Language Development

[Thai at Heart]

Anyone know of any particular issues about keeping kids interested in both English and Thai so that they develop at relatively the same speed.

My kids are in bi-lingual private school and my eldest (9 years old) despite speaking both English and Thai well, appears to have completely lost interest in progressing with Thai reading and writing.

I don't know if this is commonplace but, he simply complains that "Thai is more difficult, I don't like it". Is this reality for a bi-lingual 9 year old, or is it a teaching issue?

I know that languages can be hard, but is Thai that much harder for kids to learn to read and write than English?

[Peppy]

Is English the dominant language at home? Does he have access to Thai language reading materials that interest him? Perhaps he just doesn't like his Thai teacher at school, or maybe it's just a phase he's going through. (Kids tend to go through different phases regarding what they like and don't like, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you this. )

It could be all kinds of things--the best advice I can give you is to make sure Thai (both written and spoken) is an important part of his life. Find him some (monolingual) Thai friends to play with if he doesn't have them already, get him books and cartoons in Thai, etc. etc. (Kids seem to love those Japanese manga comics that are translated into Thai, at least all the kids I know do. And if you can get him reading novels, all the better.)

You might get some good feedback asking about this in the Family sub-forum too--I think issues with raising bilingual kids are a common topic there. Good luck!

[mikenyork]

If there is a native Thai speaker parent and an native English speaker parent, then the Thai speaker should address the child in Thai only and always and never respond to English from the child. The opposite strategy for the English speaker. I brought up two "bi-lingual" kids--only partially successful in keeping them bi-lingual. Had friends who adopted the native language only strategy (which I did not) and they were far, far more successful than I. It doesn't seem to matter that the parents speak to each other in both languages or in only one or the other. The important thing is the discipline to only communicate with the child in ones native language.

[Thai at Heart]

Thanks for the answers.

He is completely bi-lingual spoken wise. His English reading and writing is standard for a 9 year old I believe, but I have no personal reference for Thai. My wife believes he is behind other mono-lingual kids his age, to which I answer "That is normal for bi-lingual children".

I have followed the I speak English, Mum speaks Thai at home policy since day one. It was working beautifully.

There is a combination of things around it, but I think it is mainly that the school has put a lot of effort into their English language courses, and I think the Thai may have been a bit neglected.

They are using apparently the same tired text books and expecting kids to just "pick it up" because they are Thai. He has plenty of books around, although he isn't much of a "reader" in English or Thai, but I do notice he enjoys reading English language books more than Thai simply because they appear to be more interesting/gripping/fun.

As for kids and friends, he is essentially a Thai kid with a farang dad. Thai neighbours, relatives, look kreung friends. A very eclective mix.

I am more concerned is this a normal developmental thing that Thai is a more complicated language so development is slower, and as such he will just break on through later, or should I be concerned and really do something about it to stop him falling behind in Thai?

Edited August 26, 2010 by Thai at Heart

[mikenyork]

First,congratulations on adopting, from day one, the only strategy that I have everseen work for raising truly bi-lingual childen. Second, I don't think Thai is more complicated or difficult to learn fora child in the circumstances you describe than is English. The languages tend to be complicated indifferent ways.

As foryour child's attitude towards Thai, my concern would be that the school may be unintentionally delivering a message that English is "more important", "cooler", "higher class", etc. than Thai. Although Thailand was never a colony, that doesn't mean that it escaped all of the psychological consequences of several centuries of Western civilization's dominance of world affairs. I have seen this"superiority/inferiority" message show up in a lot of different contexts.

It may also be that his English courses are being taught with more of a western teaching attitude (the student can, indeed is expected to, participate actively in the learning experience, the purpose of learning the subject is to improve the students' ability to use the knowledge gained to logically and effectively solve problems by thinking them through, disagreement with the teacher is not,by definition, disrespect. Whereas hisThai subjects may be being taught using more traditional Thai pedagogy--the students' job is to listen attentively and be able to regurgitate the material presented accurately, and disagreement with the teacher is unthinkable. Particularly if your child is living in a household where family inter-relationships reflect more of the first"world view" than the second, he/she may be more attracted to theEnglish language courses.

Edited August 26, 2010 by mikenyork

[Thai at Heart]

First,congratulations on adopting, from day one, the only strategy that I have everseen work for raising truly bi-lingual childen. Second, I don't think Thai is more complicated or difficult to learn fora child in the circumstances you describe than is English. The languages tend to be complicated indifferent ways.

As foryour child's attitude towards Thai, my concern would be that the school may be unintentionally delivering a message that English is "more important", "cooler", "higher class", etc. than Thai. Although Thailand was never a colony, that doesn't mean that it escaped all of the psychological consequences of several centuries of Western civilization's dominance of world affairs. I have seen this"superiority/inferiority" message show up in a lot of different contexts.

It may also be that his English courses are being taught with more of a western teaching attitude (the student can, indeed is expected to, participate actively in the learning experience, the purpose of learning the subject is to improve the students' ability to use the knowledge gained to logically and effectively solve problems by thinking them through, disagreement with the teacher is not,by definition, disrespect. Whereas hisThai subjects may be being taught using more traditional Thai pedagogy--the students' job is to listen attentively and be able to regurgitate the material presented accurately, and disagreement with the teacher is unthinkable. Particularly if your child is living in a household where family inter-relationships reflect more of the first"world view" than the second, he/she may be more attracted to theEnglish language courses.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head with the school prioritising/empahsizing/making Thai less cool than English. I don't think I will be able to turn the school on its head, so a change of school might be in order.