Italian cirriculum

[MommaJenn]

Does anyone know of good Italian cirriculum, books, tapes, DVDs, things like that? DH is Italian and we want both our boys to speak it.

[Ester Maria]

How old are the kids, and how much Italian do they speak already? Does your husband speak to them exclusively in Italian, or at least from time to time? Do you have access to other Italian speakers or go to Italy (how often?)?

I can help, but I need more details.

[MommaJenn]

Gianni is 3 years and Garatoni is only 9 weeks. I know it's best to start right off the bat, but we did wait until Gianni was around a year old to start (I was unsure at the time how to go about doing 2 languages). DH, myself and my mother in law speak Italian, but not always, just sometimes, but DH and I have decided to speak every day in Italian and English. MIL speaks Italian every time she sees the boys, but speaks to them mostly in English. We don't know any other Italian speakers where we live, and haven't had a chance to take them to Italy, but hopefully that'll change soon. Gianni can say grandma/grandpa in Italian and exucuse me, that's about it. He doesn't do the greatest with just being spoken to, he needs more hands on stuff, or fun stuff to help him learn.

[Ester Maria]

Gianni is 3 years and Garatoni is only 9 weeks. I know it's best to start right off the bat, but we did wait until Gianni was around a year old to start (I was unsure at the time how to go about doing 2 languages). DH, myself and my mother in law speak Italian, but not always, just sometimes, but DH and I have decided to speak every day in Italian and English. MIL speaks Italian every time she sees the boys, but speaks to them mostly in English. We don't know any other Italian speakers where we live, and haven't had a chance to take them to Italy, but hopefully that'll change soon. Gianni can say grandma/grandpa in Italian and exucuse me, that's about it. He doesn't do the greatest with just being spoken to, he needs more hands on stuff, or fun stuff to help him learn.
Listen, you still have time to develop balanced bilingualism with the older one (and thus the younger one), but you need to change the method NOW.
I suggest you the OPOL method (one parent one language) - you speak to them in English (I assume it's your native language?), and your husband (along with the rest of his family) exclusively in Italian. That way they will learn both languages from native speakers and get plenty of exposure to both. I suppose that you could also speak Italian when you'll all together (the whole family, you, husband and the kids), but otherwise speak to them in your native language.

Regarding the actual Italian materials, if you plan on homeschooling them, I suggest you to get the ENTIRE Italian set for each school year (or at least for most subjects) and get them truly bilingual, i.e. educate them in both languages (that's how we do, we have Italian textbooks and use anglophone materials as supplements, you could do vice-versa as well, but make sure to include Italian on native level and treat them as speakers all along). Publishers really don't matter if they don't go to school in Italy, just make sure you get textbook sets for first, second and so on grade aimed at Italian kids, not Italian as second language kids (this is crucial, otherwise kids won't develop true native fluency). So you do Italian language arts and English language arts, supplement Math, History etc. with Italian materials, and they grow up truly bilingual.

Now when they're young you can get a bunch of story books, or download Italian fairy tales, stuff like that, as they're too young for any official curriculum.

I emphasize it, though: do NOT teach them Italian as a foreign language, but Italian as NATIVE language, and if you're not comfortable with the language at later stages, your husband can take it upon himself. That's the best way to go for true bilingualism, and it would be a shame to miss the opportunity to teach them proper Italian and for them to end up with poor Italian skills because they were taught it as a foreign language rather than a native one.

[MommaJenn]

Thanks for your help.

[jld]

I'd just like to echo EM's point about having your husband speak consistently in Italian. My dh did that in French, and a few of our kids just returned from a 2 month stay in France. It is amazing how quickly ds5 started speaking French after just a few days with his grandparents. But it wouldn't have been that way if dh had not always spoken French to him. Input is crucial.

[MommaJenn]

^ Yeah I understand that. I know it can be crucial to speak fluently to them. The problem we have though is that ds1 doesn't do well with just being spoken to. I know it 's not impossible to learn when older though, so I'm not that worried. I learnt my first language in my teens, and my second in my 20s (I'm trilingual, German and Italian with English of course). And I have many relatives whose children didn't start any language until pre-teens and can now speak fluently, mostly French, without having parents who speak it. I would really like some child/toddler friendly work books, or other fun activities that revolves around learning Italian. My son works best when its an activity or a workbook. Just speaking to him isn't going to work.

[Ester Maria]

^ Yeah I understand that. I know it can be crucial to speak fluently to them. The problem we have though is that ds1 doesn't do well with just being spoken to. I know it 's not impossible to learn when older though, so I'm not that worried. I learnt my first language in my teens, and my second in my 20s (I'm trilingual, German and Italian with English of course). And I have many relatives whose children didn't start any language until pre-teens and can now speak fluently, mostly French, without having parents who speak it. I would really like some child/toddler friendly work books, or other fun activities that revolves around learning Italian. My son works best when its an activity or a workbook. Just speaking to him isn't going to work.
But of course that you're going to combine formal work with the colloquial language! Nobody is questioning that.
The only thing I'm saying is that it would be a shame if they studied Italian as a foreign language, if they have the opportunity to learn it as native speakers. Of course that when they reach preschool and school age you should find language arts materials, but again - those aimed at Italian children, not Italian as second language children.

Speaking to him IS going to work, but with children from bilingual families it can take some time for the things to work out. My daughters wouldn't speak Hebrew, especially the younger one, if their life depended on it when they were small, and they were refusing English for nearly a year after we moved to the States. Now they're balanced bilinguals in Italian and English, the older one speaks Hebrew nearly on a native level (she uses Israeli textbooks for some of her schoolwork, and does Hebrew language arts on a grade or two below her actual grade), and the younger one, while lacking the "academic" component, speaks colloquial Hebrew just fine.

The input, especially at a young age, is crucial. They might not respond very well to it now, but if you're consistent, there is no way that it doesn't work, especially if you start with bedtime stories and alike (you have a bunch of those online if you can't order them from Italy, just google the names of typical fairy tales and you're bound to come across sites with fairy tale collections), and in a year or two add Italian coloring books, language workbooks and other school material. Just make sure those are Italian products aimed at Italian kids, and that your kids get enough native input (it's not an issue at all if they're being spoken to in Italian by non-native fluent speakers as well, but since children don't really "pick up" the language - it would be more correct to say that they "reconstruct" it - they need native input as well).
I also recommend cartoons in Italian in a year or two. :D The old Disney ones are perfectly dubbed, with nice music, and kids love them.

At that age, we really didn't use anything spectacular; formal stuff started at 5-6 years old.

[jld]

I hesitated to weigh in again, since it seems like your mind is pretty much made up. But after reading EM's 2nd post, and vigorously nodding my head in agreement, I just want to say that I think this could be a real gift to your children, a gift that could start right away.

Are you not really fluent in Italian? It's just so much easier for children to truly master a language when it has always been spoken to them.

No one resisted a foreign language more than my daughter. She would put her hands on her ears when her dad or I would speak French to her. She never told anyone her dad was not American, and rarely responded in French. But dh persisted anyway.

One day when she was about 8, she came home from a homeschool gathering and just looked shocked. "Mom," she said, "those kids think it's cool that I know French." This idea was new to her.

Shortly afterwards she started reading in French, and then a few years later we moved to France. The transition was not too hard for her, and not nearly as hard as if she were only starting to be spoken to consistently in French. Now she's fluent, and while I doubt she's as good as kids who grow up in France (I heard a grammar error the other day), she is very, very good. I don't believe this would have happened without her father's dedication.

Just food for thought. And now I really won't say another word!:)

[MommaJenn]

I can speak Italian fluently. My son is special needs, he really doesn't do well with just being spoken to. He doesn't even understand English all that well when just being spoken to. I'm not Italian, my DH is. My family is German, Norweigen and Native American, so knowing English is also a big thing, since most my family speaks that. I agree that being biligual is a gift, but I know my son, and I know how he learns. Using fun activities and workbooks along with being spoken to is key for him. That is what I'm looking for.

It's not that my mind is made up, I just know what works for him. He doesn't learn traditionally. He strives with hands on stuff. When we started using activities for him when learning to talk (in English) that is what got him going.

Workbooks and activities are more for learning to read and write it, not really to speak it, but it will help with speaking it. I want something interactive, and a good workbook for him to help. We do speak to him in Italian on a daily basis, and I know it takes time for him to learn. We just want to incorporate a structured program for him as well.

[jld]

You are his mom, and you know him best. Good luck to you!:)

[USDGAL]

Do you know any children's songs? I did that with my ds. He only spoke Spanish up until last summer, even though we had spoken both English and Spanish to him all his life. We also read books in English, did books on tape, and made up games to learn new words. May be you can buy some children's books online.

I think EM really knows what she is talking about though, You will be surprised how much your child will learn if you speak Italian on a regular bases, even if it doesn't show. My ds is also a hands on learner but I think he actually new a lot. Doing these activities just helped him come out of his shell.

Danielle