[EDLING:2304] Caregivers help expand childrens language skills

[Francis M Hult]

Via lgpolicy...

> Caregivers help expand childrens language skills
> 
> Au pairs, nannies teach their native tongues, traditions to young charges
> 
> By SUMMER HARLOW, The News Journal Posted Thursday, January 25, 2007 at
> 9:01 pm
> 
> 
>  Que lindas manitas, Marlenis Arrocha sang in Spanish.
> 
> What pretty little hands.
> 
> Six-month-old Giselle Miranda waved her hands in response.
> 
> See? Arrocha said. She understands.
> 
> Giselle cant yet walk or talk, but already her parents are taking steps to
> ensure their baby grows up bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English
> fluently. In September, Julio and Katie Miranda, who live in Brandywine
> Hundred, hired Arrocha, an au pair from central Panama, with the
> stipulation that Arrocha speak only Spanish to Giselle. In an
> ever-more-globalized world and multiethnic country more than one in 10
> U.S. household residents speak Spanish at home an increasing number of
> families like the Mirandas are hiring au pairs and nannies who can teach
> their children a second language and familiarize them with a different
> culture.
> 
> The world is getting smaller, and people are realizing the importance of
> teaching children more about the world early and making them more
> competitive, said Susan Robinson, vice president of Cultural Care Au Pair,
> a Massachusetts-based agency that places au pairs with U.S. families. Were
> moving toward a bilingual country, and families want to expose their
> children to other cultures and languages at an early age. Between 2002 to
> 2005, Cultural Care Au Pair, the company the Mirandas used to find
> Arrocha, saw more than a 150 percent increase in its placement of
> Spanish-speaking au pairs. San Francisco-based AuPairCare increased the
> number of its client families with Spanish-speaking au pairs by more than
> 122 percent between 2003 and 2006.
> 
> And its not just Spanish speakers who are in demand research shows babies
> and toddlers minds are especially hardwired for language acquisition. And
> more families are seeking bilingual au pairs, who come from abroad and
> live with U.S. families, and nannies, or domestic caregivers, to teach
> their children German, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish and other languages.
> At American Domestic Agency, which places nannies in New Castle County and
> southern Pennsylvania, about 1 in 15 families request bilingual nannies.
> They want their children to be exposed to a second language, said Melissa
> McIntire, owner of American Domestic. Its high on their list of
> priorities, because if theyre paying for a nanny, theyd like to have that
> cultural experience for their children.
> 
> Making a connection
> 
> The Mirandas sought out a Panamanian au pair because Julio Miranda, a
> sales account executive, is from Boquete in northern Panama. Arrocha
> provides that cultural connection, the Mirandas said. For example, if
> Arrocha cooks a meal she can make the dishes that remind Julio Miranda of
> his home country like plantains and a sweet pineapple-rice drink the
> family had for dinner last week. Shes introducing these cultural things
> into our house that bring that side of Giselles heritage into the family,
> Katie Miranda said. Of course, well celebrate St. Patricks Day, too,
> because shes also Irish. We want to recognize both sides of the family.
> 
> In the Rodi household in Brandywine Hundred, au pair Julia Helfenbein has
> used a German matching-and-memory game to teach the Rodi sisters Erica, 7,
> and Allison, 4 various words and phrases in German. While the Rodis didnt
> set out for their girls to speak German, the language exposure has been an
> added bonus, said Andrea Rodi, a health care consultant. Allison actually
> speaks German better than English, Rodi said. I guess she was meant to be
> born in Germany, because it just rolls off her tongue. While Arrocha
> speaks only Spanish to Giselle, Katie Miranda speaks only English to her.
> Julio Miranda speaks a mix of the two languages.
> 
> Hi, linda, he cooed at her as she fussed in her play chair. Hi, pretty.
> 
> Early language skills
> 
> Giselle may be only 6 months old, but already shes showing signs of
> comprehension, her parents say. When her parents or Arrocha ask for a
> besito, or little kiss, Giselle knows what that means, they said. Children
> learn to understand a language long before they can actually speak it,
> said Franois Thibaut, founder and director of the Language Workshop for
> Children, which offers language classes around the Northeast for children
> as young as six months. Thibaut also created Professor Toto, an
> award-winning, at-home foreign-language curriculum for families. The
> younger a child is, the more malleable the brain, he said.
> 
> To an American newborn, learning Chinese is no different than leaning
> English, but by age three, you cant say that anymore, Thibaut said. By
> nine months, babies can already discriminate between sounds they have
> heard since birth and sounds that are new. Ali Alalou, assistant professor
> of language education at the University of Delaware, said it is a myth
> that children become confused if they are exposed to more than one
> language at once. Everyone is born with the possibility of learning any
> language, and the more you advance into your own language, the more you
> restrict the sounds you can make and the possibilities for learning a
> second language, he said.
> 
> Knowing how hard it is for her to pick up Spanish as an adult, Katie
> Miranda said, she doesnt want to delay Giselles exposure so that her
> daughter will be able to communicate with her Panamanian grandparents and
> have a leg up in the business world someday. Obviously, English is
> important, Miranda said. But you open yourself up to so many options if
> youre bilingual. Youll only make yourself more valuable, more marketable.
> 
> http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070125/NEWS/70125072