos hacen que las palabras gustan y entran más fácilmente. Y en general a los bebés y los niños pequeños les encantan las canciones.
Aparte de las frases como “Have you done wee wees?” “How are you today” “Did you sleep well” inventaba canciones con mis propias melodias para incluír palabras como “Nice clean nappy, nice clean nappy, la la la , la la la “ Cuando empezaba a ponerse sus vaqueros le cantaban “ Blue Jeans” When I wake up in the morning light, I put on my jeans and I fell alright!... etc. Y le gustaba la canción de _____ que cantan A,E,A,E,I,O,you, you are sometimes right” También el clásico ”Old MacDonald” con los sonidos de los animales.
OUTPUT
I’d like to say that Marc spoke before he was one by interpreting some of the sounds that he said. I have a friend who swore that his son was saying whole phrases at 5 months, so less said of this the better!! In the end ‘caca’ (poo) was his first word. Great!! Children tend to repeat the words they hear the most in a given situation and since the mother changed him more than I did with a bizarre interest in the type of vocab, this isn’t a surprise. Some words in Catalan (and the same in Spanish) are easier for a child. A ‘coco’ – a ‘bump’ for example. I worked on him using: I’ve bumped my head/arm’” etc, as well as ‘wee wee’ and ‘poo’. Well hey, he was just a baby!! And at 2.5 years he’s now using them in English!
El primer año, como era de esperar, hacia sonidos que se aproximaba a las palabras pero ‘de verdad’ no decía nada que se podía contar como palabras, aunque hubiera jurado que dijo ‘Daddy’ un par de veces!! Y su primera palabra era ‘caca’ cuando tenía 12 meses. Bonita palabra para empezar su vida de trilingüe ¡ En inglés en torno a su primer cumpleaños decía ‘dad’.
This blog has been organised in chronological order and by INPUT, the language I supply, and OUTPUT, the language the ‘subject’, my son Marc, uses. You ‘ll notice that there was significantly less output than input in the first 18 months, which of course is to be expected.
He organizado el blog en orden cronológico y por INPUT – los estímulos, actividades, lenguaje, etc que yo ‘doy’ desde fuera, por decirlo de una manera, y el OUTPUT, las palabras o lenguaje que el ‘sujeto’ mi hijo Marc dice o utiliza. En los primeros 18 meses hay menos output y más input y por a poco voy de mes a mes a quincena a quincena hasta semana a semana según el tiempo y la cantidad de cosas nuevas que hay.
Del 0 (16/05/09) a 12 meses - From 0 (16/05/09) to 12 months
Como casi todos los bebés del mundo Marc no dijo ninguna palabra inteligible hasta los 12 meses, y quizás lógicamente la primera era “caca” y luego “mummy” y luego “Daddy”. Sin embargo, hay muchos padres que creen oír palabras e incluso hasta frases de los sonidos que emiten. Las palabras serán los equivalentes a ‘mama’ , ‘papa’, ‘caca’, ‘pi pi’, ‘bibi’ etc, según cuál es la más fácil de decir.
Los principios
Desde el principio le hablaba en inglés. No era un caso de “no me va a entender de todas formas, entonces da igual que le hable en inglés, catalán o castellano.” Todos los estudios demuestran que desde el primer día los bebés responden a estímulos del exterior, entonces hay que aprovecharlo y empezar a acostumbrar su oído a los sonidos que luego emitirá. Incluso, es ahora cuando muchos padres deciden en qué idioma le hablarán. No te caigas en tópicos y lo que te dirán personas mal informadas de que 2 idiomas (o 3) le confundirán. Los millones de casos en el mundo a lo largo de la historia avalan la teoría y la práctica de que 1 padre – 1 idioma desde el principio es el método que mejor funciona.
Yo quería que me llamara ‘daddy’ que es el equivalente a ‘papá , y me identifica en inglés con mi cultura y la manera habitual de dirigirse al padre. Mi mujer utiliza ‘mummy’ ó ‘mami’ que se aproxima mucho al inglés. Mi mujer me llama ‘el pare’ en catalán cuando habla con Marc. Aunque no me importa que me hable de la relación ‘padre’ en tercera persona en otro idioma, por ahora, después de 2,5 años creo que es mejor cuando se dirige a mí se utiliza mi ‘título’ que me identifica ‘daddy’ porque no me llamo ‘pare’.
The beginnings
From the very beginning I’ve spoken to Marc in English. Even if they don’t seem like they’re taking it in because ‘they’re just babies’, in fact they are assimilating the words and studies show that they respond to words and sounds from the very first day. So, don’t waste this opportunity to get them used to the sounds of a language. Parents decide during the first year (or even before they are born) what language they’re going to speak to the child. There are so many advantages to a child of speaking more than one language that it’s a shame to let this opportunity pass if you are a native speaker of another language. Don’t listen to the unfounded arguments of some who say that a child will get confused learning more than one language at a time. The millions of people around the world who are successful bilinguals are testimony to the fact that a child can easily ‘cope’ with the acquisition of 2 or even 3 languages if they are clearly separated by parent or speaker.
I wanted Marc to call me ‘Daddy’ as this identifies me with my language and culture. My wife uses ‘mami’, which sounds as near as you can get to ‘mummy’ in English. I’ve also tried to get my wife to use ‘Daddy’ instead of ‘Pare’ (‘dad’ in catalan) when she asks him to call me to activate his connection with me in English.
INPUT
As I’ve already mentioned, we’ve used the 1 parent 1 language method from the beginning. I use English, and my wife Catalan with an occasional intrusion from Spanish.
I tried to optimize my encounters with Marc singing to him and speaking to him in ‘baby language’. I used the baby changing table in the morning as an opportunity to speak and sing to him with ‘nonsense’ rhymes I made up to incorporate target vocabulary, such as ‘nice clean nappy, nice clean nappy, la la la …” or songs that seemed suitable such as “Blue Jeans. –When I wake up in the morning light, I put on my jeans and I feel, alright!! Ipull my blue jeans on, I pull my old blue jeans on…etc. which he is now able to sing along to at the age of 2.5 years. Other useful songs are Old Macdonald due to the animals and their noises which vary greatly between languages! I used the ‘usual’ baby situational phrases “Oh dear, Marc’s got a sore botty’, “Has Marc got a sore bottie then?” It seems that instinctively we use the name of the baby in the third person. I also used “You’ve got a sore bottie, haven’t you?. Another consideration was what forms of certain verbs to use, which may seem a strange thing to think about to some parents! I’ve opted for the ‘have got’ form which is the dominant form in colloquial southern England English. I notice that I often use both forms, I have or I’ve got, probably from having lived in Ireland for 11 years from 12-23 years. With Marc I always try to be consistent with the forms as providing a good model from the beginning is extremely important. It is also one of the reasons why you should always use your native language as you are unlikely to help your child with a second language and you’ll be unable to transmit the subtleties of the language or your culture. Your native language is your heritage.
Le hablaba como cualquier bebé con las frases pero siempre en inglés mientras su madre ha utilizado siempre el catalán, aunque usa ‘mi amor’ en castellano en vez de ‘amor meu’ y ‘besitos’ en lugar de ‘petonets’ y varios ejemplos así que de todas formas son habituales entre bilingües en Cataluña.
Utilizaba el cambiador por las mañanas para establecer una rutina y le cantaba mucho. No infravalores el poder del canto. Los ritmos hacen que las palabras gustan y entran más fácilmente. Y en general a los bebés y los niños pequeños les encantan las canciones.
Aparte de las frases como “Have you done wee wees?” “How are you today” “Did you sleep well” inventaba canciones con mis propias melodias para incluír palabras como “Nice clean nappy, nice clean nappy, la la la , la la la “ Cuando empezaba a ponerse sus vaqueros le cantaban “ Blue Jeans” When I wake up in the morning light, I put on my jeans and I fell alright!... etc. Y le gustaba la canción de _____ que cantan A,E,A,E,I,O,you, you are sometimes right” También el clásico ”Old MacDonald” con los sonidos de los animales.
OUTPUT
I’d like to say that Marc spoke before he was one by interpreting some of the sounds that he said. I have a friend who swore that his son was saying whole phrases at 5 months, so less said of this the better!! In the end ‘caca’ (poo) was his first word. Great!! Children tend to repeat the words they hear the most in a given situation and since the mother changed him more than I did with a bizarre interest in the type of vocab, this isn’t a surprise. Some words in Catalan (and the same in Spanish) are easier for a child. A ‘coco’ – a ‘bump’ for example. I worked on him using: I’ve bumped my head/arm’” etc, as well as ‘wee wee’ and ‘poo’. Well hey, he was just a baby!! And at 2.5 years he’s now using them in English!
El primer año, como era de esperar, hacia sonidos que se aproximaba a las palabras pero ‘de verdad’ no decía nada que se podía contar como palabras, aunque hubiera jurado que dijo ‘Daddy’ un par de veces!! Y su primera palabra era ‘caca’ cuando tenía 12 meses. Bonita palabra para empezar su vida de trilingüe ¡ En inglés en torno a su primer cumpleaños decía ‘dad’.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Marc- Family background
Family Background
Marc was born on 16th May 2007 in Barcelona. They live in Mollet del Vallés, a mainly working-class dormitory town 20 kms north of Barcelona. The population in the neighbourhood speak Spanish predominantly, probably 95%. Some parents speak to their children in Catalan but most are not native speakers.
His father is English and a native English speaker. He speaks with a standard middle class south of England accent. His mother is Spanish and speaks Spanish and Catalan. The father speaks both Catalan (C1) and Spanish (C2) levels and the mother’s level in English is Upper Intermediate or B2 on the European Common Framework Scale and is able to understand the interactions between the father and Marc.
They are following the method of 1-parent 1 language. The father speaks to Marc solely in English and the mother in Catalan, with some Spanish intrusions typical of the ‘average’ Catalan-Spanish bilingual. The father often speaks to the mother in English when Marc is present, otherwise in Spanish. He has been going to a playgroup since the age of 6 months where the carers speak mostly Catalan, although the dominant language spoken by all the children is Spanish. Marc also gets Catalan contact from his in-laws once a week for several hours and sometimes longer if he stays overnight, and an uncle or aunt every two weeks for several hours. Several times a year there are children’s parties where there is a mix of Catalan and Spanish speakers.
As for English, the father is Marc’s sole contact in English for most of the year, except for infrequent visits to the father’s friends’ houses and 1 week in the UK at Christmas and 2-3 weeks in the summer. Since summer 2009 this is supplemented with a SKYPE call to Simon’s mother every Sunday in which he participates for up to 15 minutes off and on. However, he watches an average of 1.5-2 hours of TV in English; the CBEEBIES channel as well as children’s DVDs in English, CDs with nursery rhymes as well as songs with videos from the internet, mostly youtube, which he watches with his father. His mother sometimes says phrases in English when they are watching TV programmes, although it has been noted that her pronunciation is not always accurate, especially lacking the schwa sound.
EL BLOG DE MARC. El relato en tiempo real de los padres Marc que le están criando en inglés, catalán y castellano.
Este blog se trata de los progresos de Marc. Sus padres les están criando en inglés, catalán y está adquiriendo el castellano fuera de casa.
El autor.
Simon Brampton es profesor titulado de inglés como lengua extranjera desde 1.989, el año que vino a Barcelona. Se licenció en psicología en 1.996 y consiguió un posgrado en la psicología de los grupos de la Universidad de Barcelona en el año 2000. Es fundador de la agencia para niños bilingües que se llama ENGLISH NANNY, con servicios bilingües de Au Pair, Nanny (cuidadoras tituladas) y canguros y profesores de inglés especializados en niños que tiene como objetivo poner en contacto dichos profesionales con los padres que quieren mejorar el nivel de inglés de sus hijos.
Marc nació el 16 mayo 2007 en Barcelona. La familia vive en Mollet del Vallés, una ciudad 20 kms al norte de Barcelona. Los habitantes son español parlantes en su mayoría; un 95% en el barrio donde viven. El padre es inglés, y la madre catalana que habla catalán y castellano: la lengua de sus 2 padres, aunque su madre vino de Granada a los 16 años y por tanto el catalán no es su lengua materna. La madre de Marc entiende el inglés y su nivel es Intermdiate Alto (B2 en el marco oficial europeo).
Los padres utilizan el método clásico de 1 padre 1 idioma. La madre le habla en catalán, con ocasionales frases hechas en castellano (típico de las personas bilingües catalán – castellano) y el padre le habla a Marc sólo en inglés. Los padres hablan el castellano entre ellos aunque el padre habla mucho más con la madre en inglés en la presencia de Marc desde que tiene 2 años para que tenga más exposición al inglés. Recibe catalán de sus abuelos catalanes una horas cada semana y de un tío y una tía cada 2 semanas generalmente. En la ludoteca la mayoría de las monitoras hablan catalán con los niños (de 4 meses a 3 años), pero entre los niños el idioma es el castellano dado que el idioma de la gran mayoría de los padres del barrio es el castellano.
Aparte del padre, Marc tiene muy poco contacto con otras personas que habla inglés salvo visitas infrecuentes a casas de amigos del padre. En verano la familia pasa 2 semanas en Inglaterra y en Navidades la madre del padre y a veces una sobrina viene a la casa de los padres. Y a partir del verano del 2009 participa durante unos 15minutos en las llamadas SKYPE con la madre de Simon cada domingo. Sin embargo Marc ve una media de 1,5 – 2 horas de televisión en inglés de la canal BBC de CBEEBIES y DVDs y CDs con canciones para niños en ingles. Además mira videos con canciones en inglés en el internet con el padre varias veces a la semana. El padre está con Marc hablando inglés una media de una hora por la mañana y 2 horas por la tarde de lunes a viernes, y unas 4 -5 horas los sábados y domingos. Hasta finales de 2009 el padre no ha estado ausente más de 2 días consecutivos en 5 ocasiones.
Marc was born on 16th May 2007 in Barcelona. They live in Mollet del Vallés, a mainly working-class dormitory town 20 kms north of Barcelona. The population in the neighbourhood speak Spanish predominantly, probably 95%. Some parents speak to their children in Catalan but most are not native speakers.
His father is English and a native English speaker. He speaks with a standard middle class south of England accent. His mother is Spanish and speaks Spanish and Catalan. The father speaks both Catalan (C1) and Spanish (C2) levels and the mother’s level in English is Upper Intermediate or B2 on the European Common Framework Scale and is able to understand the interactions between the father and Marc.
They are following the method of 1-parent 1 language. The father speaks to Marc solely in English and the mother in Catalan, with some Spanish intrusions typical of the ‘average’ Catalan-Spanish bilingual. The father often speaks to the mother in English when Marc is present, otherwise in Spanish. He has been going to a playgroup since the age of 6 months where the carers speak mostly Catalan, although the dominant language spoken by all the children is Spanish. Marc also gets Catalan contact from his in-laws once a week for several hours and sometimes longer if he stays overnight, and an uncle or aunt every two weeks for several hours. Several times a year there are children’s parties where there is a mix of Catalan and Spanish speakers.
As for English, the father is Marc’s sole contact in English for most of the year, except for infrequent visits to the father’s friends’ houses and 1 week in the UK at Christmas and 2-3 weeks in the summer. Since summer 2009 this is supplemented with a SKYPE call to Simon’s mother every Sunday in which he participates for up to 15 minutes off and on. However, he watches an average of 1.5-2 hours of TV in English; the CBEEBIES channel as well as children’s DVDs in English, CDs with nursery rhymes as well as songs with videos from the internet, mostly youtube, which he watches with his father. His mother sometimes says phrases in English when they are watching TV programmes, although it has been noted that her pronunciation is not always accurate, especially lacking the schwa sound.
EL BLOG DE MARC. El relato en tiempo real de los padres Marc que le están criando en inglés, catalán y castellano.
Este blog se trata de los progresos de Marc. Sus padres les están criando en inglés, catalán y está adquiriendo el castellano fuera de casa.
El autor.
Simon Brampton es profesor titulado de inglés como lengua extranjera desde 1.989, el año que vino a Barcelona. Se licenció en psicología en 1.996 y consiguió un posgrado en la psicología de los grupos de la Universidad de Barcelona en el año 2000. Es fundador de la agencia para niños bilingües que se llama ENGLISH NANNY, con servicios bilingües de Au Pair, Nanny (cuidadoras tituladas) y canguros y profesores de inglés especializados en niños que tiene como objetivo poner en contacto dichos profesionales con los padres que quieren mejorar el nivel de inglés de sus hijos.
Marc nació el 16 mayo 2007 en Barcelona. La familia vive en Mollet del Vallés, una ciudad 20 kms al norte de Barcelona. Los habitantes son español parlantes en su mayoría; un 95% en el barrio donde viven. El padre es inglés, y la madre catalana que habla catalán y castellano: la lengua de sus 2 padres, aunque su madre vino de Granada a los 16 años y por tanto el catalán no es su lengua materna. La madre de Marc entiende el inglés y su nivel es Intermdiate Alto (B2 en el marco oficial europeo).
Los padres utilizan el método clásico de 1 padre 1 idioma. La madre le habla en catalán, con ocasionales frases hechas en castellano (típico de las personas bilingües catalán – castellano) y el padre le habla a Marc sólo en inglés. Los padres hablan el castellano entre ellos aunque el padre habla mucho más con la madre en inglés en la presencia de Marc desde que tiene 2 años para que tenga más exposición al inglés. Recibe catalán de sus abuelos catalanes una horas cada semana y de un tío y una tía cada 2 semanas generalmente. En la ludoteca la mayoría de las monitoras hablan catalán con los niños (de 4 meses a 3 años), pero entre los niños el idioma es el castellano dado que el idioma de la gran mayoría de los padres del barrio es el castellano.
Aparte del padre, Marc tiene muy poco contacto con otras personas que habla inglés salvo visitas infrecuentes a casas de amigos del padre. En verano la familia pasa 2 semanas en Inglaterra y en Navidades la madre del padre y a veces una sobrina viene a la casa de los padres. Y a partir del verano del 2009 participa durante unos 15minutos en las llamadas SKYPE con la madre de Simon cada domingo. Sin embargo Marc ve una media de 1,5 – 2 horas de televisión en inglés de la canal BBC de CBEEBIES y DVDs y CDs con canciones para niños en ingles. Además mira videos con canciones en inglés en el internet con el padre varias veces a la semana. El padre está con Marc hablando inglés una media de una hora por la mañana y 2 horas por la tarde de lunes a viernes, y unas 4 -5 horas los sábados y domingos. Hasta finales de 2009 el padre no ha estado ausente más de 2 días consecutivos en 5 ocasiones.
THE AUTHOR -
MARC’S BLOG. A real life account of bringing up a child in English, Catalan and Spanish.
This is a blog written by Marc’s father. Marc is being brought up in English, Catalan and Spanish. Since the target parents are mainly Spanish or Catalan parents or English speaking parents living in Spain who understand Spanish, this blog will be written in Spanish, although each week there’ll be a brief summary in English too for researchers or those interested in bilingual children in general, who don’t speak Spanish.
The blogger, Simon Brampton, has been a teacher of English as a foreign language living in Barcelona since 1989. He graduated in psychology in 1996 with a first class honours degree and has a post graduate psychology qualification from Barcelona University (2000). He speaks near native level Spanish and advanced level Catalan. He runs the bilingual children agency ENGLISH NANNY, which offers bilingual au pairs, nannies, parent’s help and English teachers to provide extra language opportunities for parents, even English speakers one who may feel that their children need more contact time in English.
EL BLOG DE MARC. El relato en tiempo real de los padres Marc que le están criando en inglés, catalán y castellano.
Este blog se trata de los progresos de Marc. Sus padres les están criando en inglés, catalán y está adquiriendo el castellano fuera de casa.
El autor.
Simon Brampton es profesor titulado de inglés como lengua extranjera desde 1.989, el año que vino a Barcelona. Se licenció en psicología en 1.996 y consiguió un posgrado en la psicología de los grupos de la Universidad de Barcelona en el año 2000. Es fundador de la agencia para niños bilingües que se llama ENGLISH NANNY, con servicios bilingües de Au Pair, Nanny (cuidadoras tituladas) y canguros y profesores de inglés especializados en niños que tiene como objetivo poner en contacto dichos profesionales con los padres que quieren mejorar el nivel de inglés de sus hijos.
This is a blog written by Marc’s father. Marc is being brought up in English, Catalan and Spanish. Since the target parents are mainly Spanish or Catalan parents or English speaking parents living in Spain who understand Spanish, this blog will be written in Spanish, although each week there’ll be a brief summary in English too for researchers or those interested in bilingual children in general, who don’t speak Spanish.
The blogger, Simon Brampton, has been a teacher of English as a foreign language living in Barcelona since 1989. He graduated in psychology in 1996 with a first class honours degree and has a post graduate psychology qualification from Barcelona University (2000). He speaks near native level Spanish and advanced level Catalan. He runs the bilingual children agency ENGLISH NANNY, which offers bilingual au pairs, nannies, parent’s help and English teachers to provide extra language opportunities for parents, even English speakers one who may feel that their children need more contact time in English.
EL BLOG DE MARC. El relato en tiempo real de los padres Marc que le están criando en inglés, catalán y castellano.
Este blog se trata de los progresos de Marc. Sus padres les están criando en inglés, catalán y está adquiriendo el castellano fuera de casa.
El autor.
Simon Brampton es profesor titulado de inglés como lengua extranjera desde 1.989, el año que vino a Barcelona. Se licenció en psicología en 1.996 y consiguió un posgrado en la psicología de los grupos de la Universidad de Barcelona en el año 2000. Es fundador de la agencia para niños bilingües que se llama ENGLISH NANNY, con servicios bilingües de Au Pair, Nanny (cuidadoras tituladas) y canguros y profesores de inglés especializados en niños que tiene como objetivo poner en contacto dichos profesionales con los padres que quieren mejorar el nivel de inglés de sus hijos.
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