candm

MayDayGirl

Did your kids speak any english? Did you speak any of their language? How has that been going?

candm

The kids could count to 10 and recite their ABC's. They knew a few phrases like "it's ok" and "I love you", but that is it. I'd say total, their vocabulary was around 20 words if you didn't count 1-10. They picked it up AMAZINGLY fast. Both are in school now (pre-school and kindergarten) and although they do not speak proper English, they have no problems communicating with their teachers and classmates.

DH and I had learned a small about of Creole from a Creole for adoptive families CD. I knew how to say most articles of clothing, eating terms, wellness terms and other things like that. And we also kind of made up our own language through gestures. The whole family picked up certain creole phrases. I am now trying to get through to S&D that we want them to retain their Creole (I fear they are already starting to lose it). The hard part is they don't really see the distinction between Creole and English--to them it's just talking to be understood. For example, the other day I asked them how you say "thank you" in Creole. They could not think for the life of them how to say it. But when I said "Mesi" they were like "oh yeah." They just have a hard time not thinking of English and Creole as the same language.