ESL For KIDS

[TomTx]

Ok all you married men; I have a good topic that I would like to discuss, as you see from the subject line its ref. ESL for Kids. I know that I am not the only one who is marring a RW/UW that has kids, so this is why I post this interesting topic. I did a search of the past post and nothing comes up for ESL and kids.

Background: I am marring a UW that has an 8 year boy, he is in the 2nd grade and he learning some English at his school. I am in the beginning stages of bring her and son to USA, just received 1st NOA.
I live in TX and TX has an ESL program but it’s not until the 4th and 5th grade level kids, the school district offer a bilingual course but it’s for Spanish speaking kids only.
My UW her English level is a 5 on scale to 10, and she will be having tutor lessons beginning in October that will have 52 lessons, 3 times a week

Ok with all that said, I am looking for options available for this boy, he will be here around March time frame (Hope for Sooner) so I have some time to get this research complete and be ready for his arrival.

Guys with your experience what have you tried, what has worked, and what would you recommend?

I live in-between Houston, and Collage Station does any one have any suggestions?

Thanks
TOM_TX

[TomTx]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

Guy's, I want to take the time and thank you for all your post on the subject, your post have eased my mind, and the mind of my UW, she is very happy to hear all of this and makes her feel much better.
Thanks Again,

Tom

[BubbaGump]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

A TV news program here did an interview with 3 children adopted from Russia and they had achieved remarkable fluency in only 3 months.  They knew almost no english when they came here.  All 3 were in elementary school and they were adopted together by a couple in their 40s.  The kids seemed very bright and enthusiatic.

[wilmc]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

A few years back I read an article that said young children, like 10 and younger, can pick up foreign languages very quickly and in addition they do better in school on average than single language children.  The theory is that the brain responds to the challenge and performs better.  The analogy was to a muscle and exercise, "use it or lose it."

I apologize if this is just an "urban legend" but it seems reasonable.

I agree that there is more danger of the child losing his Russian since he is immersed in an English speaking culture.  Help him retain it and he will thank you for preserving his heritage some day.

[vagn]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

At 8 years old he is still in the 'critical period',
a term denoting nothing else than that he will
quickly learn english as if it was his first
language, probably with no trace of accent.

The danger is that he will lose his russian.
Get him enrolled in something cultural where
he will use his russian.  If you live near
a russian community you will have no trouble
finding something. Sports, dance, music, or
russian culture and literature studies: there
will be something.

[ChrisB]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

My step-son was doing better than a few of the other native American student in his 1st grade class. That was after arriving here and getting a late start in Mid September last year.

He started with next to zero English. Now I taught him the numbers 1 through 10 and he already knew "thank you", but that's about all he knew.

Now after exactly 1 year in the States, you'd be very hard pressed to tell he was not born here.

You are worried about the wrong person. You need to focus on your adult wife's skills. We adults have to hardest time becoming fluent in a strange language. But some people can learn real fast and others, well, it just takes longer.

Chris

[John F]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

We enrolled my wife's daughter into third grade four days after she arrived here, Jan, 2000.  She spoke no English.  I expressed my concerns to the prinipal and he assured me not to worry.  Not only did she learn English by magic .... she made the A/B honor roll!  She then proceeded to complete fourth grade on the all A honor roll, and she's now doing well in the sixth grade..... Her English is now outstanding.

My wife enrolled in non-credit ESL and then had to take credit ESOL before being allowed to participate in college career courses.  Since then she has continually been on the presidents list!

[Apk1]

... in response to Same Experience As The Others ..., posted by John F on Sep 5, 2002

Yup...been my experience too. My stepson came from Russia last year when he was 7, we enrolled him in 1st grade due to his inability to speak English. Now it is 10 months since he has arrived here, and he is now enrolled in 3rd grade...he spent 2 months in 2nd grade during the summer.
He was speaking fairly well in less than 2 months, and understanding everything in about 6 months. He still speaks with an accent, but he pronounces his words much better than my wife...she reads and speaks at about 80% ability now, she learned English at Moscow university.

One little extra advice....the television does a good job of teaching them too, they learn the cartoons very fast!

[Jeff S]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

My (Japanese) stepdaughter arrived just before her 10th birthday knowing almost zero English. We put her right into 4th grade without any ESL training or special English classes. By the end of the first year she was fluent, by the end of the second, had completely lost her accent, and by high school, was in AP English classes. In fact she was accepted to college with a English major, but switched to International Business after she got in (Fluency in three languages, Japanese, English & French thanks to two summers at Sorbonne during high school)

Anyway, as another poster said, don't worry, kids pick it up almost magically - sometimes by other kids making fun of them - but that just seems to give them encouragement to excel. Keep your eyes open for frustration and offer help and encouragement would be my only advice.

-- Jeff S.

[Stevo]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

The reason that the school doesn't offer ESL classes until 4th/5th grade is that it is unnecessary since younger children learn another language almost magically.  I don't think you need to do anything special...just let the kid learn on his own at school (he'll be fine).

[tfcrew]

... in response to ESL For KIDS, posted by TomTx on Sep 5, 2002

...you're down near Conroe? I like the forests down that way.
I feel sure an 8 y.o. will pick up English a whole lot easier than us older people could Russian. There are even English/Russian/Spanish/German speaking folk here in Dallas.
Good luck w/your visas !
Karl