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Even though I still have some time, there’s something that’s been gnawing at me lately. And even though I debated a bit about whether or not I should write this entry, I eventually decided the timing was perfect.
First because we’ll be focusing on dual language immersion education the whole week and second–and most importantly–because after all the (six!) weeks since launching SpanglishBaby, I feel like we’ve already built a pretty impressive community. We love reading your comments because they’re both insightful and inspiring.
So, I’m going to be a bit selfish today and this time around, I’m going to present you with my problem in the hopes that you can enlighten me a bit, or at least give me a different perspective, something I might have missed.
The question is whether or not I should send Vanessa to a dual language immersion school where she will be taught in both English and Spanish. It’s not that I don’t want my daughter to be fully bilingual and bi-literate (able to read, write and speak) in my mother tongue, it’s more like I feel I should be able to do it myself. If I were able to find a dual language immersion program she could attend where we live, I think I might want for her to learn a third language like Mandarin Chinese…
Then, a few weeks ago, out of nowhere, my husband said something to this effect: “You’re going to be teaching Vanessa how to read and write in Spanish, right? You could do after she comes home from school, just a little every day, right?” It was really more a statement than a question, to which I reacted with nothing. Not because I had never thought about it, but because for the first time I saw the enormity of the task at hand.
Would I really be able and willing to do that? Would I have the patience and dedication? Would Vanessa want to continue studying after spending eight hours at school? Or, should I just do everything in my power to send her to an elementary school designed to do just that: teach her both languages while I just help reinforce the minority one at home?
In doing research for this week of dual language immersion programs, I came across some wonderful information about the successes and accomplishments of the kids enrolled in them. I truly believe this is the best option we can give our kids, I just don’t know whether having someone else teach Vanessa my first language is kind of a waste when she could be learning a third language.
So, what do you all think? What are your plans for your kids? If your kids are already in a dual language immersion program, I’d love to hear from you and what you have to say about them, or anything else related to the education of our little ones.
Hmm . . . that’s a tough one. A lot depends on your child, I think. With my son’s personality, I know that my teaching him language (French in my case) after school would quickly become a battle. And that’s the LAST thing I want! Although I’m a bilingual certified teacher and capable of instructing him, I’d rather be the support person. In fact, I volunteer-teach language in his school because what motivates him is his peers. When he sees his classmates using and enjoying language, he’s much more eager to take part (and show off!) Unfortunately, the tiny bit of exposure I provide as a volunteer won’t lead to any kind of language proficiency. We need immersion programs!!!
In dual-immersion schools kids benefit from using language across the curriculum. Using scientific terms wouldn’t be natural at home, but it makes sense in a science class. If you have the opportunity for your child to attend a dual-immersion school, I’d go for it! Maybe the third language would be easier to introduce as after school enrichment program. The French immersion school that I had mentioned visiting in a previous post offered instruction in French and English, but also offered Spanish as a “special.” Isn’t that cool?
And when you look at the big picture, your child can grow and learn in English and Spanish, and STILL study another language in high school. Students who are already bilingual learn the third language with greater ease, and four years of high school study will definitely result in at least intermediate proficiency.
Good luck
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Well, I think it all depends on what you are willing and ready to do. If you think it would be a positive experience for you to teach her to read and write in Spanish after school, that would be wonderful. If you feel like it might be a struggle and she would not enjoy this, I would maybe put her in a Spanish/English Dual immersion program. That way you could reinforce reading and writing in Spanish at home, but not be in charge of all the learning. If you think it would be an enjoyable experience for you to teach her and you are ready for her to learn another language, then wow! Go for it!
As for me, I am planning on homeschooling my kids bilingually. I want to suplement my teaching by putting them in immersion type programs and classes in Spanish, but I will be teaching them to read and write in English and Spanish. I have decided to teach my children to first read and write in English. After they have this down, I will move to teach them how to do it in Spanish.
Good luck with your decision! You will have to tell us what you decide and how your experience is! What a lucky daughter your daughter is to have a mom that will give her so many opportunities for language learning!!
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This is an interesting question and I’m also at a point where I feel I need to make a decision. My gut is that a dual immersion program is the way to go because like Tati mentioned there is language in the school curriculum that would be odd to teach at home. If you’re anything like me then there are words and concepts I would not feel confident teaching.
To get a feel for teaching your child, I’d say start looking at some easy pre-reading activities and do them with your daughter. It will give you a sense of how comfortable you feel doing it and how she will respond to being taught at home. Another thing to consider is that once your daughter goes to school, however long the school day is, you’ll be cutting into your personal time with your daughter if you choose to teach her at home. I totally think educational pursuits are worthwhile when you have time with your kids but I’d advise to find a way to make teaching at home fun so it doesn’t always feel like a chore (make it a game or take it outside to the library, etc.).
Good luck!
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Great comments. Too many times when bilingual kids enter kinder its, “Bye bye Spanish” I’m sure you wouldn’t let this happen, but enrolling her in a dual lang. program would ensure that she would be in an environment that valued her language and culture all day long. Not so much a matter of they’re doing the teaching or you are, more like it would be a home away from home.
Hallo Roxana, i am german. When i was 14 years old, my parents went to Spain and i had the pleasure to go to the German School in Madrid. Most of the children had grown up speaking at least two languages, sometimes even 3. For me, 14 years old, it was – of cause – difficult to follow them in spanish, because i had to learn it from the beginning. Pero hoy creo, que fue lo mejor, que me podria haber pasado. Not only that i speak a second language fluently, i also love the culture of this country. You get another point of viewing the world. More open, more tolerant. I agree with Diane: If you have the opportunity for your child to attend a dual-immersion school, I’d go for it! Today i’m living in Germany and we haven’t an intenational school nearby. My 10 years old daughter only speaks german and she is starting to reproach me for that. My sister stayed in Spain. Her husband comes from England. Her daughter grew up speaking the 3 languages English, Spanish and German. That’s more worth than you can learn at school in mathematics, biology or what else! So, good luck, what ever you are deciding.
Thanks so much for all the comments! I appreciate you all taking the time to give me your point of view. You all have valid points. Thank God I still have a bit of time to decide what my husband and I will do regarding our daughter’s education.
We currently use the mL@H method and our daughter is mostly exposed to Spanish at home and with my family, who I have the fortune to have very close to us. I’ve already seen how much her English vocabulary has expanded since attending preschool twice a week for a few hours. And, I’m in total agreement with Sisi about the risk of losing the minority language once kids enter kindergarten.
My concern is in regards to making sure my daughter is biliterate. My 18-year-old stepson was basically raised by my husband and I using the same mL@H method. It helped that until three years ago, we lived in Miami, FL. Yet, I can’t really say that he is biliterate. I would hate for this to be the case with my daughter, I’m just not really sure I have it in me to take on the challenge.
Diane is absolutely right when she says “Students who are already bilingual learn the third language with greater ease.” I hadn’t really thought about that, even though it applies to my own personal case. I attended a bilingual (English/Spanish) school growing up and eventually took up French in the 5th grade.
Inge, thanks for writing all the way from Germany! I’d love to hear more about your story. By the way, I was under the impression that most Europeans were at least bilingual, but I take it from what you tell us about your daughter that this is not necessarily the case?
Once again, thanks for all your insightful comments and please keep them comin’!
Hi Roxana! I can’t understand why you wouldn’t be able to do both. As someone raised in this country, I can give you my opinion from your daughter’s point of view. I would go the route of the dual lanuage classes. I say this because my parents taught me Spanish at home, while I think they did a good job
…I don’t tell confident in the quality of my Spanish with regards to technical speech (i.e. math, science, etc). I feel I can easily speak conversational Spanish but inhibited when I need to speak Spanish that demands a more words that are not “everyday” words. Also, I remember the struggle with wanting to fit in with the dominate language and it was trully a battle for my mom to teach my brother and I Spanish… something I can now appreciate and I am thankful for her persistance. Just know this… your daughter will speak perfect English no matter what school she goes to. The real question is hw much do you want to support her second language?
It really comes down to knowing you and your child really well and then being honest with everyone in the family about your decision on what would work best.
My Anglo husband reminds me often to speak Spanish with all three of our children, but never did I accept the task of being their ‘Spanish teacher.’ Both older boys are Spanish students of the year in their middle and high school classes, and I attribute that to learning with our Boca Beth program as I have grown it over the past six years (their brains got wired super early in life to be awesome language learners so they don’t struggle with Spanish later in life).
Never did I feel I could get my children to sit with me and learn Spanish verb conjugation (even though I am a classroom teacher by degree!). I chose to do the casual teaching of song, dance, play and daily routine Spanish fun with them, leaving the formal instruction for others.
Again – it came down to what I had to admit was my strength and how their personalities would accept what type of teaching from me with the goal of being fluent in Spanish in mind.
The same goes for all of us – we must love our role in raising bilingual children so that we do a great job with it!
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I have a feeling I didn’t really make myself clear as to the dilemma I have… I absolutely believe dual language immersion programs are the best option and I would love for my daughter to be able to attend one. The issue is whether the dual languages she’d be instructed in should be English-Spanish or English-French/Italian/Mandarin Chinese, etc.
In other words, I feel I should be capable of maintaining Spanish at home and hopefully have the patience and will to teach her the language skills necessary to become literate in Spanish, when the time comes. I feel it would almost be a wasted opportunity for her not to learn a THIRD language via dual immersion.
I was born and raised in Latin America, as was my husband. We are both bilingual–actually I’m trilingual–and although we are perfectly capable of conducting ourselves in English, we mostly speak in Spanish. Not so much for our daughter’s benefit, but because it’s in our nature. In other words, our daughter is exposed not only to Spanish through songs, games and movies–that’s really a minor part–but through the everyday conversations her father and I have about the economy, politics, chismes de la familia, work (meaning news as we are both journalists) and even through the occasional peleas we have about money, who’s turn it is to do the dishes and married life with children in general. Not to mention the conversations the whole family has in Spanish when we are all together which is often since we live so close to each other.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that given our circumstances, I seriously doubt–and I base this on previous experience–that our daughter won’t end up being bilingual (English/Spanish). I just need to figure out whether I’ll be the one in charge of helping her become literate in Spanish, while she learns a third language or just let a dual immersion program in English/Spanish take care of that, while I reinforce the minority language at home.
Again, gracias por sus comentarios!!
Gotcha. Hey when the kids are a little older we can start a children’s spanish book club, where they read and discuss books and do fun projects.
I have to say that teaching someone to read and write in Spanish is really difficult. My husband and his sisters are totally bilingual. They spoke only Spanish at home until they started school and started learning English. However when it comes to reading and writing my husband admits he wishes he was bi-literate. He has expressed interest in learning Portuguese but would prefer to actually learn his own birth language and be able to read and write as he does in Spanish. As you know, there is so much more vocabulary exposure from reading books than just from speaking and hearing. Since its already a concern for many people that Spanish could become a chore at home since most of what’s heard outside of the house is English.. I think trying to teach all about reading and writing at home would become a difficult task.
On the other hand, I am concerned that some of the schools that offer dual language programs are not necessarily what they claim. A friend of mine put her daughter in a Spanish/English dual program and says they only had one teacher who would speak all in Spanish to the Spanish speaking kids and then only in English to the English speaking kids. So instead of coming out ahead and knowing both languages, the whole class was falling behind because the teacher was taking twice as much time to teach what a normal teacher would. I hope to find a dual language program for my daughter because she is not learning as much Spanish as I would like at home but I hope to find on that won’t leave my daughter behind on her normal education.
Good luck!
Thanks for the clarification! But… I still feel the same. Rock solid Spanish learned at school and reinforced at home is much better than trying to be trilingual with the possibility that your daughter will not be fully fluent in Spanish nor the third language. I, like your daughter, was raised by native Spanish speakers and I still feel that I lack much of the technical Spanish that you can only truly learn by being schooled in the language in question or by living abroad. Your daughter can always take an elective third language (which is what I did). I started with French. After 4 years and against your advice
I switched to Portuguese. Good thing I didn’t listen to you because I ended up marrying a Brazilian!
BTW, I’ve noticed that many people are diplomatic when they post (as they should be!). Let me apologize in advance if I am too blunt with my opinions. I really do try to “soften” them up… but I have very strong opinions on the matter and sometimes can’t help myself!
I’m so happy I decided to write this entry because all these comments were exactly what I was trying to elicit. I’m glad I have some time to figure this out, because the truth is you’ve all brought up some valid points and I have started to see this whole issue under a different light.
I particularly appreciate the comments from those who were raised the way I’m raising Vanessa (Ines and Kalen’s husband) because they’ve actually been through it. Again, I still have some time, but I will definitely keep you all posted as to our decision.
Ines, qué risa, no me acordaba para nada de lo que dices, ja, ja!! Y, si, qué bueno que no me hiciste caso!!! By the way, I don’t think you need to apologize fro being too blunt, like you say, because we truly appreciate passionate comments. We are passionate about this whole subject matter, hence the creation of SpanglishBaby!!
I just wanted to say thanks for posting this cause it made me think about it. I wasn’t even considering this, I mean I wasn’t looking into the future of my child so much but I realize now that this is something I will definitely want to consider for him. I want him to be biliterate, I don’t think I could teach him though, I want him to be in a school that teaches him, thanks again!
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Are there any Spanish/English/third language three-way immersion programs in the area, where students learn three languages? If not, maybe you can get one started. The model is called an 80/10/10 model. It’s the best of all worlds-they can learn Spanish, English and a third language.
Other than that, my personal opinion is that we think that the children here in the United States will become bilingual, but English becomes dominant. Unless you have the commitment to strictly adhere to a “Spanish only at home” type of policy, she may be at risk of becoming more dominant in English. Research shows that this even happens with students who are native Spanish-speakers, are immersed in Dual Immersion programs…and then lo and behold they get into fourth grade and they only want to speak English.
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Hi,
I’m coming at this months later, and you may have already made your decision; I just wanted to add my $.02 before reading all the advice that I’m sure is excellent.
Simple view: I recommend the dual immersion in Spanish.
Now for the long-winded why of that.
In the end, immersion since KG helped not only my Spanish but English, which was my home tongue at the time. I was in dual immersion in this city from KG through 9th grade, then switched to a college prep school. Unless you are prepared to be super hard-core, providing both adult-child and peer-level interaction in Spanish, as well as academic reinforcement in all subject areas, dual immersion is the way to go. Ours was a half-day program through 5th grade; by 6th grade we were tracked and could spend the entire day in Spanish (as in: Soc. Studies, Science, Math, and Spanish Language) except for staate-mandated classes. The grammar reinforcement we got over those content areas, as well as the widened vocabulary, were superb. In fact, I took exactly one college-level course in Spanish my first year of college… then went on to live in a Spanish-speaking country with no problem. All those years of immersion helped build my language in all areas.
The alternate to teach her yourself isn’t a bad idea, but you’ve got to stick with it, through teenaged and child-aged rebellions, plus the tedium of coming up with a curriculum, plus (again) finding a peer and leisure environment that is just as tolerant of the language difference as you are. It can be done but both parent-teacher and child have to be willing to go through it, or it’ll make your life harder.
That’s my two cents… now, off to read the much more reasoned and researched arguments (I hope) above.
Hi Roxana!
I grew up with the traditional American system of zero exposure to other languages until high school. Despite this I had a relatively easy time becoming conversant with German, French, Portuguese and even took college-level Russian. I started learning Spanish only around age 30 but have become very fluent. I’m telling you all this because I’ve tried learning both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese but in both cases quit. Why? It was ridiculously difficult for me. It’s just really, really different. My concepts of subject and object, adjective and adverb that had always served me so well became real obstacles. The problem was my WAY OF THINKING. If you have a chance to get your baby involved with a non-European language at a young age, please do it!
Literacy in reading and writing Spanish is important. All you have to do is make it reasonably fun for both of you, not a chore. It may be easier than you think. Using familiarity with French and Portuguese as a springboard, I taught myself Spanish with a dictionary, a book of verb conjugations, and anybody I could find to correct sentences I’d written out in a notebook I carried around: Dominican busboys at the hotel where I was a waitress, Puerto Ricans in internet chat rooms about music, a Mexican lady on the bus stop, anyone. My point is that it doesn’t have to be something separate from “life”. You can work it in.
As my little son gets older I plan to try reading works of literature in Spanish together with him and then we can both write something brief about them for each other. This will fill a hole in my education too! My idea is for him to pick out most of what we read. Maybe he can write letters to a relative in formal style, letters to the editor, musicians, pro wrestlers, whatever. We could also research information about something that interests him and write up a little description of it for his grandparents. I’m sure we’ll come up with other ideas. I think it’s kind of like exercising or eating right… be creative and keep trying until you find something that fits into your life.
My grown daughter tells me she appreciates that I made a point of taking her to church, science museums, cultural festivals and concerts, and the times she had to write proper thank you notes for gifts, or write a well-structured apology to someone. I didn’t drag her through anything really wretched but there were many times she rolled her eyes and would rather have been watching tv! Yet looking back on it these times were not just educational but also brought us closer together.