By: BethO

BethO — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:38:40 +0000

Hola Blanca,
I would also encourage you to continue with discussing “school” concepts in Spanish at home. It is incredible what children are really learning when we think we are teaching them simple things. The fact is the lessons at school can never be so rich for your child like the free conversations she can have with adults at home. For example, she could point to things and says “azul” and the adult could say: “eso es azul”, “si, este tambien es azul, es azul claro”, “ah, tambien es azul esto”. This is teaching not just logical thinking (many different shades of blue are still blue — unlike the lessons at school which almost all use the same shade of medium-blue) but you are also quite naturally leading the child through a pretty sophisticated grammar. All of this teaches not just the color blue but a whole raft of logical thinking skills. Amazingly enough, when they know something and then hear the words in another language, it just gets plugged in to their brains, with the concepts they already know. Truly, grammar and language skills work that way too. She really will catch up and it will blow your mind. I hope you don’t let a temporary adjustment period get you discouraged. My feeling is that starting school can be tough for a lot of different reasons for different children. My stepchildren, nieces and nephews are all at different stages in the process; honestly, at any given moment, some are resistant to English while others are resistant to Spanish, but it’s all temporary. Over time I can see it works out. The one who struggles with middle-school English homework is also the one who sometimes seems to have trouble expressing himself at home in Spanish and stomps away without a word, while his brother, the one who can talk his way out of anything and charm the sap out of a tree, does it in either language equally!

Comments on: Ask an Expert: Should I be concerned about my daughter’s “academic” English?

By: BethO