Part of the joy of children I think is having fun with all the wonderful things about the world we can help them discover. My husband and I, some time ago, decided we would try our very best to raise our children as close to bilingual as they could be...given they will live the majority of their childhood in an English-speaking country with their parents both native english speakers learning another language themselves.
We chose french to be 'our' language...we enrolled in classes and to be honest, can hold our own in a simple conversation. Due to being the go-to person for a very tiny person, I am unable to attend a formal course - but am lucky enough to have a wonderful tutor. She is also a mother, and we have been having great fun with nursery rhymes and songs etc for Teddy. My husband (pre-FIFO) kept up the more formal education and is much better than I am!
One of mine and Teddy's favourite little games involves a back-and-forth of "Tu dit...bonjour!" ("You say...hello!"), "Tu dit...ça va?" ("You say...how are you?")...and so on and so forth...I also try to speak as much in french to him as I can, knowing he will absorb english almost automatically as that is our native tongue.
Although speaking simply to an infant (no matter how much babble you get back) is not extending my knowledge, I am oh-so-smug to know we are helping broaden his language experience - at a time when his brain is starting to form all the important links that will make up his ability to converse later on.
And hopefully, one day, he will pass this appreciation for other cultures on to his children.
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