English speaking environment for a kid

Even before my daughter was born, me and my wife got very excited of the idea to raise her bi-lingual. I've found enough information about it to encourage me and mainly to subdue my worries because my English, though at a very good level, is far from perfect. The advice was not to fear making mistakes but it is vital to provide as much native speaker environment as possible.
Our daughter is almost 3 months now. Maybe same time next year we will start looking for arranging such an environment. But I would like to use this forum to know what we are to expect to find.

Our idea is this:
A native speaker spending some time with our daughter. It will not be baby-sitting but rather playing with her - all the English kids songs and games you know from your childhood.

Naturally, how often will depend on the requirements of this person. I did the following simple calculation:
We can afford spending, say, 300 lv a month for this. I saw that the price of 20 lv/hour for Bulgarian language lessons was regarded as cheep. So if this person agrees to 20lv/h that makes 1.5 hours every second day during the week days. Or 2 hours the weekends. Not as much as we would like but fairly good anyway.

So, what I would like to know is:
- What kind of expats live in Bulgaria, and Plovdiv in particular? We think students would be perfect for this but we have not heard of many UK or US students here. The rest might find it rather "below their level" Sad

- Has my calculation anything to do with reality?

We think of an alternative variant. We travel a lot - both by car and trecking. We love visiting all sorts of interesting places in Bulgaria and abroad. We believe that we could make good guides.
Do you think it makes sense offering trips together with a native speaker who will "pay" in talking, playing and singing with our daughter?

Another idea is maturing in my mind - is it worth attending a kindergarten for foreign kids?

Sorry for making this so long. Thank you in advance for any opinion, advice or tip!

I know about several brits in Plovdiv (both living in Trakia with kid or on the way). Btw, my wife is also expecting.

Everybody seems to have similar issues. It might be good to meet all and share (positive) experiences.

If you want you can PM me.
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J'ai le pessimisme de la réalité, mais l'optimisme de la volonter. Every day is a gift to yourself / intelligent people realise they aren't, people claiming to be intelligent aren't

Thanks to all who answered me, both here and by messages.

In general, it seems it is easier to find a baby "sitter" than we tought. I still have no idea if my financial calculations are close to reality but that doesn't seem so important for the moment.

The idea underwent some further development and maturing in our heads, so let me change my questions:

1. Are there any playgoups in Plovdiv where the kids and the attending person(s) speak in English?

2. If not, are there parents interested in building one? This will make the financial matter even better for both parents and attendant(s).

Thanks in advance for any information or advice!

P.S. Maybe I didn't state it clear - we will be able to hire a baby player ( Smile

) or join a playgroup maybe about this time next year - when our daughter will have uttered her first words. I bring the subject up now in order to know where we stand.

Forgive me if I sound condecending but don't children learn most from their parents and other children?

Have you considered babysitting your own children or mixing with other Bulgarian children all of whom learn English as a second language in school now anyway?n English expatriate children are given English leseeon on a regular basis in anycase.

There shouldn#t be any fear of your child skipping out on English language and their heritage within the confines of their own home.

Or have I got it wrong and you are too busy working/travelling to spend quality time with your child.

Just a thought coming from other expatriates I know with children here who do just that.

well, that was a little condecending I think....

so you want your child to be a native speaker in a language is neither native to the child's environment or to either of the two parents???

it seems to me there are several types of expats in bulgaria;
there are some that seem to live in small islands, home-away-from-home and then there are those that assimilate.

i've spoken exclusively in dutch, my own native language, from day 1 with my daughter. she's now 5 and goes to kindergarten. 99 per cent of the time, she is in an environment where bulgarian is the native language. naturally, her bulgarian is much better than her dutch. though she does understand everything i say and she adores listing to fairy tales in dutch and watches movies in dutch - both of which she does seem to understand - her active use of the language is not at that level. but she is developing more of an interest and is catching up, and i've seen how her active use grows really fast when she's around her dutch-speaking grandparents.
so i know that her ability to actively use the language is only a step away, as long as she does understand the language.
(btw i know she perfectly understands because she does a brilliant job translating back and forth between dutch and bulgarian, only limited by her active use of dutch)

if your concern is preparing your child for the future and for a larger world, than you should really consider getting a chinese-speaking nanny.
that's where the real future's at Smile

and speaking about china and chinese, i know from bulgarian businessmen that in doing business with china, you're much better off with russian than with english Smile

Hm, the discussion drifted off into a different direction. I have already done my homework 1-2 years ago. I searched for confirmation from experienced families if it was possible to bring a bi-lingual child up by speaking to them in non-nantive language and not living in a country where that language is spoken - e.g. our case. I read every site and discussion forum on the subject and I contacted a few families in person for more details and advice.

The general advice was: Go ahead, it is completely feasible. Do not worry that you don't speak the language perfectly - the kid will make up for it. Just make sure to provide enough native-speaking environment for the kid. And that's what I an trying to do.

Though it is off the initial topic, I will be glad to receive any tips, advice or opinion on the "raising a bi-lingual child" topic - maybe PM is best in order to stop flooding this discussion.

Vens you are doing what you think is right.. and go for it. If you want bi-lingual kid, then why listen to everyone else's opinions. I hope you succeed!!!

Good Morning,

Firstly, after reading this thread, I would first like to say, its not fair for anyone to pass judgment to another parent on how they should raise their child/ren.

I moved to Sofia a month ago, my boyfriend is Bulgarian and lives here, we are going to get married later this year. At the moment, I dont speak Bulgarian and his English is far from perfect,we have already decided we want out children to be to be totally bi-lingual. (Not have a second language). To speak fluently in both our native tongues. This should not be difficult as I am fluent in English, and him in Bulgarian.

I understand this because my father is Portuguese and my mother English, living in SA, we only spoke English except for visits to my grandparents, I can understand a lot of Portuguese but I can't speak and this is very sad as its my fathers native tongue.

I would really like to help you, however I live in Sofia. I'm not working at the moment and I love children. Im hoping to start my own family soon after we marry. I really wish you the best and am very impressed to see a father being so concerned about the future of his child. You are doing a great job!

thanks everybody for your encouraging messages. If feel worried sometimes because my two-year old son is totally surrounded by bulgarian all day and even night. I alone talk to him in english but all his family here and at the kindergarten speak in Bulgarian. And I have gotten so used to speaking Bulgarian I forget sometimes to speack to him in English. But I'll guess I'll keep working at it, and look foward to the trips back to the states where he can pick up more. THe good thing is that he understands everything I say in English, even though he loves talking in Bulgarian[/quote]

Hi guys, did you ever sort this thing out...

I am Australian and my wife is Bulgarian, our children speak perfect English and Bulgarian, when they play together they generally play in Bulgarian.

If anybody that lives in Sofia and has children that they would like to spend some time with native speaking people, we would be happy to arrange play times with our children. Mind you they are very active, we can hardly keep control of them.

It would be a bilingual fun fest....

contact me on 0888 517 519 or jchapman@lr-direct.com

JC

Interesting subject/discussion - couldnt help joining in : )
Im English and my wife is Bulgarian and we have raised our 3yr old boy for 2yrs in UK and 1 in BG and all that time we just spoke in our own languages to him and he has picked them up fine. I am slightly saddened that his English isnt as good as his Bulgarian but then up until attending nursery he has been exposed to BG all day long until i finish work in the evening and can play/practice with him. We now have another boy (3months old) and we will do the same with him. My wife teaches English at home to the local kids most evenings and this also helps our boys pick stuff up. General exposure to the target language seems to help a lot - i was teaching English in schools when i first got here and i asked one boy where he had learnt to speak such good English and he said "the Discovery Channel sir..."(!) So radio, TV, CD's can help too - even if just left playing in the background. I think Plovdiv would benefit from some kind of Play Centre (like TomBonBon for example) that incorporates kind kind of language instruction - we are toying with the idea of this business so watch this space! : )

Hi On Boards,
How is life.Being married to a person belongs to a different culture and language is good your coming baby will have a bi-lingual and wonderful environment.He will be familiar and acquainted to both languages english as well as Bulgarian.This nature or habit will develop an interest in him to learn different languages.To make him familiar to your native language start talking to him in english since childhood and balance both languages together.English is a universal language so he will learn english easily.but Bulgarian is a native language so start speaking Bulgarian first.This will be an amazing experience for kids.

Thanks...

Hi vens, from your posts it is not very clear whether you two are both Bulgairans or one of you isn't.

But let's assume that one of you isn't then the right way to do it is each parent to speak to the child only in their native language. If a parent starts mixing languages the child will get confused and will start to mix them two. It neads to start making the differens from the beginiing that there is a mummy's and daddy's language and that they are different.

If both of you are Bulgarian and you just want your child to start learning a foreign language the best way is to do it, is by befriending an expat couple, who have an opposite of your's problem and want to learn Bulgarian, both them and their children. Also do not undermine the power of Cartoon Network and similar TV channels. Playing Sesamie street in English is both generally educational and teaching English language.

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September 08 2010