Starting today, I'm going to make my blog a little less random and more related to observations I make about Claire's language development. Since I am a mother full-time now and no longer in the classroom, I can use this time for informal research. If I do fulfill my goal of helping foreign language and music programs grow like I stated in my May 22nd entry, this will be a valuable study.

Language acquisition in infants, adolescents and adults has interested me for many years. I wrote a research paper as a senior project at the University of Oregon debating the question "Do people who study music acquire language (especially accent & nuances) better than a non-musician?" I didn't find any conclusive evidence or research studies to answer this question yes or no, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about how babies learn language.

One thing I remember and have had revalidated by the book "The Scientist in the Crib" is that babies start deciding what language will be primary before the age of one. Before the age of one, baby babble internationally sounds the same. It is when their palates form to imitate the sounds they hear around them that they become physically equipped to speak one language or another. Therefore, I've been experimenting on Claire by speaking French to her about half the time (I was a French teacher before her birth and am still fluent in French), playing French music CD's and DVD's, putting Telemundo on in the background (unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish), and renting foreign films occasionally from Blockbuster. Around one or whenever she does begin to say her first words, it'll be interesting to hear what comes out first!!!

I want to thank John Tenny, professor at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, for his advice about making this blog more relevant to the education world. I must admit that I knew this blog wasn't focused and was definitely what its title suggested. Hopefully, I'll receive more comments on this blog as I use it more and more to record observations and thoughts about my baby's language development and how I can apply this to developing a program that will help young kids learn foreign language and eventually, God willing, bring it into the public elementary schools.

As much as I'll want to be focused in this blog I'll allow myself time to ramble too...  ¶ 9:10 AM