A Second Tongue, a Second Mind · Sitting 1
Climb With Them
If you never speak the second language with the child, the model becomes the speaker. Climb the ladder with them. Badly. Together.
- 32 min
- Companion
- Adult
Parent briefing · 5 minutes, before they sit
The adult climbs the ladder with the child. In a second language. Badly. Together. The adult does not need to be fluent. The adult needs to speak. Three rungs: greet, ask, respond. If the adult is wrong, that is fine. The child who sees an adult speak badly in another language learns that speaking is the skill, not perfection. The adult who never speaks teaches the child that the model is the speaker. The adult who speaks badly teaches the child that the mouth is the instrument. Climb together. The climbing is the inheritance.
Hard edges
- Do not use the model during the ladder. Drill before. Climb after.
- Heritage speakers: do not police the child's home register with the model's correctness. Their version is theirs.
If they say
- “I'll mess it up.”
- You will. That is the lesson. The child who sees an adult mess up a second language and keep going learns that speaking is the skill, not perfection. The adult who never messes up because they never speaks teaches the child that the model is the speaker. Mess up. Keep going.
- “The model can teach them better.”
- The model can drill the words. It cannot have the conversation. The conversation requires two mouths. Yours and theirs. The model is a drill. The ladder is the conversation. Climb it together.
Objective
The adult climbs a three-rung conversation ladder with the child in a second language, uses the model only for pre-drill, and models that the mouth is the instrument.
The household ladder
The household that never speaks the second language teaches the child that the language is an app, not a practice. The household that climbs the ladder, badly, together, teaches the child that the language is a mouth thing, not a screen thing. The adult does not need to be good. The adult needs to go first. 'Hola, como estas?' If the child hears the adult try, they will try. If the child hears the adult use the model and skip the trying, they will use the model and skip the trying. The ladder is the practice. The practice is the inheritance. Three rungs. Together. Badly. That is the lesson.
Big idea
Climb the ladder with the child. Badly. Together. The mouth is the instrument. The model is the drill. The ladder is the inheritance.
Try this~10 min total
Climb together
10 min- Pick a language you are learning or a family language.
- Drill five words with the model: greeting, question, response.
- Close the model. Climb three rungs with the child: greet, ask, respond.
- If you are wrong, laugh and keep going. The wrong is the lesson.
- Talk About It: did we have a conversation? Was it bad? Was it real?
Lesson guide
Ask after you try
Before the ladder, for drilling only.
- Drill five words with the model. Then close it. Climb with the child. If you break down, say it in your own language and keep going. The breakdown is the data. The drill is the fix. The ladder is the practice.
- Did you drill before and close during?
- Did you climb three rungs with the child?
- Did the child see you speak badly and keep going?
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- conversation
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Dinner table
What ladder did we climb together this week, badly and for real?
Sits beside
- Parenting. The ladder you climb is the ladder they will climb when you are not there.
- Language. Say It Yourself: the ladder is the deeper version. The mouth is still the instrument.
Integrity. Do not use the model during the ladder. The drill is before. The ladder is after. If you use the model during the ladder, it is not a ladder. It is a script.