A total of two entries for the whole of October and up until now only two for November.
It is almost as though I have gone on an anti-NaBloPoMo couple of months.
Although if I tell the honest truth this really is a continuation of my loss of mojo.
Since I can't currently take Bruce's advice and whisk myself away to a Tuscan villa, much as I'd love to, I guess I will just have to blog about the writer's block.
First a few home truths about Ms Oh Waily.
1. I am predominantly an introvert.
- That has nothing to do with how much I can talk, however.
2. I like routine.
- Not that I am averse to nice surprises involving food, travel or other luxuries.
3. I tend to be lazy and/or prefer being comfortable.
- Have you seen any mention of running recently?
Those three big personality traits tend to lead you down the path to being a stay-at-home, stay-at-home mother. Unsurprisingly this is not conducive to new experiences and therefore new blogging topics.
Either I am completely tragic or just currently in a deeper-than-I'd-like-it-to-be rut.
Obviously I'd like to think it's just a rut.
Therefore, working on the premise that it is simply a rut that I need to lever myself up and out of, here are a few spanners about to be thrown into the introverted, routinised and lazy world of Ms Oh Waily...
- Ms Oh Waily plans to join a gym again (crèche willing).
- Miss Oh Waily may join a bilingual playgroup on Saturday mornings. The entire Oh Waily family may be about to begin learning Mandarin as a result.
- Ms Oh Waily may cave in and send Miss Oh Waily to daycare two days a week.
The last one of these is a bit in the air as I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it'll be great for the little Miss to get out and socialise regularly and in a new environment with other littlies. On the other hand it's stacking up to being a wrench for Ms Oh Waily - not to mention the cost of it. Right at this minute the scales are balanced evenly, so the decision remains to be made on this.
What does all this mean for you, the reader?
Hopefully more blog entries, although if I do rejoin the gym it may be a few weeks before the aching disappears enough that my fingers can do their keyboard gymnastics again. And maybe the odd word or phrase of a *foreign* language might slip in to our conversation too. We'll all just have to wait and see.
I'll keep you posted.
- - -
A quick request to those multi-lingual readers out there - and I know there are a few of you - what recommendations do you have for encouraging bilingualism and what stories of success/failure do you have to share? Did you learn your second or third language as a child or an adult? Do you have first-hand pros and cons to learning earlier or later?
2 comments:
I empathise with this. I keep trying to force myself to get down with the mother and baby group programmes round here, but we end up at things like music classes, where you don't really have to interact too much. Shame as the Star seems much more sociable than me.
The bilingial thing is tricky isn't it? I keep reading things which are very off putting. I think one of the things might be making sure they are educated in both languages - once some initial fluency develops - or there's a danger that one of the languages might be very lightweight/ mostly oral. What worries me most is that I've come into contact with some bilingual people recently who really aren't quite there with English in terms of range and flexibility. Lacking in a way which my fluent in English as a second language friends aren't, for all their mistakes and accent. Still, none of them were the brightest sparks on the tree, and other people who are seem to manage it fine.
Still, I don't think there's any way to make their knowledge equal as such - they are always going to use one of the languages more for different aspects of their lives. I taught a kid once who wasn't totally bilingual, but was pretty good in English, and he said he was finding himself playing 'imaginary make up games' in English rather than Russian.
And lots of people I know say that they ended up developing a slightly different persona for their second language than their first language. Although that was learning it later in life.
On the upside, bilingual kids are supposed to find problem solving easier as they have two different systems/ cultures to think about a problem in.
For what its worth? My NZD 0.02....
Best way to become bi or multilingual is to go live in other countries that speak other languages.
So if Mandarin is your goal, get yourself to China, where even getting your groceries will be a language lesson.
Alternatively, i have seen success if one parent uses one language while the other uses another language. Consistency is the key here. (even better if the parents have a 3rd language to converse together in, or living in a country that speaks neither...)
In any case, Good luck!
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