Frankly Speaking

Most of the time I'm just a lurker in N@W since I don't have a child yet. Some of the topics are mostly about motherhood which I cannot relate to. However, it give me thoughts and ideas on how will I become once I've become a mother.

It's been discussed in the group about the language that you want to teach your children when they grow up. Is it Filipino or English? Parents particularly mommies have their very own reasons on why they want that particular language to instill on their child/children.Honestly, I will teach my child/children to speak English and Filipino. How? I told my husband that I'll be talking to our child in English while he will be the one talking to him/her in Filipino. I think children nowadays have a keen memory and they absorb things easily by using their five senses. I have a classmate in high school and she is married to a pure Italian. I asked her if their daughter knows how to speak English and she told me yes. How about Filipino? She understands the language and seldom talks using it. Italian? She understands and speaks it too.

This got me thinking that having two languages in the household will not be a problem to a child as long as he/she was used to that language. Teaching English in an early age will help my child/kids to be versatile and can easily communicate with other people especially when he/she grows up.

Based on my own experience, when I was a child I was really shy and afraid to do recitation inside the classroom. Moreover, I hate reporting where I have to be in front of the class and discuss the topic that was assigned to me. I don't like the idea of other people listening to and looking at me intently. I was not even aware of the public speaking websites and books at that time when I was a student. Today, a lot of resources to improve speech are available which makes a lot of room for improvement. On my case working as a call center agent makes me comfortable talking and delivering English fluently and flawlessly (sometimes).

That's why I chose to teach two languages in our home instead of focusing on one language in particular. Both have pros and cons so why not teach both?! With the proper guidance and aid materials, I'm sure that my future child/children will be comfortable communicating with other people plus she/he can overcome shyness that I had when I was young.

Let's see if this will work once we have our own son/daughter but I think it's possible.