Comments on: I Have a Confession to Make

By: Adriana

Adriana — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:16:59 +0000

You never know. My youngest is now two and speaking quite a bit. I like to eavesdrop in on their conversations and so far Spanish is all that I hear. My husband and I do have to make more of an effort to avoid speaking English to each other in front of the boys.

As far as the English videos from the library, I may be a mean mami but I check to see if there is a Spanish language track and if there is not, we don’t check it out. I just tell him that Mateo (my littlest) won’t understand it if it is in English. So far it is working.
.-= Adriana´s last blog ..Bluebonnets =-.

By: BethO

BethO — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:42:21 +0000

Edwin, I love the way you put this! “We are Chinese so we speak Chinese.”

By: BethO

BethO — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:19:55 +0000

It does seem the “status” of the language is key.
In our family the language at home is almost completely Spanish, but the children who know how to speak English are the “big kids”, and the adults who speak English well are the ones who can drive a car and generally have more money for paletas. The kids can’t really refuse to speak Spanish or they wouldn’t survive in the house. But it seems like English has all the bling.
I’m constantly saying “español por favor” but it feels like a real uphill battle, as adults in the family are always wanting to practice their English with the older kids. It’s not that their against bilingualism at all, but they feel a pressing need to improve their English, to survive at the grocery store or to get better jobs, and the kids are all too willing to be their little English teachers at every opportunity.
—Sigh—
BUT! I will not give up!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Ana Lilian

Ana Lilian — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:18:01 +0000

What an interesting point you bring up about the status messages about languages that children can perceive. Totally makes sense. I want to explore that topic more.
We only speak Spanish at home. Completely and totally. However, she spends her day with kids her age at preschool/daycare where they play in English.
She’s at the stage (almost 3YO) where she’s speaking Spanglish because she’s sorting out the languages. I notice that most of the words/phrases she uses with us in English are words she uses to play. Such as “Close your eyes,” “Go,” “Your turn,” etc…

By: Tracy

Tracy — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:14:49 +0000

It is so difficult sometimes because we aren't even always conscious of what language we're speaking. Now that I'm speaking "only" Spanish to the kids, (it's turned out to be about 90% Spanish, but I'm working on it), I get confused because there are things I don't want the suegra to understand, and then when my husband comes home, we switch between Spanish and English every other sentence. I've been having headaches lately and I wonder if it's related. LOL. .-= Tracy´s last blog ..The “Mexican” statue: Racist, Tacky or Funny? =-.

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:12:04 +0000

Thanks for the great tips, Adriana! I haven’t gone as far as banning English television, although she mostly watches Vme and whenever we check out movies from the library, I like to make sure they have a Spanish track which, unfortunately, is not always the case. To be honest, now that she’s almost 4 and very opinionated, it’s getting harder to choose the movies for her and many times she likes the ones which don’t have a Spanish track…

I’m also using the “your little brother doesn’t speak English” trick with her whenever I hear her speak English to him. He’s only 9 mos, so I think I’ll be able to use this for a while. Who know what’ll happen when he starts speaking. Inevitably, they’ll most probably speak English to each other…

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:04:42 +0000

100% with you, Edwin, in terms of trying to avoid making the child love one language over another. My daughter, as I have said in the past, couldn’t be prouder of the fact that she speaks three languages – even though she only knows a few words in her third one! When she meets someone new, she immediately wants to know what languages they speak.

One thing I don’t do is turn to English if we’re around people who don’t understand us and I’m actually glad you brought it up because it’s a topic I’ve been wanting to explore a little bit more. I know some people do, and some people, like myself, don’t. I know it could be considered rude, but if I’m talking to my child, it shouldn’t really matter if no one else can understand what I’m saying to her…

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:59:32 +0000

Funny you should mention finding her more Spanish-speaking peers because one thing I’ve definitely noticed is that she plays a lot in English. I guess her vocabulary in this area is much more extensive in English for obvious reasons.

We’re lucky we belong to a bilingual playgroup. However, it’s been hard to attend the meetups ever since I started working full-time. Thanks for reminding me I need to make a bigger effort.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:50:31 +0000

There are very subtle things such as adults speaking to one another in certain languages that send status messages about language. This topic is important to bilingual teachers, because kids will also see bilingual teachers communicate with one another usually in Spanish. Every time that I go into a bilingual classroom to talk to the teacher in front of the kids, I always have to think about which language that I am going to use and I sometimes find myself using English because I possibly just got out of an English meeting. It is so much more difficult to stay in the language, especially when English seems to be predominate in the work force. .-= Melanie´s last blog ..Surefire Ways to Elevate the Status of Your Bilingual Program =-.

By: Adriana

Adriana — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:45:31 +0000

I could have written this post. My husband and I have never spoken a word of English to our four year old but we have a much harder time remembering to speak Spanish to each other in front of the boys. I blame it on the fact that when we met we spoke to each in English and it became a habit. My biggest fear is that my younger son’s Spanish will suffer greatly if the boys start speaking English to each other. A few things that we have done to up the Spanish in our household lately:
-completely banned English television
-convinced my oldest son that his little brother does not understand English yet so we must always speak Spanish around him. (So far this have been very successful, but my little is only two and doesn’t speak very much yet.)
-actively sought out more Spanish-speaking children as playmates

I love your idea of having your daughter catch you speaking English at home as a reminder to speak in Spanish. We will have to try that too!
.-= Adriana´s last blog ..Career Change =-.