My mom did get them an Kids Amharic DVD and book for their birthdays (coming in Feb.), and we're planning to start reintroducing it now, in hopes that they will pick it up / remember it much easier than if we waited several years. Hey, maybe if they can be fluent in it by High School they could test out of foreign language classes in High School...and college?!
Not to say that the last seven months haven't been extremely interesting...they definitely have! We played charades for months it seemed! It's been hard for me to see the changes in their language because I'm with them nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - especially those first 3 months before school started. People did seem to constantly comment on how quickly they were learning and how much they had learned since the last time they saw them. I just took their word for it.
Blake has definitely not put the effort into developing his language that Silas has. If Silas doesn't know the word he will ask and then you'll hear him whisper it to himself several times to make sure it's locked in his memory. Blake just points, says "you know", or asks Silas. Silas also makes much more of an effort to speak clearly than Blake does. Blake mumbles his words so often that sometimes even I can't understand what he's saying! I think this says a lot about their personalities outside of just learning.
We are still struggling with some language issues, more than vocabulary, we're working on sentence structure and pronunciation - clearly enunciating our words. Several days ago we were riding in the car and Blake was struggling with a word. I hear Hunter say "Blake...it's not an F, it's a TH!" I quietly reminded Hunter that it was very nice he was helping his brother, but to make sure that he did it in a kind way. He turned to Blake and said "Blake, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk mean, but sometimes I just get so FRUS-ER-ATED!" ...yes, fruserated, not frustrated. I just had to laugh to myself...
2 comments:
I think the language DVD is really interesting! I think it could help their english vocab, and probably their sister's, too, since it will be a great talking point!
I also think they could test out of foreign language, but I bet they would be so quick at learning a new one. Perhaps that might be one of their career fields one day! Speaking many languages! I think they are lucky to have this advantage of learning a language as babies and then another as children!
In one of my Education classes, someone did a presentation over bi-lingual education... I can't quote exactly, but I remember the part about that up to a certain age, they need to learn everything in one main language.. and then they can learn another language. I would do some research on it and see what you find.
But that would be awesome for the boys to re-learn their Amharic language and be bi-lingual. I know for sure it is best to learn when younger! Maybe the whole family could take on the challenge and learn it?! :)
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