5 yr old's English grammar - multilingual families

[RA]

Hey, Can anyone give me some insight? Our 5 year old's English grammar has taken a turn. When she does past tense she's adding -ed to everything.... ' Yesterday I goed', 'I eated', 'I singed', 'I doed'. I'm a bit worried because she did past tense before without any problem. I just correct her now, but should I be doing anything else?

[fozzy]

Just keep correcting her it will sink in in the end

[AnnikaL]

I could explain, in terms of language development, about why this happens, overgeneralising rules, why they get it right before getting it wrong etc., but probably easier just to say... this is perfectly normal!!! Keep correcting and don't worry...

[Rosamunda]

Another thing you could do rather than correct her is to repeat what she said (using rising intonation and a confused expression on your face: "goed????? " ) which prompts her to self-correct. Then you can give her hugs/cheers/candy/ when she gets it right.

You'll probably find that 9 times out of 10 she can self-correct. You can even make it into a sort of game... like she's testing you!

[Pikeman]

I agree with penelope here. Rather than correcting the child constantly which is stressful for both parent and child, just repeat what they meant to say with emphasis on the correction. I have had the privilage to to teach my three sons english over the last 19 years. They all learned at a different rate and in differnt ways. Whenever possible I tried to compliment them on their efforts to speak my language even though they made a mistake. Telling them that I understood perfectly well what they meant but offering the correct way to say it. Also by asking occasionally, "where did you learn that new word" and praising them every time I realized they said something in a new way. I hope this helps.

- Pikeman

[kierstenann]

My 4 year old does the same thing. I just correct her without making a big deal out of it. It's my understanding that this is quite common and eventually works itself out.

[OlliC.]

As mentioned before it's completly natural, all children overgeneralise the grammar rules they are learning.
For later I would recommend pushing him/her to read some English regularly.