I got it into my head several months ago that I would teach Lily French. She picks things up so quickly and is doing rather well with basic things, such as s'il vous plaît je avoir de l'eau and the like. The only problem is that I have an absolutely wretched accent. Honestly, I can pick up languages fairly quickly as far as reading and writing go, but I've never been comfortable speaking the languages I have learned. I have no ear whatsoever for accents. So now I fear I am irreparably damaging Lily's ability to learn French properly by teaching her with my dreadful accent. While I am reluctant to stop altogether, mostly because it is fun teaching her, I am considering it. What would you do? Is teaching her with a poor accent better than not teaching her at all? Perhaps, once I am independantly wealthy and can afford such things, I can hire her a French nanny and have her speak only in French.
4 comments:
You are way too ambitious. For me, I am still glad I was able to use sign language as my foreign language in high school, because I can't even pretend to use correct accents. This might be why I feel like there is so much value in being familiar with another language. I would say teach her. She can get over the accent later. Although, I'm guessing you might be more critical on yourself, so it's probably not all that bad. Right? :)
Fun! I feel the same about me teaching Shelby Spanish! Although, lucky me, Steve is fluent so that helps. I let her pick a Spanish book from the library every week. That has been fun for her. I say keep on teaching even if you're not using the proper accent. At least she'll be familiar with the language!
Do it!! I can promise any language learned in high school (esp. French) will be taught by another American with a terrible accent, thus she will be ahead! :) You could always supplement with French videos and tapes with native French speakers to help. It's awesome that you want to do it in the first place!
Just keep at it! The advantage you are giving her by introducing her brain to another language far outweighs your concern for linguistic abilities.
I like Rachel's Suggestion of supplementing with other things. Some libraries even have children's CD/cassette books in other languages. Also, most DVD's come with language options.
The little bit of Spanish my girls speak is riddled with my horrible accent - but Hispanics still adore it when they try to speak to them!
Just keep it up and hopefully your love for language/culture/etc will be passed on to her!
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