Learning to speak in English...

We are a nation obsessed with English. We are a nation obsessed with getting our kids to speak English, correct grammar and all, right from the beginning (yeah I swear on that by my Wren and Martin).
An English-medium education is what we all crave for our kids -- everyone wants it for their kids -- from the household help, the vegetable seller, the dhobi, your neighbour, YOURSELF (myself included), your neighbour, your cousins in small towns and villages. I'm not looking down upon anyone here, just saying that it's a universal aspiration.
There is pride and joy on our iron-man's face when he reminds me (each time i ask him how his daughters are doing) "Nan makkalu English-medium nalli odtaavre" (My kids study in English medium).

And I haven't been left behind either. I've joined the rat race too, in complete rat-like earnestness to get Sonny to understand some English before he takes those giant steps to "big boy's school" next academic year.

Honestly I hadn't realised how soon it begins till one day we were in an argument, Sonny and I, about some random thing. We were as usual talking in Kannada, our mother tongue. Then, in frustration, i cant remember on what issue, I screamed in English: "Where do you want me to be?" After a moment of silence he said "Here, at home." I was shocked.
a) I hadn't expected a reply to my rhetorical question
b) I hadn't expected him to really understand my question
c) I hadn't expected a reply in English.
d) I hadn't expected a completely coherent phrase/sentence.

It was then that it struck me that he'd told me a few days ago, some time post the Dasara vacation that his playhome teachers had been telling them all to converse in school only in English. So now it's "I want water" (of course, "please" is still a difficult word in his world). A sharp "Yah" (with a stress on the "h" sound) or a vehement head-nodding "No" to my questions. Sometimes a simple "Nice, I like" when he likes a dress I'm wearing. He's able to understand most of the questions I ask him in English. Sometimes replies in English, sometimes in Kannada, sometimes a mix of both languages...

I have a really failing memory, but what prompted me to write this post was a conversation I had last night with him, both of us sitting on the sofa, he was tracing lines on a work sheet his teacher had given. I wish I had immediately jotted it down then, but we spoke some four sentences, back and forth, Q and A, in complete coherence. I was quite amused...and well, happy.

I know of many Indian parents who straight away start talking to their kids in English only, since the child is born, so he/she picks up English well and early. I also know equally well of so many parents (like me and hubby) who insist on talking to the child only in our mother tongue at home, knowing that they will pick up English in school later anyway. And that they must know the language spoken by the family quite well.

We recently had some of hubby's guests from overseas home for dinner. After chatting them up with a few "Yah"s and "No"s he came beaming to me and said "Amma naanu avara jothey English-nalli maataadta iddeeni, with a twinkle in his eyes. (Mummy, I'm talking to them in English.) It's not like we've ever asked him to talk to anyone in English, but when we lapse into it in conversations at home, he joins us. I mean, I've had a really aggressive aunt of mine, a teacher, who has always insisted on speaking to him in English whenever she visited -- earlier he would look at her agog, wide eyed, but never understanding a word. I used to love watching them together.

I must also mention that Sonny's English has hit a high with his watching very seriously this channel called Cbeebies -- the BBC's children's channel. Saying he's addicted is an understatement. I like the channel too because there are no advertisements, the programmes are really short, and are really targeted at the pre-school age  group (at least most of those he likes watching).  Moreover, all these programmes have some form of learning woven into them -- concepts of colour, shapes, names of animals etc. There's also a show called "I can cook" which my Sonny watches like he's seriously gonna make the dish next at home! Many of the sentences are enunciated slowly, and I have often caught repeating these short sentences like "He has gone to bed", or "The sun has set" as he watches the show.

Bilingual, trilingual...multilingual and loving it

At one of our recent bedtime stories, or rather, now bedtime rhymes time, dear S started singing a rhyme in Hindi! I was amazed. Because I didn't know he knew any rhymes other than English and Kannada ones.

I guess playschool does make a difference. And I recalled how at admission time they told me they teach children rhymes in three languages so that they can pick up all of them and develop their language abilities. This is the age apparently, when they are able to learn most of the languages that come their way.

I've also suddenly started noticing that he repeats bits of conversation I have with any other family member. He'll at least catch and repeat the last three words. Which, i feel is great.

So he now understands (some of them mostly only in parts)
1. My/husband's mother tonuge
2. The national language
3. My mother's mother tongue
4. English
5. The nanny's mother tonuge
6. ....and jeez, at the cost of sounding like a show off, even parts of my father's mother tongue

That totals to five Indian languages. Hmm till i put it all down as a list, I didn't quite realise it.
He loves saying the word "water" in four languages every time he asks for a drink and i love that. Absolutely.

I know there are arguments saying kids get confused. I'm not too sure about that. With dear S, i guess he associates one language with each person, so he absorbs and uses that language with that person alone. Let's see how it goes in future.

I was a multilingual kid myself, and I can manage speaking about six languages myself. And I don't think I got them all mixed up. In fact it worked to my advantage because I could hear a speech for example in one language and immediately take notes in another, like English, translating along the way.

But there's the BIG disadvantage to sonny boy's language skills -- he picks up the not-so-nice words really fast. He's then like SpongeBob. And between me, hubby and brothers-in-law, that vocabulary of such words is pretty vast. I believe there's a certain ring, a certain aura to these words that just beckon children towards them, seduce them into using them. And there will be a gleam in his eye as he realises he's saying the forbidden word. And once you say "don't say that word" that's it. It's like a special invitation to say the word in loops, over and over again, the voice raising to a crescendo with each utterance, till you've got a earworm.

As of now, though, most of the time I simply enjoy the pitter patter of words and new sounds.