Meet My Son, the OPOL Police

So, we’re using (practicing?) OPOL – the one parent one language approach – to help the kids learn German. The kids know I speak both German and English, and they also know that The Husband speaks English and only a little bit of German. And maybe more importantly, they know and are used to speaking German with me and English with him.

S, in fact, has admonished me in the past for not speaking German with her. Turns out that O, although he doesn't admonish me yet, is also pretty clear about the way things should be. The way things are (most of the time anyway, as I still speak English with the kids on occasion).

On our drive back from the big family Christmas gathering he was chattering away to me while S was halfway asleep and The Husband was driving and not paying too much attention to all the German coming from the backseat. He relived his Christmas experiences (Gifts! Learning how to skate! Playing with his cousins! How Opa is so great! Yummy cookies! So much snow! And on and on….), and expressed hope that Santa might come again the next day, until all of a sudden and rather unexpectedly, he changed course and asked a single question in English without addressing anyone in particular. Which I answered in German, while S was still sleeping and The Husband was still not paying too much attention to us.

Although some corner of The Husband’s brain had also registered the switch in languages. Just in time for him to hear O say, to me,

“ Mama, ich habe nicht mit Dir gesprochen! Ich habe Papa gefragt!”
[Mama, I didn’t speak to you! I asked Papa!]

He then turned his head, repeated his question to Papa in English, got his answer, turned back to me and continued discussing all the things he did over Christmas. In German.

I love it how he, both of them actually, can switch back and forth to easily! And while it was fun to hear him speak German to pretty much everyone for a while, it's also nice to see that he's figured it out now and knows which language goes with whom.