vanSchoorFamily Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 I need some advise please and I'm sure there are / were many in this position.My son is 7 (Gr 1), speaks a bit of English but will obviously still need a lot of help. Our daughter is 2 and we are already converting her to English. She does very well, but mixes a lot between the two as her brother forgets to speak English to her? LOLWhat will happen to my son once we get there? School and Social? Will he be ok? Will there be English help available?I am so worried moving to a country far away from his friends and our family and now enrolling him in a school which will be very strange to him?? Do I have a good reason to worry or am I being a paranoid mother?Any advise please O my nerves ... 1/2 way through our process Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 VanSchoor,They will be just fine, it's you I worry about! LOL, just kidding. Seriously they will pick it up in no time at all, you will be shocked at their pace. My kids speak frigging Indonesian! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanSchoorFamily Posted September 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 VanSchoor,They will be just fine, it's you I worry about! LOL, just kidding. Seriously they will pick it up in no time at all, you will be shocked at their pace. My kids speak frigging Indonesian!Hahaha Do i really sound soooo paranoid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 Yeah!I can hear the air raid sirens going off in the background! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rozellem Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 From last week:http://www.saaustralia.org/index.php/topic/43598-concerned-mother/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidim Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 Hy sal heeltemal fine wees. Ja, jy's 'n paranoid ma, maar alle goeie ma's is paranoid!Die skole hier help nuwe kinders met aanpassing ongelooflik baie. Hulle het my 5 jarige en 14 jarige altwee gehelp met spesiale programme toe ons hier gekom het en dit was gratis in 'n staatskool.Jy hoef regtig nie oor jou kinders te worry nie. Surferman is reg, as jy moet worry, worry eerder oor jouself! Die aanpassing is baie moeiliker vir volwassenes. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosch x 2 Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 As jy wil worry, worry dat hulle nog gaan kan Afrikaans praat!! As jou moedertaal vir jou belangrik is, praat net Afrikaans met hulle. Die Ingels gaan hulle leer in die skool en hulle gaan met Aussie aksente praat!! Ons praat met ons 2 Aussie gebore kinders net Afrikaans. Hulle praat Engels en Afrikaans gemeng terug. By die daycare meng hulle soms hulle tale maar ons het 'n keuse gemaak dat Afrikaans ons huistaal sal wees. Baie mense is twee tale magtig en dis 'n goeie ding!! Ons Aussie vriende is baie jaloers dat hulle net 1 taal kan praat!! So hou op stress en praat net Afrikaans met jou kinders want dit is die enigste taal waarmee hulle gaan sukkel!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neels Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 I am so worried moving to a country far away from his friends and our family and now enrolling him in a school which will be very strange to him?? Do I have a good reason to worry or am I being a paranoid mother?Any advise please O my nerves ... 1/2 way through our processOns sit amper in dieselfde bootjie.. Het al met baie gesels hieroor, en almal stem saam soos hier bo. Ons voel al meer gerus oor die aanpassing. Waar gaan julle in Oz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 We got here 4 years ago, kids aged 4 and 2. They are already starting to get their Aussies twang and pronounce things like "milk" as "mielk" etc! The youngest was born here and she will be 100% Aussie from the get go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Don't worry, kids are amazing. You will see that there are so many kids from different parts of the world. Last year a little girl from the Philippines joined my sons class, she didn't have a bit of English. She sat in class and just seemed to absorb everything, the other girls sort of mothered her and looked after her, and before long was babbling away in English.There are also ESL (English as a second language) classes at schools. Your kids are young, they will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaughanroe Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 (edited) We have 2 sons. One born in England and one born in Aus. My wife speaks Afrikaans and I speak English. The deal with having the kids speak Afrikaans is purely a heritage thing so they can communicate with their Grandparents. Now and then we all speak Afrikaans at home.I am very proud of my sons ability (although limited) to speak Afrikaans. Does it help them at school currently? Not at all! Will it help them in business one day? Highly unlikely! The only value it holds is cultural.Controversial Statement below: (Do not read if easily offended!)Afrikaans is a dying language. I doubt very much that my grandchildren (should I so blessed to live that long) will ever be able to speak it. The language itself and the culture attached to it will be carried forward and over the generations will be lost due to the dilution of the population across the world and also the prejudiced society in the very country that the Boer helped to build.Your kids, moving to Aus, will adapt so fast to English that you will be left slack jawed and bewildered and I am willing to bet in a number of years when you are filling in some form or other (and yes, there are always forms) will ask your child for assistance in understanding a word or two.The greatest lesson to be learned in this is in fact from our kids!! Embrace the society in which you will live with your whole heart! Embrace all new and wonderful possibilities wihtout prejudice and this will assist in settling the whole family just a little better,easier and faster.Enjoy the adventure! Edited September 22, 2014 by vaughanroe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanSchoorFamily Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Thank you for all the advise ... a feel a bit reassured now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicknel Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 My son is 3 also afrikaans, we decided to put him in an English school at the beginning of the year and he is doing great! We only speak Afrikaans to him at home. Now and then he will ask us ....."Wat is dit in engels?" But he primarlily speaks afrikaans to us, now and then an english word or sentence pops up. Yesterday his english cousin came to visit and I couldn't believe the english sentences that came out of my son's mouth. He just spoke english to his cousin, they could understand each other perfectly and boy were we proud of our son for being able to speak two languages at his age so well. Kids pick it up quickly, If my 3 year old picked it up so quickly in less than a year then your 7 and 2 year olds will definately do great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosch x 2 Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Hi Vaugh, I can't disagree with you more!! Afrikaans is a community language in Australia and we even received points for speaking the language when we migrated to Australia. There are Afrikaans churches all over Australia and Afrikaans singers tour through Australia every year performing in Afrikaans. I work at one of the Big Four banks and even I speak Afrikaans at least twice a day at work!!!! If you look at the migrants in Australia, Afrikaans and English are definitely not the "home language" spoken in all the households. And also, most clever people speak more than one language Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted September 23, 2014 Report Share Posted September 23, 2014 Hi Vaugh, I can't disagree with you more!! Afrikaans is a community language in Australia and we even received points for speaking the language when we migrated to Australia. There are Afrikaans churches all over Australia and Afrikaans singers tour through Australia every year performing in Afrikaans. I work at one of the Big Four banks and even I speak Afrikaans at least twice a day at work!!!! If you look at the migrants in Australia, Afrikaans and English are definitely not the "home language" spoken in all the households. And also, most clever people speak more than one languageNot any longer.In order to gain the 5 points for a community language you have to be NAATI accredited, and accreditation is no longer available for Afrikaans.There are churches that hold services in Afrikaans, as I'm sure there will be Arabic, Mandarin and Greek services.Yes, Kurt Darren and Steve Hofmeyr etc do tour, but to smallish crowds. I think 4 or 5 hundred.There are around 35 000 Afrikaans speakers in Australia according to census 2011 figures.If people want to protect the language, they will have to make a concentrated effort to ensure it does not die out. In terms of migrants, it is likely that you will speak Afrikaans and your children to some extent, but as people marry into the Australian population, it is unlikely that their kids (your grand kids) will have more than a smattering of the language Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronwyn&Co Posted September 23, 2014 Report Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) It will be very difficult to keep it up. I recommend Youtube and actually buying your children lots of Afrikaans books to take with you. Also music and conversation - as much as possible.It's true it does get used here (our St George bank manager has Afrikaans printed on his business cards), but it is rare, obviously. All the kids of Afrikaans people I know can speak it (some well, some only understand), but they invariably lose their SA accents & start going out with Aussies around age 16 or 17... Edited September 23, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted September 23, 2014 Report Share Posted September 23, 2014 We decided to abandon Afrikaans as in our view its a pointless exercise to teach them what is in essence an unused language in Aus, except us adult expats. I have Mandarin and Hawaiian as their languages, after they master Indonesian. We speak it sometimes, but even at home we speak English almost exclusively. My father sent me to an English high school, and said in those days Afrikaans days are numbered, better to speak and sound english. He has foresight he did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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