Seeing a bilingual baby grow

Running through the streets of San Gimignano
Originally uploaded by Ewan McIntosh

Our weeks in Italy and France were super relaxing but, above all, marked a real transition from our little baby into a wee girl, as Catriona's language really started to take off. Everything was repeated, remembered, brought back later on. She was even greeting the Italian airport staff with a 'ciao' as we left.

This playful, fun, engaging interaction of the everyday was made all the more sharp in focus as I turned the pages of the life-changing Art of Possibility (more on that later), and my mum has written a lovely post encapsulating how we all have the potential to be hugely creative and spongelike if we want to be:

...The most memorable of her words is one which is all her own. Catriona hates having sticky hands or a dirty face - indeed, does not like anything to be messy, wet (mouillé - including the pool!) or untidy (brings on the need to "rangé" - arrange - the books, toys or whatever). Because of this urge to be clean, she is always demanding a damp wipe, like the one which which she is daintily dabbing ice cream off her face in this picture - in a cafe in Colle di Val d'Elsa. The French word for these wipes is "lingette". But usually she uses them for her hands - "mains" in French - and so she demands a "maingette".

Catriona's spending another week in France as her dad gets back into the work of finalising contracts and building things. I just hope she hasn't excelled my own French by the time she comes home.

Comments

[Jaye Richards]

It's certainly wonderful to observe the creativity and adaptability of such young minds and compare them to our own much older and perhaps less flexible mental processes. My own little grandson flits effortlessly between Spanish and English and we've all tried very hard as a familly to ensure that he has had the opportunity to develop capacity in both his 'mother' tongues, even though he no longer lives in Spain. Of course, maybe it all boils down to just that - opportunity. I certainly wish I'd had the same advantages as a child. I really struggled to learn how to speak, and function, in Spanish during my early forties whilst working there. Maybe, if we truly value linguistic ability and the undoubted advantage this brings to children across the curriculum in terms of a whole range of cognitive flexibilities, we need to seriously look at language learning in early years education. "Dora the explorer" has pointed us in the right direction with this, I think :-)

[John Connell]

Ewan,

I remember sitting in a plane from Rabat, Morocco, to Paris CDG a year or so ago. Beside me were a father and young daughter, perhaps a year older than Catriona. I realized quickly that Mother and son (who was a couple of years older than his sister) were sitting behind me. The father was French and the mother was English.

For the couple of hours or so that the flight lasted, whenever the father initiated a conversation, however trivial, he did so in French - and the ensuing conversation continued in French from all four. Whenever the mother initiated a conversation, she did so in English, and the ensuing conversation continued in English.

It was a joy to behold and to listen to.

I spoke once or twice to them, and of course, had to speak in whichever language they were currently using. The little girl in particular was extremely amused by my faltering French! :-)

[Allanah King]

How wonderful. I remember when she was a tiny wee thing. She is growing fast.

[sterndal]

hello!

my sister is giving birth to a baby boy soon

we all want my nephew to speak english and fiipino at the same time

so we are finding ways and reading a lot of articles about how to make children become bilingual.

thank you for this post

it sure helps!