Keeping Up With a Second Language Over Summer Vacation
School will start again soon. I’m looking forward to it in many ways. I’ll have more time for the blog, for one thing. Of course I’m a little nervous about my baby going off to kindergarten—and how he will handle the immersion environment. I’m also a little concerned about his older brother who will enter second grade and may have a brand new teacher since there has been some shuffling around of staff at their school. And, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it, but I’m also a little concerned about my older son’s Mandarin.
Going from 5 hours a day 5 days a week of Mandarin immersion to, well, pretty much zero for 10 weeks of summer will definitely cause some backsliding. I’ve tried to keep his language skills up over the summer, but, I admit it, I haven’t tried as hard as I could have. He has friends who actually traveled to China or Taiwan this summer and others who attended Chinese summer camp at the Chinese American International School.
I did show him this amazing magic trick performed by the famous Liu Qian (I was pleased to have him explain some of the jokes to me, but the illusion is awesome even if you don’t understand Mandarin). He has read along with some stories from the fabulous Taiwanese reading program, 5Q Channel. One day I got him to order everyone’s lunch in Mandarin at the deli near his school where we often go for smoothies (which he also orders). If we had a television that picked up digital signals, I would definitely be letting him and his brother watch the Taiwan Public Television show, Fruity Pie, a wacky-looking program that other parents at his school speak highly of. I have quizzed him, over dinner, about the vocabulary printed on his placemats, purchased as a fund-raiser for Jose Ortega Elementary School. I am pleased to say that judging by his lack of derision, my own Mandarin pronunciation must have improved somewhat.
He has written (minimally) in his Chinese journal that was sent home for the purpose, but I’m not good at pushing homework during the summer. Indeed, I worry that our relationship may would suffer irreparable damage without this all-important break in the nagging schedule! But I do strive for gentle encouragement.
I prefer the practical, real-world reinforcement of using a language as a means of practicing the language, thus the contrivance of getting smoothies but only if he orders them in Mandarin (and only because the deli worker can speak Mandarin!). When he learned about Chinese Chess, or Xiangqi, at school last year I agreed to buy a set for home if he could handle the transaction entirely in Chinese. He sailed through that one to the astonishment of the Chinatown shopkeeper. She asked me, in Mandarin, if I knew how to play. I answered with a dumb look, and she repeated the question in English.
“No,” I replied. “But he does.” (I learned later that this was a bit of a stretch.)
I probably get a little lazy because I know my son has already proven he has some facility with language. I am certain he will start school a little further behind in his Mandarin than he or I would like, but I am confident he’ll catch up pretty quickly. I do have some new school year resolutions such as obtaining more books in Chinese for our home and upping the Mandarin media quota for our sons. Next summer, I plan to try harder at getting them some practice (my preference would be for a few weeks abroad). And of course by then both of my children will have an incentive to speak Chinese to each other: their parents won’t know what they are saying!
Meanwhile, I’ll try to be gentle on both of us for letting his language practice lapse. It’s summer after all. He has gone to camp, taken swimming lessons, read a lot (in English…sigh, see my new-school-year resolution above), conducted science experiments and will visit his cousin and friends on a trip to Disneyland next week. We haven’t been wasting time. Maybe we’ll play lots of Chinese children’s songs in the car on our way to Southern California. There’s an idea!
I’m curious what others do to maintain their children’s language skills over the summer and how much teachers feel the students lose when they return from a summer of, more or less, English-only living.
Thanks for the comment, Dawn. It is comforting to know that I am not the only mother who makes her kid speak Mandarin to perfect strangers! None has ever offered us their phone number, unfortunately.
My son is going into 1st grade this fall. I was worried about maintaining his language this summer. We ran into a group of mandarin speaking ladies at ikea. I told him that if he asked them the name of the stuffed animal he wanted, he could get it. One of the ladies was so impressed, that she gave us her phone number. My son talks to her on the phone every Saturday afternoon. He also made a mandarin speaking friend at camp, and has had play dates. Hopefully this will leave him prepared for the new school year!