Zwergensprache is the name of Noah's sign language class. The literal translation is midget language. In German, it's not uncommon to refer to kids as midgets (Zwerg), without intending to offend any vertically challenged individuals.
No worries, Noah passed the hearing test they administered in the hospital. We're taking a sign language course because babies who learn sign language can communicate long before they can speak. And, babies who learn sign language can generally speak earlier and have a larger vocabulary than their peers.
Of course, we're not intending to learn fluent sign language. Sign language is an independent language with as many words as we have in the English or German language. I took American Sign Lanuage for one semester in college and I have to honestly say that it was much more complicated than I expected it to be. And on top of that, every country has their own sign language. And then there are even regional differences, just as there are in the spoken language. Noah is learning signs from German Sign Language. If he did encounter a deaf person, they would understand his signs.
The intention is that Noah learns a few basic signs, such as "eat", "more", "drink" and "milk." This will help him to communicate his needs and hopefully spare him some frustration of us not understanding what he wants. And the course is a lot of fun, using songs and finger games to teach the babies the signs.
The course teacher has 2 daughters who are 4 years and nine months old. She told us yesterday that she first thought that sign language was unnecessary for babies, that it was some American fad. When her first daughter was 9 months old, she would point at objects as if she wanted them. Her mom would offer her the object that she thought the little girl wanted. But somehow, she always grabbed the wrong thing. And this was very frustrating to the little girl, who would then throw herself on the floor and bang her fists on the ground. That was when she decided to start with sign language, which made communicating with her daughter much easier.
We hope that it will have the same effect for Noah. It will probably take 2-3 months before he starts using signs and his usage of signs will definitely be dependent on our discipline in using the signs with him.
We shall see......
About Me
- Sarah
- Stuttgart, Germany
- I'm an American, a Michigander, to be exact (or is it Michiganian??), living in Germany. I moved here on a three-year assignment with an automotive company, fell in love, got married and am now here to stay.
Us
The Bean
Stats
Noah Luke
1 comment:
I taught Milan Sign Language and it has been great! She was able to express what she wanted, she still enjoys using the sign language (she's 2) and it's great for Church or Library where you need to talk quietly. Milan's verbal language was about a month behind, but when she started talking she was already using 2+ word combination (more food, apples please, etc). People always comment on how wide her vocabulary is and how clearly she speaks. I also read that when you're teaching kids language to make sure they can see your mouth, as this helps them figure out how to move their mouth to imitate the words. I wonder if this is part of why sign language works so well-- you have to look at your kid, you can't talk to them with your back to them :) Good luck and have fun!
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