Monday, August 24, 2009

Language Acquisition

Ellie is really enjoying German kindergarten. It's more akin to preschool than what Americans think of as kindergarten -- mostly free-play time as a socialization environment for 3-6 year olds. But more than that, it's a place where Ellie can learn how to navigate this German-speaking world we now inhabit.



I knew language acquisition worked differently for little girls than for me, with my hours of intensive language study, but I didn't really understand the magnitude of the difference.

Ellie came home today saying that the children sat in a circle at kindergarten and passed around a stuffed animal, with each child saying something about it before passing it along. Ellie reported, "When it came to me, I said something in German!" "What did you say?" her parents excitedly inquired. "Well, I don't know...it was in German." Ah so.




Getting to Kindergarten in Style



The Up-And-Coming German Student

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow you all look so good! I can hardly believe how grown up Ellie is getting... I do hope you are all doing well, good lick with the new language.
Brenda Miller

8:22 PM  
Blogger Steven said...

Meine Liebe freund,

Es tut mir licht, dein 'blog message" zu lesen. Ich hoffe das alles ist gut dabei Wo wohnst du, jetzt? Die Kinder sind sehr schön. Vielen grüss zum Crystal. Tchuss! - Steve

5:38 AM  
Anonymous Steve McGriff said...

It's been too long since I really used German! I meant to say, "it makes me laugh to read your blog" not "I'm sorry to read your blog" !!! Ellie is certainly better at German than me, at least she doesn't pretend to know what she is saying!

Steve

10:47 PM  
Anonymous Dental Arlington said...

That's so cute! I wish I also knew how to speak in German. I think that language acquisition gets harder when you are an adult so it's best to learn as a child.

5:11 AM  

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