How Can A Mom Teach Her Children A Language She Doesn't Speak?
First posted in 2013
One thing my husband and I are still trying to figure out is how to teach our kids Telugu.Palu.Carum.Kukka.Nelu.These the few Telugu words I know.
How Do We Teach Our Children A Language We Don't Use Daily?
My husband, was born in Chicago and then lived in India for two years. He lived there with his grandparents and a few aunties and uncles. While there, he became fluent in Telugu. It was the primary language he spoke. When he moved back to the US with his parents, he encountered some challenges. He was made fun of by some kids for using the wrong words and quickly stopped using Telugu, as a defense mechanism. He spoke Telugu with his family at home, but rarely used it in front of his friends. He didn't realize how important it was for him to speak both languages until he got older. Then he started speaking it more and more, trying to learn how to speak it properly. It's really hard to teach our kids how to speak a language if we don't make it a part of our daily lives. We currently live states away from my husband's family, which makes it difficult because our kids aren't around people that speak it all the time. If we want our kids to speak Telugu, we have to be intentional in presenting it to them on a daily basis.When my father in law is in town, he's always speaking Telugu to our boys. We even sat down and had a conversation with him about it. We all agreed it would be a great idea to talk to the boys in Telugu as much as he could, while he was with us.
How Can We Teach Telugu At Home
Now, the question is what do we do at home? My husband can teach our kids words and talk to them in Telugu, but what can their white mom do? Obviously, I can't speak the language fluently. A lot of people in my position would say...Well, I guess there's nothing I can do...I want my boys to speak and understand Telugu too much to leave it there. Here are a few ways we intentionally teach our kids.
Flash Cards
My husband and I sit down and make flash cards together. He teaches me what the words mean, I write it down, and I practice saying it with him. Then I go over the cards with my kids every morning at breakfast.
Telugu Movies
A fun way to teach our kids is by watching Telugu movies with subtitles. They won't know what the actors are saying, but they will hear Telugu words in songs and repeatedly through out the movie.
Music
We always have music playing in our house and in the car. By putting Telugu words to song, it helps our kids memorize them and sing along!
Here's another way you can teach your kids about India.
