A while back I wrote about my daughter Vanessa having a hard time pronouncing the letter R. She’s gotten better at it, but now it’s her 4-year-old brother’s turn to learn how to roll his R’s and she’s doing a great job teaching him. He still has ways to go, but as with my daughter, I’m not really worried about it because typically Spanish speaking children don’t learn to do it until they’re between 5 and 7 years old.

I helped Vanessa learn how to roll her R’s using rhymes and tongue twisters, and a few days ago I promised her I would look for more so that we could use them with her little brother. Check out some of the news I found…

But first, let me share some advice from one of our very own experts, Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D, CCS-LLP, a bilingual speech language professional, who suggested the following to one of our readers a few years back regarding her daughter’s trouble rolling her R’s:

The trilled R is a D sound with the tip of the tongue moving. Try these drills:

The syllable level:

DRA DRE DRI DRO DRU

TRA TRE TRI TRO TRU

The word level:

PARDO, TARDE, CUERDA, GORDO

Here are the new rhymes and tongue twisters I found that are perfect to teach kids to roll their R’s.

RHYMES

• Por la calle de Carretas
  pasaba un perrito;
  pasó una carreta y
  le pisó el rabito.
  ¡Pobre perrito,
  cómo lloraba
  por su rabito!

• El burrito barrigón
  ayer se dio un resbalón
  por andar detrás de un carro
  se cayó dentro del barro
  ¡Qué burrito picarón
  el burrito barrigón!

• Corre que te corre,
  corre sin parar.
  Corre, corre, corre,
  que si tú no corres
  ¡seguro te atraparán!

TRABALENGUAS (or Tongue Twisters)

• El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo
  porque Ramón Rodríguez se lo ha robado

• Un burro comía berros
  y el perro se los robó,
  el burro lanzó un rebuzno
  y el perro al barro cayó.

Editor’s note: To go along with our SpanglishBaby Live Google+ Hangout about immersion travel, we’ve prepared a whole week of posts about this topic. Our first one is by Susan, one of our regular contributors, whom we would’ve loved to have as a guest on the Hangout, but who’s unable to join us because of her job as a Spanish teacher. Susan, her husband and her two trilingual kids will go on their third immersion trip — their second to Peru — this summer and she has tons of info to share.

Visiting and traveling in Spanish speaking countries is an educational and fun way to enrich your child’s language abilities. While traveling with children can be challenging, the rewards are well worth the effort of planning such a trip. A journey abroad exposes your child to another country and culture, improves their Spanish skills, and is a great way for the entire family to bond and learn together.

Schools and Homestays

I have always been an independent traveler, and like to set up our Spanish classes, homestays, and excursions by doing my own independent research on the Internet. Once my husband and I have decided on a destination, I do a Google search of Spanish schools in the area. I read through the websites of many different schools to see what classes and programs they offer, and then visit different travel forums to read the reviews of former students. Once I have narrowed down the selection, I email the directors to see if they will be able to accommodate our special situation — a bilingual family with young children. This process does take some time, but the research and planning of our trip is a lot of fun.

It seems that traveling with children is becoming more popular. Most schools have a teacher that works with children, but it is always important to emphasize that your children are bilingual to avoid the teaching of the basics such as colors and numbers. I always request that the kids are read to extensively and immersed in children’s literature since educational research emphasizes that reading expands a child’s vocabulary and improves their language skills. I bring some books and always buy a supply of Spanish books to take back home.

A homestay experience can be a wonderful way to get to know the culture of the country that you are visiting, but it is important to be with a good family. I have always used homestays that have been arranged by the school. In an earlier post, I described our experiences at wonderful homestay and a horrible homestay. Last year’s experience was so bad, my husband was reluctant to do another homestay this year. To avoid an awful situation, I have stipulated beforehand that we can change houses or even go to a hotel instead of staying in a homestay where we are miserable. I am confident that things will go well, and that we will once again have the experience of getting to know a local family.

Medical and Security Concerns

My husband and I traveled a lot and even lived and worked abroad before having children. I didn’t worry too much about health issues or security concerns. That all changed when we had children. Unfortunately, I learned the importance of researching health issues the hard way.

Two years ago my husband and I had decided to take the children to Peru, a country we had visited as a couple several years earlier. I had the airline tickets purchased and plans made. When discussing with the doctor which immunizations we would need for the trip, he expressed serious concern at taking our children to Cusco where the altitude is around 11,200 feet. Since we live at sea level, there was real concern of altitude sickness. Since our children were only 3 and 1½ years old at the time, the doctor advised us to change our plans and visit cities at a lower elevation. We still traveled to Peru, but I had to change our plane tickets, reservations and plans, and we faced financial penalties for changing the flights. Now I look into the medical recommendations months before making my travel plans.

The CDC’s travel website is an excellent source of information on health and immunization recommendations and requirements. If you are unable to see a doctor who specializes in travel medicine, it is a good idea to print out the information and take it to the appointment so that your pediatrician can use it as a guide.

I also find it prudent to check the State Department’s Travel Website. I always like to read the country specific information and to check if any travel alerts or warnings are in place. While I won’t necessarily change my plans based on what I read, it is a good idea to be informed. For our trip this summer, I have found the Facebook page for the U.S. Embassy in Lima to be informative. There are also recommendation for places to visit and fun activities in the country.

Traveling with Children

When we first traveled to Peru, my youngest was still in diapers. While most big cities do carry the same products that can be found in the United States, smaller cities and towns don’t necessarily have these same products. We visited some remote villages and even hiked to the bottom of the Colca Canyon. Diapers would have been impossible to find, so I was glad that we had carried them with us.

I do not recommend taking a stroller. They may be useful in big cities, but for the most part, the roads and sidewalks are not conducive to rolling around your child. I prefer carrying my kids in a child carrier backpack. Peruvian mothers carry their children on their backs using beautiful decorative cloths. They loved talking to me about my carrier and just being a mom. I really became aware of how much we as mothers have in common in spite of our cultural differences.

Most importantly I think it is important to prepare your child for the trip to a new country. I get books out of the library and we discuss where we will travel and the sites that we will see. Children’s books and YouTube videos can help give a deeper understanding of the country and culture before traveling. Having some prior knowledge of the country will enhance their learning and experience during your travels.

A lot planning goes into putting a travel immersion experience together for your child. The language learning, the cultural understanding, and the knowledge of another country provides an invaluable learning experience that will always be remembered.

{Photo courtesy of Susan Stephan}

Ask my mother-in-law about U.S. Geography and she throws her hands up in defeat. In her elementary school, geography was taught in the third grade — the year she arrived from Cuba. Instead of memorizing state capitals, she was busy learning a new language, culture and city.

Academically, third grade was a bust.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that story recently as I prepare to send my youngest to a preschool. He’s a rambunctious child whose English vocabulary is limited to the Scooby Doo theme song. (And ‘shut-up,’ but nobody is claiming that one!)

The one time we left him with someone other than our regular babysitter — while on vacation in Georgia — he wailed. When we returned two hours later, we could still hear his screams from beyond the door. “He was trying to tell us something, but we couldn’t understand what he was saying,” the nice young woman, who spoke only English, said.

(Me: #motheroftheyear #winning)

I am hoping his first day at school won’t be a repeat.

Intellectually, I know kids are resilient, and pick up languages quickly. I am definitely not worried about my son falling behind on his colors and letters. Emotionally, though, I can’t help but wonder how he’ll feel in those first months at school as he battles to understand and be understood.

He is a spitfire who won’t be ignored. I don’t want trying to communicate to feel like screaming into a wind tunnel.

So I called my friend, Dr. Lisa Lopez, seeking guidance on how to best prepare him (and myself) for the weeks and months to come. Lisa, a professor at the University of South Florida, specializes in dual language learning.

Here’s her advice for kids entering a classroom dominated by a language not their own:

1) Make sure your child knows a few basic words in English:  Teaching him words like “hi” and “bathroom” can help ease the transition, Lisa said. Kids in my son’s shoes go through four stages when they are in this position. First, they try to use their native language. When that doesn’t work, they enter a silent stage, as they try to assess the environment. At this point, they may act out in frustration because they can’t properly communicate, she said. It’s important to keep an open dialogue with the teacher to find the root cause of any behavior issues. Having an understanding of a few words will act as a bridge. Eventually, the students will move to mastering key phrases and then speaking more completely in the new language – which could take anywhere from a few months to a year, she said.

2) Keep pushing Spanish: Teach the few basic words, then leave the English to the school, Lisa said. At a young age, kids have a capacity for a limited number of words (for a 2-year-old, it’s 50 to 100.) The problem is, they may start increasing their English vocabulary at the expense of Spanish. To be truly bilingual, the child will need an equal input of both languages.

3) Emphasize the value of the home language: This, unfortunately, is where we have the most trouble — in  demonstrating why speaking Spanish is so important. Lisa said that kids need to know it’s useful to their lives, which you can do by  keeping up with Spanish-speaking family members, traveling, attending school or camp in Spanish — so that the value of the language is reinforced. “If kids are seeing that the language isn’t valued in the community, it’s going to be more fuel for the fire to not speak the language. That’s the most important piece.”

Clearly I have my homework to do.

{Photo via US Department of Education}

Your son is currently being raised bilingual English and Spanish. Congratulations! As you have probably already realized – bilingualism takes up time and effort. This said a normally developing child can be raised trilingual without affecting development. The challenge is to assure on-going language in-put in all three languages. I would suggest that you discuss with your wife what your goals and proficiency level would you want your son to reach in each language. These goals can and should be amended over time, however they will help you answer the question that you raise: “when should we start and how much effort and what kind of activities should my child be doing in each language?” For instance aiming for written proficiency in one language that a child will get from school, is different from aiming for literacy proficiency in three languages. The later will require intensive training early on. Another important issue to discuss is the choice of language. This is a complex issue with obviously many facets, but as noted above, on-going language input will be key, so considering a language with strong availability for exposure will be important.

Naomi Steiner, M.D.– is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and clinical researcher at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts where she is also an assistant professor in pediatrics. She is interested in how children develop awareness to cope with their emotions, behavior and learning. Dr. Steiner has a longstanding interest in bilingualism and multiculturalism, which is a topic that she enjoys teaching and discussing. After more than a decade of working closely with families around these issues she has written a book, with Susan Hayes, called 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child. She is multilingual and is raising multilingual children. You can read her answers here.

Do you have a question for our experts? Remember no question is too big or too simple. So, to send us your question, please click here or leave a comment below. Thank you!

“My husband and I are expecting our first child in May 2010. My husband’s native language is Spanish, while mine is English. We mix the two languages all the time at home–often in the same sentence. Although I speak Spanish and am fairly fluent, I think I would prefer communicating with my child mostly in English. I am a little worried though that our child would not hear enough Spanish if only my husband speaks in Spanish. Also, if we mix the languages at home, I wonder if that will confuse our child.

I’ve browsed the site and seen references to a few different types of models. Where are the best resources for beginning to educate ourselves as to these models and other relevant information?

Thanks for your help!

Jana”

Dear Jana,

Congratulations on thinking ahead! This is definitely the time to be educating yourselves. Your best resources for it are right here:  books like mine, Raising a Bilingual Child, to let you see a range of experiences, and a website like Spanglishbaby with timely advice and a way to hook yourself up with other parents with similar needs and interests.

With your language background, you have your choice of the major household strategies: You could do “one-parent-one-language.” You could continue to mix languages and both speak in both languages with your child.  Or you could both speak only Spanish at home. How will you decide what’s best for *your* family?

First let’s set aside your worry that your language mixing will confuse your child.  Mixing is probably the most widespread “system” in the world, and there is no evidence that it is confusing for children.  Your child will likely not mix more than you do, or if so, only for a short time.  So, a household with mixed languages is still in the running. On the other hand, you feel you’d rather speak mostly English with the child. So, you need to look for who else could help with the Spanish end of things if you don’t.

I think you need to look further than just you and your husband. In my book (pages 159-160), I present a questionnaire to help you evaluate *all* your language resources.  What other speakers will there be in your child’s life?  grandparents? friends and visitors? household help?  Are any of them monolingual (in Spanish)?  Are there any bilingual schools in your area?  Do you anticipate being able to travel or make long visits in another country? and so on.  Fill out the self-evaluation questionnaire and then see where you stand.

It will help your child choose to speak Spanish, if at least some of the time it’s the only choice.  So, find some monolinguals.  Even if you decide to join your husband in speaking Spanish with the child (my personal preference), you’ll still want to create a broader community for yourselves and your Spanish. Monolingual speakers will help you, too.

You could use the time now, even before the baby is born, to search out as many sources of Spanish as you can.  Sounds like fun to me.

Feel free to contact me if you want to throw around some more alternatives ….

Best wishes,

Barbara

Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph. D. – A bilingualism expert with over twenty years of research experience in the fields of bilingualism, linguistics, and communication disorders, Pearson is the author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child. She is currently a Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her pioneering work on bilingual learning by infants and children and on language assessment has been published in scholarly journals and in the book Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children. You can see her answers by going here and follow her work through her blog.

Do you have a question for our experts? Remember no question is too big or too simple. So, to send us your question, please click here or leave a comment below. Thank you!

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No matter which method we´re using to raise our children bilingually, we all know that once the majority language takes over their lives we ´ll be facing the true challenge to keep them motivated to speak the minority language at home and when necessary.

Today´s Ask an Expert question was sent by a mom, Sandra Salazar, who´s facing the realization that she neglected encouraging Spanish at home with her two older boys once they started refusing to speak it and is concerned the same doesn´t happen with her little one.  This is an issue I´m sure we can all identify with.  We want to applaud Sandra for knowing it´s never too late to seek advice or to motivate the use of her heritage language with her sons.

Here to answer Sandra´s question is Lori Langer de Ramirez, bilingual educator who began her career as a teacher of Spanish, French and ESL. She holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University.  If you want to learn more about Lori please click here to read her previous entries and visit her interactive website, MisCositas.

How Can I encourage my 11 and 9 year olds to speak Spanish?

“I was happy to find you guys!!. I have three boys: 11, 9 and 20 months. My 11 and 9 year olds don’t speak Spanish, they only understand it. I hate myself to have let this happen. I only spoke Spanish to my firstborn but when he entered preschool he switched to only English and I let him. Then my middle would only speak English because his brother would speak to him in English. Now that I have realized my mistake I ask them to try to talk in Spanish but, of course, they refuse.  I would love to put them in lessons but they are too expensive. I am so sad and I hope it´s not too late. Also, I don’t want to make the same mistake with my little one. Please help me!!!. Both my husband and I speak fluent Spanish. Thank you so much!!!”

HI Sandra! I totally understand your feeling guilty about your sons’ proficiency in Spanish. I often feel the same way.

Lori Langer de Ramirez, Ed.D

My husband is a native Spanish speaker and I am a native speaker of English. When my son was born we agreed to split the language duties: he would speak Spanish and I would speak English. Well… as you noticed in your own experience, it’s not that easy to maintain Spanish in an English-language environment. With strong influences like school, TV and friends speaking English, it’s easy to let Spanish lapse. At this point, our son understands Spanish perfectly, but his production is not nearly as strong as it is in English. What to do?

I would recommend that both you and your husband simply speak Spanish to all your boys – no matter what. The family language can be Spanish, even if the boys respond in English. Little by little, try introducing fun videos or TV in Spanish to the boys. If at all possible, try to spend a summer in a Spanish-speaking country (this is reported to do wonders for kids!). Praise your boys at any attempt to use their Spanish. Don’t be discouraged, it’s not too late!

In lieu of lessons, you can go online for fun activities and websites dedicated to language learning. For the 9 and 11 year-olds, try:

• Mexico Para Niños

• Las Tres Mellizas

• Kokone

• BrainPOP en espanol

• GoGoLingo

For the little one, just keep it up with Spanish, read to him, etc. Again, don’t be discouraged, it’s not too late! Buena suerte!

We invite you to click on the Ask an Expert tab in the navigation menu to meet the panel, learn more about their areas of expertise and to send us your question.

Do you have any thoughts or words of advice for Sandra?  They’re always welcomed!

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We haven’t done this in a while, so we figured this would be as good a time as any… One of our readers has a question and we’re sure many of you would be able to help… Even though she is not a mami yet, her fiance and her have started thinking about raising their future children bilingual and she has been wondering about a few things. ¡Vamos a ayudarla!

Is my Husband too Old to Learn Spanish?

This question comes from Juliana Reyes who is bilingual and is engaged to a man who only speaks English. “I know this question does not have anything to do with teaching Spanish to my kids but I still need help on this. I am engaged to a wonderful “gringo” that does not speak Spanish at all. I am fluent in both in English and Spanish and I am fine with the fact that he doesn’t speak Spanish. Now that we have been talking about having kids he is becoming more interested on learning Spanish. He doesn’t want to be leaft out of my conversations with our future kids. Are there any resources I can use to teach him Spanish? How do you teach an adult? He is 33 years old, is it too late for him to learn?”

I say it’s never too late for anything. What do you think? I know a lot of you are in similar situations. Have you done anything special to deal with it? Or do monolingual husbands (or wives) just pick up some of the language as their kids grow up bilingual? It’d be great to hear what you have to share!

Have a question for one of our amazing experts? You can find out more about the experts and leave your question here.  Remember, no question is too big or too small and it’s most probably shared by many of us.