Too late for a 6yo?

[BareBums]

Hi
My DD has recently turned 6, we all speak English but her dad also speaks Portuguese (usually only to his mum on the phone!) so I wanted to ask - is it too late to teach her Portuguese? What's the best way for her to learn at this age? Im trying to learn the language through an incredible website but I have to learn the verbs, nouns, etc first (things I don't think DD will grasp) its hard enough for me!
Do you have a 6yo who had to learn a new language? How did they do it and how long did it take before they were fairly fluent?
(We're in England)

We moved to Switzerland (both parents English). Only spoke English at home. They heard (Swiss) German outside of the home but never had to use it until they started Kindergarten aged 5. For the 2 boys their experience was the same, they learnt a bit in the 1st year, then something clicked and after exactly a year that was it (this is accurate timing as it related to the school year. ds1 barely said a word to anyone the whole year, then during the summer holidays he just took off)

However your situation it v. different as she'll be hearing English in and out of the home, and her df Portuguese input will be minimal. I would suggest he only ever speaks Portuguese to her, you try and get her to watch P. tv as much as possible, and v.v. imp. you try and get her contact with some P. friends. Speaking P. as much as poss, esp to peers has a huge impact.

v. noticable here where kids are in same situation as us who speak eng. just at home with 1 or 2 parents and who speak it more widely. Huge difference ime.

No, it's not too late....but it is going to take a big effort on your DH's part!

If you are in England and he is the only day to day source of Portuguese, he is going to have to adopt OPOL pronto and stick rigidly to it. OPOL means "one parent, one language" and henceforth, your DH needs to speak ONLY Portuguese. Always! Without fail!

Then there are some other tactics you can implement as a family:

Henceforth, all DVDs need to be in Portuguese. Idem all spoken word CDs that tou might listen to in the car or in the house. No more CBeebies! Get relatives to send DvdS from Portugal or buy them from Portuguese Amazon.

Trips to Portugal whenever possible. Trips from Portuguese family as regularly as possible.

There must be computer games / sites dor children in Portuguese which your DH can share with your DD.

Lots of books in Portuguese. If you speak Portuguese well enough, I woukd consider having you read in Portuguese, too, even though you are not a native speaker to increase exposure at the beginning. Unless you have a quite excellent level, though, I woukd not recommend you speaking Portuguese.

6 is definitely not too late, but with limited exposure, in England, it is going to take some energy and detemination.

Good luck.

Thank you I will definitely look into all those! Didn't know there was an amazon Portugal!

I think getting DH to be completely Portuguese will be tricky but I will definitely put my foot down! It will help me learn too!

Any other suggestions welcome!

as I said, ideally she needs portuguese friends to play with. There must be other P. speakers? Get a P. speaking baby sitter. Skype daily/weekly w P. speaking relative. As well as visits there, invite P. speaking friends7relatives to stay, and make sure they only speak P.

My any chance when she visits P. of going to a school or something? Does she have cousins similar age?

I agree.
Portuguese playmates or cousins are critical.

I read somewhere that for bilingualism, you need three things:

1. Consistency
2. Quantity
3. Need

That is to say, there has to be ongoing, consistent exposure to the language (so, one year in the target country at age 7 / 10 / 12 will probably not suffice as it will be lost over time). And this exposure has to be of sufficient quantity, so 1 hour a week will not do it. And finally, the need to communicate in the target language. If there is no need (ie everybody the child is in contact with, even the Portuguese speakers, also speak English), they will never feel the need to communicate in that language and tend over time to revert to the majority language.

Portuguese cousins / penpals / friends are the way forward!

Unfortunately the only source she can get is her father.

There's no hope is there?!

don't just give up! Ask on MN/Put a card in the local newsagents/advert in the local paper, appeal on the local secondary schools notice board etc. I'd be amazed if there weren't any P. speakers near you, even if you font know them yet. If there is a family w. teenagers, if you're lucky you'll at the same time get a babysitter/mothers help out of it.

Honestly, I just started going to a parent/toddler gym class and a dad there was speaking english w. his dd. He's clearly not a MT English speaker so I was nosey curious and asked, and he told me he is P. his wife is German and their common language is English. His kid is being brought up P. G & Eng as a result.

Point of that is if in our little village there's a P. man, I reckon there must be a fair few around, just a q. of putting in a bit of effort and hunting them down.

Like I said I know kids here who have Eng. in the home and G. out, and you can hear a v. marked difference in the quality and ability in Eng of those kids who speak E. a lot, i.e. playing w. peers. Worth the effort. Good luck with your search. I'm sure you'll find someone.

Thanks Ernes, I will continue but not sure shell progress quickly. There is a Portuguese teacher at her school but she's very busy but maybe I can do something there, we are friendly with eachother and her son wanted to play with DD which is cute (they don't go to the same school though)

she'll have connections, acquaintances and ideas though I bet. And I bet she'll be keen to help.

How does your dh feel about this?

ANd dd?

Wishing you best of luck.

DH wants her to speak but i dont think he realises it wont just 'happen', he needs to put effort in and thats something hes not good at ~ speaking Portuguese to her I mean. She wants to learn too.

Ill have a chat with the teacher and see what she says...maybe DH can take DD out more in the more 'Portuguese' populated areas that he knows but doesnt want to go to :o