Akil & English!
Akil who will be turning 4 in the next month is making sentences and speaking in English. It's so funny to listen to the language of kids of this age. Cut & Put becomes cutted and putted. "I cutted the paper". The 'ing' form of verb always comes at the last. Instead of "going through", he says "go throughing". "I am go throughing the book","I am climb uping the sofa", "I am an Akil", "Elephant where is gong?", "I am inside going" and so on. :-D
It's even more funny to listen to few of his pronunciations but Akil got the basics right a year back (Thanks to the hi-fi Bangalore neighbor kids!!!). Akil would have definitely got better English if we had been in Bangalore but not our mother tongue Tamil. I remember my 9th standard English teacher phrasing, "English is a funny language". By this, what she meant was pronunciation is different across all parts of the world. Pronunciation of a European looks funny to an Asian and vice-versa. Why to take across globes? Even within the states in a country, pronunciation differs. I myself get confused with the prepositions and pronunciations when I have to correct Akil. These days, kids start teaching/ correcting their parents once they are in Class 3 or 4. I am waiting for those days to come. :)
We moved Akil to a different school this year and here, teachers seem to speak lot in English. After first week of school this year, Akil says, "We have to say 'Excuse me' after a cough or sneeze". We have to drink only one sip of water at a time to avoid choking. Knock the door and ask "May I come in?" before entering the room. These are tiny little things that comes only from School when we don't have the habit of following at home.
It's even more funny to listen to few of his pronunciations but Akil got the basics right a year back (Thanks to the hi-fi Bangalore neighbor kids!!!). Akil would have definitely got better English if we had been in Bangalore but not our mother tongue Tamil. I remember my 9th standard English teacher phrasing, "English is a funny language". By this, what she meant was pronunciation is different across all parts of the world. Pronunciation of a European looks funny to an Asian and vice-versa. Why to take across globes? Even within the states in a country, pronunciation differs. I myself get confused with the prepositions and pronunciations when I have to correct Akil. These days, kids start teaching/ correcting their parents once they are in Class 3 or 4. I am waiting for those days to come. :)
We moved Akil to a different school this year and here, teachers seem to speak lot in English. After first week of school this year, Akil says, "We have to say 'Excuse me' after a cough or sneeze". We have to drink only one sip of water at a time to avoid choking. Knock the door and ask "May I come in?" before entering the room. These are tiny little things that comes only from School when we don't have the habit of following at home.
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