Comments on: 4 Things to Consider When Your Child Mixes Languages

By: Genny Zettel

Genny Zettel — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 21:24:17 +0000

FYI, your weblog doesn’t look correct in Opera.

By: Backyard Wrestling DVD

Backyard Wrestling DVD — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:49:03 +0000

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By: Deborah

Deborah — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:59:37 +0000

Marcela, in my experience with my own kids, who now are 14 and 11, what I did on those cases is to have meaningful conversations with them. And if you look at the literature about bilingualism you will see over and over again that one important factor in having success in this long road to bilingualism is to talk with them, not to talk TO them, but interacting in a real conversation. With this I mean to expand the dialog to hold her attention, like: “Sí, el gato hace miau miau en español, claro que sí, y sabés por qué me gusta el gatito?” (give her the time for her to answer) (And even if she doesn’t answer verbally, maybe she will look at you because she understands you will tell her something) “A mí me gustan los gatos porque son muy mimosos y les gustan que les hagan cosquillas…….” And there you just tickle her tummy, etc… And you have created a game from where you can expand, Mamá gata y su hijita Gatita van al parque, etc…You have to make it real for her. She has to feel the fun of having a mamá who plays with her en español, and that is going to be her special bond with you.

By: Marcela

Marcela — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:14:21 +0000

You hit me right on with this post! I actually sent an email question to you guys asking about this very topic!

Lately Audrey has been nonstop talking and learning new words. It seems she is learning both languages just as fast but I have found instances where she learns a word in spanish first and after hearing it from dad in english she will completely switch and start calling the object by it’s english name. I usually just reinforce the english with a “si ” and then say the name in spanish also. I have found that if she prefers the name in english she will stick to it and no matter how much I repeat or talk about the object in spanish she continues to say it in english.

An example of our conversation:

“como dice el gato?”

“cat, meow, meow”

“si, el GATO dice meow meow”

“cat, meow,meow”

Very very interested in this topic! Great post!

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:43:46 +0000

Gracias, Dani!! Totalmente de acuerdo con lo que dices acerca de como los seres humanos tendemos a usar lo nuevo, lo que tenemos más a la mano… y creo que eso es justamente lo que Vane hace con las palabras que conoce en los dos idiomas. La palabra home la aprendió hace mucho tiempo, pero es muy posible que ese mismo día la usó mucho en la escuelita, ¿quién sabe?

Lo interesante es que creo que esto de mezclar los idiomas tiene que ver justamente con el hecho que nos gusta usar lo que más tenemos a la mano y como es una decisión que se hace tan rápido, a veces cuando conoces bien dos idiomas, es inevitable mezclarlos.

Ojalá vengas a visitarnos más a menudo. Y si conoces a gente a quien se lo pudieras recomenda (en la escuela me imagino hay unos cuantos), te lo agradecería

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:36:57 +0000

What a great idea, Gloria! Especially because my daughter LOVES to sing and she actually makes up her own songs all the time… Gracias!

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:35:39 +0000

I totally agree with you, Ines. That’s why I think incorporating the words in question into our everyday conversations works so well. This gives her an opportunity to use and repeat the word over an over again in a way that makes sense and can be lots of fun!

BTW, I’ll be exploring the world of code-switching in more detail soon and since I know it’s one of your favorite topics, jajaja, be sure to stay tuned!

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:30:58 +0000

Gracias, Deborah! Me encantó el enlace que me mandaste. Ojala pueda encontrar ese libro. Estoy segura que a mi hija le encantaría

By: Ines

Ines — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:48:07 +0000

Thanks for the great post! I think our kids are the same age– so, its interesting to hear you articulate the same experiences. My only comment would be– that its my feeling that modeling is not enough. If I hear my son start to mix I ask him to repeat the same sentence all in the minority language. If he really doesn’t know or remember all the words, then I’ll model the sentence for him and ask him to repeat again afterwards. My gut tells me that the words don’t stick unless they actually say them…

By: Deborah

Deborah — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:28:31 +0000

¡Perdón! La autora se llama GABRIELA Keselman. Y agrego que a mis chicos les encantaba este cuento cuando chiquitos (no te quiero decir por qué para no contarte el final )))
.-= Deborah´s last blog ..La ventaja de formar un grupo de padres bilingües =-.