Speaking in Tongues

I thought the DVD, "Speaking in Tongues" was a very good one. I think immersion programs are a fantastic idea. Having the opportunity to grow up bilingual is a great thing and it expands your thinking and  you get to be more or less immersed in another culture by learning it's language.

My mom and dad are both from Austria and when I was four years old my parents moved to Austria for a year. Before we moved I spoke nothing but English; but, when we moved to Austria for that year within two weeks I was speaking nothing but German.  It shows that a child can learn a foreign language at a younger age better than at an older age.

A younger child's brain is like a sponge and it soaks up what it learns and it sticks there. It is the prime time to learn a foreign language and I think this is a great thing. Several years ago I was living in Austria as a nanny. I was a nanny for a 5 year old boy and an 8 year old girl. The boy went to an American school. Before going to school there he did not know a word of English and was thrown into an English speaking school and within months he spoke English. When I was living there I spoke nothing but English to him and he is now bilingual in English and German. He was not in an immersion program; but, his story is very similar to that of an immersion program because he is a young child who must learn a foreign language - English.  His sister had a harder time learning English because she was going to a German grade school; however, she then transferred to an English school and eventually to the American school after having a better grasp of the English language. 

I am thankful to be able to speak German. When I travel to Austria I am able to communicate with my relatives and I am able to make my way around the country. Many individuals in Austria do speak English; however, it does help to know German because there are those who do not know English at all or know very little English.  I am thankful to know both German and English and I hope to pass the German language on to my future children.