I am not a Spanish speaker but I am bi-lingual. I speak french/Creole. I taught my oldest son how to speak Creole very early on. He is nine now and he understands more than he speaks it. I think my challenge is remembering to speak Creole to him more consistently. I just had a baby and plan on teaching him as well. I am adamant about them speaking Creole b/c it is a part of their culture and I want them to know and remember where they came from.

Esther’s last blog post..Rough one…

I grew up in a household where my father spoke French and my mother English. He never spoke to me in French because my mother did not speak the language and I guess he felt like she would have felt left out. I look back now and wish that he had because my French is no bueno!

I consider Sophia to be a bilingual baby. I speak to her in English and her papa speaks to her in Spanish. We are pretty religious about it, because I know that she probably won’t learn it in the rest of her environment. I want it to be second nature to her and for her not to have to learn it from a book. I kind of like it too, because I am learning the language too. People are always surprised when they hear a “gracias” out of a gringa’s mouth!

I have considered dual-language schools as an option too, so that she has a lot of exposure to using the language and learning how to write as well as speak it. I look forward to reading lots of posts and hearing other suggestions from mothers so that it will make this transition easier.

Great job! I will forward this onto some mommy friends too.

In Europe, kids are taught several languages simultaneously from the time they begin school and they absorb it almost effortlessly. A huge contrast from the U.S. where many Americans respond ignorantly upon hearing a conversation in a foreign language with comments such as, “You’re in America, speak English!”. Or by presenting legislation that would ban our government from communicating with citizens in a language other than English.

I was raised in a bilingual household, and even though at times I rebelled against speaking Spanish at home and being forced to take it in school, I have made a great living for the past 20 years using both languages. There are unlimited advantages to being bilingual or multilingual and I thank my parents for standing their ground in spite of my protests and for resisting outside pressure to just blend into the “melting pot”.

It doesn’t matter what method you choose to teach your child a second language, as long as you choose one and then stick to it. In essence, you will be opening doors for your children and someday they will thank you!