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Zantetsuken
Joined: 21 Dec 2008
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 Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:43 pm Post subject: Your Children's English Ability |
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I suppose this is for the guys here who are married to Korean women with kids. How do you feel about your kids English level and how it is progressing? A lot of the guys I see posting (F-2 F-5 visa dudes) are usually doing the early corporate gig followed by the kindergarten gig then some hakwon stuff and some evening gig... which keeps you occupied throughout the day. Even the university guys are staying pretty busy throughout the day. Considering that you are their primary source of English communication/learning...when do you find time to help them? I have a few kids myself and I've been trying to formulate some strategies. Would like to hear your ideas/feedback etc.
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:50 pm Post subject: |
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I read and play with my daughter for a few hours each day.
So far, at 2 years old, her language acquisition is around 40-60 (Korean). |
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Scott in Incheon
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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My daughters are 8 and 6 (this June). I was a little worried about their English but a trip by my parents last year and a trip home this year has made me feel a lot better.
My older daughter can communicate quite easily in English. Some vocab problems, but she just asks her Mom and then continues...or explains to me and I tell her the word.
The younger is also quite good but not nearly as good as her sister. The older one spent her first years in Hong Kong and our house was much more English then...the younger one spent those years in Korea and here our house (excluding me) is mostly Korean.
Reading is quite bad for both of them, but that is my fault. I keep starting a reading program and then get sidetracked by work. I swear I will start again this summer....really...I swear
Trying to create an English atmosphere at home is really important. Lots of books and videos for the kids and if you can.
Then try to talk to them as much as possible. I vocalize my thoughts a lot more than I normally would and try to get them to tell me about their day after dinner. Though now that they are older I am often just ignored for their friends outside....such is growing up. |
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GwangjuParents
Joined: 31 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:00 am Post subject: |
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| Get SkyLife and have them watch the Disney Channel all day. |
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Zantetsuken
Joined: 21 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| I was also thinking about taking the kids with me to work places in a couple years when they get a little older...so that they can have more practice. But they wouldn't have as much time with their own age group as other kids...but I really don't want my kids not being able to know English as well as kids back in the states/canada/etc. Has anybody done this? |
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Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:07 am Post subject: |
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Since my two go to school it had become priority that they produce well in math and writing. It's so hard with English and my work all day. I've decided to go back to NZ for the main purpose of their English. Also a bit sick and tired of the schedule, the system, constant traffic jammed commute and quality of life here, regardless of better income.
I read bedtime stories when I'm not dead tired, also do a bit of book work. But, they do all their homework in math and Korean so they are dead tired (as well as their mother) at the end of that.
School here I think sucks a bit. Most of what the kids learn is done with homework. Teachers just seem to relegate and check. A lot is passed on to parents and private tutors, of which two for math and writing come to our home. The kids do about three hours a day homework to keep up. |
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Xuanzang
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Sadang
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:14 am Post subject: |
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| Cheonmunka wrote: |
Since my two go to school it had become priority that they produce well in math and writing. It's so hard with English and my work all day. I've decided to go back to NZ for the main purpose of their English. Also a bit sick and tired of the schedule, the system, constant traffic jammed commute and quality of life here, regardless of better income.
I read bedtime stories when I'm not dead tired, also do a bit of book work. But, they do all their homework in math and Korean so they are dead tired (as well as their mother) at the end of that.
School here I think sucks a bit. Most of what the kids learn is done with homework. Teachers just seem to relegate and check. A lot is passed on to parents and private tutors, of which two for math and writing come to our home. The kids do about three hours a day homework to keep up. |
A lot of moms say it is the hagwons and tutors that educate their child. NOT public education. I guess it really is true, sadly. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:18 am Post subject: |
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My daughter is as fluent as you're going to get at 4. She communicates with people with ease and if she doesn't know a word, she either points to it, or describes it so we know what she's trying to say and tell her what the word is.
She is tri-lingual, so I am not pushing her too hard. |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:09 am Post subject: |
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| tzechuk wrote: |
My daughter is as fluent as you're going to get at 4. She communicates with people with ease and if she doesn't know a word, she either points to it, or describes it so we know what she's trying to say and tell her what the word is.
She is tri-lingual, so I am not pushing her too hard. |
oh come on.. I read an article a few years ago about a kid that age who could speak 6 languages. Kids can learn a child's level of a language very easily for multiple languages.
I've read up on this a bit, and one common thing I've read from a few sources is that if you want to raise a child bilingual, its important both parents speak both languages fluently. its recommended that you speak the foreign language at home and the native language outside. So in this case you should be speaking only english at home and when you're out of the house you should be speaking only Korean. The thinking being that the kids will get plenty of exposure to the native language at school, with their friends, etc. So when you're home you really need to focus on that foreign language. Korea might be a little different because of how much of a focus there is on English in this culture though.
Of course there are exceptions when you meet people who only speak one or the other, but that is how the general rule should go. |
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Forward Observer
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Location: FOB Gloria
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:19 am Post subject: |
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I grew up bilingual, but I went to American schools in the european country I lived in. The benefit of that was that I was able to speak the local language with everyone in my extended family, but I spoke English to my friends and my parents. I am somewhat fluent in that language, but since I never went to their schools, I have trouble writing. I think that you should send your children to international schools, even if it's expensive. Especially if you plan to take your kids back to the west anytime in the future.
Last edited by Forward Observer on Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:19 am Post subject: |
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| crossmr wrote: |
| tzechuk wrote: |
My daughter is as fluent as you're going to get at 4. She communicates with people with ease and if she doesn't know a word, she either points to it, or describes it so we know what she's trying to say and tell her what the word is.
She is tri-lingual, so I am not pushing her too hard. |
oh come on.. I read an article a few years ago about a kid that age who could speak 6 languages. Kids can learn a child's level of a language very easily for multiple languages.
I've read up on this a bit, and one common thing I've read from a few sources is that if you want to raise a child bilingual, its important both parents speak both languages fluently. its recommended that you speak the foreign language at home and the native language outside. So in this case you should be speaking only english at home and when you're out of the house you should be speaking only Korean. The thinking being that the kids will get plenty of exposure to the native language at school, with their friends, etc. So when you're home you really need to focus on that foreign language. Korea might be a little different because of how much of a focus there is on English in this culture though.
Of course there are exceptions when you meet people who only speak one or the other, but that is how the general rule should go. |
I know that. I've also read about it. The way it was recommended to me was that since I was speaking 2 languages to her, I should do it systematically.. So since she was born, she had English in the morning and early afternoon, and Cantonese in late afternoon to evening until bed time. Her father spoke to her entirely in Korean.
Now, though, I speak to her only in English, her nanny and school teachers etc. speak to her in Korean, when she sees her father at the weekends they speak to each other in Korean, too. She speaks to my Chinese parents on a daily basis through a webcam in Cantonese. |
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Scott in Incheon
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:15 am Post subject: |
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| I've read up on this a bit, and one common thing I've read from a few sources is that if you want to raise a child bilingual, its important both parents speak both languages fluently. |
I have done quite a bit of reading on bilingualism before my kids were born and while doing research for some essays, and I didn't find this to a common thing. The common thing I found that there was no 'common way' or right way....kids became bilingual under all sorts of conditions.
It is important that they get input in the target languages...and one language will usually be dominant according to which is more important at any one time...but many families have raised bilingual kids without both parents being fluent. |
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T-J
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:31 am Post subject: |
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| Scott in Incheon wrote: |
It is important that they get input in the target languages...and one language will usually be dominant according to which is more important at any one time...but many families have raised bilingual kids without both parents being fluent.
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This is very true, at least in our experience.
We spend a lot of time reading English books to balance the additional exposure to Korean here. At home and out it is 50 / 50 English and Korean from both my wife and I. Our son is in first grade this year after finishing kindergarten in the States last year. Doing well. We plan on returning in time for high school. Our school district in the States is also very helpful with information to keep him on pace to return.
If you do plan on moving back at some point, I would recommend contacting your school back home as soon as possible to take advantage of any resources that they have to offer. |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:42 am Post subject: |
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| Scott in Incheon wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I've read up on this a bit, and one common thing I've read from a few sources is that if you want to raise a child bilingual, its important both parents speak both languages fluently. |
I have done quite a bit of reading on bilingualism before my kids were born and while doing research for some essays, and I didn't find this to a common thing. The common thing I found that there was no 'common way' or right way....kids became bilingual under all sorts of conditions.
It is important that they get input in the target languages...and one language will usually be dominant according to which is more important at any one time...but many families have raised bilingual kids without both parents being fluent. |
I think the point with what I was reading was that with that kind of split, one language shouldn't dominate too much and you should raise a child that actually is bilingual. Sure kids become bilingual under all kinds of conditions, but they're talking about an ideal situation that should produce a child that is bilingual the easiest. Its much easier if the entire family shares the language together than if the child can only share the language with a certain family member. Imagine have 2 or 3 kids and them all speaking a language together with your spouse and you didn't speak that language. |
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itaewonguy
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:19 am Post subject: |
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sounds like being obsessed about education is contagious in korea. stay long enough and you become korean hahhhhha
my daughter is native In Korean! thats her first language! and she is fluent in ENglish. Not native in it. she dreams in korean , and thinks most of the time in Korean when she is alone.. but she understands and speaks English almost perfect for her age..
when she was 7 I was worried because her english not being fluent enough, due to being exposed to Korean all day at school. So I sent her back home to live with my mum for a summer and she came back fluent! just being exposed 24/7 and going to school back in the west, is better than studying books, or going to hakwons etc...
now I just let her watch disney channel after dinner for a couple hours, its great for her listening and learning new vocabulary
Her writing skills are not of a 11 year old native girl back home...
but I dont care to much about that.. she can learn that slowly over the next 10 years I plan to send her home to mums every summer from next year.. not just for english, but for the whole western life experience!
and to spend time with grandma!
those memories she will cherish for ever... beats going to hakwon camp like all her friends will be doing... |
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