What we model,
they follow.
Let me share a little story.
My 2 year old daughter somehow really dislikes apple skin.
For the past 2 years, we almost always eat apple with its skin on,
but she'll always eat only the flesh.
And spit the skin out after chewing it.
Perhaps she doesn't like the texture?
Until one day,
Yvonne @followingjoy offered her a mini apple
during a meetup with Cheryl @sgmontessori
at The Attic
My daughter saw Yvonne taking a bite of the apple
and commenting that it's crispy.
Lo and behold,
she decided she'd try too.
And she did eat
WITH THE SKIN!!!
I was so surprised!
I remember Jasmine @3mm.montessori
sharing the analogy of
young kids being like sponges.
They just absorb unconsciously,
what's around them
Many times, for our children,
we can't decide what they decide to pick up
(especially those unwanted behaviours 🤣)
I like what @bilingualplaydate Diandra
recently shared so succinctly
"What we model,
they follow"
Applying it to bilingual parenting
for us bilingual parents
with have some form of competency and skills in the target language,
no matter how lousy we think we are,
we do have a foundation from schooling years,
we all start somewhere!
Let's continue to sow seeds,
to model.
One thing at a time.
Model listening to stories, audiobooks, music, rhymes in Mandarin.
Model speaking in Mandarin as much as possible.
Hang out with other people who speak Mandarin better than us.
Get out of our comfort zone!
Look up words we don't know.
Wonder aloud.
Model usage of 好词好句 in our speech.
Write down a few to use when we're out and about.
Model reading of Mandarin books, even if the kids are not reading.
Model writing of messages, diary or SMS in Mandarin.
Show that Mandarin can be useful for daily life!
Model a sense of pride in our culture.
Model a curiosity of learning.
Honour their little questions, write them down, in Mandarin maybe!
And when we least expect it,
they will follow.
They'll be curious,
discoveries will happen.
There will be small shifts in their language use
and perception towards our Chinese language.
Over to you!
In what way will you model bilingual learning
for your child today?
Share with us in the comments!