Language Development
Verfasst: 04.05.2012, 20:38
Hi guys!
I'm a bit worried. Even before Soph was born, James and I decided to both speak English to/with her - James only sees Soph for a very limited amount of time every day and she's at a German Kita. German is very much her dominant language and we feared she would not be exposed to English enough to recognise it as her other mother tongue. Soph will be four years old very soon and she's a bit all over the place as far as her language development is concerned. She frequently mixes her English and German, tends to have more of an English structure to her sentences, often does not get the German articles right, etc. I am thinking I may have been a bit too laid back until now...I was approached by one of her carers at Kita today. She said that she wants to start doing special exercises with her, saying that Soph is obviously lacking in certain areas and needs help. I feel incredibly stupid, to be honest. I always assumed Soph would get her languages sorted out in her head automatically once she's a bit older. After this talk today, I fear that I may have hindered her development in some way. I would really, really like to talk to someone who's in a situation similar to ours and who can tell me a bit about how their kids fared as far as language development is concerned. I'm also considering introducing something like one hour per day where I'd speak only German to Soph. Sorry if I'm not making a lot of sense right now, I just feel terrible when I think about the fact that I might have messed up Soph more than I've done her good with my decision not to speak German to her as she is growing up. I'd also love to speak to a specialist about this issue, but I'm not quite sure how to go about that or who to contact.
I'm a bit worried. Even before Soph was born, James and I decided to both speak English to/with her - James only sees Soph for a very limited amount of time every day and she's at a German Kita. German is very much her dominant language and we feared she would not be exposed to English enough to recognise it as her other mother tongue. Soph will be four years old very soon and she's a bit all over the place as far as her language development is concerned. She frequently mixes her English and German, tends to have more of an English structure to her sentences, often does not get the German articles right, etc. I am thinking I may have been a bit too laid back until now...I was approached by one of her carers at Kita today. She said that she wants to start doing special exercises with her, saying that Soph is obviously lacking in certain areas and needs help. I feel incredibly stupid, to be honest. I always assumed Soph would get her languages sorted out in her head automatically once she's a bit older. After this talk today, I fear that I may have hindered her development in some way. I would really, really like to talk to someone who's in a situation similar to ours and who can tell me a bit about how their kids fared as far as language development is concerned. I'm also considering introducing something like one hour per day where I'd speak only German to Soph. Sorry if I'm not making a lot of sense right now, I just feel terrible when I think about the fact that I might have messed up Soph more than I've done her good with my decision not to speak German to her as she is growing up. I'd also love to speak to a specialist about this issue, but I'm not quite sure how to go about that or who to contact.