Comments on: The Bilingual Rebellion Begins

By: Tips to Make Your Children See Why They Need to Speak Spanish |SpanglishBaby™

Mon, 19 Aug 2013 20:23:39 +0000

[...] raising bilingual kids is getting their children to speak Spanish. This is especially true once the rebellion stage hits and children refuse to use their minority language making their parents extremely [...]

By: Beth Ortuño

Beth Ortuño — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:54:59 +0000

hola Vera!
you’re on the right track to reach out for support. try to remember not to look at any one short period, because kids do swing back & forth & all around over the long term. but you are right – there’s a problem if the child is getting older & doesn’t believe it’s important or good to speak that language. never forget your example as Mamá is the one that impacts them most of all. don’t feel badly – it’s not always easy – and you haven’t given up! that tells them a lot right there!
check out these links for some good ideas!
http://spanglishbaby.com/my-child-is-refusing-to-speak-spanish-what-can-i-do/
http://spanglishbaby.com/2009/09/how-to-create-a-perceived-need-for-the-minority-language/
http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/07/pen-pals-a-great-idea-for-bilingual-kids/
i especially think this might help in your situation:
http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/06/read-to-your-nino/
our bilingual babies are 11, 9 and 4. i am a huge believer in this reading together thing. reading at bedtime isn’t just for the little ones!!! the older kids can read out loud to me or to the younger one. when it seems like a book has really piqued their interest we try to follow up later with little conversations in Spanish about it. this is easier than it sounds – just try it. every kid can get excited about something, and there are books about it whatever it is. i’m not a native Spanish speaker (in my 30′s before i even started!) so reading in Spanish out loud to our youngest son has really helped me develop my own skills, vocabulary and feeling comfortable with some looonnnnng Spanish words rolling off my tongue, especially as we’ve moved on from the simplest books into things that have more of a plot / more words than pictures it would help your husband a lot. also — it’s a daily affirmation for your kids that this is important enough to carve out a quiet little time every day. they might be rolling their eyes at you getting started but just persevere and i guarantee they will get into it & start telling you stuff you didn’t realize they were thinking about. even if you don’t have a lot of Spanish speakers in your area you’d be surprised how many books in Spanish are available free at the library. ask at the desk about having books from their catalog sent to your local branch for you!

By: Vera

Vera — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 03:35:09 +0000

Hola soy nueva a esta web pero me alegro haberla encontrado. My fustracion is similar a muchas de ustedes. Yo soy guatemalteca y my esposo es nacido y creado aqui en los USA. pero de padres salvadorenos. Pero cuando nos conocimos el hablaba poco espanol y yo poco ingles. Con el tiempo nos casamos y los dos mejoramos las lenguas. Cuando nuestro primer bebe nacio el le hablaba ingles y yo espanol. con el tiempo tuvimos tres nenes mas y lo mismo paso. So en fin q el ingles domino y no me han querido aprender muy bien el espanol apesar q yo les hablo, no diligentemente porque me fustran cuando no me entienden so les termino de decir todo en ingles.
Con el tiempo decimos educarlos en casa(homeschool) y he querido hacerlo de manera bilingue pero ha sido dificil para mi. Primero pues tenia mis preocupaciones de que si ellos regresaban ala escuela publica no ivan a entender, y otra que no estaba tan segura de las reglas del estado. So les empeze a dar todas las lecciones en ingles. Pues todos los curriculos que encontraba eran todos en ingles. Ahora siento que perdi tiempo y para la edad q tienen ya leeran y escribieran en espanol, pero ahora ni como clase dos veces por semana les gusta atender. Todavia esto busco un curriculo completo K-12 que me ayude a ensenarles en las dos lenguas saben de alguno? Cual sera la mejor solucion. edades de ellos son 11-10-8-4. El ultimo nene lo esta aprendiendo mas que los grandes pues no quiero cometer el mismo error que hice con los otros. Si tienen algunas ideas por favor mandemelas les estare agradecida. Definitivamente estoy pasando con los nenes grandes la etapa de rebelion de lengua ellos dicen no tenemos amigos que hablen espanol solo tu mami. Es cierto pues nuestra familia todos los primos hablan ingles, solo mis padres hablan espanol. Las amistades todas son americanas nadie habla espanol, Por eso en esa area les doy la razon ellos no ven la necesidad de hablar el lenguage. Y eso que yo doy clases privadas de espanol a dos nenas ironicamnente ellos dicen good for them thats not for me but its embarrasing that my own kids dont speak fluent spanish.. any tips. tired of trying they are just not interested, not even games, music, tv calls their attention for spanish. help!!!!!!

By: My Daughter Is Not As Bilingual As I Thought | SpanglishBaby™

My Daughter Is Not As Bilingual As I Thought | SpanglishBaby™ — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:44:04 +0000

[...] eager, but then, randomly, she’ll spill out that she doesn’t know how to speak Spanish, that she prefers English. I deny it. I insist that she speaks Spanish very well and that she just needs to practice it. She [...]

By: 5 Ways to Motivate your Child to Speak Spanish | Playtime In Spanish

5 Ways to Motivate your Child to Speak Spanish | Playtime In Spanish — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:43:04 +0000

[...] have is what to do when they refuse to speak Spanish (or whichever minority language). We know the bilingual rebellion is pretty much a fact and we’ll all have to face it eventually. For some it starts as early as 3 years of age and for [...]

By: 5 Ways To Motivate Your Child to Speak Spanish When He Refuses To | SpanglishBaby™

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:33:24 +0000

By: BethO

BethO — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:57:14 +0000

We just had our ironic moment last week. When Marco was about 2 he started being able to speak all in Spanish with people who don’t understand English. But if he knew they knew English, he’d refuse to use Spanish. This is especially frustrating for his father, and wouldn’t you know, with his father is where Marco is most stubborn about it. He’s almost 4 now, understands everything and would repeat back specific words when we coach him, but would say nothing spontaneous in Spanish to his Papi, not ever. Until last week! I don’t remember what we were talking about but this time, when Papi said his usual thing that he repeats normally dozens of times a day without result, “hablame en español”, Marco said with a totally mock-serious face “Papi, no puedo”. JAJAJAJA!!! Oh yeah, eso es mi niño!!!

By: Language, Culture and Familia Immersion in El Salvador « SpanglishBaby™

Language, Culture and Familia Immersion in El Salvador « SpanglishBaby™ — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:12:23 +0000

[...] months. So, my go-to phrase when when I get too many English dialogue from her–or plain out lovely defiance–is, “Si no hablas español, no vas a poder jugar con tu prima y [...]

By: Blanca P.

Blanca P. — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:42:20 +0000

Ana, thank you for keeping us posted on your girl’s bilingual journey. It is very appreciated! My daughter turned 4 in July and she has not reached this rebellious period yet. We continue to both only speak in Spanish to her. My husband and I tend to use both languages with eachother. With my daughter, I can still use the “que es eso?” trick when she says a simple word or phrase in English and she responds by translating back to Spanish. I think this has been possible because I have purposely kept her out of preschool (with the purpose of sheltering her from too much English at this point and risking her loss of Spanish). I am waiting for her to hopefully get into a dual immersion program next year for Kindergarten. However, because we do not live in the school’s area, I was informed by the school that the only way she can get in, is if she continues to be a native spanish speaker (because they need more spanish speaking models)..so I’m working harder than ever at engaging and exposing her to the Spanish language and culture and sheltering her from too much English. For example, I’m reading about three times as much to her (we have always only read to her in Spanish), minimizing English TV ,trying to speak more spanish with my husband, etc. I started to let her watch English TV some time back, but then she started to pick up really quick on English..and her play started to become in English instead of Spanish…so I decided to go back to mostly Spanish media (for the sake of getting her into that DL school next year). Thanks to SB I don’t worry as much about her lack of English skills at this point, as I continue to be reminded through your community that she will “pick it up” when she attends school..but even now she will use some english words here and there…and she tries to “teach” her younger spanish speaking brother (she says “I like candy” to him and then says to him “ahora tu dices…me too.”)…ay ay ay. I try to embrace this period of them playing and speaking to eachother in Spanish as I’m sure it will be short lived…but oh how I wish that they would speak to eachother in Spanish forever. Good luck with your beautiful and intelligent girl. By the way..I’d love for them to meet! I’m so curious as to what language they would speak to eachother in…we can tell your girl that my daughter only speaks Spanish…

By: Ana Flores

Ana Flores — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:49:00 +0000

The Montessori school is very supportive and very multicultural. One teacher is Korean, the other from India, one fromArmenia and kids from all over. Many don’t speak English at home.

The rephrasing has been really helpful. Now, I just need to get my husband on board!