When and how to tach English to a toddler who speaks Turkish in Australia?

[The.cupcake.tree]

Sorry about the 'tach' in the title, saw it after i posted it.

My daughter is 2 years old and we live in Australia. We speak to her in Turkish and she speaks to us in Turkish, but she watches English childrens programs in TV and i speak both Turkish and English to my husband so she hears that, too.

I intend on homeschooling my kids and so the idea that 'kids learn English when they go to school' is not really valid. Is it best to ease into it and add a few English words here and there, for example is she says 'kopek hav-hav' I would say 'dog woof-woof'? Or is it better to wait till she is 5 and teach her formally as if she had just started school?

I want her to be fluent in both languages so I don't want to risk losing the Turkish in order to learn English, if you know what i mean?

When should I teach her English and how should I go about it? Thanks!

PS. When I start homeschooling should the 'lesson time' be in English exclusively or in both languages?

[Plugged]

Not a teacher. Just take care of letting your children aware they need to differentiate in their brains what is Turkish and what is English. Other than that, teach! The sooner they can learn, the better. The worst case scenario is they don't learn a lot (for some, they always will), there's nothing to fear.

[Barb_D]

I am NOT a teacher, but I urge you to start talking to you daughter in both languages. She will not be confused or forget one in favor of the other, even if she sometimes will create a sentence with the grammar of one and some vocabulary of the other in the beginning.

If you want her to be truly bilingual, speak both languages at home -- don't wait until she's five and formally teach her. Let her pick up English the way she has picked up Turkish -- naturally, natively, and from her parents.

[emsr2d2]

I totally agree with Barb! The opportunity to be totally bilingual is one that shouldn't be denied to a child. I think she should hear 50/50 Turkish and English (in my opinion) so she is equally comfortable and fluent in both.

I'm very jealous of her!

[The.cupcake.tree]

Thanks for the replies so far guys, you've told me what my intuition has been telling me. Now my only problem I to rid of the awkwardness I feel when I speak to her in English. Since i've always spoken to her in Turkish it feels strange but I gotta do what I gotta do!

More replies would be appreciated!

[SoothingDave]

Definitely the earlier a child is exposed, the easier it is to learn a language. I've read where small children have the capacity to make all of the sounds used in languages, but the sounds that are reinforced are learned, and the others forgotten.

How many have trouble with the "th" sound in English because it is not native to their first language? Or, the other way around, English speakers, like me, have difficulty learning to roll the r in Spanish.

But, taught as a child, the sounds are natural.

I wonder if it might be useful to have your child in some sort of play group with English-speaking children (once you have prepared her some). Another way that language is learned naturally (besides from parents) is from peers.

[Raymott]

If you want your child to be fluent in English, I think you should seriously reconsider your decision not to send her to school. You have a marvellous opportunity here for your child, that posters from other countries can only dream about.

[The.cupcake.tree]

I understand where you are coming from, but I should have mentioned in my original post that I am studying a primary education degree with a major in English so God willing, that will be sufficient enough.

[The.cupcake.tree]

Plus i was born in Australia so you could say Turkish is my second language. My English is definitely better than my Turkish, no doubt. I use Turkish when I need to but I definitely prefer English as my choice of expression and I my mind thinks in English, so that is my mother tongue.

[emsr2d2]

I understand where you are coming from, but I should have mentioned in my original post that I am studying a primary education degree with a major in English so God willing, that will be sufficient enough.

If you're majoring in English, I'm sure you know that "sufficient enough" is tautology!