{Photo by: andrewmalone}
When Vanessa was younger I used to tell her I didn’t speak English, but now that she’s in kindergarten, she’s pretty much figured out that’s not true. Although we speak only Spanish at home, because she now spends a lot more time in the outside world, she’s heard me interact in English in more than one occasion.
The other day, though, I was really surprised when she asked me – in Spanish – if I spoke English. When I said yes, she said:
“Pero solo un poquito, ¿verdad?” (But only a little bit, right?)
To which I said yes because I figured if I could milk the whole thing a bit longer, why not?
Then she went on to say that she also speaks just a little English because there are a lot of words she doesn’t know. I must admit I got a bit worried when she said that and so I proceeded to dig deeper.
When I asked her what she meant she said that sometimes at school there’s words she doesn’t understand.
“Como ‘stockings’. Cuando la maestra dijo que pintáramos nuestros stockings, yo no entendí lo que estaba diciendo”. (Like stockings. When the teacher told us to draw our stockings, I didn’t understand what she was saying.)
I felt bad because before then she’d probably never heard the word stockings, even though that’s very obvious Christmas vocabulary to be found in books, movies and any conversation related to the holidays. But, as I said, we only speak Spanish at home and so we refer to stockings as ‘botas de Navidad.’ (BTW, I’m sure my family is the only one that calls them that.)
Anyhow, Vanessa went on to tell me that it didn’t take her long to figure out what the teacher meant and all was good.
She didn’t seem too worried about it, so I followed her lead… even though part of me still wonders.
How would you deal with this issue?
Roxana I would not worry about it. I grew up in a home where my parents spoke in Spanish and there were words I didn’t get either as a kid, like saucer. You know the kind you put a cup on. She will figure it out just like she did with the stockings
Other words I didn’t remember easily were words I only heard in Spanish and didn’t use that much in English at home like mantel (tablecloth), jarra (pitcher), sabanas (sheets)—but again I figures it out.
I was also going to say that my mom worries that Sabrina won’t know the English version of words, but really she will—we live a society where English has lots of power—it will infiltrates their little brains and they will know words like stockings.
Hi there -
I teach university-level Spanish, as well as grades 2-6 and high school seniors. I’m a bilingual gringa; my husband is Honduran, and although he speaks English, he’s not fully bilingual. We have three kids, ages 5, 8, and 9.
I, too, want my kids to be bilingual, but since they are being raised in this country, my first priority has been to give them a very strong foundation in English. I speak mostly English to them; my husband and I speak 95% Spanish in front of them, so they have grown up exposed to both languages. They attend a private school that makes Spanish a priority, and all three have Spanish classes at least 3 days per week.
I decided to comment on your post today because I wanted to encourage you to be sure your daughter has interesting reading material available to her in both languages, but especially, if you live in the U.S., please be sure she reads for pleasure in English.
Her vocabulary growth in any language will depend on how much she reads, and the vast majority of today’s kids spend way more time in front of tv & videogame screens than they reading. I see the difference in my university students; I see how a lack of vocabulary limits their abilities and achievements, and if there’s one thing I would tell parents in general, it would be to encourage their kids to read. But especially for kids whose primary home language is not English … it may not be what people reading this blog want to hear, but if children are not reading to develop that English vocabulary, they will be at a disadvantage academically.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts in your blog,
Candy
I think it is important for our kids to realize that this happens to us in all our languages. I have a dictionary and translation app on my phone, and if I don’t know a word, my older son will tell me to use my phone. I have also explained that I have to do this in both languages. A good example is the word vivencial that a Spanish speaking friend used. She did not know it in English and I did not know it in Spanish. We looked up the English definition and then further defined it wwith an English dictionary to make sure we were usingt it I the correct context. Our kids were watching and listening on how we used our resources to discover vocabulary we did not know. I find modeling to be a great teacher.
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