My son Enzo recently started day care. Because I was afraid that full time day care or nursery school would introduce too much English too soon, I decided to go with a part time program. I feel I’ve made the right decision because It’s only been about a month and he already throws around English words in our conversations.
I do not act surprised or scold, I simply say, “¿quieres decir _____? ” and insert the word in Spanish. He smiles a mischievous smile… He understands what he is doing! He knows he isn’t supposed to speak to mama en inglés!
Enzo used to watch a lot of TV in English, but now that he is hearing a lot of it at day care, I have really started focusing on Spanish and French DVDs. I’m lucky because my parents and babysitter speak to him in Spanish all the time. Moving forward, I’m contemplating the idea of making our home a Spanish/French household when it’s just the three of us. I think it will help Enzo hear his parents speak those languages constantly. Perhaps that will keep him from wanting to answer in English. Added bonus, it will also improve my French skills!
I realize that raising a multilingual baby is a lot of work and requires commitment — I feel like I have to step up my game now that he’s in day care!
How did you handle your child(ren) starting preschool or daycare in the majority language? Would love to hear your experiences! Please share any tips below!
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Hi–
If any of the teachers at the daycare speak Spanish or French, ask them to speak to your son in Spanish. This helped a lot, and the other parents actually asked the teachers to start teaching their children Spanish too. Now they do some Spanish instruction during circle time which was the result of the other parents wanting their children to be bilingual like my boys.
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your comment! Yesterday, I did just that! I spoke to the Spanish Speaking teacher at his day care and asked that she speak to him in Spanish, she said no problem. She also said that he already naturally speaks to her in Spanish, and switches to English with the other teachers!
I held off on preschool as long as I could because we had no Spanish-language options nearby. She was exposed to Spanish at the family daycare where she was, so it was hard to leave that. I did the same thing you’re doing by taking her part-time for the first year when she was 3.5. Then we went full time the year before Kindergarten. To be honest, that’s when she started refusing to speak Spanish and English completely took over. It didn’t take long at all.
So I started reading more to her in Spanish, finding ways to expose her more to the language, etc, etc. I did relax a bit once we got into the dual immersion program.
Just keep doing what you do and think of ways of adding travel and familia to the mix!
Ayyyy Ana, no me digas eso! =( me dan ganas de llorar!
That is my fear, that he will just start refusing to speak in Spanish.
Luckily I have my parents and amazing babysitter! I am holding off full-time as long as I can!
How is your daughter doing now? Does she speak to you in Spanish? or try to reply in English?
She does now!
My main tip is that you don’t force him and instead continue immersing him in ways he loves. You’re SO lucky to have abuelitos!! My other biggest tip, is to make traveling with him to Spanish-speaking countries a priority, especially if he has cousins there. That has been the best thing we’ve done for her, both for her Spanish and social skills.
I am also concerned because my daughter started preschool full time and now is starting to speak a lot more English. I still reply to her only in Spanish and am hoping that she will start speaking it again.
hi Lucila! When Enzo says something to me in English, I usually say “in school we speak in English, but with Mama — how do you say it?” and then I say the word, and he repeats it, (sometimes, other times he just laughs!)
I’d encourage you to find friends with children your daughter’s age who speak Spanish, so that she can see that there are other children speaking Spanish! That might help.
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