Bilingual kids and Playgoups

I'm living in Germany, but am from Arizona. My Husband is German. The
only language in our child's "Kindergarten" (that's the preschool that
kids go to once they turn 3) is German, except for a few well-meaning
care-givers who throw in a few English words.

We go to an English-speaking playgroup once a week, where all the kids
are in the same situation, and most of the people are English
native-speakers.

I'm interested in hearing from other people who are also interested in
raising their children bilingually, whether it is in a foreign country
or in their own country. Anybody out there?

-L....

We plan to teach DS Spanish as a second language but not anything
formally until around age 4 or so. Depending on what school we choose,
they may teach bilingually so that will sort of be automatic. We read
to him now in English and Spanish. We have friends who have purchased
programs to teach Spanish at home and are pleased with them, although I
don't remember the names of the programs.

I think in today's society one almost has to be bilingual
English/Spanish to survive in the US anymore. So many jobs prefer it,
if not require it.

We also do some signing with DS and I would like that to continue as
well. ASL is a very marketable skill, too.

xkatx...

We speak English at home. Come 4th grade, kids learn French as their second
language, assuming they're not in a French immersion school. DS attends a
Ukrainian bilingual school, and he's learning in kindergarden. I speak it,
so I am able to help him out, but DH doesn't know any, yet DS piped up when
DH told DD to 'sit' and DS had to ask his dad why he said 'sit' in
Ukrainian, but has always said he didn't know Ukrainian lol
DH didn't even know what he said was actually Ukrainian, so it was kind of
funny.
So, in gr. 4, he'll be well on his way with Ukrainian and starting to learn
French. I find a second or third language is very handy, even if one of
those languages isn't an 'official' language. French and English are the
languages here. I spoke Ukrainian as a child, and I don't regret learning
it, or really have any regrets with learning French either, even though the
language at home was English.

cjra...

DH will speak to the kid in French only, and I will speak in English,
so he/she will grow up at least bilingual from the start. Even though
we live in the US, we live in a predominantly Spanish speaking
neighborhood and the daycare he/she will go to at least til age 3 has
mostly bilingual Spanish/English speaking kids, so I've no doubt he/she
will pick up Spanish in bits and pieces at least for awhile. If we're
still in the US by the time school age comes around, we'll go to a
Spanish immersion program.

Being bilingual in French and English is critical for us, but Spanish
will be extremely useful and I'm not really worried about introducing a
3rd language.

Donna Metler...

Almost half of the kids in my Saturday Kindermusik classes are bilingual,
and one is being raised trilingual. I'm attempting to raise Alli English/ASL
bilingual, with some exposure to French and Spanish as well. There are
several bilingual preschools and day cares in the area, with Spanish and
Chinese as the most common second languages, and the request form for the
babysitter/nanny agency we use asks whether you want a foreign language
speaking nanny, and if so, what language(s) you'd like her to speak.

Irrational Number...

I speak to my children in Chinese and DH
speaks to them in English. We had a Chinese-
speaking nanny, but now we're getting an
English-speaking one. I still plan to
speak to them in Chinese for as long as
possible.