Language Immersion experience

[hergrace]

DS1 has been in a French Immersion program since the beginning of this year. So far, it seems to be going very well, however, I have seen some things in his spoken English at home that are making me ponder.

He is making grammatical errors that I expected him to make as a toddler, but that he hasn't made in years - mostly to do with using a "regular" form of an irregular verb like "falled" for "fell". I am wondering if I should be concerned about this new development or whether his brain is trying to put together the foreign grammar and is actually assembling the "rules" of English at a deeper level than he did when he first learned to speak.

Any ideas?

[CarrieMF]

He's 6 I wouldn't worry about it, just model the proper words.

[blizzard_babe]

Actually, as kids (or older people learning a new language) advance linguistically, mistakes such as "felled" can actually signify progress.

At first, they say "I fall down yesterday."

Then, they hear the past tense modeled correctly, and memorize that they have to say, "I fell down yesterday." They haven't internalized the rule, just memorized an instance.

Then, they internalize the rules for making past tense in general (adding -ed), and say "I falled down yesterday."

Last, they learn that those rules have exceptions... back to, "I fell down yesterday."

Learning another language while still in the acquisition stage of a first language can muddy things up a bit, but given a strong language base at home, things generally turn out fine. Just keep modeling things correctly in English, it'll sort out.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by hergrace

DS1 has been in a French Immersion program since the beginning of this year. So far, it seems to be going very well, however, I have seen some things in his spoken English at home that are making me ponder.

He is making grammatical errors that I expected him to make as a toddler, but that he hasn't made in years - mostly to do with using a "regular" form of an irregular verb like "falled" for "fell". I am wondering if I should be concerned about this new development or whether his brain is trying to put together the foreign grammar and is actually assembling the "rules" of English at a deeper level than he did when he first learned to speak.

Any ideas?

I have often heard that young children learning two languages do not do either well for awhile, while their brains are sorting things out.

[hergrace]

Just a question: Does anybody actually have experience or are these comments from your understanding? Nobody has clarified.

And, nobody seems to have picked up on the fact that he has already gone through the process of hearing the exceptions, learning the rule and generalizing, and then going back to using the exceptions correctly in English. What he is doing now is regression.

[Diane B]

Yes, actual experience. My daughter is in K, Spanish-immersion. Her use of past tense has gotten worse this fall - I actually didn't notice it until I read this post and started thinking about it. But I do trust the research on immersion, and I'm quite sure in the long run, it won't harm her English, especially since she's in an extremely language-rich environment in our home.

She seems to be learning to read simultaneously in both English and Spanish, by the way. The work they are doing at school in Spanish has jump-started her English reading skills at home. That's encouraging to me.

[hergrace]

Diane B: Thanks. Your experience is reassuring. It must be exciting that your daughter's reading in English is improving along with the French. My son is finding it very hard to be back at not being able to read again. I guess that's part of the difference between starting in K (which wasn't an option for us) and starting in Grade 1.

I just wasn't prepared for the regression. His English has been way above grade level, and now it is at or below grade level. He has just made a massive jump in his ability to keep the two different pronounciations of the same letters in mind when he is reading, so I am sure the grammar will come - after all, it has only been 2 months.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by hergrace

Just a question: Does anybody actually have experience or are these comments from your understanding? Nobody has clarified.

And, nobody seems to have picked up on the fact that he has already gone through the process of hearing the exceptions, learning the rule and generalizing, and then going back to using the exceptions correctly in English. What he is doing now is regression.

Experience. As an English-language instructor working with immersion programs (Yup'ik Eskimo). Graduate-level work in second language acquisition.

[hergrace]

Originally Posted by blizzard_babe

Experience. As an English-language instructor working with immersion programs (Yup'ik Eskimo). Graduate-level work in second language acquisition.

Thanks for clarifying.

[wrzos]

My son is younger than yours - and not in an immersion program - just exposed to 2 languages. But, we've so far seen regression whenever he learns something new in the other (less spoken) language. Which is consistent with what these other posts are saying and with what I've read on 2nd language learners, etc.

[hergrace]

Thank you to everybody for the reassurance. I'm prepared to stop worrying now.