While I understand the reasons for the far-from-ideal standard we get in most local preschools, it is hard to accept when my 3-year-old comes home uttering Singlish.
Early this year, a few months after he started attending the nursery school, he came home asking for 'wo-der' (water). I nearly fell off my chair.
In the same week, we heard more Singlish in his conversations with us. I was disturbed. E was visibly annoyed.
We corrected him patiently and repeatedly by pronouncing the word properly. We did it gently but firmly.
Sometimes I could hear Marcus telling him that he was speaking bad English. I had to remind Marcus to be gentle with him too. In his attempt to teach his little brother, Marcus would say to him 'now, you repeat after me... it should be like this... ' (this is NOT the way E and I correct little Chip)
Sometimes I could hear Marcus telling him that he was speaking bad English. I had to remind Marcus to be gentle with him too. In his attempt to teach his little brother, Marcus would say to him 'now, you repeat after me... it should be like this... ' (this is NOT the way E and I correct little Chip)
After weeks of correcting Chipsy whenever necessary, he seems to realize now. And when he does say 'wo-der' and 'le-der' (letter), it is more out of jest to annoy us before laughing at our reactions.
I know it is inevitable for him to pick up some Singlish and even if he does, it is just a matter of correcting him. But I still don't like it.
I said my share of silent prayers when we decided to send my 3 y.o to this preschool. (Or rather, it was more like my decision since E pretty much left it to me to decide. He is always supportive of my recommendations and reasons when it comes to matters related to kids' education.....)
I see it as a tradeoff - for better exposure to the Chinese language, we sacrifice a little of his spoken English.
I see it as a tradeoff - for better exposure to the Chinese language, we sacrifice a little of his spoken English.
At Marcus' age, I am no longer that concerned as he can differentiate between good and bad English. Very often, he would come home to tell me that 'T speaks really bad English today... he said 'why cannot lah?', 'how come you like dat one?' etc... T is one of those kids in school with very distinct Singlish.
Some say, Singlish is a version of English, with its own lingo and unique expressions. Yes, I suppose as long as we speak in grammatically sound sentences, it is alright to flavour our speech with spices of Singlish from time to time.
If speaking some Singlish helps us mingle with the crowds and befriend the kids in school, I think it is fine. But what is important is the ability to switch from Singlish to proper English when we need to.
The effect of Singlish will surely be greater when the boys join the Primary schools with the longer hours spent in school. Sigh.
4 comments:
Don't worry about your boys speaking singlish. My husband and I try our best to speak correctly to my boys and until now, though 9 and 12 still speak proper English. Their friends and teachers always mistaken them to have resided in the USA before! Go figure...
I know what you mean. That is what I am hoping for too. A firm foundation at formative years and good English at all times in home environment should counter any undesirable influence. Thanks for sharing! It is reassuring.
Hey, my 3.5yo girl says 'woder' too, but purely to annoy me. She says that because she heard Elmo say that on Sesame Street one day and asked me why Elmo can't speak properly. You know, the Americans don't say 'waTer'. I explained that people at different parts of the world pronounce some words differently. She was very tickled and now deliberately replaces the 't' sound of some words with the 'd' sound. Gee.
Hi K, I know what you mean. I guess it is the same with Singlish. I can imagine it must be funny to hear her trying to sound like Elmo. Hee hee
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