Takatsugu-kun's video is
It's at the bottom 😸
Mom: Miku
Son: Takatsugu (6 years old, boy)
Mom! Don't talk to me in English!
This is my homeStart revisiting English at homeIt was.
Before entering Besty
My son attended an international school until halfway through the year.
Reading and writing begins towards the end of the youngest year, and I realized that this is a kindergarten that places great importance on reading and writing.
I felt that this was not the style our family was aiming for, but I desperately searched for an answer, thinking, "Something is different. But what kind of approach would be best? Are there any other ways?"
Then I came across Besty and heard about their activities, and I thought, this is what I wanted to do! So I joined.
Relearn "Home English" with Besty
You can forget about the reading and writing you did back then!
I stopped using it altogether and bought a used DWE.
However, we started by saying, "Stop speaking English!" so of course I couldn't speak to him.
The first thing we did was to play DVDs and CDs softly and go to places that overlapped with the DWE scenes.
We started by playing DVDs, and then I was able to listen to the TAC cards I was passing.
At this time, I didn't want to even ask a question, so I did what I could.
I made sure to go to places that overlapped with the scenes from the movie, so I played a lot with my favorite LEGO Duplo figures, which also served as a way to recreate the experience.
When we went to the circus, we recreated a shop using small LEGO popcorn and balloons, and on another day we connected a lot of parts with wheels to make something that looked like a train, and put Schleich animals on it to transport them.
While singing Circus Train songs, of course!
In our case, our children preferred to move dolls and speak lines rather than appearing in the story ourselves, so small toys came in very handy.
As the children were a little older, it may have been less of a psychological hurdle for them to have a doll speak for them rather than having to speak for themselves and attract attention.
After that, we began to see him playing with his sister in English, and little by little he began to accept being spoken to in English.
Although he still seemed reluctant to speak English outside, his attitude towards English gradually became more positive.
Get back to your English brain!
My English at home seemed to be going well, but one time when I went back to my parents' house for a long vacation, I spent a lot of time with many friends in Japanese, and I found myself drawn to Japanese.
Even after returning home, my English didn't go back to normal, and I was shocked, thinking, "I don't have time to fall behind!"
And I immediately consulted with Yume Mama,
"Because of all the input I've received up until now, I don't think I'll forget English in this amount of time. If I give myself one to two weeks to get back into English, I'll be fine!"
He spoke to me in a way that made me feel calmer.
If I had been alone, I might have only grown more anxious and only focused on the negative aspects, such as, "Huh? He used to be able to do it, but now he can't? Huh? He's speaking less?"
One of the good things about home English is that you can see your child's progress clearly,On the other hand, when things don't go well, I sometimes end up keeping it to myself.I think so.
The key to success is to be surrounded by colleagues who are working in the same field and can ask for advice.I thought that might be the case.
What's good about joining Besty?
After that, little by little, I began to feel a desire to talk about my interests, and I was able to acquire knowledge from YouTube as well.
Since he is not a particularly talkative person, I felt that it was very important to convey to him how he went from "playing alone" to "conversing with others" and that his desire to talk was very important.
He is a child with clear interests, so there are many things he does not seem interested in, so I received a lot of ideas from the instructor and tried various ways to incorporate things that I thought would interest my son when the timing was right.
I can't come up with ideas on my own, soI was grateful that the instructors offered suggestions from different angles when I wondered, "How else can I approach this?"is.
and,There are many concerns about the input and output stages, but each stage is different depending on the child's characteristics and interests.So, even if it's your own child, each approach is different and you may have some worries. It's very reassuring to have a place where you can talk about it.
Some of you may think, "I went to an international school, so surely I'll be able to speak," but at first I could only answer set questions with set sentences, and I wasn't able to think and speak in my own words.
The difference was huge. I couldn't converse freely.
It depends on the child's characteristics and compatibility with the school, but it was difficult in my child's case.
Now, I can see him talking enthusiastically with an online teacher about space, a subject he is interested in, in the words he knows, and I am truly glad that he chose to change his path, even though he had turned back at that time, prepared to give up reading and writing and forget everything.
It's also a moment when I think, "It's good that we're teaching English at home!" because I can cater to my child's interests.
I feel that this way of thinking is a very important way of interacting not only with English, but also as students move on to later learning.
I realized something very important about myself.
We've only just started, so I hope to continue working hard together with you all.
Message from Miku
My name is Miku 😄 I am raising three children: a 6-year-old son and two daughters, aged 4 and 2.
Our home has been focused on reading and writing English, but we're starting to learn English at home again.We have started.
When I met Besty, I was inspired and realised, "Maybe I can do this even though I can't speak English!", which helped me change my path.
At first, they were reluctant to speak to me in English, but I thought, "If I can't provide teaching materials or speak to them,Anyway, let's do something that is fun!!I have been working every day with this mindset.
Now I can see her enjoying learning English, and I'm really glad that she wouldn't be where she is today if she hadn't met Besty!
With instructors who you can ask for help if you get lost,I was able to keep going even when my motivation was about to drop because I had friends who shared the same goal of becoming bilingual..
There is still a long way to go before they become bilingual, but I would like to enjoy this journey together with my children, while being mindful of their interests.
