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Basics: Establish and Assign Roles

and now we'll really be going on to master and to understand the techniques for ensuring a bilingual environment toe how to gain take techniques that we can take away with those to ensure that our environment only becomes but also stays bilingual. So I'd like to kicks that this section this section off with our first lesson which builds upon our environment and lays down the foundation for our bilingual set up our situation. We're going to be discussing the basics of this which is essentially discussing how to establish and assign roles and understand the importance of role within our individual. Set up Andi also to look at what we mean by the word in part. So when we talk about language input, what are we really talking about? Now? I just read just you mentioned the word role and why roles so important. Now our role will be analyzing what we mean by when we talk about role. What is my personal role in this set up? And I'll also be parading you with different examples of different role...

s for you to maybe understand as well if you're not quite sure about what your role is or What you're setting is how you fit your role or other rules into that particular environment. So we need to establish our own personal contribution to the setting to the bilingual situation that we have in front of us. Andi will be looking, as they said, different kinds of setting different, saying kinds of roles from the traditional role to maybe a different approach that is, that is used today. So I'd like us to think off. An example will be thinking about now, and I'd like you to think of this briefly is first, but I'll be explaining the importance of roles. But also what is my role in this roles are incredibly important because roles defining the role is basically setting the foundation, the building blocks in place for the establishment off a bilingual environment. Because if we're able to understand why we personally want to raise our Children bilingual early on, we've analyzed our setting and ultimately last thing that we need to do is analyze what we are able to do, how we're able to contribute to the creation to the set up of a bilingual environment for a child. Now, in this case, we're talking about what we're able to give to the child. How do we define? How do we see ourselves concerning the role We, for example, going to be the primary carer off the child? And if this soul, if this is so, how will be using which language will be using? Which language will our partner be using? Which language will the grand parents be using? Which language will be considering our language is considering when we send our child our send the child to school and it is not our child. How do we see our role in that? Because everyone has a ninja individual role to play on the role is an individual and personal and exclusive. So we'll be looking at, for example, a few. For example, great. Until leads another example, we'll be looking at a few examples of roles, and in the meantime, I'd like you just to jot down what you believe to be your personal role and to see how you will influence the bilingual setting. So it's probably a very traditional role is, as we saw before would be, say, a couple with £2 consisting of two parents or just put where the Children with Children on the child is being raised bilingual e Now this could be, as we said at home, are in school. So the question that the couple has to ask yourself here is What is the input that they are? We'll be looking in part in a minute, so I won't discuss that too much. But we could say, for example, that parent one speaks English and parent to speaks German and that the child, therefore, is going to be brought up in two languages. It could, however, as we saw before, it could be that the two parents both speak the same language and therefore the child is going to be brought up it one language at home and then outside in the wider setting to be educated in another language. Now we have obviously many different settings concerning parents concerning Children. You could have a situation where it's to Children. S O launched one parent when the parent, this is the sole parent, is responsible for transmitting the language to our to the child. It could also be the case is as we have with you. For example, Phyllis, where your engagement, your role is as a grand parent and you want to play a very. It's a very important, decisive role in the upbringing of your grandchildren, where you will be responsible far not only teaching them and you them seeing using example Teoh speak English but also that you want to contribute to their what bringing by. You've decided to learn Spanish, which is a very, very important step. So, Aziz said, there are definitely different roles but are different settings concerning home or in education. But we've also analyzed as well the situation of A. It may be a close friend as well, but when we talk about the role we have to analyze and we have to understand what will I are, what will this person be doing in the relationship concerning bilingualism now? In this case, we have to analyze they a wide array of different situations where we see ourselves in growing in relationship to the child. Are we, for example, the primary caregiver? Will we be? Are we apparent that at least societally is understood to be unequal partnership with the other parent, but maybe doesn't spend as much time with the child simply because, due to work due to travel due to other many. There are many other reasons why this could be the case where it's the grandparents, for example, where the grand parents actually which something that we might like expect. But the grand parents play a much more important role at times than the parents do, because the grand parents are actually bringing up the Children during the day while the parents are out at work. So there are different from the different aspects that we have to think about here. And I would like to hear from you on to see what you think your role is on where you fit into this whole your the your setting of bilingualism. Marry, Would you like toe? Yeah, great. I think of myself as baby being an example to the child of linguistic flexibility. Because although what I'm not with the Spanish speaking caretaker, I do speak English to my daughter. But when I'm with her, I speak Spanish to the my daughter into the caretaker. So she sees me as being kind of be able to being able to switch. Yeah, um, that's kind of what I see my role. Yes, and you bringing up a child with another parts with you? Yes. And they're one of the reasons that I don't speak Spanish to my daughter. When I'm not with the caretaker is that my husband doesn't speak or understand. Okay, We kind of have are so you already have, like, so that your child being brought up within a language. But you have this, say, the family language, which is English. But the child is still receiving in our exposure, in this sense with due toa hailing you speak with with the UK Exactly. And she's there full time. Yeah, she gets a bit. Okay, Great. Phyllis, I know you were telling me that is with being a grand parent grandmother to the grandchildren, but would you like to maybe explain a bit more? This set up like, Well, I worry. We live a couple of hours away, but we see him quite often and course it's always English. And then in the summer, each one comes out and spends a week with us and course I get mawr into their English with us, and there are other grandparent's or with them, live with them so they get full on with the other grand parents from the Spanish. Okay, great and Mo teach. I'm definitely the primary of language transmitter for the non English language at home, and my husband doesn't speak Cantonese, so I'm the sole person that gives for the exposure. Okay, this is often the case that we're we automatically think, and this is something that will see now that we have this role. But we have to analyze as well. What is the in part? What there we actually able to give the child are not only us but anyone that's involved anyone. That's because we're talking about a complete network of people here. So you have the child, and then you have all these links to different people in different situations. Be immediate. Parents, siblings, grandparent's relatives, friends, friends of the family school child minders. There are so many people here, depending on your personal setting, your personal set up that have to be brought into this process, who will also be seeing where these people actually fit into this process? Are we able to include everyone in it? And if we are, how can we? This would be something that will be looking into measuring language exposure. But before we do that, when we refer to in part, we're essentially talking about. We've already defined our personal rolled in relationship to the child. But we're talking now about our linguistic impart, and this is quite simply, the efforts our our personal efforts concerning the amount, the quantity. And it would also say the quality off a certain language that the child is exposed to buy us on by other people because other people are also providing their own input. So if we're talking about a traditional bilingual home with two parents, this shouldn't be difficult because there's a constant used to and throw to and from two languages used by both parents. However, one parent is more present than the other due to work due to maybe estrangement as well. With the parents out living together, then we're talking about different levels of import, so we're also which will lead us unto exposure. How much input is the child receiving from from who is the child receiving input from who? So this is something that we need to analyze as well, and we also need to discuss about techniques for achieving in part. So how are we able to, for example, to maximize our our our in pop. This is we have to realistically analyze the situation that we're in and think about where we see ourselves and where we see ourselves in, say, a given timeframe off I have with the child. So if we think about our input, were also analyzing everyone else. Everyone else's import by everyone that comes into contact with the child there in park. So maybe if you could take a few minutes just just to think about your personal input on the import of others and then we can see what the situation is. Now, where were the buildup before we talk about how toe promote and to ensure bilingualism amongst our Children are amongst the child. So in many settings we would have as we've already seen. We have the child, Andi, the parents while the parental setting. And then we have obviously an array of other people as well we have, as I mentioned, we have not only the family, so the family immediate family and then we have school, which also involves several different people were talking about other people's instructors because we might be sending our child to a bilingual school. Otto, a monolingual are mainly monolingual school in the majority or minority language. But if the pupils are also coming from the same background and maybe not using the same language, then this is our may. Maybe he's in a different language, then. This is also something that could have an effect on the the process of bilingualism in the child. And if the school, for example, isn't informed of your of what you're doing and that the child is having difficulties in using the language at school, or maybe rejecting the language that you're speaking to him in or heard then this can also have consequences for the development of the two languages in yourself in your setting. And then we have obviously friends and relatives. Well, that would be actually family. But then we have other people as well, maybe like as we've already see child minders, people that that the child comes into contact with it could also be not, just, incidentally, school age, but also friends. Where you were saying that, for example, my teacher think right you're saying about that your friend Andi speaks German to her child and Therefore, your child is also exposed to German because of the import off. The the the parent, your friend speaking German to the child. So actually your child, even if it's not being brought up in German through you. Arthur, Anyone else in the family when they say an educational setting, it's being exposed to German simply because of the child. So the question is whether your child world, your child, become bilingual in German. It's a very good, very good question. It's actually something that I would love to find out more. So we really got a lot of situations here, and I'd like Teoh come back to the question I asked you, Andi, please feel free as well at home because I'd love to hear your input as well, literally in this work because we're talking about in part, I love to hear feedback from you and to tell me what you're coming up with in what you were and how you perceived your role to be on your in this case, the input that you're able to provide more teach. Would you like toe tell me by, um So I myself, um, tried to speak as much as I can when I remember Teoh and we try to do everything from start to finish, like getting up the morning and brushing our teeth. Daily activities, Um, she's in school three days a week, and so there's that amount of time where she doesn't get any exposure at all. But right from the moment that I picked her up, um, I speak to her in Cantonese all the way home. And then up till bedtime is when I try to give her that exposure constant. And then at the same time, my husband is speaking to her in English. So yeah, but it doesn't seem to confuse her. That's great. So basically, we'll be seeing this as well. See, if we analyze the situation after work after school, you've maybe got if your husband's around as well, you've maybe got a setting where you've got 50 50. Or maybe if your husband isn't is in the home at a time you two are, then maybe it's actually to your advantage is because we analyzed the amount of time that except 25 75% in your favor. But it's still obviously through. The something will be looking at as well. The issue is. How do we increase the exposure in the case of the minority language, whether minority languages, either someone is the language that's not spoken outside the home or less outside the hole in the major majority language. And also it's much more, much more of a challenge when it's only one or a few people that are actually really providing the import. So thank you very much for that Marat kind of a summary that I gave before. I mean, at this point, it's sort of like Paul. Okay, how do we increase that inflation? My husband enjoys reading some of the Spanish books we have, and it's also very entertaining because he doesn't speak Spanish. Okay, but for now, that's kind of our pattern of increasing. I'm you know, I'm thinking I would love to have help me to be a dual immersion type educational setting later, but for now, I think it's you know, it's a good question how to increase the input, given the kind of division of duties we've had in place now. Yeah, sure. Thank you, Phyllis. It used to be that I would read to them. Yeah, and now when I'm here and they're doing it one of, especially when there's one that has to read every certain amount of time. And he's reading it in Spanish. So he's helping. He's translating it. So we're actually doing that. Teoh talk with thing when we're reading and talking and, well, we'll talk about the words and you will be, too. Of course, the English. And he's helping me with the Spanish in it, so it's kind of a exchange. Ask. Yeah, that's actually really lovely ways in your language bodies, your exchange of Yeah, definitely. And we saw that in the previous class house to improve your fluency techniques and wow, Great, that's lovely.