So.....
I'm wondering whether C. will flip out if I tell him he has to start watching Spanish TV 15 minutes a day?
Martine usually watches the French news along with Jimmy & sometimes Andrew.
Probably everyone in the house can understand spoken French now except me.
Back when Andrew was around 2 my in-laws came to visit. Andrew, who was very out of it - couldn't speak, couldn't understand, didn't interact - was in the back bedroom with my mother-in-law when Martine sang out, "Andrew. Viens manger." [sp?]
Andrew looked towards the door, stood up, and trotted out to the kitchen to eat.
My mother-in-law just about plotzed.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8171/learning_foreign_languages_through.html
ReplyDelete"Plotzed" is a new vocabulary word for me. : )
ReplyDeleteThis comment is more than a little off topic, but the connection is that it relates to the subject of speaking Spanish.
ReplyDeleteWe were in Indy over the weekend and went to dinner with longtime friends at a Mexican restaurant. These particular friends are adept at managing to pick up the tab first. We got there first and told the waiter that we would be picking up the entire check.
J is bilingual, but Spanish is her native tongue. As she placed her order, she spoke in Spanish to the waiter. My ever alert husband (who does not speak Spanish) became suspicious realized that she was trying to tell the waiter to give THEM the check, and said, "Stop speaking to him in Spanish." She and the waiter both grinned sheepishly (and WE got the check).
My sister relearned her Mandarin from watching Chinese drama shows on TV. Of course, it helped that she was enthusiastic about relearning Chinese in primary school too (though she was many years behind her peers, her peers taught her enthusiastically). I regret being so sour grapesy in primary school.
ReplyDeleteI play video games with my French clan. Talking about combat manoeuvres (with all the prepositions required) as well as the need with teamwork is a good source of language acquisition. If you don't mind the violence of simulated war and the thought of your son shooting people.
Well, I don't know how well that's suited for other people. It works for me!
In Houston, we have a multitude of Spanish-language TV and radio stations to choose from for aural learning, and if you want to learn to read, there are Spanish-language newspapers and Spanish-only billboards and signs ("¡AVISO!") everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIn a pinch there are telenovelas (soaps) and peliculas (movies). Frequently you can find hoary 1960s and 70s movies dubbed into Spanish, so you'll have John Wayne or Steve McQueen jabbering along.
My personal favorite for Spanish TV is any station with a soccer game. ¡GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! C. might like that. He'd probably enjoy Mexican wrestling, too, right?
I regret being so sour grapesy in primary school.
ReplyDeleteThat could pretty much be a motto for ALL OF LIFE!
If you don't mind the violence of simulated war and the thought of your son shooting people.
ReplyDeleteWe seem to have gone off the deep end in this realm....though I did manage to refuse to purchase a "Mature" video game at Toys R Us last weekend.
This weekend it was a beautiful, gorgeous, summer day, 80 degrees outside, sunshine, a breeze, birds singing....
ReplyDeleteC. was in the light-deprived family room playing a WWII war game shooting Nazis IN THE SNOW.
The shooting-Nazis-in-snow-flurries business was pretty compelling, but still....
ReplyDelete"Plotzed"
ReplyDeleteIt's possible I misspelled it.
He'd probably enjoy Mexican wrestling, too, right?
ReplyDeleteDING! DING! DING!
You are the Grand Prize winner.
The INSTANT I mentioned the possibility of watching some Spanish TV C. said: "Mexican wrestling!!!!"