rJune is report time for us. We have received the Report Cards for our children and there aren't really any surprises as we've been kept up to date by our kids to some extent as well as through teacher parent meetings.
With respect to our children living with multiple languages, I do keep an eye on the language assessments. How do they perform in the community (school) language, the additional language taught at school (Irish) and how does that compare to their language development in German, for which I am mainly responsible myself.
The results on the report cards come as no surprise: both my children have better reading and writing skills than listening and speaking skills. This applies to the community language as well as the second language taught at school. At home the focus is still mainly on listening to and speaking our minority language German, even tough we have started reading in German with both our girls from the age of six and they get engaged in small writing activities.
Listening comprehension and the ability to use the minority language are especially important to me so I focus on developing and growing these skills. Reading skills are up next on my list followed by writing.
If it's important to you that your child is able to actively use an additional language, the focus has to be on listening comprehension and speaking as much as possible.
There is a tendency in teaching languages to ask children to say something, to reply to a question, to come up with a statement while we may forget that they need to have mastered listening comprehension to a certain degree to be able to follow a conversation or comprehend a question before they can reply. This also draws our attention to the development of vocabulary: if the children lack the necessary words to express themselves they will choose the easiest path and either don't speak or use their native language.
With respect to our children living with multiple languages, I do keep an eye on the language assessments. How do they perform in the community (school) language, the additional language taught at school (Irish) and how does that compare to their language development in German, for which I am mainly responsible myself.
The results on the report cards come as no surprise: both my children have better reading and writing skills than listening and speaking skills. This applies to the community language as well as the second language taught at school. At home the focus is still mainly on listening to and speaking our minority language German, even tough we have started reading in German with both our girls from the age of six and they get engaged in small writing activities.
Listening comprehension and the ability to use the minority language are especially important to me so I focus on developing and growing these skills. Reading skills are up next on my list followed by writing.
If it's important to you that your child is able to actively use an additional language, the focus has to be on listening comprehension and speaking as much as possible.
There is a tendency in teaching languages to ask children to say something, to reply to a question, to come up with a statement while we may forget that they need to have mastered listening comprehension to a certain degree to be able to follow a conversation or comprehend a question before they can reply. This also draws our attention to the development of vocabulary: if the children lack the necessary words to express themselves they will choose the easiest path and either don't speak or use their native language.
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