21 April 2010

The English Headphones

It's been a while since I blog about my beloved son. He is now 4 years old and he speaks good English. I have chosen to speak English to my son because I know that English is difficult to learn at national schools. In national schools, English is not widely spoken thus, providing very little opportunity for our kids to practice the language. As an educator myself, I believe that parents are always the best people to teach the language and not teachers. Kids who don't speak English at home seem to have difficulties in learning the language in school. That is why even after attending 11 years of formal education, our kids still perform poorly in English examination.

Some of my relatives asked me why I didn't teach my son Iban or Bidayuh. Well...for a very simple reason. My son will learn those languages by himself once he is in school later. He will get a lot of opportunities to learn those languages from other local kids but not English. Although we claim that English is our second language, personally I think English is actually a foreign language to many of our students.
(My son enjoys learning English by listening and singing an English kids' song)
(He take pride in his achievement after saying a word correctly)
(He smiles when he understands a sentence)
(And he will show his serious looking expression when he is concentrating on a song)

21 Messages:

erolnukman said...

wahh...serius aku suka style gambar mcm tok..ekspresi ya mahal...

Ms Tikot said...

So cute...

Willie a.k.a Reptoz said...

Erol :Ya kah? thanks

Ms Tikot Hehehe

Lisa said...

Great pictures of your son and you captured his passion for singing.

Pictures can translate all languages.

SJB aka SUELYN J-B. said...

Agree with you..

Willie a.k.a Reptoz said...

OceanGirl :Thanks. A picture worth a thousand words.

SJB :Thanks. Your kids must be speaking English right?

carolchs said...

So cute your son. Good that he's enjoying that language lesson.

If i have children of my own, English is no doubt will be their mother tongue. Im not worry about BM cos they will eventually pick it up from school. As for the Kadazan language, I;m not good myself with the language so I will have my in-laws to teach my children. :)

manglish said...

hahahahahh he is so cute...you made the right move buddy!!! very wise..clap clap clap hhahaha

mrs shaifull said...

yes, learning english should start fr home..btw, so cute la this boy :)

RoseBelle said...

I see the point your making. I never knew that there are English schools in Malaysia up until when I started blogging which was late last year. Learning a second or third language is important for the future. Here in my city, Spanish and Mandarin are popular second language choices. My son is currently taking Mandarin.

Pete said...

Good to start them early on English!

Anonymous said...

It's very important to master the English language and never a waste to learn more than one language. Not forgetting the mother tongue is also important.

My regret is not learning Mandarin.

mNhL said...

Oh no! I speak 'rojak' language with my kids at home. Hope I won't confuse them when they entered primary school!

Bb Hussain said...

cutenyer ekpresi muka ..suka suka ;)

Naomi said...

Your son is so responsive to sound. cuteeeeeee. Kids learn fast at young age

Willie a.k.a Reptoz said...

CheguCarol :Yeah...if we do not have any choice, let others teach our children. Hahaha

Manglish :Clap clap clap too.

MrsShaifull :Thanks.

Rosebelle :Wah! Mandarin? that's a good choice.

Pete :Yeah...

MeiTeng :You do not know Mandarin? Ouch!

MnHL :Better choose one and let them be good at it.

BBHussain :Hahaa...thank u.

GhostyNana :Yes. kids are fast learners.

Ayie said...

he's learning and that's the most important of all

Mummy Gwen said...

Your son is very smart leh. We speak English at home too. I can't speak Mandarin and planning to enrol Gwen into a Chinese school. I wonder how is she's gonna cope coz we don't speak Chinese at home.

Unknown said...

I agree, he will learn the mothertoungue when he is big big, just like myself i never tought my sons hokkien but now no problem,, and thank god their english is very good too,,

hey willie, have a great weekend and god bless, ya,,,,,,,,,

MJ said...

that´s nice...good to know that he learn english at his age...

Willie a.k.a Reptoz said...

Ayie :Yes. Ayie. You're right.

MummyGwen :Oh? I think since u guys are Chinese, it is better that she can learn Chinese too later.

Eugene :Some languages can be learned through people around us. IT is natural the chinese will learn Chinese from their friends.

TheChinese :Well said.

Me :Yeah...