Daughter Struggle with English?

I've heard of several people learning a language by watching a TV show that is geared to something they're interested in. There are lots of good animated cartoons that she could follow that would help her a lot. Try not to worry. She'll pick it up quickly. Does she have a friend that lives nearby? Playing with another child should help a lot as well.

I'm noticing that the written English in your post is just fine, aside from one missing article. I don't have any information about your spoken English comfort, though, and that is a piece of the equation to consider for yourself.

My family has some experience with the multiple language household, so I will share my thoughts and experiences.

My husband is not from the United States; I am, however I met him in his home country (Tanzania) and our relationship was established in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania. I'm reasonably fluent, though I'm definitely more fluent in English, especially in talking about emotional or relationship topics. It is very important to us that our children be able to speak Swahili, so they can communicate with their relatives on his side. We therefore chose to speak only Swahili in the home to give them a strong basis in that language. My mother was worried that our kids wouldn't learn English well, however I figured there would be no problem with them learning English because everything outside the home and the media (tv, radio, movies, most books, etc) would be in English, so they would naturally pick it up. The real challenge would be to maintain their ability to speak Swahili, and indeed that is what has happened. They speak, read, and write English just fine; it has sometimes been a real struggle to keep their Swahili language fluency up, though trips for 2 months every other summer to Tanzania have definitely helped. Our experiences resemble what I have read about immigrant families, where the parents would speak to the kids in the home country language and the kids would answer in English--the children could understand the home country language, but did not speak it. If you want your kids to continue to be able to speak Chinese, I think you will need to maintain Chinese as the main language of your home (and create opportunities for them to be in a Chinese-language environment outside the home whenever possible).

The down side...I will say that I think my husband has not developed as much English language proficiency as he would have if we were using English in the home, so there has been a cost. We think it's worth it, though, because our kids can stay connected to their relatives and roots on that side. If you feel you need to develop more spoken English proficiency, you might want to seek out opportunities to converse in English. Perhaps the idea of having designated 'English-speaking' times at home, such as at dinner, could work, however I'm not so sure that will work well if none of the adults are very comfortable with spoken English.

I understand your daughter is uncomfortable and confused at this moment. Sesame Street and other kids' programs, songs, and books on CD will help her. Just remember that her brain is a little sponge, and since she is in an English-speaking environment eight hours a day at schools and whenever she plays with friends, she will move through this phase of confusion really fast. I think the question is how to enable her to speak Chinese as she moves into her teen years. Lots of luck with it!

English is my third language -- I grew up speaking two languages at home before moving to the U.S. when I was 8. From my experience, the best thing you can do for her is to have LOTS of playdates with kids who speak English -- but not with friends who speak both Chinese and English (these kids will probably speak Chinese to your daughter, which will defeat the purpose). The quickest way a child can learn to speak English is by actually speaking it while playing with her friends.

Also, if you would like her to maintain her Chinese, I would continue to speak Chinese at home.

My best friend and her family came to the US from Cambodia. She was just 3 years old, but her family didn't speak English. She self-taught herself English by watching Sesame Street, and attending preschool. She also became the family interpreter at an early age as her parents made no effort to learn for themselves. It was very difficult..

I would ensure that your family speak English in the home as well. This will enable her to not be so confused, and frustrated.

Welcome to mamapedia!!

When I moved to Belgium and then Germany? I listened to the radio and watched TV shows in French and German.

I would speak English at home as well - being bi-lingual is important - heck - encourage her to pick up MORE languages!! She'll get it!

My sister married a man whose first language was different than ours. So the kids grew up hearing both. Perfectly bilingual. TV, being in environments where English is spoken (activities, reading groups at library, programs for kids, etc.) will help her pick it up. Of course you'll want to up your use of English language so you can also communicate with her in English at home too. My sister learned the other language and while she's not fully bilingual, she's passable.
Tutoring if she's finding it difficult too - any way she can get in time to practice it at home - speaking, not just listening.

Try speaking it at home and listening to it on tv.
Also read to her in English.
It'll be a great learning experience for the whole family.

The multi lingual families that I know speak both languages at home. One parent speaks only in English and the other only in Chinese (or Spanish, French, whatever). I think that one of you needs to spend more time speaking English at home, read to her in English, watch English television shows for children. Good luck! It's wonderful to be able to speak more than one language!!

She is so young, I would go to PBS Kids, on a computer and have her play word games and listen to videos. Super Why is great for teaching letters and sounds. Any of the other shows are great for just learning the language in simple ways with great visuals to reinforce the words as well. Maybe you could all work on your English at home for a set amount of time, like 15 minutes a day after dinner or at dinner or something. It might really help. One of the most difficult things about English are the sounds that we have that other languages don't and vice versa. She needs to make and hear those sounds as young as possible so she will sound like a native speaker. Welcome to Mamapedia!

I don't know if it's a possibility but when we moved to Spain we made friends with a family who wanted to learn English and we wanted to learn Spanish. It worked very well. We incorporated cooking as well. The Spanish family taught us how to make their traditional dishes and we taught them ours. I second listening to radio or reading books at home.

There might be an opportunity to have her tutored at school or have some of her classmates over.

Blessings to you and your family.

speak english more at home. if what she's learning at school doesn't get reinforced anywhere else she'll still learn, it'll take a lot longer.
does she have a favorite american tv show? let that be part what makes it fun for her.
khairete
S.

there are many apps that are used for kids to learn another language, I am sure there are some to learn English

English is the most difficult language to learn. It simply doesn't follow the rules of most other languages. For instance we put the descriptive word before the noun as in red flower.. in most other languages it is said flower red. We also have so many words that sound alike but may be spelled differently and mean something totally different such as tier and tear .. a tier is a layer as in a wedding cake .. a tear is a liquid that falls from your eyes and to make things even more confusing is tear as in to rip a piece of paper.
I agree with the other suggestions of having English speaking friends over, reading books and watching TV and movies. She will get it.

My parents were Polish immigrants, and spoke primarily Polish when I was growing up. However, they always had talk radio on! I don't know to what extent talk radio still is available, but I essentially learned to speak from talk radio channels and watching the nightly news with my parents.

Maybe speak more English at home? Or during a part of the day specifically, like dinner?