It is said that a child first-language drawers begin to close at age 8. Before that, a child's tendency towards bilingualism or multi-lingualism can be encouraged by exposing the child to different sounds. It is quite a blessing for my daughter to have been raised in a multi-cultural environment where she is exposed to different world languages: Chinese, French, Tagalog, Spanish, English (of course) and Japanese. I'm so glad that she has a lot of friends from different countries so that her preference for languages may perhaps be informed by her friends' first languages.

Years ago it was Spanish, because of Dora the Explorer. On most Sundays, it is Mandarin, because she sometimes talks to her father in Mandarin. This year, it is French--because her best friends are French.

My daughter has a listening understanding of Tagalog (esp when she makes Nana cross) and a few words here and there. Unless I find a good Batibot DVD, I fear my little girl may lose interest in Tagalog. I used to think that Spanish just might be the right doorway to appreciating Tagalog's syntax and borrowed vocabulary, but this is not enough.

Until I've found a solution, I'll concentrate on other languages to teach her, like music. I bought her a kiddie 5-octave keyboard when she was 2. That instrument became one of her activity 'stations,' if you will, in order to keep her busy during the day. If she wanted to scribble or draw, she had her desk beside the front door; if she wanted to watch television (her dads doing, not mine), she could sit in the armchair and; if she wanted to surf the child-friendly web, she could set aside her writing pad to use her laptop. If she wanted to listen to her CDs, she had the CD player beside the armchair if she wanted to read, she could go to her room to choose a book; and if she wanted to play her keyboard, she had space by the sofa to do so.

In recent years, she has memorised notes in terms of 1-7. I've shown her the corresponding notes on musical staves based on her knowledge of Do-Re-Mi. Now I hope she takes the time to draw the notes in a notebook so she could compose a ditty or two. As soon as she learns this, I'll be teaching her dance notation. I think the most fun dance language to learn, because of its swirls and crosses, is Benesh Movement Notation.

My little girl likes to improvise. On some evenings before bedtime, we would take out one of her CDs, play a song or two, and we'd either dance together or she'd watch me dance first. After my turn is done, my daughter would play the same song and take whatever move or step she finds 'new' (she doesn't use the word 'interesting,' for I've not taught her to tell social lies, and don't intend to) and incorporates it into her dance. Some of her dances are quite intricate even for a 4 year old-- because she was 4 when we started this lyrical dance improvisation habit--but she looked like she knew exactly what she was doing...without any hint of self-consciousness at that.

I am determined to teach her dance notation, while I learn it myself. Back in high school, we were taught to document our dances using another language, Laban (though our PE teacher didn't tell us at the time, and I bothered to find out). It would be a crime not to document my little girl's work; as of late, I don't think I've ever thrown away any of her artwork from her Watercolour workshops, mainly because one could just frame them, and marvel at them as one lives with them. And after she was invited by her ballet teacher to join a choreography camp for 9 year olds at age 7 (yes, to choreograph), I cannot help but think--though every mother thinks her child a Wunderkind, and rightly so, for who else would--that my little girl has a spark or two in her that, if kindled right, would earn her place in the grander schemes of Dance. Who knows? Who would have known Pina Bausch, Marie Rambert or Lucrecia Kasilag would change the ways in which people move? One thing I do know: when a teacher spots that spark, parents should do everything they can to develop it. When ignored, and I do know this because my grandparents always said 'No' or 'next time' to everything except piano lessons and, temporarily, choir practice: the light goes out.

All will be dark in the world of ignorance and dreams dashed.