Comments on: Ask an Expert: What should I do if my daughter’s Spanish is better than her English? http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-what-should-i-do-if-my-daughters-english-is-better-than-her-spanish/ Raising bilingual and bicultural kids Thu, 26 Jul 2018 07:12:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2 By: BethO http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-what-should-i-do-if-my-daughters-english-is-better-than-her-spanish/#comment-7402 BethO Fri, 28 May 2010 19:13:56 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=6820#comment-7402 Blanca, I think you will be really shocked at how quickly your daughter will pick up English when she starts school. Then your challenge is going to be keeping Spanish strong. I think it will help her immensely to have the foundation you are setting now.

]]> By: Blanca http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-what-should-i-do-if-my-daughters-english-is-better-than-her-spanish/#comment-5970 Blanca Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:27:30 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=6820#comment-5970 Hi Maite! My daughter is 2.8 years old and we are also very strict about only speaking in Spanish to her. She has a pretty extensive vocabulary and impressees me so much every day at how much she talks and asks..but I am worried (and I’ve mentioned this before on other posts) that she’ll have trouble at school when she doesn’t understaad her peers that are speaking English. Even now..I feel bad when she asks me “mami de que estas hablando” when she wants to know what I”m talking about to someone else…or somtimes other children at gatherings speak only English and she’ can’t communicate with them at all so she backs out of playing…this is when I really second guess myself. Please keep me posted on your daughter’ s progress.

]]> By: Beth Ortuño http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-what-should-i-do-if-my-daughters-english-is-better-than-her-spanish/#comment-3603 Beth Ortuño Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:54:33 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=6820#comment-3603 I have seen this effect first hand in my stepchildren, who neither spoke nor understood any English at all when I first met them four years ago when they were 2 and 4 years old. It would have been fruitless and artificial for me to try communicating with them in English and I never even tried to teach them. However, at their mom’s house they had virtually unlimited tv time but were only allowed to watch the Disney channel (which repeats a lot). They had whole episodes of Hannah Montana memorized. Nowadays they are 6 and 8 years old, and both enjoy speaking English so much they not only speak to each other in it as much as they can– they even quiz each other for fun on the lists of vocabulary words that the older one brings home from her english-as-a-second-language class at school. I speak to them now in English (as I do with my baby son) since it’s more comfortable for me, but I’m glad all the other adults in their life speak to them in Spanish, so they don’t lose it.

]]> By: Roxana S. http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-what-should-i-do-if-my-daughters-english-is-better-than-her-spanish/#comment-3581 Roxana S. Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:09:11 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=6820#comment-3581 Ines, I know we’ve “talked” about this issue in the past. I was just wondering, though, since I feel like the way you and your brother grew up is the same way both my kids are going to grow up, how much of a difference there would be if I enroll them in a Spanish immersion school where all they would hear from Kinder to third grade would be Spanish?

]]> By: Beth Butler http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-what-should-i-do-if-my-daughters-english-is-better-than-her-spanish/#comment-3558 Beth Butler Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:46:10 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=6820#comment-3558 I feel like giving Simona a big abrazo/hug! She states so perfectly what could happen should you switch to less than 100% Spanish as home with your daughter.

As for the shyness, our daughter was in just the opposite setting – an English speaker surrounded by Spanish-speaking child care providers in her two-year-old room in a local preschool and was basically silent the entire 4-5 hours she was there (I was told this by her teachers). It had nothing to do with the language surrounding her we found out. Just a ‘stage’ that she outgrew and now never shuts up (in a loving way!).

Give your child the gift so many families wish they could give their children – your native Spanish coupled with a community that will provide her plenty of English all in due time.
.-= Beth Butler´s last blog ..Piggyback Songs and Why They Work So Great for Teaching Young Children =-.

]]> By: Ines http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-what-should-i-do-if-my-daughters-english-is-better-than-her-spanish/#comment-3554 Ines Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:40:14 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=6820#comment-3554 Amen! Thank you Simona for this response. I am someone who was brought up in this country by Spanish-speaking parents using the ML@H and can tell you first hand that what Simona says is true. If you don’t build that strong (and strict) minority language habit at home –I can guarantee that the minority language will be lost. I see an interesting trend on this blog with the native speakers of minority languages worrying if their children will learn to speak English. I hope they read Simona’s response before its too late!

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