Raising a Bilingual Child: Constant Questioning

Raising a Bilingual Child

Teaching Tip: Constant Questioning

I learned a lot working as a kindergarten teacher for five years. I closely observed my students and I watched their parents carefully as well. I asked students about their interactions with their parents. Do they read stories to you? Do you sit together as a family and eat meals together? When you get home from school do you mostly watch television or play with your parents? When your parents take you to the park, do they play with you or sit and watch you?

I learned a lot about what to do as a parent and most importantly, what not to do!

Simply put, many parents don’t talk to their children. They may bark commands at them from time to time or even talk to them as if they were babies, but many don’t engage them.

At one school I worked at, teachers would take their classes to a large public park each morning and play at a playground. I often saw parents who would take their child there, let the child play by themselves while he/she just sat on a bench with a coffee and stared at their smart phone. Other times, a group of mothers would take their children to the park and then ignore them. They saw it as “social time for Mommy” as opposed to playtime and learning time for their child.

On a Summer insect hunt with my son.

All parents are guilty of letting their kids watch a little too much television (especially when you’re trying to cook dinner or clean the house). I’m guilty of that as well. I also find myself at time not engaging my kids as much as I probably should. Luckily, I tend to “snap out of it” and realize that I need to interact more.

Constantly questioning your child is a great way to engage them. Constantly asking them a mixture of closed and open-ended questions about what they are doing and the world around them helps them develop critical thinking skills as well as their language.

When I go for a walk with my son I often find myself asking him a wide variety of questions about everything around us.

Here’s an example:

Me: “Hey Kai, what’s that? (pointing to a leaf on he ground).

My son: “It’s a leaf.”

Me: “What color is it?”

My son: “It’s brown.”

Me: “Why is it brown?”

My son: “It’s dirty.”

Me: “No. It’s brown because it’s old and dry. Why is it on the sidewalk?”

My son: “Cause the tree is broken and the leaf jumped.”

Me: “Ha ha! The leaf didn’t jump off the tree. It fell off. Can you say, ‘It fell off the tree’?”

My son: “It fell of the tree.”

In that exchange I asked him a variety of questions. I also corrected his logic and language when he said the leaf jumped off the tree. Of course, I always correct him in a nice way. Correcting children’s grammar and vocabulary usage is something some parents don’t do enough of. That can definitely lead to fossilization of speaking errors (that’s for another post).

So, remember, if you’re a parent of kids who are in the developmental stages of language acquisition, question them a lot. If you are a teacher, do the same. Even if children are older and their language is developed, by constantly questioning them, you are encouraging them to think and always acting as a teacher.

That’s a good thing!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Teaching in Japan as a Non-Native English Speaker

There seems to be a myth going around that if you are a foreigner who wants to work in Japan as an English teacher that you must be a native English speaker (English is the your first language). Although that may be true in a country such as South Korea, it couldn’t be more wrong in Japan.

I spent several years working in South Korea in the education sector and in order to get a valid working visa to be a teacher you had to be either from Canada, America, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. You had to have received your university degree from an accredited English university as well. I have met some Canadians who were not able to get a job teaching in Korea because they went to a French language university.

In Japan, the rules aren’t as demanding. I’m not really sure why this is the case. Maybe Japan has been open to foreigners working as teachers for a longer period of time. Maybe officials realize that non-native speakers can teach English just as well if not better than many native English speakers. I really don’t know.

Over the years, people from various countries around the world have been emailing me and asking me if it is possible for them to teach in Japan even though English is not their first language. The answer I give them is “YES.” In my years in Japan I have worked with a large number of teachers from a wide variety of countries. Many of them have not been native English speakers. I have had coworkers who taught English from India, Pakistan, Sweden, Philippines, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Spain, France, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Brazil. Many of them were fine teachers.

Many people around the world have a profound interest in Japan. Some love Japan for the food and language. Others are more interested in the pop culture; things such as manga and anime. Some are attracted to the fashion and cool and fast-paced life in a city like Tokyo. Many are interested and want to come to Japan to work and live. Some of those people see the route of becoming an English teacher as an effective path in getting here.

In order to teach English in Japan and qualify for either an Instructor’s Visa (needed to teach in public schools, colleges and universities) or a Specialist in Humanities and International Relations Visa (needed to teach in private language schools and kindergartens), you need a completed university degree (one or two year diplomas/Associates Degrees don’t count) and a very strong grasp of spoken and written English. If you have those qualifications, there’s nothing stopping your from trying to get a job as a teacher in Japan.

Long story short, if you are not from a native English speaking country, don’t let that stop you from trying to come to Japan if you are really interested.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Raising a Bilingual Child: Parents Communicating

Raising a Bilingual Child

Good Communication and Planning With Your Spouse

 

One of the keys to being able to raise bilingual children is strong communication with your spouse. It’s also good to have a clear action plan and make sure that you’re on the same page.

In an earlier post about only speaking English at home I talked about a Japanese wife who had anxiety about her husband only using Japanese with their kids. The situation in itself is absolutely fine. If you have no interest in your children learning English (or another language) and fine with only one, there are no issues at all with both parents speaking Japanese. The mother was feeling anxiety though because she wants her children to speak English as well as Japanese. By the sounds of it, the two parents are definitely not on the same page. Have they ever sat down and talked about their children’s language development? Have they discussed future plans? Who knows, but these are things that parents need to talk about.

I think my wife and I have been pretty good so far with discussing our children’s language learning.  After the kids have gone to bed at night we have sat up and talked about what DVDs would be good for our son, which kindergartens would be best and how my wife will use English in the house. We thought about English kindergartens as well as Japanese kindergartens for my son. We’ve decided to send him to a Japanese kindergarten next year and are now thinking about how will reinforce his English once his Japanese language development takes off.

About a year ago, when my son’s Japanese language skills really started to take off I started to feel stress and anxiety. I thought to myself at times, “Man…I wish I was raising him in Canada now.”

Although I am a trained teacher and have read a lot about the topic I couldn’t help myself, but get stressed. I KNOW that we are in Japan so of course he’ll develop Japanese first. I KNOW he uses Japanese all day long so of course it would be his first language. I said to myself, this is all ok. No problem. I said this to myself, but still started to feel anxiety when I saw one language developing more rapidly than the other.

I then talked to my wife about my feelings. She was great. She listened and reassured me that she would also work hard to make sure our son learned as much English as possible. Her reassurance definitely made me feel better. I think that fact that we have been communicating our feelings about teaching our children has helped reduce stress a great deal.

 

I think some important questions spouses can ask each other if they are in a similar situation are:

What language goals do we want for our kids? (Bilingual, unilingual, trilingual?)

How will we help develop our child’s second language?

Will we be solely responsible for the second language development or send our child to an English-language preschool/kindergarten/international school?

If our child goes to an international school, how will their primary language develop? How will their understanding of Japanese culture (where they live) develop?

If our child goes to an English kindergarten elsewhere, how will they have a chance to make local friends?

English kindergartens tend to have very small class sizes. Will my child lose out on social opportunities and his/her ability to develop social problem solving skills (ones they would develop in a larger class)?

Will I get cable/satellite television so my child has English language television to watch?

Will I buy them English language DVDs? Which ones? (Put some serious thought into this one. It’s easy to choose DVDS that have no educational quality or your kids will have no interest in.)

Will I make my home an English-only environment in the evenings? (Forcing a language on someone may cause him or her to resent it.)

Will studying my child’s first language help me teach him his second language? (Probably yes since you will know what they are saying in their first language and then you can teach them how to say the same thing in their second language).

How can we make language-learning fun?

How and at what age will we start to teach them to read and write? (Speaking and listening comes easily compared to these. Speaking and listening can be learned passively just by being immersed in the language environment whereas reading and writing must be actively taught and reinforced with much practice).

What do we do if at some point our child refuses to use his/her second language? (language rebellion)?

 

There are many other questions families will find them asking themselves and each other through out their child’s education.

Communication within the family is a key to raising successful language learners. It’s also an important factor in reducing any stress that may arise in the family. It’s extremely important for parents to be on the same page!

 

You can find me on Twitter: @jlandkev

 

 

 

Raising a Bilingual Child: Only Speaking English to my Children

Teaching Tips: ONLY Speaking English to my Children

Some of you out there may find yourself in a situation similar to the one I’ll talk about today. You may be in a different country and the language in question may not be English, but your situation may be similar.

I am in Japan. I have two very young children and a Japanese wife. We want our children to be completely and effortlessly bilingual. I work during the day and my wife stays home raising our kids. She takes them out everyday to play with their friends in the playground and they are very active in other ways. They go to the local community center, kindergarten and day care for various classes throughout the week. My son even takes swimming lessons. All of these are done in Japanese of course. We are in Japan after all. This means the majority of my kids’ days are spent immersed in the Japanese language.

My wife works hard to add some English throughout the day. She speaks to them at times in English and they watch DVDs of children’s programs from America, Australia and Canada. When I come home from work in the evening and on weekends that is really their chance to learn English. That is their opportunity to interact with a native English speaker using natural English. Time for them to play with their Daddy!

In a way, my poor Japanese skills have worked to an advantage for both my kids and me as I try to teach them English. At three years of age, my son already knows that English is his father’s language and Japanese is his mother’s.  Since I don’t speak Japanese (trying to remedy that at the moment), I must communicate with him in English and vice versa. Within our household it is a win/win situation.

Now, even if I could speak Japanese fluently I wouldn’t use it in front of my son during our day-to-day interactions. If I did, I would be robbing him of his chance to hear and utilize the Native English speaker living under his own roof. I would be taking away his teacher.

We live in Japan and every time my children head out the door Japanese surrounds them. They practice the language constantly and it is of course their first language. They don’t need me to speak it to them. Understanding Japanese does of course help me though. Often, my son may not know how to express himself in English. He asks me a question or makes a statement in Japanese. If I understand what he is saying, I can model the language for him in English. He speaks to me in Japanese; I repeat what he just said in English and then make him repeat it. The “modeling” style of language teaching works extremely well and the more Japanese I understand, the better I will be at using this method.

My wife has told me that some Japanese women she has met who are married to foreign men such as myself worry when their husbands only speak Japanese to their kids. Pre-school to early elementary school is what is known as the critical phase of language acquisition. That's the time when a child can learn a new language with no accent and sound like a native speaker (or at least close to it).  One mother shared her worries with my wife. She said that her kindergarten-aged children could only speak Japanese and was stressed because when they travel to America to meet her husband’s family, the kids would not have the ability to communicate. 

That’s something I think about often. I live far away from my family in Canada and someday I plan to return there with my family. For whatever reason, even if we stayed in Japan, half of my son’s family (and the majority of relatives) are Canadian and don’t speak Japanese. When we visit Canada and spend time with them, how will he be able to communicate with his grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles? He simply wouldn’t be able to. He’s be missing out on so much.

I suppose, another thing I would worry about, if I spoke Japanese to my son would be teaching him my bad pronunciation and broken grammar.

At the end of the day, whether my family moves to Canada or stays in Japan, my children will have wonderful advantages if they are able to communicate flawlessly in two languages. By using only English when I am with them, I am giving them the chance to always be with a teacher. I just have to remember to always be encouraging, make them comfortable to speak English and correct (in a caring way) the mistakes they make.

You can follow me on TWITTER: @jlandkev

Raising a Bilingual Child: Code Switching

Code Switching  - Up close and personal

I have to admit that watching my son’s language development is absolutely amazing. I grew up in “one language” household. My family used English. Now, my family in Japan uses both English in the house and outside as well.

My son is now a newly minted 3 year-old. As I’ve mentioned before, his first language is Japanese and his second language is English.  His speaking skills are quite high and it is clear that he can communicate much more fluently in Japanese, but what I have noticed recently is the dramatic increase in his code-switching skills.

In linguistics, code switching is switching between two or more language varieties, in the context of a single conversation.

When my son was only one year old he started conversing in both English and Japanese with family and friends. At that point he didn’t realize that there was a difference between the two languages he was learning. He would speak to his little friends in a mixture of English and Japanese and they would just look at him blankly. Their Japanese skills were also just emerging, but of course, they didn’t understand any English. Not long after he was two years old, a switch in his brain was flipped and he realized that when he was at the local kindergarten, community center or playground with his friends and their mothers, he should only speak Japanese. 

The most basic and obvious examples of code switching with my son are in the home when he interacts with his mother, who is Japanese and myself. When I come home from wok in the evening, he runs down the hall yelling “Hello Daddy” and then he commences to tell me about his day’s adventures in English. When I respond to him in English, he runs back down the hall and tells my wife what I just said, but in Japanese.

At the dinner table he sits at the end and we sit on either side of him. The majority of his day is spent “living in Japanese” so when I come home my wife and I speak English to each other and to my son (and now daughter). We haven’t set an “English Only” rule in our house that some other people do. We just tend to use English because my Japanese skills are not strong. Also, even though I am currently learning Japanese, I choose not to use it around my son since his only daily opportunities to hear natural English are with me.

Our normal dinner experiences are in English. At times though, my son will tell me a story in English and then immediately turn to his mother and repeat the story in Japanese. Other times, he will share it with her in English.

Watching his code switching skills evolve is a constant and wonderful process.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Walking Away from the Not So Good

Change can be a scary thing at times. Other times it can be en extremely good thing. Sometimes change is a very necessary thing.

I have been through many changes so far this year. Some have been wonderful; the birth of my second child; some have not been o wonderful.

Employment-wise, this has been a rocky year for me. I have been in Japan, living and working as an international school teacher since 2008. Earlier this year I completed my final contract with the only employer I knew since coming to Japan. They wanted me to stay on and continue working there, but I felt it was time for a change. I needed a change and wanted to break away from the secure and somewhat predictable existence that had become my work life there.

I searched for jobs online and realized a few things (things I had actually realized long before). The two things I learned:

       1. There are not so many jobs for teachers in Japan.

       2. The pay schools offer teachers really sucks!

The standard par for a language school teacher or international kindergarten teacher in Japan is only about 250,000Yen per month. With current exchange rates, that adds up to about $31,000 per year. By Canadian standards, with a family my size living in a city as large as the one I do, that’s about $6000.00 below the poverty line according to Statistic’s Canada. Some teaching jobs in Japan pay even less than that. If I were teaching in Canada right now (with my years experience), I’d be making more than double that salary.

I was able to find a new job quickly (benefit of having a teaching credential) and was promised a lot. The pay was to be decent and there were to be other perks. Once I began working at my new company I quickly realized that many of the things promised to me during the interview and contract signing process were fabrications. I also quickly learned that things weren’t going to change for me.

I suppose I really only had two options. I could do things the Japanese way and just suck it up and complete my year contract or I could doing something bolder and make a change. I decided to do the latter. There’s no point in putting your blood, sweat and tears into a job when you’re not receiving the things promised; even more so, when you have a family to support.

My wife and I searched for another opportunity. I focused on jobs in Canada (really hard to get one when you are not in Canada I discovered) and she looked for ones in Japan. She came across what looked to be a good opportunity for me. 

I pursued it and…SUCCESS!

I found a new job and then gave my notice at the company that had “promised” me so much.

Today is my last day of work at my old company and tomorrow I start a new and exciting challenge. Things will be very different. I will have more pay, shorter working hours, less responsibility and more time to work on improving my Japanese.

Today is a good day.

Tomorrow will be an even better day I think.

Someday, when I am no longer living in Japan, I will tell you about this in more detail.

Follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Constantly Talking: a teaching tool

One piece of advice I give to new teachers, especially ones teaching second language learners is to constantly speak to them and ask them questions. This of course gives them more opportunities to hear English as well think in the language and speak it.

Practice, practice, practice! 

The more you practice anything, the better you will become. Learning a language is no different.

This of course carries over to parenting and raising a child to speak more than one language. I suppose it will even help a child who is learning only one language.

When my son was an infant, I read in a book about raising children that I should have a constant running dialogue when I am with them. Even when he was too young to speak or communicate in any way, aside from crying, I should speak. At bath time, the running dialogue might sound something like, “Now I’m going to wash your arms. I’m cleaning your arms with soap. Isn’t the water nice and warm? Now I’m rinsing the soap off your arms. Does that feel nice?”

It completely makes sense why this would be good for your child. While they are with you they hear your voice and are surrounded by the language they will someday speak. It’s another form of mental stimulation. Sounds straightforward and easy, but I often find this type of running dialogue difficult to maintain. I suppose it is a little mentally taxing for me and sometimes I simply forgot to do it.

When my son was younger and even now I find myself zoning out when I am doing something that required concentration such as giving him a bath. When I would zone out, I would stop speaking.

Today I went for a walk with my son and spoke to him the entire time. I asked him questions about the vehicles we saw as well as the plants and flowers we walked past. “Is that a white or a blue car? Look at the ambulance. Is it loud? Did you see all of the pink flowers on the tree? Do you want to go to the supermarket? What kind of juice do you want?”

I realize that English is my son’s second language and I need to pick up my game and start exposing him to more of it.

I have to admit that while I need to pick up my game as a teacher at home, my wife has been doing a fantastic job all along. She has that constant dialogue with my son and speaks to him in both Japanese and English.

Another thing we have been doing all along, but more now that our son is speaking a lot is discussing his “linguistic future.” We spend a great deal of time talking about how we can work together to make sure his English skills are strong. We have been discussing what type of schools he should attend. We have also been discussing how we will teach him to read and write English if he attends a Japanese school.

Luckily I’m not stressed about that since I have been teaching of many years and have spent the last 5 years teaching young children phonics and writing.

Interesting times!

More updates and ideas to come.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Flash cards with a 2 year old

Today my son turns two and a half years old. He’s growing like a weed as they say back home and his language continues to grow at a frightening (for me anyway) pace. He simply loves speaking in both English and Japanese.

Last Monday, I began work after a three-week holiday. During my holiday, I spent most of my time with my family. That of course meant that our house was pretty much an “English Zone.” Living in an English environment for almost a month was a great boost for my son’s language, but as with every vacation, it had to come to an end. Last Monday I started work again and it began with a six-day work-week for me.

Yesterday when I got home from work I took my son to the supermarket to buy some pancake mix. He babbled in English the entire way, curiously pointing t everything he saw and sharing a running dialogue about those things. “Look Daddy, blue car. Big red car. Pigeons are walking. Building is yellow. Look, leaves are green. Tree is tall.” I loved every minute of it.

After dinner last night, while he was playing with Lego I spent sometime showing him various flashcards. Most of them were animal flashcards, but some were also shapes. He is quickly learning them, but I plan to add flashcards to our daily routine more often. Again, I almost have to think about English as if I were a teacher (which I am). He doesn’t get exposed to much English on a day-to-day basis so I need to work hard to help him learn.

Last year I bought a few sets at the local English bookstore, but have realized that at my son’s pace of learning it would cost me a small fortune to continue buying them so I have begun to make flashcards for him. I have relied on some of the great free sites I use for teaching such as MES English and Sparklebox. I simply print the cards at home and I even bought a laminator so I can make them last for years. I think it was a worthy investment.

Some flash cards I bought at Junkudo Bookstore. He already knows about 85% of these so I have begun making them myself at home.

You can check out a video below of me showing some color flashcards to my son the other morning while he was playing. To be honest, he really enjoys playing with the flashcards. He sees them as a toy. I suppose that’s a good thing!

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

An Explosion of Language

My son is now almost two and a half years old and recently has been speaking quite a bit. He says things at night like, “Daddy, go to bed?” “Daddy, boat coming!” “Kai, neh neh (baby talk for sleep in Japanese).” He also speaks a lot more in Japanese, his first language. His language has been progressing at a very surprising and exciting pace.

I started a three-week vacation about three weeks ago (sadly only one day left before I head back to school). I have been spending a great deal of time with my son during that period. Both my wife and I have noticed a sudden explosion of language in the last month and luckily I have been present to enjoy so much of it.

The amazing thing that has happened is he can now express his needs and wants in English and Japanese. He was able to tell us what he wanted Santa Claus to bring him for Christmas (Santa got him the TOMICA City parking garage set he so desired).

He can also use both his English and Japanese to play with Mom and Dad. The other day he walked up to me, placed some toy food on the table and said, “Daddy, eat this.” His favorite phrase in the past few days has been “Come here Daddy” which he has said at least thirty five thousand times!

I think my mind was really blown the other day when my son said, “Daddy, two boys going over there.” I looked up and sure enough, there were two young boys running across the street in front of us!

I realize that often children in Canada, where I am from, at my son’s age may be able to communicate more, but my son has to process twice the information. He doesn’t just have to learn the word “cat” for example. He must learn that Daddy says “cat” and Mommy says, “neko” (my wife is Japanese).

Language switching:

This is another impressive thing (in my eyes as a father) that amazes me. When I am alone with my son, he pretty much only speaks English. When he is with his mother, he pretty much only speaks Japanese, the language he can communicate more in. When we are together as a family, he mixes it all together and at this point, really only his mother knows exactly what he is saying.

I suppose that in the little world that is “my family”, we are going through some fun and exciting times.

As someone who was raised in a unilingual household, it is amazing to see someone raised bilingual. It’s like looking into a new world!

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

“Big Surprise” Language Moments: Part 1

When you are raising any child, there are definitely special language milestones that you remember as a parent. When your child first says, “Mamma” (word may vary according to language). When your child first says “food.” When your child first vocalizes that they need to go to the toilet (an important step in toilet training).

I am sure that many of you out there vividly remember your child’s language milestone moments. If you don’t have kids right now, let it be known, you will be VERY excited about these moments.

I have to admit that part of me now wishes that I had been recording a lot of my son’s “language milestones” on this blog from the moment he started to communicate vocally, but I did not. I am now though and am happy to share many of his linguistic accomplishments, both Japanese and English, with you.

I mentioned in my previous post that my son’s L1 (first language) is Japanese. At times I feel some anxiety about the fact that his Japanese language ability is higher than his English ability. I feel anxiety (a topic for a full on blog post/chapter in a book…in the future) about this, but of course I shouldn’t. My half Canadian/Japanese kid lives in Japan so of course his Japanese is stronger than his English. He spends every day with his Japanese mother going to the local community center for classes. He goes to the local day care for classes as well as the local pool for swimming classes; all of them of course in Japanese.

My brain is boggled though at how much English he is picking up. He can now use basic sentences and basically communicate his wants and needs. He was even able to tell us what he wanted Santa Claus to bring him this year (in English) and that communication ensured that “Santa Clause” was able to get him the gift he indeed desired!

My recent “Big Surprise” moment:

Last week as I was pushing him in his stroller while we were coming back from our local IKEA (I’m on a 3 week Winter holiday and at home with him a lot), he said to me, “Daddy, two boys are going there.” I looked across the road and sure enough, there were two little boys, maybe six or seven years old, running across the road in front of us.

Amazing for me. Not only did it surprise me that he spoke the words, but that they were legitimately connected to a real-world observation.

Cool stuff!

You can follow me on Twitter @jlandkev.

Pitfalls of raising a bilingual child: Part 1

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my wife and I are raising our child to be bilingual. Our goal is to have him fluent in both Japanese and English. I suppose this makes sense since I am Canadian and my wife is Japanese.

Long story short, our current method is pretty straightforward. My wife speaks to my 2 year 5 month old son in Japanese and I speak to him in English. His L1 (first language) is Japanese since we do live in Japan and he is immersed in the language on a daily basis. His L2 (second language) is English. He does hear some English throughout the day by watching DVDs of American and Canadian children’s programs and my wife is teaching him during the day, but his time with a native English speaker on a day-to-day basis is relatively limited. I am of course referring to myself and because of my work/commute schedule only get to spend a few hours a day with him.

I plan to describe the nuts and bolts of what we do to help his language develop in future posts, but today I want to talk about something that is a little amusing and something that parents raising any child, not necessarily a bilingual one will probably face.

I learned two important lessons this week:

 1. Apparently I swear on occasion (use words that aren’t so nice) and am not even aware of it.

 2. My child’s language development is exploding and he has become a parrot. He repeats almost EVERYTHING (good or bad) I say!

Three days ago I was sitting on my living room floor playing with my son and some of his toys. It was early evening and the television was on as well.

My son walked past me to get a toy car. On his way back to the carpet area we were sitting on he decided to walk behind me. Our laundry drying rack was set up behind me with some clothes on it (no electric driers in Japanese apartments). As he tried to squeeze between the rack and me he caught his foot on the rack and tripped. He didn’t fall down, but he said, “Oh Shit!” At least that’s what I thought I heard my toddler spit out. I immediately looked at my wife who was sitting at the dining room table just a few meters away. She looked at me, shook her head and said, “Yup…he said it.”

Earlier this afternoon, my son was sitting at the kitchen table with my wife and I while we had coffee. He of course wasn’t drinking coffee, but playing with some blocks. One of them fell and without missing a beat he said, “Shit!”

To say this embarrasses me is an understatement. I didn’t even realize that I say the word “shit” at home, but obviously he learned it from somewhere and I doubt the Dora the Explorer DVDs he watches while I’m at work taught him that.

My son decorating our Christmas tree this month.

I have heard of similar situations before. My brother in Canada had a similar situation years ago when his oldest child was learning to speak. He also learned like I just did that it isn’t a good idea to use bad language around your little ones.

I have been a teacher for eleven years and since becoming a teacher, have really tried to be aware of the language I use. I very rarely use profanities, but I suppose I learned that on occasion I do. This week I realized that as my son’s language abilities are suddenly exploding (he can speak full sentences in both Japanese and English) I need to be more careful about the language decisions I make!

This is a short video I shot of my son and I a few days ago out for a walk.

In the very near future, I plan to write more posts about specific areas of my son’s language learning. I also plan to interview and talk to other parents raising bilingual children. I will do some live Google Hangouts with some people in similar parenting situations as me as well as interview some people who were raised bilingual.

Remember you can follow me on Twitter @jlandkev 

Great Books for Little Ones

A few days ago I wrote a follow-up post to my “Raising a Bilingual Child in Japan” post from June of this year. My recent post got a lot of attention and to be honest; was a lot of fun to write. I am a father of a two year and one month old boy who is growing up learning both Japanese and English.

This topic is of course near and dear to my heart because I am living it everyday. My son’s mother is Japanese and he is growing up in Japan. His first language is Japanese, but as a trained primary school teacher, I’m trying to build on my knowledge base of language education and help my son learn English as well as Japanese. You of course don’t have to be a trained educator to teach a child a language. I’m not even sure if it helps a lot, but I have tried many techniques I have used on older children here at home. I have of course had to modify them to fit a younger learner.

I think this will become a continuing series of blogs. A lot of people seem interested in the topic.

Today I wanted to talk about a series of English storybooks my son really enjoys. These are bright, colorful and stimulating books that truly engage my son. He simply loves them and wants me to read them to him over and over again.

When my son was a little less than a year old I stumbled across a book called “The Feelings Book” by Todd Parr. It was a colorful board book (made from thick cardboard so young children cannot rip the pages) that had simple and wonderful drawings about various emotions. I brought it home and my son was hooked. Although he couldn’t speak Japanese or English at that point, he enjoyed the bright colors and shapes.

As an elementary school teacher, I have a large collection of picture books in my house. I have read many of them to my son and for the most part, he hasn’t been interested in most. I suppose it has been a learning process for me as well. Just because my six year-old students love a book, doesn’t mean a two year-old child will.

A few months ago I came across another Todd Parr book called “The Daddy Book.” At that point, and it can often change, my son was in a serious “I only want Mommy and have no interest in daddy” phase. I was trying hard to have him show an interest in me. I suppose it was only natural. He would spend all of his days with his mother and only see me after work. It was natural, but I wasn’t happy about it. I thought a book about Daddies would be perfect.

I ordered a copy of “The Daddy Book” from Amazon and as soon as it arrived my son loved it. It was written in simple English, a lot of what my son could understand. The pictures were very simple, clear and colorful. The bright colors stimulated him and definitely held his attention.

My son enjoying "The Daddy Book" by Todd Parr

I loved the book because, like all of Todd Parr’s books, it talked about diversity in the world. It talked about different kinds of Daddies who look different ways and do different things.

Within days my son was requesting the “The Daddy Book” several times a day. It became a morning ritual. Before I would head off to school every morning I would sit down with him and read him the story.  He would even mutter “Daddy Book” in his sleep sometimes.

I have since ordered “The Mommy Book” and “The Family Book” and my son enjoys both of them as well.

I would suggest Todd Parr books to anyone who enjoys reading to their children. They are especially stimulating to preschool children and even babies. They teach important lessons in simple language and their pictures engage young children. His books aren’t just great for second language learners, but for all kids.

Todd Parr himself is a New York Times Best Selling children’s writer who lives in California.

You can follow what I have to say on Twitter: @jlandkev

Parents...Help a Teacher Out!

Soft parents aren’t doing their children any favors. That is something I feel very strong about. I realize that there is now a growing movement of parents out there in Canada, America, Japan, etc., who no longer feel it is right to harshly or even mildly set boundaries for or discipline their children. I realize that parents who feel their children should be free to develop any way they want and explore the world as they, the children, see fit, but I think that’s not the best approach.

That is my opinion and I’m sticking to it.  That is my opinion and I am passionate about it.

As someone who has been teaching for more than eleven years and a homeroom teacher for five of those years, I really wish parents would help me out. I wish they would help me out as a teacher. I wish parents around the world would help all teachers out. Throw us a bone! Give us a break. How? By instilling some amount of discipline in your child. I am not suggesting being authoritarian or cruel. I am not asking you to emulate a Marine drill sergeant, but please teach your children what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t. Please teach your children that there are boundaries in the world and often, if we push those boundaries, there may be consequences. Please teach your kids simple things like table manners, how to share with others and say, “thank you.”

You may think I sound silly asking parents to teach such basic rules of living to their little ones, but so many are not in 2012. I see children every day who have no idea even how to be polite or have no clue that there are such things as boundaries.

I can really only speak for things here in Japan, but am told by many that the situation is similar back in my home country of Canada.

Things seem to start at a very young age, parents simply letting their kids have the run of the show. They love their little kings and queens and feel they are harming them or denying them what they deserve if they say, “No.” Little kids running amuck while parents stand back watching them sheepishly or not at all.

A school I worked at would organize family field trips twice a year. Parents would bring their children and teachers would escort them and lead various activities. I would always warn new teachers to be extra vigilant. Although parents were directly told many times that they were, not teachers, responsible for watching their own children, many if not most didn’t. It became a social outing for them and many of the mothers would just gather around, chat, giggle and not watch their kids. Teachers had to work over time chasing around kids and shocked to have a peek into the world of “non discipline” their students were used to.

Even now, as a teacher and a parent, I am so stunned, but at the same time cynically accepting when I see groups of mothers standing around chatting at a playground or on their smart phones as their children run around wildly, playing behind or under parked cars and hurting other children unchecked.

Being soft doesn’t work folks. When you allow your kids to do whatever it is they want, you are sending them all the wrong messages. You are instilling them with a sense of false entitlement. Many kids who were spoiled in an environment with no discipline tend to become those students teachers find all too painful too teach; kids who come to school having no concept of rules. Kids who feel they should get whatever they want, whenever they want it.

I suppose they will grow up to be the sort of people who feel they are entitled to starting salaries of $70, 000 a year walking out of university. That’s not a good thing.

This is a rather ranty post, but that’s ok. I feel strong about the topic and it irks me on a daily basis when I watch people not watch their kids out on the playground. It irks me when I see parents allow their kids to run through a restaurant wildly and say nothing while other diners are being bothered. I get irked when I meet parents who have never taught their children basic life skills and then turn around and get angry with teachers because their child is behind others.

People, get it together, in the long run, your kids will be stronger for it and be more successful as students and young people.

I’m not suggesting being a “hard ass” or whacking your kids around. Too much discipline and too many rules can often be just as detrimental as none at all. I suppose that can at times even be worse.

Parents, be firm with your kids. You are the adults, the caregivers and ultimately the bosses of the relationship. You have a big responsibility. Your job is to get your little one ready for the real world once they leave the nest. Teaching your kids how the real world really works, in a kind and thoughtful way is a good thing. Teaching them that they are the kings and queens of the world, maybe not such a great thing.

My message to folks out there, and you may disagree (but that’s ok cause this is my platform), is to simply do a few things:

 1. Teach your children to respect adults.

2. Teach your kids to respect teachers.

3. Respect teachers yourself (they know more about children than you do).

4. Teach your kids rules and set consequences if they break those rules.     

5. Stick to number 4.

6. Teach your children to share.

7. Teach your children to work hard.

8. Watch your children and keep them safe.

9. Take the advice of teachers. They aren’t attacking you or your child when they address issues. They want to help you and your child.

10. Love your kids.

You can follow my other rants on Twitter: @jlandkev

Playing Outdoors

Playing outdoors and learning outdoors are things I have been thinking about a lot lately. As both a teacher and a parent, I understand how important it is for not only my son, but also my students to have as many meaningful and fun experiences outdoors in nature as possible.

Sadly, many people out there don’t seem to agree with me. In Japan as well as in my home in Canada, children in general are becoming disconnected with nature. Children are spending more time indoors and often, their parents do little to encourage them to get outside. Many find it convenient if their kids are downstairs playing a game as opposed to being outside running around where they may not know where they are. The growing fears of “stranger danger” lead many parents to keep their kids “safe” by keeping them inside the house.

On so many occasions, whether at the local playground or on a family field trip at school, I have seen too many parents scolding their kids for getting dirty or getting upset when they touch a bug. I’ve been witness to parents teaching their kids that dirt is bad. Bugs are bad. Playing with mud is bad. Running around in the woods is bad. Eventually, these kids will start to believe what their parents are saying. Parents are of course the most important teachers in a child’s life and if these negative messages are being sent to them by the most important of teachers, they will believe them!

As a teacher, I am fortunate enough to have large park within walking distance of my school. It is filled with fields, gardens, ponds, stream and even a small forest. I am lucky enough to get my class outside on an almost daily basis. We wander through the park and explore it on a regular basis. We run, play and learn about nature. My students are becoming bird watchers and love to collect insects. I encourage my students to get their hands dirty and discover the things that live under leaves and rocks.

I grew up in a small town in Canada and the forest was in many ways my playground. I am already encouraging my young son to play with sticks, rocks, leaves and other things he find outside. Hopefully, with lots of exposure to nature and playing outdoors, he will love the world outside as much as I do. 

My son (about 6 months ago) exploring a patch of nature close to our house.