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Only Spanish
May 18, 2009
11:23 pm
salsaymariachi
Guest

Hola! My husband and I have a 22 month old daughter and a 4 1/2 month son. Since day one, we have spoken only in Spanish to our children and we TRY to speak only in spanish to eachother. My parents only speak in Spanish to them which I am very lucky for. However, my in-laws refuse to be supportive because I think they feel that I am doing a disservice to my children by not exposing them to English now. The result of this is that my children are not bonding very much to my in-laws and are extremely attached to my parents. Oh well….With us, she only listens to spanish music and we only read in Spanish to her. So far, my daughter can carry on a simple dialogue in Spanish very well! (she can count to 10, can identify all basic colors, circles and triangles, can sing the words by heart to songs that I've exposed her to like Jose Luis Orozco and Cri Cri, knows when to say compermiso, gracias, de nada, buenos dias, te quiero mucho….ok enough of my bragging :) However, she can't understand strangers who try to speak in English to her. She reacts completely different to people who speak in Spanish and to those who speak to her in English. She is much more open to the Spanis speakers and becomes withdrawn with the English speakers. Thanks to this website, I am not worried about this aspect. She just started watching some english television shows (Sesame street, dora, etc) and is already showing a preference to count in English! My challenge is having her participate in spanish speaking play groups, as there are none in my area. We live in Bellflower, CA. There is a fabulous playgroup based out of Pasadena, but it's too far for us (most activites are about 40 minutes away). I'd love to hear from parents who have been successful at raising bilingual/bicultural children. If you're out there, please enlighten us and share your methods and experiences. I would also love to hear from parents who have children that have gone through a dual immersion program and if they would recommend this educational option. Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

May 19, 2009
10:46 am
Admin
Forum Posts: 64
Member Since:
November 28, 2008
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Hi SalsayMariachi (love your username!).

Thanks for sharing your story with us.

I´m happy to read that this site has helped you be at peace with your decision to speak only Spanish to your daughter.  We know that one of the hardest parts of the journey is listening to all the conflicting advice from people who truly have our best interest at heart but that are most likely just not informed.  Too many myths that have been propagated for too long of a time. 

Now here we all are to share our experiences, listen from each other and from the experts and know we´re on track.

We really do advocate for playgroups to immerse you children in Spanish in a playful way.  Have you tried searching in http://www.meetup.com for a playgroup in your area? 

If there´s none open we suggest you set up a page and start your own. You might be surprised by the results.  You can also open up a new topic in our US West Coast Playgroups forum with your city or area´s name as the title and you can request for other parents in the area to contact you thru here. 

Great to have you around here!

May 27, 2010
12:49 pm
Admin
Forum Posts: 61
Member Since:
February 18, 2010
Offline

Keep the faith, Salsaymariachi! Your post rang true for me because I'm struggling with an English invasion in our family. It's so ironic because I'm the non-Hispanic one. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to protect a beautiful historic house while the bulldozers come closer, and its owners are actually the ones in a hurry to see it torn down and build a McDonalds. Anyway I will keep singing my little protest song "hablen en español por favor". My son needs it! And I think they might, just might, be starting to come around…

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