trying my best Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 anyone Russian out there? I have DS5 and he doesn't speak Russian almost at all. I want to start teaching him. I am Russian but English is our main language here. Any ideas how to start teaching him my own language? Thanks! I also had a thought doing it through Skype if someone willing to teach him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 The best way to teach your child your native language is One-parent-one language. Just TALK to him in Russian. It is easiest to start right when they are born, but it is not too late. Keeping up a foreign native language is hard in an English speaking environment, but doable (and much easier if you are homeschooling than if the kids are in ps all day). Just talk to him, read books in Russian, use audio books and videos and try to find other Russian speaking children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 We did One Parent One Language from birth with our daughters. At age 5, if your child knows no Russian at all I would not suddenly start Russian only, I think it might backfire. I would however talk about how important it is to you that he learns Russian and how from now on you will be learning Russian every single day of the week, no exceptions, for at least an hour, maybe two 30 minute sessions? Try to make it as fun as you can but consistent nevertheless. As your child progresses I would gradually increase Russian time until you hit a minimum of 25% Russian time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ganna Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I am Russian too, my daughter (6yo) does not speak much of the Russian. She loves gymnastics, started to play piano. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaMama Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Just speak to him.:001_smile: We are a bilingual family (French and English with some Dutch/Spanish /ASL thrown in there). The way I have tought my children is simply by repeating in both languages. First in the language that they are unfamiliar with, then same sentence in the language they do understand and a third time to solidify in the new language. EX: As-tu soif? Are you thirsty? As-tu soif? At any moment of the day, all occasions are good for a few more words! You'll know how far they are in their language acquisition, just keep speaking more and more in the new language, they'll pick it up. What a great gift for them ( and you!) Enjoy your journey! Isabelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trying my best Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 we have Kolobok, Teremok and so on.. .but in order to read it to them they need to have some sort of vocabulary lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 we have Kolobok, Teremok and so on.. .but in order to read it to them they need to have some sort of vocabulary lol Just read parts of these. Or -- begin by talking (in Russian) about the pictures. I like the suggestion that I've seen before about saying something short first in Russian, then in English, and finally repeating it in Russian again. That works really well over here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Start today, teaching Russian vocabulary and basic reading skills. Kids can learn to read 2 languages without great pain if you do it right. I learned to read Arabic as a child, it was no major problem. Arabic and English have different alphabet, Russian uses the cryllic and English the latin alphabet, it shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, put up labels (3x5 cards) around the house and make it your mission to begin learning vocabulary for around the house things. Focus on one room every several days. Learn the words for "my" and "yours" and all their variants. Slowly stop saying "put on your shoes" and say "go put on your --SHOES--." Then --Your shoes-- --go--put on --your shoes-- Don't teach Russian as a foriegn language but as an everyday living one. Learn 100 conversational phrases this year and use them regularly, learn lots and lots and lots of vocabulary. USE your vocabulary. Get one of those first 1000 words in Russian books and make some simple games to play in Russian. Teach how to say things like "my turn" "your turn" "where is the..." "lets read this book" "what is this?" etc... As you progress, use more and more Russian throughout your day. With in a month or two, depending on how well you're progressing, change one room to a Russian room. or have Lunch only in Russian. You should work your way up to being able to speak Russian for several minutes with more and more dependence from English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Arabic and English have different alphabet, Russian uses the cryllic and English the latin alphabet, it shouldn't be a problem. Mom2Bee, Lots of great suggestions. The alphabet thing, though, is tricky. Russian and English do indeed have different alphabets, but some letters look the same (and make different sounds). This was the confusing part for my kids when they were just beginning to learn the sounds letters made. For example: In English, C says two sounds, hard and soft C, but in Russian it is basically an S. English B makes a "V" sound in Russian. English P is the Russian "R" sound. English E says "yeh" in Russian. English H is the Russian "N." English X says "khah" in Russian. The lowercase Russian t looks like a lowercase English m. The lowercase Russian i looks like a lowercase English u. If you turn an English R around, it makes the "yah" sound in Russian. (This can be confusing for littles when they're deciding which way to write the letter.) The Russian letter that makes the hard "G" sound looks like an English L turned upside down. Same problem as with the R. The Russian letter that makes the "ee" sound looks like an English N flipped backwards. (Those poor dyslexic American children who are trying to learn Russian! -- our experience right now) It's possible that I've missed a few... We've found it less confusing to wait until the kids are completely solid in their reading one language before introducing the second alphabet when it comes to English/Russian. (YMMV! Some kids may have no trouble with the two, but mine did.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We'll you can put off Russian reading for right now if you want, but still focus heavily and learning vocabulary and building CONVERSATIONAL Russian skills by having conversations. The best way to teach grammar is to model it in simple sentences that grow increasingly complex, and use your words everyday!!! AS time passes have an Russian Room, where Russian is spoken, and have a Russian meal, a time where the whole family speaks in Russian and listens in Russian and has conversations in Russian. Find Russian Cartoons online, order Russian childrens DVD's and learn about Russia and study Russia. Don't learn numbers, letters, counting and generic greetings first. Learn them 51st. Unless you routinely tell your kids good morning, how are you. Don't teach them that in Russian first. Teach them to say things that "this one" and "please" in Russian, because those are 2 words that kids use ALL the time. (ie I want --THIS ONE, PLEASE.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdgni Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Good summary on the printed alphabet. I had to add that you didn't mention the cursive letter confusion! I can speak (not great, but good enough) but reading something written in cursive is so daunting! Is it a M or a T? What's that G doing? What sound is that! (I think it's G that troubles me!) Mom2Bee,Lots of great suggestions. The alphabet thing, though, is tricky. Russian and English do indeed have different alphabets, but some letters look the same (and make different sounds). This was the confusing part for my kids when they were just beginning to learn the sounds letters made. For example: In English, C says two sounds, hard and soft C, but in Russian it is basically an S. English B makes a "V" sound in Russian. English P is the Russian "R" sound. English E says "yeh" in Russian. English H is the Russian "N." English X says "khah" in Russian. The lowercase Russian t looks like a lowercase English m. The lowercase Russian i looks like a lowercase English u. If you turn an English R around, it makes the "yah" sound in Russian. (This can be confusing for littles when they're deciding which way to write the letter.) The Russian letter that makes the hard "G" sound looks like an English L turned upside down. Same problem as with the R. The Russian letter that makes the "ee" sound looks like an English N flipped backwards. (Those poor dyslexic American children who are trying to learn Russian! -- our experience right now) It's possible that I've missed a few... We've found it less confusing to wait until the kids are completely solid in their reading one language before introducing the second alphabet when it comes to English/Russian. (YMMV! Some kids may have no trouble with the two, but mine did.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Good summary on the printed alphabet. I had to add that you didn't mention the cursive letter confusion! I can speak (not great, but good enough) but reading something written in cursive is so daunting! Is it a M or a T? What's that G doing? What sound is that! (I think it's G that troubles me!) Ah yes, some of the Russian cursive letters look like English/Latin letters that say a different sound. Good point. We've found that most of the confusion is averted if the child begins one written language after the first is extremely comfortable and easy. A 2-3 year gap between the two seems to be good timing for my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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