Reply to Adoption--parental obligations regarding child's native language

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As for language immersion camp---my kids used to live in an orphanage and spent years longing to live in a family environment.  Language camp is a little too close in feel to an unpleasant past.  [/quote]

Just to clarify -- the language immersion camp I'm trying for my daughter is a day camp, not sleepaway. Less effective for learning the language, but also less likely to bring back memories of orphanage care.

I do wonder what role, if any, a child's ethnicity & life experience play in the language decision?

My daughter is Asian, Her appearance marks her as "foreign" to many Americans, and also makes her stand out within our family. She has always been more aware of ethnic difference than a lot of other kids her age.

She also had a really wonderful foster family in her birth country, with whom we are still in contact. Even though she really doesn't remember it -- she was just a baby -- she has a sense of affection and nostalgia for the place where she was born.

It makes sense to me that if she were more likely to be perceived as a native-born American, and if she held (understandably) negative associations regarding her birth country, retaining/learning the language would be a lower priority for her.[/quote]

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