The One Where I Can't Teach My Own Kid English

Last night we had a pretty comical game of Go Fish.  We were trying to get Eva to play and speak in English.  Nate and Abi had played with me and my English students before and they had seen how I have used the game to teach basic English phrases.  We all thought it would do the trick to get Eva talking to us in English. 

We were wrong. 

Now that's she's 2 and a half, it obvious that Mongolian, NOT English, is her strong language.  It's pretty amusing for the rest of us, especially since the older 3 have English as their strong language.  And I do, too, obviously. 

We do ok, though.  We probably switch back and forth from one language to another a lot more since Eva started talking.  She understands English pretty well, but sometimes she gets extra toddleresque when we use too much English.  

And that's understandable.  Language is linked strongly to feelings and that's why we like to let our kids speak in any language they want, regardless of who we are with.   The only problem is that when I'm tired, my brain doesn't do the language thing very well.  So at times when Eva is feeling particularly chatty and I need a break, I send her to the other Mongol in the house: her daddy.  He doesn't mind.  He's happy for the Mongolian-speaking company.

So, back to the game...for the tenth time I say slowly, "Eva, say, 'Nate do you have a frog?'"

She ponders.

She furrows her eyebrow.

She almost gives up.

Then she says, "Ummmmm. Nate, chamd frog baigam uu?"

Close enough.