Conference moira::parenting

I was 8� when I arrived in England not speaking a word of English.  It 
took me about three weeks (pretty unpleasant weeks) to be able without 
problems to understand what was being said and express what I wanted 
to say.  That's not very long, comparable to the boy in your son's 
class, and so I wouldn't worry too much.

It took me about 6 months to catch up in all respects to the level of 
my classmates -- fluency, writing, comprehension.

Neat - English immersion. I wouldn't be too worried.
Your kids are young enough that the language should
come pretty quick. In order to prepare your kids, 
especially the seven year old, teach them the really
important stuff now. Phrases like "I need to use
the bathroom" are real important. Put labels in English
on things around the house so they get used to the
English words. Stuff like that.Assuming you typed the
question it appears you have a pretty good grasp of
English so that will help but Portuguese appears to
be your native tongue. Don't allow them to lose that
just because they need to learn English too. Maybe
when they've mastered English they can start Flemish!!

    
    In 3rd grade, we had a girl come into our class, straight from Italy.
    She spoke not a WORD of English, and no one spoke any Italian.  No one
    in her family spoke any English either.  ALL of the kids were anxious
    to help her learn - and to learn how to say things in Italian.  It took
    about a month before we could really talk with her, and by the end of a
    few months, she got along just fine.  Since her parents never learned
    English, she never lost her Italian tongue.  But it was funny to go
    over her house - when she got upset/excited, it'd come out half
    Italian, half English.  And when she got upset with her parents she
    could back talk them in English and they didn't know WHAT she was
    saying.  Ooops! (-:
    
    I wouldn't worry about it too much.  On the preface that people like to
    help people, I think that your kids will do okay.
    

    Any parents of Shrewsbury (MA) Middle School out there?  I just got an
    orientation handbook (Alex is in 4th grade at Paton now) for the Middle
    School and am annoyed by its brief description of their foreign
    language program.  It says something like "twice a week 5th graders
    will sample Latin, French and Spanish."
    
    Anyone know what this REALLY means?  I know that I don't want Alex
    "sampling" 3 foreign languages; I want her to *learn* ONE, specifically 
    French.
    
    I'm hoping what they meant to say was that 3 languages are available,
    and there's a short period at the beginning of the year when the kid,
    parent(s) and teacher-team decide WHICH of the three will be elected.
    
    If they really mean a dillettante program of 3 foreign languages all
    year long, I'm prepared to fight for study hall instead of Latin and
    Spanish.  One foreign language at a time, TYVM!
    
    There's an orientation evening 6/1 [and the handout neglects to mention
    whether students are welcome :-( ]  but I thought I'd ask here first.
    
    Thanks,
    Leslie                

    Well, there are a good many schools around the world where the kids are
    taught a number of foreign languages earlier than that ...
    
    One school I went to in England taught French, Latin, Russian, German
    and Cantonese ... and students could take ALL 5 for 2 years, and at the
    end take Junior Matriculation exams in them!  This along with probably
    eight other subjects ...
    
    I'd welcome the opportunity ... but having recently experienced some of
    the poor quality of some courses that my middle school daughter has
    taken, I'd be concerned, not about the quantity, but the quality.
    
    Stuart

    .5, I did say there's an orientation next week; maybe I didn't make it
    clear that I intend to go (and ask questions).
    
    .6, I'm all for learning foreign languages early.  Unfortunately
    Shrewsbury doesn't offer them until 5th grade, so I've been teaching
    Alex French (slowly), with the aid of the "French in Action" tapes,
    which are excellent.  [I'm mortified that I misspelled `dilettante' in
    .4, too!]  I know that immersion (best method IMO) is out of the
    question, but I'm afraid Shrewsbury is on the other end of the
    spectrum: "sampling" bits of 3 different languages, and only twice a
    week at that.  To me, that's "bad food and not enough of it."
    
    I have no objection to Alex *eventually* pursuing Latin, Spanish, or
    whatever other foreign language she's drawn to, but I do NOT want
    disembodied romance-language syllables floating in and out of her
    consciousness and never coalescing into fluency in any *one* language.
    
    I'll let you know what they say at the June 1 orientation.
    
    Leslie

    Actually, my own language experience is, apart from French, bits and
    pieces.  Enough to recognize many languages, even if I don't know the
    words ...  Some of the language courses I took were twice a week.
    
    Heck, out here in Colorado, they didn't get a chance to learn an Intro
    to French until Gr. 8!  (And since my kids are from Ottawa, that was
    a joke ... she's studied some French from Gr. !!!!) So, she did an
    Intro to Spanish for a semester, but because of the crazy ways the
    schools work here, she couldn't continue with it ...
    
    In fact, with that and other foolishness, we are seriously looking into
    home schooling our eldest in Gr. 9  ...  How many people dare home
    school for high school ... very few I suspect ... but with the ability
    to study 5 subjects only, every day all day for each semester, only two
    of which are elected, this is so pitiful, that she wouldn't even have a
    chance to continue languages if she wanted to (let alone the fact that
    language conflicted with other things she needs, let alone wants!!!)
    
    So, even if it is a smattering of languages, that is reasonable ... but
    check how they will be able to continue language studies in the
    continuing grades, that it won't conflict with other studies.
    
    Stuart
    
    

Just a few random comments...

French, Spanish, and Latin share a lot.  For people who learn language by
observing the structure, sampling these three languages can be a boon to
learning any or all of them later.

Speaking the language fluently is not the only goal of language learning. 
Learning *about* language, understanding the origins and structure of language,
can also be valuable.

Schools don't usually teach everything that a child might want to learn.  Many
people take classes at home, on their own, or outside of school to learn things
that are important to them but are not specifically offered by the local public
school system or by a private school.  In the case of language, certainly many
people whose families come from outside the US provide language and culture
instruction to their children either at home or at special cultural schools.

						Brian

    David will be learning Spanish in Kindergarten this year in Worcester.
    The school houses most of the bilingual classes, so once a day the
    English-speaking kids go to the Spanish teacher for a class, and the
    Spanish-speaking kids go over to the English teachers for a class. I
    think it's fine that he's learning a different language (and hopefully
    some of the culture) at such an early age.  I just hope they put as
    much emphasis on math, reading and writing skills.  
    Sarah

    
    Spanish and French (also Portugese and Italian) are very similar, 
    in grammer and structure. Once the kid knows one, it is extremely 
    easy to pick up another. In my town, kids starts foreign languages
    in 6th grade. The town also offer Spanish and French after school
    programs for 3rd grader and up, thru an independent language school. 
    My daughter takes Spanish and she learns the lauguage and the culture 
    thru games, songs, and fun kid things. 
    
    I went to a French lauguage school 3 hours a week for 6 years when I was 
    a teenager in Asia, by the end I was proficient. I went to film festivals, 
    I read French magazines and newspapers, I listened to French pop songs. The 
    problem is, IMO, French fluency is almost useless around here. I picked up 
    Spanish in college, it was really easy, but the method of teaching and 
    the material were boring. I didn't have the time and energy to really learn
    Spanish well, but if I were a kid here, Spanish is the way to go. There
    is Spanish TV and music, newspapers, magazines, recipes, and living culture!  
    
    
    
    
    Eva

    It turns out that in Shrewsbury's fifth grade, the three language
    "samples" are taught *sequentially* (whew!).  Alex's class had its own
    orientation at the middle school yesterday, so I asked if there had
    been any mention of the foreign languages program; she said they teach
    French for the first third of the year, then Spanish, then Latin.
    
    I'm OK with this, although as stated I would prefer for her to learn
    one language first (at least a couple of solid years) before moving to
    another.  I am well aware of the similarities among the romance
    languages, and (although I guess I'm naturally contentious!) in this
    forum I don't want to get into a discussion about which language is 
    "best"  :-}
    
    I didn't attend the evening orientation, mostly because kids were not
    invited :-\ (but there's an open house in August for the whole family)
    so I don't know yet whether 6th graders get the same smorgasbord or are
    allowed to elect one language.
    
    Leslie

    In Littleton, the 7th graders are exposed to three different languages
    throughout the year.   Then, in the 8th grade, they can take one of the
    languages in depth for a full year.  I suspect that's what your school
    is doing for the 5th and 6th grades.