Weather is continuously glorious, the sky is blue, the sun is shinning and the grass is so green and flowers blossoming. It's hard not to enjoy the Early-arrived summer in England. So yesterday I invited my Chinese friend Yan and her daughter Linda to join me and Daniel for a park trip to Cannon Hall. With two daughters aged 6 and 4 now, Yan and her Estonian husband moved from Estonia 3 yesrs ago. She hasn't held a driving license yet. The park is not far from where we live, only 15 minutes drive away. So i picked them up at her house.
Cannon Hall is a country house covering over 70 aces parkland which is landscaped in 1760 with a formal garden, the park is an ideal place for a relaxing stroll or picnics. We spent a morning strolling on the historical parkland. The hall itself was turned into a local history museum but was shut yesterday. Yan's 6 yes old daughter was so keen to push Daniel around on the grass... we talked about kid's language teaching. I still remember when I first met them Linda speak Estonian, a bit Russian and a bit Chinese but now she only speak English. She can understand a bit Chinese but answered me in English. Her mum wasn't happy about this as she was forced to speak English to her daughters while her English was limited. The coupe speak Russian between themselves. But it seemed that the children are forgetting Russian, Chinese, Estonian... Lunch time she invited me to have tea in her house... I picked up some some shoppings on the way home. The rest of day Daniel had his afternoon nap and I watched some DVDs....
5 comments:
Linda is a very pretty girl!
Kids pick up English so quickly. That's why I'm determined to speak only Chinese to my kids. If they talk to me in English, I will just say "妈妈听不懂." Hope it will work.
Yes, Linda is a very pretty girl, so is her sister.
I think the trick will probably work when they are young (pre-school age). When the school start to kick in, they will have their own choice of friends, languages, some kids would just be lazy, they wouldn't bother the hassle of switching between languages. I have read the story about some chinese mother invited chinese kids around trying to make her 6-year Eurasian son speak chinese only to find out they talked to each other in English as they are either ABC or BBC.
Sigh!......
There is only this much I can do. As long as I try my best, I won't regret.
I don't have much expectation anyway. I just want my kids to be able to understand (listening) and speak Chinese. As for reading and writing, I won't dream for that.
Hehe, good mentality! Maybe I should have less expectation for this matter to avoid future disappointment. ;) But i think it will be a huge disappointment for my parents if Daniel doesn't speak or read Chinese. Whe we were in KM my Dad kept nagging Terry about sending Daniel over for schooling in China in future for the sake of learning Chinese culture But we just have to wait and see as it won't be easy for us to leave our little Daniel.
I can't imagine sending my kids to China. No way.
Unless you and Terry will be there too.... 6 months there and 6 months in UK. That would be good. :)
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