Sunday, March 1, 2009

Millie Habla Español.

As some of you may remember, I studied Spanish in school and always really enjoyed it. So much so, that I am trying to teach it to Millie.
I got this great children's picture book, "First Hundred Words in Spanish" and corresponding DVD from Usborne Books last summer and have enjoyed teaching her the vocabulary.
At first she could only recognize the words. I would say them in Spanish and she would tell me the English translation. (And I thought that was pretty neat.) But this week she has started to recall! I say a word in English and she tells me what it is in Spanish! Words like airplane - avión, doll - muñeca, teddy bear - osito. I was jumping up and down clapping; I was so excited. I'd guess she can recall around a dozen words and recognize even more.
It's neat because it has come so easily. We don't read the book everyday or anything, just casually whenever she shows interest or when she asks to watch the DVD. I'm sure any 3 year old could do it, but I'm still a super proud mama.

8 comments:

Diane said...

That's awesome Tamber! What a great idea! I took spanish in high school and at USU, but I'm not really great at speaking it, so I can't be that much of a help to my kids. I like your idea, especially since kids can retain SO MUCH!

Katie said...

How exciting--way to go, Millie!

Anna said...

that is so neat, tamber! yu should be a proud mama!

Natée said...

That is so cool Tamber!

I tried to work with Roxy to be bilingual. She went to a Spanish Immersion preschool and LOVED it. I highly recommend enrolling Millie in one if she is grasping on and enjoys it. We also tried to get Roxy into a Spanish dual-immersion program in one of the local schools, but the waiting list with a couple of miles long...

My friend, who has a family of 3- TRI-lingual children, studied foreign languages at BYU. She said that when children learn multiple languages before the age of 8, they use a different part of their brains and they actually become co-lingual. That means they can grasp multiple languages interchangeably and they won't need to translate it in their heads before speaking/reading. It's very cool.

Good luck teaching Millie Spanish.

Jamie said...

wow millie!! it's a wonderful gift to be able to speak a 2nd language. keep it up tamber!

Cornish Pal said...

How fun! Good skills to have. Yay, Millie.

Cameron and BreAnn said...

I hear they learn easier when they are young and I always wondered how that would work out! Way to go! That is so awesome! Maybe I'll have Cam teach Brayden a little Portuguese.

meg said...

That's really exciting - and also fabulous that you are going with the flow and letting her take charge of it while cheering her on. She will get so much off of your enthusiasm. I think you must be such a great mom.