Newbie: German/English

[4KookieKids]

My kids are currently 3 and 1 and I'm planning on homeschooling them, but am undecided how to do it (lingually). DS3 is passively fluent in German, but defaults to English (his stronger language) when speaking. DS1 defaults to German, though I'm not sure how long that'll last. I was raised bilingually in Germany (with German my stronger language until age 10), but got pretty rusty not using it for 15 years until I had kids. I started speaking German with DS3 just after his sister was born a year ago, and I'm pretty pleased with his progress this past year.

 

I'd really like to school (at least partially) in German, like I know some people on here do with their second languages, but reading some of the threads on here has me doubting myself. A good deal many threads have posts that seem to suggest that you shouldn't even try it if you don't have native fluency, which I'm not thinking I do, at this point.

 

It doesn't help that there's *very* little German anywhere near us. As for our German input, I'm reading all I can, we listen to audio (books, recorded audio from movies, music, etc.) daily, and we read almost exclusively in German (which is sometimes a stretch on my translating skills when he hands me an English book from the library I've not had a chance to look at!!), and the occasional movie time is also German. DH doesn't speak a lick of German, though, so we usually switch to English when he's around.

 

I've been in contact with German schools to obtain curricula and used textbooks, to at least start exploring the topic further, but am wondering if it's worth the effort, if people generally don't have success with this sort of thing. Any ideas/input/encouragement is welcome!

[Matryoshka]

You can absolutely do it! I have a friend who emigrated from Germany when she was 13 - she spoke German to her kids when they were little, and they are so fluent now! If you were raised in Germany with German as your primary language as a child, you are a native speaker.

 

Look around for German resources. I always thought I lived in an area with almost no Germans - everyone was Irish and Italian. I was the only German-American I knew growing up. And yet, turns out there's a big Saturday School 45 minutes away, and I even found a German playgroup when they were little (run by expatriates that I would have no idea were even here...). That was also in the big city - locally I advertised for my own German playgroup, and managed to get a few families (one was my friend mentioned above).

 

I am not a native speaker, and I never did speak to my kids mostly in German for that reason (and that I was also trying to teach them Spanish...), but if you do, you will be amazed at the results.

 

Also, get a DVD that can play PAL; it's not all that expensive to order movies and CDs from amazon.de. Also, visiting relatives in Germany for an extended vacation can really solidify their skills, especially the active speaking that they are reluctant to use at home. You'd be shocked at how quickly passive knowledge becomes active in an immersion situation.

[4KookieKids]

You can absolutely do it! I have a friend who emigrated from Germany when she was 13 - she spoke German to her kids when they were little, and they are so fluent now! If you were raised in Germany with German as your primary language as a child, you are a native speaker.

 

 

Thanks for the encouragement!! I don't *feel* like a native speaker, which I think makes this seem more daunting. But it's encouraging to hear of your friend who was in a similar situation!

 

We do already have a DVD player that can play all regions, and we have bought some movies from amazon.de. I just wish there was a more ready selection of used/cheaper stuff, because we can't keep breaking the bank to be buying new all the time! But used tends to have much higher shipping charges. :p

 

Also, visiting relatives in Germany for an extended vacation can really solidify their skills, especially the active speaking that they are reluctant to use at home. You'd be shocked at how quickly passive knowledge becomes active in an immersion situation.

 

 

I wish we had family over there, but all of our family in Germany has passed away since we left. I believe that my son's German could become active very quickly, because I've really been pushing him to speak it with me this week while my husband is out of town, and I feel like his German output has gone from maybe 30% before to somewhere around 60% without prompting, and 90% with me responding to English with a "Wie bitte?" or "Auf Deutsch?" So I feel like we're making really amazing progress this week, and it's exciting!

[Matryoshka]

I wish we had family over there, but all of our family in Germany has passed away since we left.

 

You just have to hunt up some more extended family! My grandparents emigrated. The relatives we're in touch with there are descendents of my great-grandmother's sister and my great-grandfather's cousin (or something - I'm fuzzier on that side of the family). But we're still in close touch - we visit back and forth fairly often (this is mostly due to my mom - she keeps in touch with everyone! - but my mom was born here too). My mom's heading off in June to my third cousin's wedding (I'd go too, if I had the time and money... she and her family came to mine).

 

I believe that my son's German could become active very quickly, because I've really been pushing him to speak it with me this week while my husband is out of town, and I feel like his German output has gone from maybe 30% before to somewhere around 60% without prompting, and 90% with me responding to English with a "Wie bitte?" or "Auf Deutsch?" So I feel like we're making really amazing progress this week, and it's exciting!

 

Yes - you wouldn't believe how quickly passive language can become active when it's the only choice. :)

[Nan in Mass]

My kids are currently 3 and 1 and I'm planning on homeschooling them, but am undecided how to do it (lingually). DS3 is passively fluent in German, but defaults to English (his stronger language) when speaking. DS1 defaults to German, though I'm not sure how long that'll last. I was raised bilingually in Germany (with German my stronger language until age 10), but got pretty rusty not using it for 15 years until I had kids. I started speaking German with DS3 just after his sister was born a year ago, and I'm pretty pleased with his progress this past year.

 

I'd really like to school (at least partially) in German, like I know some people on here do with their second languages, but reading some of the threads on here has me doubting myself. A good deal many threads have posts that seem to suggest that you shouldn't even try it if you don't have native fluency, which I'm not thinking I do, at this point.

 

It doesn't help that there's *very* little German anywhere near us. As for our German input, I'm reading all I can, we listen to audio (books, recorded audio from movies, music, etc.) daily, and we read almost exclusively in German (which is sometimes a stretch on my translating skills when he hands me an English book from the library I've not had a chance to look at!!), and the occasional movie time is also German. DH doesn't speak a lick of German, though, so we usually switch to English when he's around.

 

I've been in contact with German schools to obtain curricula and used textbooks, to at least start exploring the topic further, but am wondering if it's worth the effort, if people generally don't have success with this sort of thing. Any ideas/input/encouragement is welcome!

 

 

I just want to add my encouragement. I took my high school French and used it to get my youngest speaking French. He can't write French well at all but he can read, understand, and speak French at a pretty functional level, nothing like fluent, but way way way better than he would if I had just tried to teach it as a school subject. You are much more fluent than I was. I think if you keep doing what you are doing you will be amazed. Even a little goes a long way. I spoke French (broken French at times) with my sister's youngest son, whom I babysat twice a week between the ages of 1 and 3. He understood me but didn't answer back except one word answers, and he only remembers a few words now. It still was beneficial, though. He is 6 this year and has a Chinese teacher at school who speaks only Chinese to the class. He is so good at it that she took my sister aside and questioned her about his previous exposure to Chinese. He understands the teacher and will answer in Chinese, with a good accent, where the rest of the class's accent is bad and they don't really understand. They concluded that it was his early exposure French!

Anything you do will be better than nothing. People kept telling me that I would be teaching my son bad French, bad accent, wrong grammar, etc. I kept telling myself that bad French was a good deal better than NO French. And it turned out, in the end, that my accent didn't matter - he adopted the accent of the videos. I read aloud a lot in order to give him more grammatically complex sentence structure and vocabulary. That helped. As I said, he isn't fluent but he is more fluent than the students at the public school his age.

: )

Nan

[4KookieKids]

You just have to hunt up some more extended family!

 

I'll work on it! Thanks for the idea. :)

 

He is 6 this year and has a Chinese teacher at school who speaks only Chinese to the class. He is so good at it that she took my sister aside and questioned her about his previous exposure to Chinese. He understands the teacher and will answer in Chinese, with a good accent, where the rest of the class's accent is bad and they don't really understand. They concluded that it was his early exposure French!

 

That's great! I had this experience learning Spanish in high school as well -- it was just easy peasy for me. :)

 

I read aloud a lot in order to give him more grammatically complex sentence structure and vocabulary.

 

It's a good point that reading alot gives them exposure to much more complicated sentences. Thanks. :)

[Nan in Mass]

...

 

It's a good point that reading alot gives them exposure to much more complicated sentences. Thanks. :)

 

It made me realize why libraries heavily promotes reading aloud to your children, the government promotes it, and the public school promotes it. If your own language skills aren't good, it allows you to give your children better ones. I also realized that as a vocabulary builder it was great. By reading books aloud, we were put in places and situations we could never go otherwise - all with the strange vocabulary presented in context, with pictures, in a fun way. it doesn't get much better than that. No wonder it works so well.

 

Nan

[4KookieKids]

Yeah, we have always read a lot, and I've seen lots of other benefits. I just never realized that was one of them!

[Nan in Mass]

Me, too.

[pmeilaen]

I'm raising my children bilingually. I came to this country in my mid-twenties, but speak exclusively German with my children. I'm blogging at www.untroddenpaths.blogspot.com in both languages. If you are interested in German materials you could also contact the AATG. Alecia is another German-American homeschooler I know. She has an Amazon bookstore here.

[4KookieKids]

I'm raising my children bilingually. I came to this country in my mid-twenties, but speak exclusively German with my children. I'm blogging at www.untroddenpaths.blogspot.com in both languages. If you are interested in German materials you could also contact the AATG. Alecia is another German-American homeschooler I know. She has an Amazon bookstore here.

 

Wow! Thanks for all the great resources!

 

I've tried contacting people I found on an AATG list of German schools in the US, I was hoping they would share curriculum with me, and also wondered if how often they get new books (here in NE, accredited schools have to buy complete new sets every 5 years, so you can often find great bargains on books when schools are getting rid of their old ones!) But so far, I've had very little response, which is a little disheartening. I'll give it a few more weeks, and then maybe try again.

 

But you think contacting AATG directly would be good? What should I ask about? I feel like what I could ask is so vast, I'm not sure where to start (other than curriculum and books, like I mentioned above!)

[pmeilaen]

 

Wow! Thanks for all the great resources!

 

I've tried contacting people I found on an AATG list of German schools in the US, I was hoping they would share curriculum with me, and also wondered if how often they get new books (here in NE, accredited schools have to buy complete new sets every 5 years, so you can often find great bargains on books when schools are getting rid of their old ones!) But so far, I've had very little response, which is a little disheartening. I'll give it a few more weeks, and then maybe try again.

 

But you think contacting AATG directly would be good? What should I ask about? I feel like what I could ask is so vast, I'm not sure where to start (other than curriculum and books, like I mentioned above!)

 

Yes, I think I would join their list and ask directly. I would ask about books, audio tapes/CDs, songs, practical advice on how to incorporate more German into your days, how to get your husband involved, how to brush up on your own German, and ask about if there are some people in your area that know German. There are also bilingual family sites or this site with some other helps for German families.

 

There is also a German American Society in Omaha. They might be a good place to find like-minded people. Here (source) is another list of German clubs I found:

 

NEBRASKA[/url]

 

American Historical Society of Germans from Russia 631 D Street Lincoln, NE 68402-1199 402.474.3363

Erzgebirge, Inc. 1007 Howard Street Omaha NE 68102-2833 402.345.9627

Freundschaft Tanz Club Omaha, NB

German-American Heritage Society of Lincoln : 2405 S. 60th St. Lincoln, NE 68506 402.483.2855

German-American Society of Omaha, Inc. 3717 South 120 Street Omaha, NE 68144 John Siegel 402.333.6615

Heimat Tänzer Ok 3305 Augusta Ave Omaha, NB 68144 402.333.8099

Liederkranz 401 West First Street Grand Island, NE 68802-0325 308.382.9337

Sängerchor Omaha, NB

Schützenverein Omaha Omaha, NB

Skat Klub Omaha, NB

 

You could also contact the Goethe Institut. Here is a link to a school in Nebraska that works with them. The Goethe Institut might know about people/events in your area. Or contact the German Consulate General in Chicago. They work with people from Nebraska.

 

Good luck!

[4KookieKids]

Yes, I think I would join their list and ask directly. I would ask about books, audio tapes/CDs, songs, practical advice on how to incorporate more German into your days, how to get your husband involved, how to brush up on your own German, and ask about if there are some people in your area that know German. There are also bilingual family sites or this site with some other helps for German families.

 

Thanks! I'll spend some time browsing through all that information!

 

There is also a German American Society in Omaha. They might be a good place to find like-minded people. Here (source) is another list of German clubs I found:

 

NEBRASKAAmerican Historical Society of Germans from Russia 631 D Street Lincoln, NE 68402-1199 402.474.3363

Erzgebirge, Inc. 1007 Howard Street Omaha NE 68102-2833 402.345.9627

Freundschaft Tanz Club Omaha, NB

German-American Heritage Society of Lincoln : 2405 S. 60th St. Lincoln, NE 68506 402.483.2855

German-American Society of Omaha, Inc. 3717 South 120 Street Omaha, NE 68144 John Siegel 402.333.6615

Heimat Tänzer Ok 3305 Augusta Ave Omaha, NB 68144 402.333.8099

Liederkranz 401 West First Street Grand Island, NE 68802-0325 308.382.9337

Sängerchor Omaha, NB

Schützenverein Omaha Omaha, NB

Skat Klub Omaha, NB

 

I've been in contact with the GAS in Omaha, and we're hoping something can come of that soon! Most of their events are for kids a little older, unfortunately, and the ones that start around age 4 aim more towards children who don't speak German at home, I'm told. So I'm undecided on that (at least while I still have a 1 year old to pacify for an hour each way in the car!) But I think we may try it soon, and just see what it's like before making any decisions (they said he could come and see, even though he's not yet 4). What sounds most promising right now is that they're going to contact a few German families they know and see if anyone else has young kids and would like to plan play-dates.

 

I'll check out some of those other groups too.

 

You could also contact the Goethe Institut. Here is a link to a school in Nebraska that works with them. The Goethe Institut might know about people/events in your area. Or contact the German Consulate General in Chicago. They work with people from Nebraska.

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks! It all just feels so overwhelming sometimes. I don't feel like my German is coming along as quickly as I'd like it to because I'm always stumbling over words that I can't recall and I have to run to my dictionary (not particularly easy in the middle of story time while I'm trying to translate a new library book -- it's hard enough to get the 1 year old to sit still for 5 minutes!) and/or alter my sentences several times a day as a result. I have to remind myself that I didn't speak it for over 15 years, and I've only been speaking it again for a little over 1 year, so running to my dictionary and mixing up my cases some (even if it's 15 or 20 times a day) is a vast improvement over where I was a year ago! :D

 

So from your website, it looks like you use a mix of German and English books. Do you still speak German when covering the English material? How did you decide which language to use for which topics/material? Or do you do most in both (I noticed that you had some in both languages)? Do you find it challenging to keep your children speaking German while living here, or has that not been an issue for you?

[pmeilaen]

Oh, I know how it is to try to drive with little ones. When mine were younger I didn't go anywhere far because they hated the car!

 

We use mostly English books for the main subjects, but I do require German as a daily subject. I never speak English to them unless I'm reading a question from an English book to them. Then they are allowed to answer in English, but all my instructions (like "Open the book on page ...") are in German. My children tend to speak English among themselves, but we try to speak German as a family on the weekends. It is harder for them to speak German because they only hear it from me, books, and my husband (on the weekends). The two older ones seldom make mistakes, the three younger ones are having more problems with getting certain cases right, but I correct them each time I hear something wrong.

 

Since your children are still little I would really try to sing a lot and try to incorporate German finger plays. If you are interested, I can share some resources for those.

[Matryoshka]

Thanks! It all just feels so overwhelming sometimes. I don't feel like my German is coming along as quickly as I'd like it to because I'm always stumbling over words that I can't recall and I have to run to my dictionary (not particularly easy in the middle of story time while I'm trying to translate a new library book -- it's hard enough to get the 1 year old to sit still for 5 minutes!) and/or alter my sentences several times a day as a result. I have to remind myself that I didn't speak it for over 15 years, and I've only been speaking it again for a little over 1 year, so running to my dictionary and mixing up my cases some (even if it's 15 or 20 times a day) is a vast improvement over where I was a year ago! :D

 

 

 

 

Watch German movies, and read German books, both for yourself and with your child. You'll be amazed at how this helps.

 

At that age, my kids loved Benjamin Blümchen videos, Kleiner Bär (dubbed from the English, but it's so sweet!). As they got into early elementary, all of the Astrid Lindgren videos (Pippi, Michel, etc.) can be watched over and over. You can find all of these easily on amazon.de.

 

For yourself, read lots and lots of German - starting with some YA might be nice. Cornelia Funke and Michael Ende would be a good place to start. It's all there in your head, your brain just needs to be reminded to take it out of long-term storage. :)

[Matryoshka]

Since your children are still little I would really try to sing a lot and try to incorporate German finger plays. If you are interested, I can share some resources for those.

 

 

 

I'll agree with this! If you don't know that many, there are lots of books/CDs. I also love Rolf Zukowski CDs, they're not all traditional songs, but great kids music. Liederkalendar and Vogelhochzeit are some favorites. He does also have some with more traditional songs, but you can also get those from lots of artists.

[4KookieKids]

Watch German movies, and read German books, both for yourself and with your child. You'll be amazed at how this helps. At that age, my kids loved Benjamin Blümchen videos, Kleiner Bär (dubbed from the English, but it's so sweet!). As they got into early elementary, all of the Astrid Lindgren videos (Pippi, Michel, etc.) can be watched over and over. You can find all of these easily on amazon.de. For yourself, read lots and lots of German - starting with some YA might be nice. Cornelia Funke and Michael Ende would be a good place to start. It's all there in your head, your brain just needs to be reminded to take it out of long-term storage. :)

 

Thanks for the tips on videos to look into. The videos are a hard one for me (though we have been using them to some degree) because we generally don't do a lot of screen time. So we watch them very occasionally, and then once my 3 yo gets the story down some, I rip the audio onto a CD and we listen to it in the car and around the house all the time. I think he likes it more than most other audio books we use, because he gets more of the story (since he's seen the video).

 

I've been reading what I can, though it really comes in spurts depending on busy my kids are keeping me. :D In the last six months or so, I read a bunch of English books that had been translated into German, because I wasn't sure where I was and I thought it would help to know the story. So I read the Harry Potter series, the Eragon series, and am halfway through the Narnian chronicles (though I've been halfway through them for about a month or two now...) It's been encouraging, because I do understand almost all of what I read -- but then again, I do know the stories, already. I think that once I finish them, I'll actually switch over to German YA books, like you suggest.

 

I'll agree with this! If you don't know that many, there are lots of books/CDs. I also love Rolf Zukowski CDs, they're not all traditional songs, but great kids music. Liederkalendar and Vogelhochzeit are some favorites. He does also have some with more traditional songs, but you can also get those from lots of artists.

 

Thanks! I'll look into those! I had a hard time finding a good book for the finger plays, because I just couldn't figure out the directions very well. Do you know of any video's that would be good for this? Maybe I'll check out YouTube! (Don't know why I didn't think of that sooner... :p)

[Matryoshka]

Thanks for the tips on videos to look into. The videos are a hard one for me (though we have been using them to some degree) because we generally don't do a lot of screen time.

 

When they were little, they were only allowed videos/cartoons if they were in German or Spanish. I'm such a meanie. ;)

[4KookieKids]

When they were little, they were only allowed videos/cartoons if they were in German or Spanish. I'm such a meanie. ;)

 

That's certainly the rule when I'm home, too! Even so, I find it hard to find the right balancing part. On the one hand, I'd love to have my kids have that "outside" exposure (e.g., anything other than me!) on a daily basis -- for several hours, even! But there's no way I'm going to let them sit there for that long, unless we're sick. :)

 

Your spanish comment (or maybe just mention of 2 other languages) brings up another question for me (somewhat unrelated, so feel free to point me towards another thread if it might be more appropriate): We have friends who speak Spanish at home and my 3 yo has honed in on that. So he's starting to ask me how to say various things in Spanish when we discuss new German words. If I spoke Spanish even semi-fluently, I would say that maybe this just means we could start with a third language, but I only took 3 years of Spanish in high school and couldn't even tell him the word for carrot without looking it up. Any ideas on whether I should do anything? I feel like I've got my hands full with German right now, but don't want to miss this sort of great potential window. And I'm also concerned about confusing him more.

[Matryoshka]

That's certainly the rule when I'm home, too! Even so, I find it hard to find the right balancing part. On the one hand, I'd love to have my kids have that "outside" exposure (e.g., anything other than me!) on a daily basis -- for several hours, even! But there's no way I'm going to let them sit there for that long, unless we're sick. :)

 

I really limited screen time when they were little too. Absolutely nothing before 2-3, I probably started adding in just a bit when they were 4 ish, and then it was something like 1/2 hour at a time and not every day. We spent a lot more time listening to those Rolf Zukowski CDs. :D

 

Your spanish comment (or maybe just mention of 2 other languages) brings up another question for me (somewhat unrelated, so feel free to point me towards another thread if it might be more appropriate): We have friends who speak Spanish at home and my 3 yo has honed in on that. So he's starting to ask me how to say various things in Spanish when we discuss new German words. If I spoke Spanish even semi-fluently, I would say that maybe this just means we could start with a third language, but I only took 3 years of Spanish in high school and couldn't even tell him the word for carrot without looking it up. Any ideas on whether I should do anything? I feel like I've got my hands full with German right now, but don't want to miss this sort of great potential window. And I'm also concerned about confusing him more.

 

I do speak both German and Spanish, but I felt like it was important to them to have a community to speak with, so they'd "get" why to speak another language (no, mom is not making up random nonsense syllables to irritate you). For Spanish, when they were young I hired a native tutor an hour a week, and we listened to Spanish (well, mostly Mexican) children's songs too. Even if they don't get fluent, this early exposure really helps accent formation later on. Maybe your friend wouldn't mind having your kids over for playdates where she speaks just Spanish to everyone, and you could get some CDs. That would probably be both gentle and effective. Formal instruction can wait. ;)

[pmeilaen]

I really limited screen time when they were little two. Absolutely nothing before 2-3, I probably started adding in just a bit when they were 4 ish, and then it was something like 1/2 hour at a time and not every day. We spent a lot more time listening to those Rolf Zukowski CDs. :D

 

When my older ones were little, we had no screen time, we didn't even have a computer and we still don't have a TV. We've had laptops for about five years now, so we do, for the first time, have dvds now. So my older ones didn't watch dvds until they were about 10. We still limit dvds. The older ones are allowed to watch a dvd only when they have read the book! The younger ones, under 9 are still rarely allowed to watch.

 

So I guess videos/dvds might not be important for the children, but for yourself.