Teaching a second language late

 My children are not conversant in their 'native' language- Malay. My oldest, at 20 years-old, survives on basic terms and had to immerse himself in the language at national service when mixing with his peers and colleagues. My second scraped through the O levels. My third, 17 years-old, barely speaks the language nor write it, I do get lucky and hear her speak for her online classes sometimes. 

Hence, I am trying to make it right for my younger two. Possibly seven years late for my fourth and five for my fifth, well at least the length of delay is falling. The first year of life sets you out for what will be your 'mother tongue'. The ability to learn language and how well you pick it up keeps falling with each year. Some people, like anything else, are better at it than others. For the rest of us, we can only persevere. 

I am not able to pack my bags and leave for Malaysia to immerse my children in the language, so last year, I eagerly awaited for someone to start a class when the issue of second language proficiency came up. Students in Singapore take a second language up to Grade 10. Alas, no one volunteered. I was desperate, so I slapped myself hard to go for it or fail for the fourth and fifth time. 

Doing it the textbook way just did not cut it. The more I followed that method, together with the workbook and assessment, the more my girls distanced themselves from the language. So, I threw them aside and cracked my head. 'Immersion, fun, relevant, and exciting' were key words that kept popping up in my head. It was a blessing in disguise then that Covid 19 has taught me to use apps I have never bothered to learn about before like Kahoot, Quizlet and Google Classroom. 

A year before last, I have also come up with a detailed curriculum for my youngest because I had to meet the requirements from the authorities which keeps rising like a live volcano. That became my framework for our Malay classes. Again another blessing in disguise. I had the bones and the tools, I just had to fill and wing it. 

To fill it, I made our own workbooks which covered reading, speaking, vocabulary and grammar and they followed the themes laid out in the curriculum where I also had to tie in with the local syllabus. 

Alas even with a curriculum, skills and workbook, I did not really wing it, I have already done that for my three older children and seen the results or lack of it, so I needed a plan to make sure it seems like I'm effortlessly winging it, but I am actually micro-managing to meet the targets I have set out through my lesson plans. 

Content is important and at first I found it difficult to anchor the lessons to their level. As I was also thinking in English at first, my sentences gets complicated at times. It feels like a vast ocean to put in a cup to ensure they are ready for their primary six exam and not hate the language. There were times when I realise my ideas were not that appealing nor relevant to their level and had to adjust accordingly. 

My youngest still finds speaking in Malay amusing, and likes to experiment saying terms for the fun of it. Speaking, I think, helps in making you think in the language. Also, to be able to directly speak in Malay instead of translating, skips a step. Outside the lessons, I try to speak more Malay to the girls. I am not that worried about their English, to me it has become their mother tongue, plus there are four other people in the house speaking it. 

My fourth gets impatient with reading Malay. She dislikes not understanding what she has read and this makes it feel like she's being punished when asked to read something in Malay. She however loves Google and the dictionary. Being able to use Google translate or search for words in the Oxford Malay-English adds some fun for her. 

Being competitive, games from Quizlet or Wordwall, helps in getting the girls interested. There are not many of such resources in Malay and I have had to make some of my own. The apps are easy to use though and I can make one in less than 30 min, provided I already have the content. 

Themes helps to place the lessons and make them more concrete than just having grammar or vocabulary lessons without anything to anchor them to. It helps when they think of what they have learned, as they are able to associate them to a specific theme and this aids in remembering content. 

We are still at picture-based writing. Writing puts together vocabulary and usage of the language to present an idea. It is also ordering of ideas represented in sentence with a flow that makes a story. My students still need translation help when writing at this point. I started with writing single sentences before increasing the quantity gradually. Their ability to write in English helps with the ordering, flow will have to wait for some time. 

It has been a sharp learning curve. I discovered, as always, reading language theories and about how to teach is always easier than teaching. Humans are complex individuals.