lately, Skye has gotten really interested in words that rhyme. throughout the day, if a word catches her fancy, for example, bike, then throughout the day, she'll ask, does mike rhyme with bike? does tike rhyme with bike? does jike rhyme with bike? and on and on.
yesterday, when i picked her up from preschool, her teacher said to me, Skye has been busy writing poems today! and Skye proudly showed me her first haiku-esque poem. here is a poem she wrote today. she has taken it to school to read to her class:
Four little snowflakes were having some fun
One little snowflake disappeared
Now two little snowflakes were having a race
Then one fell down
Now there is one little snowflake playing in the snow.
Showing posts with label languages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label languages. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Friday, June 22, 2007
Languages
so here are some thoughts about language. would love to hear from those of you out there who are bilingual, trilingual, multilingual. Phil and i always end up having this discussion about language. Phil wants me to teach our kids Korean because he believes it will be useful for them in the future to know more than English. i agree, but i have a hard time speaking just Korean all day long. i break out in whichever language that fits the occasion and more often than not, English is the dominant language. Phil thinks i speak absolutely zero Korean to my girls, but that just isn't true. i have thought long and hard about languages and what they mean in my life, hoping i can remove them in my endeavor to teach Skye and Claire Korean, but i'm afraid it's not going too well.
perhaps i'm just complicating things too much, but there is so much memory and emotion attached to language. Phil, the ever practical mind, wants me to detach all of that and just simply speak the language. but how can you speak the language unless you embody the culture, the spirit behind the words? we can get all philosophical here and talk about the instances in history where nations subjected other nations by forcing them to speak a certain language. i hate some aspects of the Korean culture, especially concerning women - can i teach my girls to speak Korean and not pass on that aspect of the culture? i'm not sure.
and what's so crazy is that more often, i've been met with disdain when i've spoken Korean to Koreans. but when Phil speaks Korean to Koreans, he's praised for knowing so much Korean. guess which of us is the better speaker? nope, no bitterness here.
as you can see, i'm carrying a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to language... however, i did find it endearing the other day when we were at the Korean store, Skye was trying to speak Korean to me instead of English.
perhaps i'm just complicating things too much, but there is so much memory and emotion attached to language. Phil, the ever practical mind, wants me to detach all of that and just simply speak the language. but how can you speak the language unless you embody the culture, the spirit behind the words? we can get all philosophical here and talk about the instances in history where nations subjected other nations by forcing them to speak a certain language. i hate some aspects of the Korean culture, especially concerning women - can i teach my girls to speak Korean and not pass on that aspect of the culture? i'm not sure.
and what's so crazy is that more often, i've been met with disdain when i've spoken Korean to Koreans. but when Phil speaks Korean to Koreans, he's praised for knowing so much Korean. guess which of us is the better speaker? nope, no bitterness here.
as you can see, i'm carrying a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to language... however, i did find it endearing the other day when we were at the Korean store, Skye was trying to speak Korean to me instead of English.
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