The Mysteries of Bilingualism II on Psychology Today — Prof. François Grosjean delves into aspects of bilingualism that remain an enigma. In this case, he writes about language choice, code-switching and language interferences — topics that have been researched at the linguistic level, but not at the cognitive and neurolinguistic ones.

¡Aprender español está de moda! on El Sentinel — A look at how more and more people are realizing the importance of learning Spanish as a second language.

New Fort Worth program will graduate bilingual students on the Star-Telegram — Parents in Fort Worth whose children are attending dual language immersion elementary schools won’t have to worry about what’ll happen to their kids once they move on to middle and high school thanks to a new school, World Languages Institute, that will be open next fall.

Constant need for bilingual volunteers, more so during holidays on Journal and Courier — Interesting read about the need for bilingual volunteers to serve as translators in charitable organizations like the Salvation Army.

Enzo has made incredible progress in English, and just when I wonder if English has replaced Spanish as his first language, Enzo surprises me by saying things like “Mama, en español por favor.” (Mama, in Spanish please.) He was referring to one of his favorite TV shows, Doc McStuffins, which I usually play for him in Spanish. I was, of course, thrilled. It was very different from a meltdown he had one morning when I switched the Doc McStuffins episode that his dad had started for him from English to Spanish… he started crying and started saying “English mama English.”

I was sad at that moment, thinking that he definitely preferred everything in English now. But thinking about these two moments, I now realize that it wasn’t that Enzo preferred English to Spanish, it was that since his father had started watching the show with him, he wanted to watch it in English, as he usually does with his dad. When I changed the language on him, it threw him for a loop, and that is what made him upset. (I also know this because sometimes I change from English to Spanish when a show has already started, and he doesn’t say a word about it.)

All this to say that I am reassured that Enzo still loves Spanish, and that English hasn’t completely taken over! Just when I feel reassured about one language, the holidays are coming up and soon Enzo will be immersed in French for a whole week before I join him. I am very excited about this experience for him, and at the same time I can’t help but feel a tiny bit nervous.

As Enzo’s vocabulary increases, it is interesting to see the new obstacles he faces; for example, with masculine and feminine words. Subjects aren’t so much an issue. When we teach him new words, we say “LA manzana” or “EL carro” or “UN zapato” or “UNA media.” I realize though, that he doesn’t yet understand that masculine words have masculine adjectives and same for feminine. This, of course, is a concept he will grasp as he gets older. But for now, it is funny to hear him repeat what I say, for example: “Enzo, Mama está cansada.” (Mommy is tired.) Enzo’s reply is “No, Enzo está cansada.” Of course, I explain to him that Mama is a girl, so she is cansada, and Enzo is a boy so he is cansado… but I’m not sure he has completely picked up on it yet.

As language learning continues, I realize that I will constantly be facing new challenges and that it is incredibly important to be consistent…and of course, repeat, repeat, repeat.

{Photo by dbrekke}

“They put me in special ed when I started school. They thought I couldn’t learn, but it was because I didn’t speak English.”

During a conversation with a friend, he shared with me his experience 30+ years ago in kindergarten. During the first week of school, my friend was taken out of his regular class and placed in a separate, segregated class for students with special needs. As an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and a parent of bilingual children, I was shocked. And yet, upon research, I found that the tendency to over-identify students who speak a language besides English as having learning disabilities is more common than we’d like to think.

Misidentifying ELL students and placing them into the wrong class obviously can hinder our children from reaching their potential, but also diverts necessary resources from students with actual disabilities and needs. In my friend’s case: he was bored, didn’t understand his teacher or his classmates, and began misbehaving in class. The school spent a year labeling my friend as defiant and troubled, until finally a new teacher came in who recognized my friend’s strengths and worked with him to help improve his English.

On the flip side, there are true English language learners (ELLs), who do have learning differences that might need attention — whose needs are not met solely in the regular classroom. School sometimes overlook ELL students either because of lack of funding for special education programs, fear of litigation from parents, or lack of knowledge about bilingual students (especially in districts without a lot of ELL students).

From the time we first adopted my son from China at age 3 1/2, he had some difficulties in speech. Different well-meaning teachers, doctors and therapists have mentioned that “maybe” we would want to hold off on speaking Spanish to him until he got English (we didn’t stop) later, in elementary school, others have blamed his difficulties in reading on his ELL status.

Blaming his language background meant that some red flags — that would normally indicate reading issues — were overlooked. Despite my rumblings, my son was not tested for dyslexia or learning disabilities, and not accepted into a special reading program. I was told that his reading fluency (how quickly, accurately, automatically and expressively someone reads) was slow because he was still mastering English (and Spanish).

Fortunately, I am an ESL teacher (though normally my students are older). As his mom, I saw his struggles and recognized that these were not the common difficulties that ELL and bilingual learners experience. With a mother’s love and instinct, and a teacher’s nagging doubt, I pushed and insisted that there was something else going on besides his language learning history. Today, I am happy to report that my son is getting the resources and support he needs from the reading specialist, after assessments have finally indicated that his struggles with reading are not because he is an ELL student.

I have learned many lessons through my journey as both an ESL teacher and as a parent. The number one lesson for parents is to be your child’s number one advocate. You are reading with your children every night, you are helping them with their homework, and you observe if there are tears and impossible challenges in everyday work. If you feel in your gut that your child isn’t “getting” something that they should be able to master after practice — it is your right to request that he or she be tested and resources be made available (even if they are still in ELL classes!). Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds should receive the support and programs they need in order to be successful learners.

At the same time, if you feel that your child has been misidentified as learning disabled because of his bilingual background, ask how their native language was taken into account during the assessments; ask for a second opinion from a district specialist with experience assessing ELLs; ask for six more months of focused English help before they are tested for a learning disability. Bilingual students who are still working on English and are mistakenly placed in special education programs will have more limited access to rigorous curricula, have lower expectations for academic potential, and will not be spending sufficient time learning English as needed to become fully bilingual.

Disproportionate representation of ELL students in special needs categories is a huge problem and barrier to their success (whether because they are in special ed and shouldn’t be or because they are not getting the specialized services they need). While most schools are trying their best, it is our job as parents to advocate for the best possible learning experience for our kids. As a team, parents and teachers can work together to find the most effective program and environment for our bilingual children.

Do you have an experience being mislabeled or being denied services for yourself or your child due to your linguistic background? How did you over come the challenge?

{Photo courtesy of Becky Morales}

The arrival of the newest member of our family is on the horizon, and I have anxieties just like any expecting mom. However, most of mine have nothing to do with balancing time with each kid, getting through sleepless nights, or making sure the baby is eating well. Strangely, I am most concerned about culture.

Although my son and stepdaughters can be considered bilingual, I am not sure they could accurately be called bicultural. My husband’s family expresses Salvadoran and Puerto Rican roots in the sense that they speak Spanish and eat traditional Latin foods. Beyond that, there is not much going on in the way of holidays, music, or traditions. They are fairly Americanized, which makes it difficult to present an authentic heritage to a child.

I know that I can incorporate the great resources from SpanglishBaby, such as apps, movies, crafts, and activities, into daily life with my new son, but it’s hard to envision this successfully creating a true understanding of where his family came from. Besides, the fact that I was raised in a white American household means that I can’t even understand or assume Latin culture to its fullest extent, so I’m not sure that my influence will mean as much as it would if it came from a relative with firsthand knowledge of the people and places that contribute to their culture.

Authenticity seems to be of utmost importance in my mind, but perhaps I’m wrong. I don’t want to manufacture a culture that isn’t true to who we are as family, but I also don’t want any of our kids to miss out on the opportunity to discover their roots and participate in enriching traditions. Aside from making an extra effort to plan international trips in the future and interacting with grandparents a significant amount, I’m at a loss as to what I should do (if anything).

I wonder if speaking Spanish is the best and only way I can be a model of cultural diversity for the baby. After all, kids learn more from our consistent behaviors than our overblown efforts to make them absorb anything.

Is language enough? Do our kids need all the other elements of culture or can bilingualism provide enough benefits?

{Photo by cliff1066™}

Editor’s note: Last week, we brought you a guest post outlining the pros and cons of online tutoring for bilingual kids. Today, we have a follow up by the same author with tips on how to actually find a Spanish tutor online.

The way we started our search was just by Goggling “Spanish tutor online” (or “Spanish tutor via Skype”).

A lot of schools popped up, many of them were based in Guatemala and Ecuador. We have changed three schools and three teachers since our first time, and here are 10 things we learned from our experience:

1. Look for a school that has experience working with children. It sounds obvious, but you will really need to emphasize it when booking the first lesson. There are a lot of tutors for adults, and you need to find one who specializes in children’s curriculum.

2. Take advantage of free trial lessons. In fact, some schools will offer you another free trial lesson with a different teacher if you were not impressed with the first one.

3. Ask if they have a system of teaching, basically a curriculum. We had a tutor who was a very nice lady but who had no system or lesson plans whatsoever. The way she always started the lesson was “What do you want to learn today?” It sounded like a very personal approach, but we quickly realized that without a system the pieces they were learning did not build on one another.

4. Check the pricing. Usually prices vary from $9 per hour (if you buy multiple lessons in bulk) to $30 per hour, but it can differ widely between schools.

5. If your child is already bilingual, look for a tutor who knows very little of your child’s majority language (you can check it in the teacher’s bio on the website). That way your child does not have the option of relying on both languages and code-switching during lessons. The reverse is also true: if your child is just starting in a new language (like mine with Spanish), look for a bilingual teacher so that the instructions will be very clear.

6. Incorporate digital flashcards. We found that not too many schools have a good online system for a student to go back and review learned information. Usually it is trapped in the Skype conversation or PDF files. My son is 9, and I make sure he enters all new learned words and expressions into digital flashcards, which are easy to review and are available on every electronic device. If your child is younger, share the digital flashcards account with your tutor, so she can help create cards for your child.

7. The personality of the teacher is very important. We look for a fun, cheerful, but firm approach. When kids are bored they are not learning very effectively.

8. Try to be with your child at least for the first several lessons to establish good discipline and habits. It’s harder for a teacher to keep firm discipline when she or he is not physically present in the room, and your presence will help.

9. If your teacher likes to use websites like YouTube to demonstrate new words in the video or to motivate a child (like offering Spanish cartoons), ask her to assign them as homework rather than using them during lessons. I found that watching videos distracted my son’s attention and it was hard for him to get back into a learning mood.

10. If you are not fully satisfied with the teacher, don’t be afraid to move on to the next one. Your child’s education is very important!

Olena Centeno a Ukrainian who lives in USA, a happy mom of three wonderful kids ages 2 to 9 and a wife to a great man. She speaks three languages herself and is raising her kids to be multilingual in English, Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish. She founded Bilingual Kids Rock where she helps families on their bilingual journey. She also enjoys photography and video making as a way to preserve precious moments of life.You can connect with her at bilingualkidsrock.com

{image by  kellyv}

A few weeks into their third year of Spanish school, the day I knew would be coming sooner or later finally arrives. My son has figured out that going to school on Saturday is for the birds. Several Saturdays in a row, I listen to his litany of complaints. It’s like having six weekdays! I’m cutting into his weekend! The complaints wear me down — or rather, countering them wears me down. I trot out some of my usual selling points for Spanish. How wonderful it is to speak a second language. How not everyone does. How he can go to school in Costa Rica someday if he wants to. I appeal to his highly developed mathematical side — he gets 32.5 hours of schooling in English every week, but only 3 hours of Spanish.

The complaints subside and I drop the boys off at school without incident. I have no business complaining about the logistics of Spanish school — it is close to home, cheap, I get three hours to myself. But Spanish school often comes at the expense of other activities — swimming lessons, soccer leagues and birthday parties often seem to be scheduled Saturday mornings, so they’re not an option.

This morning, the whining gets me down and I am tired and grumbly. It doesn’t help my mood that on this particular Saturday, Spanish school conflicts with an event my other son — who has not complained once about Spanish school — desperately wants to attend, because his teachers have been talking about it in class. There is a story festival in our town where there will be a raffle, book readings, signings and the like, but it is a morning event that ends exactly one hour after Spanish school does. We rush to the festival, but by then the raffle is over and the authors are starting to pack up their books. I had noticed earlier, though, that the last activity of the day would be in Spanish, so we locate that room and step inside.

I forget about our struggles over Spanish school. From the flier, I had understood that the activity would be a reading of stories by children’s author Lulú Delacre. I had not understood that she would be there to lead the activity herself. As I sink into a chair in the back of the room, she leads the children in a round of Arroz con leche. Then she reads from “How Far Do You Love Me,” and my boys are mesmerized.  She has them guess what places the pictures in the book might represent, and my geography-loving children cannot stay quiet. They eagerly shout out the names of countries and continents, and I smile, shake my head, and briefly flash back to their full-time special education days, when talking was so difficult and their teachers used creative techniques like snacks and swings.

We are given a copy of the book and the author chats with us warmly as she signs it, and compliments the boys on their participation.  We talk briefly about raising bilingual kids. It blows my boys’ minds that their book was signed by the actual author. I can’t believe that in only half an hour, my lousy mood is gone and I’m feeling happy and inspired again. After the book reading, the children made bookmarks saying “how far” they loved a loved one. My boys wrote theirs in Spanish and presented them to me.

I know inspiration won’t always be there when I need it. But that day, incredibly it was. And on days it isn’t, well, I plan on laminating those bookmarks and keeping them where I can look at them.

Last week, I shared a link to an EFE story I was interviewed for regarding the current state of the Spanish language in the United States. One of the other people interviewed is a woman who runs a language school for children here in Denver and one of her quotes caught my attention. She said: “Bilingual people must possess a certain mastery of both their languages… speaking them is not enough. Writing, reading and comprehension are integral parts of learning a language.”

And the debate about what it means to be truly bilingual started all over again in my head. Is this woman right? Does one have to speak, read and write in their second language to be considered truly bilingual? As with other subjective questions, let me begin by establishing that there’s no right or wrong definition. I mean, there’s the definition given by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: “using or able to use two languages especially with equal fluency.” But does “using” mean speaking, writing and reading? A lot of people consider themselves bilingual and they only know how to speak the language, but can’t write or read it properly.

For me, it has always come down to this: As a journalist, could I apply for a job that requires me to do research, interviews and then write a story in English and Spanish? In other words, can I write, read, understand and speak both languages well enough to succeed in the job described above? The answer is yes, not only because I believe I can do it, but because that’s basically what I’ve done since I became a journalist 20 years ago.

As a Latina writer who is very proud of her heritage, nothing would be more disappointing to me than raising children who are only able to speak my mother tongue, but can’t write it or read it. I can’t imagine my daughter — who is well on her way to becoming a bookworm like me— reading Mario Vargas Llosa in English (kudos to those who have, but I’d be lying if I said it is the same) or my son unable to write a Christmas card to his monolingual bisabuela in Spanish.

Because my kids are not lucky enough to go to a dual language immersion school, making sure they’re truly bilingual (based on my definition) is up to me. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Vanessa reads and writes in Spanish not because I sat down to teach her, but because she transferred those skills from English to Spanish. In other words, I got lucky. I don’t know if that’ll be the case with Santiago. Even if it is, I know they would still need formal instruction in Spanish so they can learn all the grammar and spelling rules — and exceptions — of my native language.

What I would like is for my kids to feel as comfortable in Spanish as they do in English regardless of the setting — just like me. My life is definitely richer because of it. Ojalá un día mis hijos puedan decir lo mismo…

Do you think your kids need to read & write in their second language to be truly bilingual? 

Autumn is here, and that means it’s time to look at some of the issues facing parents of school-age bilingual children.

Our kids are in school, and every day we ask the usual question: “How was school today?”

Their unchanging reply: “Good.”

Keeping the Bilingual Focus

Like most parents raising their children bilingually, we always want them to talk more in the minority language.

Unless your children attend a bilingual or immersion school, their minority language probably isn’t used during the school day.

That means that the parents need to bring the language back into use as soon as the kids get home!

Open-Ended vs. Close-Ended Questions

Conversation with small children requires a lot of prompting.

Drawing your children out, especially in a minority language, requires you to understand the difference between open and closed questions:

• Closed-ended questions only have a limited number of responses. Yes/no questions are closed questions, as are questions that present limited options, such as “Do you want to read your book or go outside and play?”

• Open or open-ended questions do not have a limited number of replies. They require the child to imagine a new response of his or her own.

Most advice will tell you to focus on open-ended questions as a way to develop your child’s speech abilities. Making up a reply requires more language use than repeating something you’ve said to the child, so open questions are more interactive.

For bilingual children, however, it’s important to remember their limits and to use a mixture of questions. Simple, closed questions can be a good way of easing them into the use of their minority language.

How to Draw Your Child Out in a Second Language

Our system for asking our children about school is built around a mixture of closed and open-ended questions:

• First, we ask short, positive questions or statements for the child to confirm: “Wow, that is a lot of drawings you did!”

• Next, we offer a closed question that uses school-specific vocabulary: “Did you go to the special class with the art teacher or did you stay with Mrs. Hanes?

• After that, we stay on the same topic, but ask an open-ended question: “What did you like most about the art class?”

• When they reply using a mixture of languages or the majority language, I make sure to restate their reply entirely in their minority language: “Oh, the big picture of flowers on the wall was your favorite? I like flowers too.”

• Finally, we finish off with a positive, exciting statement: “What a wonderful day you’ve had!”

This helps start our children with easy answers, then moves them into newer and more school-specific vocabulary, and finally leaves them feeling good about their conversation in their minority language!

You can’t always come up with an exciting question every day, but keep at it — and don’t be afraid to use toys or playtime to slip the questions in! Sometimes your child would rather tell Batman or Barbie what he or she did at school than talk to you about it. Encourage them to do it in their minority language, and then sit back and let them run the show.

Olena Centeno a Ukrainian who lives in USA, a happy mom of three wonderful kids ages 2 to 9 and a wife to the great man. She speaks three languages herself and is raising her kids to be multilingual in English, Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish. She founded Bilingual Kids Rock where she helps families on their bilingual journey. She also enjoys photography and video making as a way to preserve precious moments of life.You can connect with her at bilingualkidsrock.com

Editor’s note: We normally don’t publish anonymous posts, but considering the sensitivity of the issue discussed in the one below, we decided it was the best route to take. 

My son started kindergarten at our local school this September. When registering him for his classes, it was necessary to lie about our home language use. Being a teacher, I am well aware of what happens to children who are identified as English Language Learners (ELL). Students are often pulled out of their classes and tested repeatedly until they satisfy some requirement set by the state or the district. There is also the risk of ELL students being placed in dumbed-down English as a Second Language class or even a “slow” class. There is the misperception that students who speak another language at home are not as proficient in English and would be unable to keep up with the brighter students.

I am not advocating that classes for English Language Learners are not necessary. They can be very valuable and helpful for children who are new to the United States, but that is not the case with my children. Although our home language is not English, my children were born and raised in the United States and even attended pre-school in English. They are completely fluent in Spanish, English and German, but yet, had I been honest when registering my son for kindergarten, he would have been labeled an English Language Learner (ELL). He would be regularly pulled from his normal class to be tested on his English proficiency, and he would be tracked as an ELL student for years into his education. His placement in classes in subsequent grades would be influenced by his bilingualism.

To avoid of all this, I simply lied. I wrote that our home language was English, and until all of the myths and misperceptions surrounding the speaking of other languages are cleared up, I will continue to do so.

It is amazing how behind the United States is when it comes to foreign language education. It is absurd that the public education system often waits until the students are in high school to start learning a language, when it is often much harder for a learner. Young children have the ability to acquire language naturally without being forced to memorize vocabulary and analyze a new grammar system. More and more studies are emerging pointing to the benefits of speaking two languages.

Hopefully the recent publicity surrounding the benefits of bilingualism will change the public perception of speaking and learning another language, and the learning of other languages will become a desired skill to acquire. Maybe by then, the American school system will catch-up. Until that time, I will continue to lie about the languages we speak at home so that my children will avoid the consequences of speaking Spanish.

{Image by woodleywonderworks}

Recently, Roxana asked “Is it Wrong for Bilingual Children in the US to Learn Spanish before English?” Among the comments on SpanglishBaby’s Facebook page, one comment particularly struck me… a fellow SpanglishBaby contributor Suzanne Mateus, said “the controversy is particularly sensitive when the children come from working class homes.”  Suzanne makes a great point. People’s reaction to a parent speaking to her child in Spanish (or any other minority language) might vary depending on their perceptions of who you are.

When you’re a Hispanic mom talking to your child in Spanish, many people assume you are doing so because you don’t speak English. When I speak to Enzo in Spanish, and then conduct transactions in perfect English, people don’t know what “box” to put me in. Where is she from? Is she American? Is she an immigrant? Is she rich? Is she poor? Why is she speaking to her son in Spanish?

If people think you’re a recently arrived immigrant, the thought seems to be “Why can’t you learn English?” or “You’re ruining your child’s life because now the kid won’t learn proper English.”

Once you’re seen as a professional, attitudes change. You start hearing things like “Oh he’s bilingual? What a wonderful gift you’re giving him.” Or “How amazing that he can understand and speak in all those languages. That’s going to help him when he’s in school.”  Or “He will have many wonderful opportunities.” It seems society says it’s great to want your children to be bilingual if you are rich, but it’s a hindrance if you are poor or an immigrant.

This point is illustrated in this quote by American linguist J.A. Fishman, which  my friend Annabelle from PiriPiri Lexicon shares on her blog about raising multilingual children:

“Many Americans have long been of the opinion that bilingualism is ‘a good thing’ if it was acquired via travel (preferably to Paris) or via formal education (preferably at Harvard) but that it is a ‘bad thing’ if it was acquired from one’s immigrant parents or grandparents.”

In toddler classes I have attended, many monolingual parents hire Spanish (or other language) speaking nannies so that their children can be exposed to another language. I have actually encountered children who have become fluent in Spanish by having a Spanish-speaking childcare provider. These parents are usually lauded for their efforts (and dollars!) to expose their children to other languages.

Today, children’s language classes are booming (and they can be quite expensive!) Are we saying it is OK for wealthy parents to spend money to have their children become bilingual, but it’s not OK for parents with lesser means to speak their language to their children?

Parents from any socio-economic status who decide to raise bilingual children are giving their children a great gift, a gift that money alone can not buy; because no number of hours at a language school can equal the richness of speaking and learning a language 24/7, with all its intricacies and the culture that is attached to it. Parents who have embarked on this journey should feel happy about the advantages and opportunities they are giving their children.

I hope that our country recognizes the benefits of bilingualism, and immigrants (both newly arrived and second or third generation) parents do not get discouraged by remarks or ” looks” thrown their way.

The truth is being bilingual gives individuals a competitive advantage. It really doesn’t matter to me if someone gives me a look or just wonders why I’m speaking to my child in Spanish, or if they assume I don’t speak English. Criticizing is easy. Raising a multilingual child requires dedication, commitment and hard work.

{Photo by Clearwater Public Library System Photos}