8/17/11

two words/bilingualism

In the last month, Gemma has started putting two words together. For example, she would say "hi" to something, but now she says "hi **insert name of object here*". She is also putting "please" after things she wants, like "computer please" when she wants to watch something on youtube.

Another thing (and I'm so proud of this) is that she is starting to name more things in English AND Korean. A lot of times, she says both - just in case i didn't understand the first time?? LOL - like if i am sitting in a chair, she will say "nawa", then "move". She will point to Leni's eyes and say "noon, eye" etc. I don't think she gets yet that her mom and her harmony speak a different language than pretty much everybody else, but I think that day is coming soon. I hope that she will be able to differentiate who is speaking what language and communicate with them with the language that they understand. 

Something that I've been thinking about lately is Gemma starting school. When I tell people that I speak to her in Korean at home, most people say "that's great, keep that up. she will pick up english quickly when she goes to school". But then I hear many teachers complaining about how frustrated they are about these kids who come to school and don't know any english. Mind you, Gemma won't not know any english as her dad always talks to her in English, as well as her friends, but I wonder if when she hits 3 or 4 I should be *teaching* her english so that she is more ??fluent??? in it by the time she goes to kindergarten. .... but i feel like she will forget korean so fast if I don't keep it up... and i definitely don't want that...

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