A few days ago I went to the parent-teacher conference at my daughter’s preschool. I can’t believe she’s nearing the end of her first full year in preschool. Besides the fact that I was told a few things I already knew and expected—Vanessa knows what she wants and she’ll try everything until she succeeds—other things were a bit of a surprise for me.
I should start by saying that we use the mL@H method, so the only English she’s exposed to is while she’s in school three times a week. At first, I was a bit concerned she wouldn’t be able to communicate—and I know this is something lots of parents using the same method worry about all the time—but I should have given her more credit. Not only has she been able to make herself understood with her teachers, but also with her peers, as I was told she’s one of the classroom leaders. That was surprising!
I mean, I know it makes sense with the kind of personality she has, but since I haven’t really heard her have full conversations in English, I didn’t really expect her language skills to be strong enough to lead! I’m sharing this not only because I’m obviously proud, but also because I know a lot of parents using the mL@H worry about the lack of exposure their children get to English, or any other majority language, with this method. Although any parent knows that every single child is different, the reality is that in our case, being immersed in preschool a few days a week has been enough for my daughter to learn enough English to not only survive, but to thrive.
In the name of full disclosure; however, I was also told by Vanessa’s teacher that she doesn’t know/recognize all the letters of the alphabet in English (as she does in Spanish). Because her lead teacher knows some Spanish, she’s able to tell that my daughter does a lot of mixing. I’d be lying if I didn’t worry about this even if it was only for a second. The thought did cross my mind that maybe I needed to help her by teaching her the alphabet in English, but her teacher reassured me there was no need. And, then I went back to knowing that everything would be alright and that we should stick to speaking to her in Spanish only.
First of all, she’s too young for any of this anyway. I know she still has plenty of time to learn it all. More importantly though, she is learning two languages so it is to be expected that some things will take her a bit longer to learn than her peers. I’m not worried…really. In fact, the only thing I am worried about is what will happen when she goes through the stage in which she’ll refuse to speak Spanish, which I know is almost inevitable.
On a lighter note, Vanessa’s teacher told me it has been a real treat not only for her, but for the rest of the children to have Vanessa in the classroom. She said because of Vanessa, the rest of the kiddies have been exposed to Spanish as she likes to count in her first language as well as recite the months of the year. I was also told that Vanessa is proud of who she is and that she loves the fact that she can speak two languages. Nothing could make me happier!
Do you worry about your children’s exposure to the majority language? Why? Why not? Are you doing something about it?
Lucky mama!!!
.-= Marcela´s last blog ..toma leche y amigas =-.
Our family also uses the ML@H method and there was a difficult period of time between when my oldest son (who is now four) began talking at around a year and when he turned three since he spoke 100% Spanish. My husband and I were, of course, thrilled that his Spanish was progressing so well. However, I could not help but feel a little guilty when he could not communicate with my English-speaking family members or talk to the children in our English-speaking playgroup. He is a naturally shy child and I was afraid that I was making it worse because he could not understand what others were saying. After making an English-speaking friend in our neighborhood just after his third birthday, his English just took off and I am estimating that by the time he is five, he will be equally fluent in both. So yes, they WILL learn English!
.-= Adriana Villalobos´s last blog ..Toys my children ACTUALLY play with- Stamp set =-.
Thanks for sharing, Adriana!
I too remember feeling a bit guilty about not speaking any English to my daughter, especially when I would take her to places like My Gym or the storytime at our local library. The only person in mi family who doesn’t speak English is my brother-in-law, so at least she has always been able to communicate with all the rest.
I have seen with my own two eyes how they do learn English, hence the title of the post
I worry that by not reading to my son in English, his literacy skills will not be as strong. We use the OPOL method and my sons rarely use English. I know that the schools test early and often group kids by their results on standardized test scores. I fear that his true academic ability will be masked by his weak English skills.
Susan,
He’s going to be trilingual and that is truly amazing! Literacy is literacy no matter the language. So he’ll be able to transfer those skills to whatever other language he’s learning. Remember we only learn how to read once. That said, I totally understand about standardized test scores (and that’s one of the reasons why I don’t like them), but this will probably only be temporary until he catches up…
I’m not there yet, but it surely will be interesting to see how all this plays out with my daughter once she enters kindergarten…
When I was growing up and being raised in a bilingual household (not Spanish though), I don’t think my parents knew that there was a name for the way they were teaching us. Basically, my mom spoke to us in her native language so we would learn it properly and my father spoke to us in both English and my mother’s language since he was also fluent in it. At home we only spoke my mother’s language though. I’m the oldest of the kids so when I started school there was some concern that I would be confused and not be able to switch to English at school, but apparently I had no problems and neither did my two sisters. So I can also tell you, “they will learn English…I promise!”
.-= Fran´s last blog ..New Lactation Room Law: Breastfeeding in the Workplace =-.
I truly believe that the more we share our stories, the more we can create a strong, supportive community. It can get a bit lonely out there sometimes and as parents, we tend to double-guess our decisions some times, so I really appreciate all the comments we get from all of you which help put things in perspective.
Mil gracias