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Victoria's avatar

When I first started working at my French school last year I was hesitant to read in French. I'd read one book and then my students would ask me to read the same book the next day and the next day.

The good thing about rereading the same books is that you get better but I'm sure my pronunciation was horrid. Somehow the students didn't care and enjoyed my reading nevertheless 😅

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Tanya Mozias's avatar

That's the best of both worlds: that they're enjoying it AND you're getting better at it, and they don't seem to mind that your pronunciation is imperfect :)

I feel like it would have been easier in some ways if i were reading the same book to my kid over and over again if this book wasn't in my native language because at least I'd be practicing using the language and not dying of boredom with every reread 😅

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Victoria's avatar

You are right. Doing it in a different language makes it less boring especially since I'm not someone who enjoys rereading books.

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CynthiaCM's avatar

This reminds me of when my son’s nanny kept on calling dogs, “gau gau” when speaking to him in Cantonese. Cantonese is my ancestral language but I’m wholly Anglophone and we’re technically an English speaking home. However, I felt that it was important for him to be in touch with his ancestral language. The REAL word for dog is “gau,” so saying gau gau is like saying “doggy.” You just don’t after a certain age unless you’re talking to a child. The nanny thought it was just fine to use the diminutive, and sure, it’s fine, but only in Cantonese speaking homes when kids will eventually figure it out. My mom agreed with the nanny. 🙄

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Tanya Mozias's avatar

Good point. They do need enough exposure to the language to figure it out.

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Jenna Vandenberg's avatar

Oh, how I hate Junie B Jones

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Tanya Mozias's avatar

Really? why? I actually don't mind it. (Maybe because I haven't been asked yet to read it over and over again)

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Patricia Krohn's avatar

Great story! I hope you are able to keep tricking her down this language learning path.

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Tanya Mozias's avatar

Hah. I don't know who's tricking whom anymore :) !!

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Patricia Krohn's avatar

True. Lol

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Valériane's avatar

I'm so jealous of those bilingual kids. 😭

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Patricia Krohn's avatar

Same! They don't realize how farther ahead or easier they may have it as adult when it comes to traveling, understanding another language, etc.

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Rachel Ooi's avatar

The "they will always" and "they will never" gets me on the nerve now whenever people talk about what we are doing with our kids. When I was carrying my son to sleep in the carrier, because there was no other way he would sleep without crying 20 minutes later, people tell me "he will never sleep on his own in bed if you do that". Oh, we poor first time mothers! XD

But besides that, it is fun to see the progression for your daughter towards trying to read a language she doesn't even want to speak! Would this happen to my son with Cantonese? Unfortuantely, I can't even read it myself. I can hope that someday, when he is old enough, he will ask to watch Cantonese drama with me :)

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