Before Mariyah was born, Jeeej and I decided that her first language should be Arabic. That we'll always speak to her in Arabic. Because we know for sure that once she goes to preschool, she'll learn English in no time.I see a lot of Asian kids speaking their language fluently with their parents. Some of my Pakistani students speak fluent Urdu too.
As for most of the Arabs I know here, if not all, their kids understand most of the Arabic language but can barely build a whole right sentence on their own.
The first kid in the family is always better then the rest, because more attention is paid to communicating with him/her in Arabic.
Once this kid goes to preschool, he'll/she'll learn English and start talking to the next child in English, so the second child's Arabic is worse.
Something else I notice here is that most Arab parents insist on speaking English to their kids even though their English is so weak and the fake American accent makes the whole thing worse!
We speak to Mariyah in Arabic. At the Pakistani day care, English is the language they use. My In Laws speak to her in English too. I see it confusing, but I still believe that our decision is for her own good.
Mariyah loves books, her first books were easy to read in Arabic. Just point at the picture and say the word in Arabic. The new books she is getting have longer sentences and translating the words into Arabic makes it sound stupid and boring too :p Today was the first time I read to her in English! I felt more relaxed and she was enjoying it too!
I think I will keep doing that when it comes to reading.
Actually I'm planning to teach her how to read Arabic once she becomes 3 years old. Just like I do with my students...I will use the same book and the same way...because it's actually working ;)
