jld Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Dd14 and ds7 have been at their grandparents' farm in France these last six weeks, and will come home in a few days. Dd told me that when they first arrived, ds7 would say things like, "Peux-tu couper du pain moi?" to his grandmother. Now he's saying, "Peux-tu me couper du pain?" He's really improved in just six weeks. I know that we all know the importance of input for FL learning, and that encouraging output is helpful, too. But when I think about how little French ds7 has heard the last two years (dh works so much), and how little emphasis dh has ever put on output (always speaking to the kids in French, but rarely insisting they speak back), I am amazed at how quickly output can come, when needed, just with consistent input, even a small amount, over the years. So if anyone out there is discouraged, thinking about how little of a language a child is hearing daily, and how infrequently that child needs to speak the language, hark! There is hope, and a great deal of it! If our experience is typical, then just consistently hearing the language should produce output, and quickly, in an immersion environment. Dd told me that she remembers visiting her grandparents when she was younger, and while it was hard to get in the rhythm of speaking French, after a few days she didn't feel she had a lot of trouble. We all only have so much energy, and keeping things simple seems to make our lives easier. Based on our (okay - limited - we're just one family) experience, it seems like just consistently speaking a language to a child should be enough to eventually produce output, when needed. So just have your husband, mother, or yourself keep speaking, speaking, speaking the target language to the child! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.