I was never into Early Childhood Development. In fact, at one time, when I was employed as an elementary school librarian (11 years), I told the Kindergarten teachers not to leave me alone with their classes because I didn't speak their language. Case in point: I would try to dismiss the KDG class by tables to go pick out books from the shelves. After two attempts, with no results, the teacher whispered in my ear, "Say 'the orange table'." I did, and the kids hopped up to do as I'd asked. Whaaat?
Then again, in that same capacity, before we got the computerized circulation system and were still using the card check-out system, I looked at one card for a book a Kdg student was checking out. His name was perfectly spelled on the card--perfectly readable--backwards. It wasn't just that the name was backwards; so were the letters! Perfectly! Oh, please save me!! In other words, even though I taught English and was a mother, I still had very little knowledge about how language develops in children. To this day, I think it is just magic!
My grandson is a perfect example of this. I had gone up to Muncie, IN, for a weekend visit with the family. My granddaughter always dictated what I needed to bring (usually "fwoot" and "canny") and would sleep with me when I was there...but it was my grandson, 15 months younger, whose language development absolutely fascinated me. One morning, I got up to greet everyone for breakfast. Somehow, the topic of beautiful hair came up at the breakfast table. My gray, unbrushed, curly hair was sticking up all over, and I jokingly asked my two-year-old grandson how my hair looked. He exclaimed, "Noodly!" We all laughed, but I was absolutely fascinated. To him, my gray, unruly hair looked like noodles. Kids of that age can be expected to use nouns like that...but he actually changed a noun into an adjective, and used it properly. Wow! Magic! He's been a linguistic whiz-bang ever since!
My son-in-law is Russian-born. He is quite fluent in English, but once in awhile he gets hung up on an expression or two, and we never miss the chance to tease him about it. (Sorry Denis!) I've told you before about his tangling "hippopotamus" as "hippo-puh-thomas", many times over. There have been a few times when he has referred to toes as fingers and told his wife, via text message, that he had once had to endure a dental procedure without "anastasia". Yet his grammar is generally perfect. I will never, ever forget the day that we were in King, WI, seeking a Civil War statue on the grounds of the Veteran's Home there, while looking for where my ancestors were. We had sent him off to the fire department on the grounds with a picture of the statue, hoping they could help us find it. He came back with a big grin on his face. I asked what he was smiling about. He told me, "They said 'That ain't here no more' ". What a hoot that even HE knew what he had heard wasn't proper English! He is a champ!
Learning the lingo isn't always easy, and certainly never fun...but somehow, even with challenges, it still seems like magic to me. It takes children 2-3 years to speak English in a way that is generally acceptable to mainstream parents, but I studied French for five years in an English environment and never really got it right. I can still read French but would have trouble following the spoken word. But it's been 50 years since I was expected to do so. Big consideration!
I still think it's magic. My son-in-law had English lessons while in school in Russia, but his biggest boost to becoming fluent was all on him. He did 95% of it on his own. Wish my students would have been so dedicated. Who knows how much different the world would be if we were all bilingual!
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