This week’s Ask an Expert question was sent by Blanca Gómez Anaya.
“I am concerned that my five-year-old daughter is losing her Spanish skills too quickly since starting English-only kindergarten. We spoke to her primarily in Spanish since she was born. Now that she is in kindergarten in an English-only school district, she is speaking very little Spanish. My husband and I had decided to have him speak to her in Spanish and I would speak to her in English. However, I am concerned that the Spanish is losing out. My older daughters understand Spanish and can speak it when needed. We would like for our youngest daughter to be more fluent. Should we both speak to her in Spanish?”
Dear Blanca,
Language loss is a common pattern that we see when children start school in a language other than their home language. This is especially true for younger children in a family who have older siblings who are fluent in the school language.
What we know about language is that language input drives language output. In other words, the amount children hear a language generally matches the amount they speak that language. If your daughter is speaking English all day at school and in after-school activities and play dates with friends from school, she is clearly spending a large part of her day speaking English. If you want her to speak more Spanish, I would recommend increasing the amount of Spanish she hears.
I think you have a good plan—that both you and your husband speak Spanish to her.
Ellen Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
President
Bilinguistics, Inc.
Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D, CCS-LLP – A bilingual (English/Spanish) speech language professional who earned her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish at The University of Texas at Austin. She has provided bilingual Spanish/English speech-language services in schools, hospitals, and early intervention settings. Her research focus is on the acquisition of semantic language skills in bilingual children, with emphasis on assessment practices for the bilingual population. She is the President of Bilinguistics, which is “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.” You can read her answers here.
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I have seen this happen to almost all of my nieces and nephews. We are determined that our sons will NOT loose their Spanish. My oldest is currently attending a Spanish immersion preschool but it only goes up to Kindergarten. After they finish Kindergarten I may homeschool them bilingually.
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It’s always a battle once the children enter an English-only environment, and the advice to speak Spanish between the two of you is excellent.
Often times reality gets in the way – how about a Spanish speaking club at school? You lead it and encourage other Spanish-speaking families to get involved? Sounds like a lot of work, I know, but have your older girls act as the maestras for the ‘club’ (don’t want to call it a class – it will turn them off depending upon their age!).
Older students love being the teachers and it helps them maintain their Spanish too!
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The Spanish Speaking Club at school sounds like a great idea. A Spanish Speaking Playgroup has worked wonderfully for us. You may have to start it yourself, but it is SOOO worth it!
I think I would also make the home Spanish-Only, for example, only TV in Spanish (may have to be only videos), music in Spanish, books in Spanish, etc.
Good luck.