He translates his mother's Kyrgyz words into English and answers questions asked in Kyrgyz in English.
His mother, Baktygul Turganbayeva, shared that her son was born on May 17, 2021. He is the eldest son in the family and has a younger sister. His interest in languages emerged when he first started to speak.
“After he turned one, when my son began to say one or two words, he already started adding English words. At that time, he would say words like ‘television’ and ‘light’. Then he began to repeat after me. That’s when I realized that the child could respond, and I started teaching him English,” she noted.
Now, Kudaybergen can speak simple everyday phrases in English and answer questions. Besides languages, he loves animals very much.
“He especially likes marine animals. He specifically watches English-language channels about sea creatures and doesn’t miss a single episode. He has learned the names of fish in English. He really enjoys the cartoon ‘Blippi’ — a popular educational series for preschoolers (up to 5 years old),” said Turganbayeva.
Kudaybergen currently attends the ‘Bakyt’ kindergarten in the village of Tyup. At home, he learns Kyrgyz and English, while in kindergarten, he is learning Russian.
“He has been attending kindergarten for a year and a half. There, he started learning Russian. Now he is learning to speak in three languages,” Baktygul noted.
Their home is located on the outskirts of the village, near the mountains. Therefore, the mother, along with her son and two-year-old daughter Ulara, often go up into the mountains, enjoying walks and playing outdoors. There, they also shoot interesting videos in English.
“In general, we don’t sit Kudaybergen down specifically and force him to learn the language — the child gets tired quickly. I teach him during everyday activities, naming words and objects. For example, when I cook, I say: ‘this is lentil soup’, explaining that we are making it. He remembers a new word if I repeat it 4–5 times. I often ask: ‘What is this, son?’ And he answers in English,” Baktygul shared.
At the beginning of his learning, she used a small picture book.
“I bought a picture book for 35 soms. It has a lot, but only in pictures. I would say the English name, and Kudaybergen would repeat it. That’s how he became interested in the language and books. He still doesn’t read or write, so we only learn from pictures,” Turganbayeva shared.
Since Kudaybergen loves animals very much, they often go to the zoo in the city of Karakol.
“My son loves lions very much. He is interested in all the animals in the zoo. Even when we read a book, he asks for animals and opens the pages about them. He also loves reading about dinosaurs. So in the future, I think I will shoot a separate video about dinosaurs — he knows the names of all species well. We usually shoot videos on topics that interest him and that he knows well,” his mother said.
The boy’s mother, Baktygul Turganbayeva, was born on September 1, 1993, in the village of Kozhoyar in the Issyk-Kul district. After school, she received an education in English in Karakol. In 2020, she married a resident of the Tyup district named Sultan. Now the couple is raising two children. Baktygul teaches English at the T. Satylganov regional boarding school in Karakol. She is currently on maternity leave but has also started teaching English to children from her village.
“People, seeing our videos where my son and I speak English, write to me on social media: ‘Do you have a course?’, ‘Are you teaching the language?’, ‘How to teach a child the language?’. If possible, I want to open online courses in the future. There, I will share how I taught my son, what channels there are, and how to teach children in general,” she shared.
Now, the two-year-old younger sister Ulara is also trying to learn the language along with Kudaybergen. She knows 15–20 words in English.
