OT - Bilingual education

[Guest guest]

Hi Sabine,

Thanks for your answer. This is one of my pet peeves with folks who

raise their children in the Deaf culture and use signing as a primary

language. Many never really teach their children English, and as a

result, when they want to compete for jobs they end up not being able to

write English correctly, and because of that end up with low paying jobs

that do not require fluency in English.

English is rapidly becoming the language of international diplomacy

(replacing French that had been the language of diplomacy for ages). And

in many schools throughout Europe, classes are taught in English. For

instance in the Netherlands, the medical school classes are taught in

English, rather than in Dutch. I was amazed to find that out.

Being multi lingual is a gift, and I think all children should be

encouraged to learn as many as possible. And if you have a deaf child,

by all means teach her or him English in addition to signing, if signing

is your choice for a first language.

My parents and grandparents all spoke German, and I learned a few

songs in German when I was a child (all of which I have forgotten). It's

too bad that they didn't try to teach us German, since they all learned

it from their parents who were born and raised in Germany. They would

switch to German when they wanted to say something they didn't want the

children to understand!

When I was flying to the US from Amsterdam one time, the stewardess

looked at my last name " Jansen " which is as Dutch as it comes, and

greeted me in Dutch. I thanked her in English and told her I didn't

speak a word of Dutch. And a fun story is when I was wandering around

downtown Amsterdam, a couple came up to me and asked if I spoke English.

I told them I did. They asked where the Centraal Station was, and I told

them in colloquial English. They thanked me and told me my English was

very good. So I thanked them, and told them it should be since I was

from Ohio. But being blonde haired, I guess I looked Dutch.

I studied both Spanish and French in high school and beyond, but never

mastered it to where I was comfortable speaking it. But when I travel, I

can usually understand what folks say, (receptive language), and speak in

very primitive Spanish and French to ask questions. Came in handy a

couple of times.

Thanks for sharing.

Guten tag,

Hi ,

My first language is German but everybody here has to learn English at

school and it was always my favorite subject (together with French).

After

finishing school I spent a couple of months in England with a wonderful

family and left a part of my heart there so when we had our first son, I

made it very clear to my husband that we would have to find a way to

raise

him bilingually. It has been quite an adventure because we did not really

know how much we could expect.

Now, all our boys attend an English school here so they acquire all their

academic knowledge in what is a foreign language to me. I would say they

grow up with two native languages and that makes me really happy. There

English is far better than mine ;-)