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}

I was with my children in a store last month looking at Halloween costumes.  As usual, our conversation was completely in Spanish. I noticed a mother observing our interactions, and when I smiled at her, she shared her own bilingual adventures with me. Having been born and raised in Mexico, she initially only spoke Spanish to her son. Unfortunately, when he started school, he rebelled against Spanish and refused to speak it. Sadly, this mother gave up and switched to using English with him. Her son won the language battle, but lost out on the chance to be bilingual.

What amazed me about this situation is that she is a native Spanish speaker, and has decided to use English with her children. Spanish is my second language. I didn’t even start to study Spanish until I was 17 years old, and yet, my children speak fluent Spanish. It has been a major effort, but the road to bilingualism has been one of my most rewarding parenting experiences.

Don’t give up on Spanish! There will be problems. Address the issues so that you will have better strategies for dealing with the challenges. These are some of the common issues I have had to address:

1. Spanish is not my first language. Even my husband, who grew up speaking German at home, feels that English is still his first language. Speaking to my children in Spanish was initially very difficult, but with time, speaking Spanish became more natural. Now that six years have passed, it would feel strange to speak to my sons in English. I feel comfortable using Spanish with them, and it is our special language. Keep using Spanish! No matter how tempting it is to switch to English, stick with it! It will get easier with time.
2. I lack vocabulary in Spanish. Now that my boys are getting older, some of our discussions are a bit more challenging. They have recently become interested in outer space and trying to explain gravity to them proved difficult. I watched some educational videos from Khan Academy in Spanish and learned, not only the scientific concepts to explain to my son, but the vocabulary in Spanish that I was lacking. We are learning together!
3. Your child refuses to respond to you in Spanish. Keep using Spanish and never give up! That was the advice my mother-in-law gave me. She continued to speak to my husband and his brother in German, including when they would only respond in English. Eventually they realized the benefits to being bilingual and started to use German, even taking courses to further their literacy skills. Don’t give up! The bilingual rebellion stage will not last forever.

 
You can do it! I have been successful so far. It has been a challenge, but the boys and I have learned together. Stick with it! Don’t give up! If I can raise bilingual children, you can too! It may seem difficult and challenging, but the rewards for you and your children will be worth the effort.

{Photo by CarbonNYC}

Our little multilingual family has some exciting news! We will be moving to South America (Ecuador) in 2014!

This definitely poses new challenges and exciting opportunities as a family who has multilingualism at the center of mostly everything we do (i.e., doctors visits, children’s books). We are already thinking about how our linguistic interactions will change as we establish ourselves in our new home aka the middle of the world.

For example, we have considered changing our use of Spanish for English with our children once we are in Ecuador, especially if we decide to put them in a Spanish school. We have also started to get really excited about the different dialects and languages our girls will be exposed to which include: Quechua, Spanish (& other Spanish varieties), English, & possibly a fourth as many of the private schools in Ecuador offer other European languages (i.e., French, German).

Another change we have already started implementing here is the purchasing of English books! In an earlier post I wrote about getting rid of all of our children’s books written in English that we had in our home in order to increase the status of Spanish in our daily life. I am now having a blast purchasing English (and bilingual) books to add to our collection.

On another note, I am also overthinking the challenges that lie ahead. For example, I, personally, have never lived in another country. In fact, I pride myself in learning Spanish in the U.S. and wonder how the new context will shape my children and I as multilinguals. In other words, I strongly identify as a Spanish speaking Chicana and hope I will be able to pass that on to my nenas. I look forward to sharing our journey over the next few months as we make this huge international move. Please feel free to offer any advice (such as books to read) about moving internationally with little children.

{Photo by ximenacab}

¡Dame cinco! or… ¡Chócala!

When we were recording our last session of Habla Blah Blah music in Mexico, some of my previous “translating” errors became glaringly embarrassing causes for continuous chuckling at the studio. I turned to Maria (Sánchez Lozano), one of our female Spanish singers, and I said in my coolest purr, “¡dame cinco!” She, honestly, just looked at me. In perfect English, she said, “What do you mean?”

It turns out that “Give me five!” doesn’t translate! The intention does. The meaning does, but the words? No. The phrase is a colloquialism. It’s slang that differs by region and culture, though all people in the world practice some form of this casual communication… bumping knuckles, slapping skin, etc. After laughing at my naiveté, we translated, or better termed, we deciphered the correct phrase for it in Spanish and then French.

Tope là, in French, loosely translates to ‘touch this’, but it’s slang, so don’t try to find it in the dictionary. Fascinating, right? I started getting really excited… how would this translate in Greek? Russian? Chinese? Hindi? How cool would it be if you knew how to say the equivalent of “Slap me some skin, brother” or “Give me five” in any language. You could travel the world with your children and instantly offer signs of peace to strangers in a casual way. It would be a gateway phrase into another culture, another family, a new friendship!

Flash forward about a year later, and here we are. We want to do this, but we need help. We need people. We need YOUR expertise and connections. It gives me goose bumps (another phrase that I love to translate across languages because it doesn’t translate verbatim) to think of the possibility of assembling a collection of HIGH FIVEs across as many languages as possible. Send this to all of your friends! Go viral!! Let’s translate this song to as many languages as possible and put together a HIGH FIVE album that celebrates world peace and communication.

Here is a link to all of the downloadables that you’d need in English, Spanish, French – the music, the lyrics, and the instrumental.

Can you translate? Or do you know someone who can? Can you sing it in another language? Please, please send it in… written, recorded, or filmed, and we will publish you. I treasure the nuances of any language, and I love that some meanings just don’t translate perfectly.

Help us make the HIGH FIVE project come to life and take the challenge!

{First photo by  TheModernGypsy. Second photo courtesy of Amy Conroy}

Last week I picked up Enzo at daycare and he ran to me with arms open wide. “Mommy!”  he said. I said no, “Yo soy mama, abuela es mami.”

He started to giggle and pointed his finger at me, “no tú mommy.”

Only four months into daycare and Enzo’s English is flourishing. At home, sometimes we hear him playing by himself and he is playing en inglés! His Papa swears English has already become his first language.

Enzo hears his other friends call their parents ”mommy” and “daddy” at daycare and, in the past, I think he thought that was what they were called (i.e. their names!) But now, he understand what mommy and daddy mean. When I arrive I hear him say to his teacher, “my mommy is here.”

I try to picture what our language situation will be as Enzo gets older. Will “quiero agua” be replaced by “I want water” and will he stop saying “te amo” to say “I love you?” (Which, by the way, I do—even if I am speaking to my parents in Spanish, I will end the conversation with “love you bye.”)

I do understand that this is undoubtedly a normal progression, as we live in the United States.

The thing is, I happen to love being called “mama.”  (Not mamá because he says it like that -mama, no accent!) I think it’s sweet.

I hear friends around me speaking in English and still refer to their parents as “Mami” and “Papi” so I’m hopeful that even when he’s older and English is the dominant language, my little boy will always call me mama.

Do you have a word or phrase that you wish your little one will never stop saying en español?

{Photo by GabrielaP93}

“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}

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? 

This September Enzo started in the pre-nursery school classroom. I was very excited when I got the supply list and I saw that Enzo would be having “homework” — until I got the first worksheets and I sat down to do them with him. The worksheet had a big picture of an apple: A is for Apple. Well… hhhmmmm. OK. So I went ahead and did the worksheets the best way I knew how, I just translated the sheets as I went along. “Mira mi amor. Una manzana. Pintemos la manzana.” (Look, it’s an apple, let’s color the apple.)

Talking to another parent, I realized that I won’t be able to do “Spanish only” 100 percent of the time because this is just the beginning. I am going to have to help Enzo with his homework, and that will be in English. Also, reading Ana’s post last week I realized that it is better to acknowledge English and work on his vocabulary and pronunciation as opposed to ignoring it.

So this week, I changed my approach. This week it was B for butterfly. So I said “Mira, es una B de bebe. Y esta es una mariposa, pero en inglés se dice BUTTERFLY.” Thankfully, the teacher seems to have gone over it in school because he knew it was a butterfly. Then I told him it is just like the butterfly we see in “La Oruga Muy Hambrienta.” 

I have decided that it’s OK to acknowledge that in school, Enzo is learning in English and mom understands this. I’ll just reinforce that English is spoken in school, but that at home with Mamá we speak en español. 

I realize that homework is just the beginning. Enzo will learn English, and it will most likely be his preferred language, as it is mine. My goal as a parent is to instill a love of Spanish (and French) and as he gets older; help him understand WHY it’s important to learn it. I want him to understand that it is important for him to communicate with his family and that he’ll reap the benefits later on.

To fulfill that goal, I think it is very important to continue making Spanish FUN! In an effort to do so, I’ve started making up silly songs and celebrating in Spanish. For example, we are potty training and since at daycare everything is in English, I’ve created  a silly song in Spanish to celebrate every time Enzo pees in the potty. My potty song is “Pipi en el baño, pipi en el baño” (sang to the tune of the Conga song).

As we all now, raising bilingual kids is work! I am happy to have this community where I can question, learn and grow while on this journey. I’d love to hear any tips and tricks you used when your child started school and started homework in the majority language.  Are there things you wish you had done or hadn’t done?

Some parents stop speaking to their children in their second language when the child seems “confused” because they use both languages simultaneously. The fact of the matter is that this is the way languages evolve when they come into contact. In fact, I have been meaning to record my 3-year-old’s colorful use of two languages.

Just the other day she said, “Rafa (her older cousin), do you want to comer?” Another example is when she was asking me to buy her a ball and she said, “Mami, necesito ese (pointing to coins on counter) money para comprar una pelota.” Adults do it, too! The other day my very bilingual husband created a new word spontaneously when speaking to our daughter (Hija in Spanish):

Hija: ¡Voy a saltar! (from a table to the couch)!

Me: Sabrina, por favor no saltes, le puedes dar un owie a tu hermanita y a ti misma.

Hija: Quiero saltar, mami. ¡Voy a saltar!

Me: No, mi amor. No saltes ahí.

Hubby: Sabrina, por favor no jompes.

Me [laughing]

Hubby: Aaah, what am I saying? I know that word. Por favor no saltes, mi’jita.

Hija: Voy a saltar.

Translanguaging is the use of multiple languages simultaneously to communicate. That is to say, translanguaging is a form of flexible bilingualism. In our home we speak nearly 100% of the time in Spanish to our daughter, although we use Spanish and English all the time between my husband and I. Bilingual exchanges are a very natural occurrence in our home state of Texas. In fact, the closer you get to the Mexico/U.S border the more prevalent the use of Spanish & English becomes in communicating with others.

My intent in sharing the way we communicate in our home is to provide readers a glimpse of what raising a bilingual child is like in an environment where languages aren’t strictly separated. It does not fall under the One parent, One Language (OPOL) method, nor does it fall under the Minority Language @ Home (ML@H) method. I am not quite sure our method has a name…. yet!

As I continue to help my daughter develop her bilingualism (and eventually trilingualism), I intend on proposing a name to the method we are using in raising her with multiple languages. I whole-heartedly believe that we don’t need to keep the use of Spanish and English because in the real world, languages, just like people, will meet and influence the very fabric of our existence.

Please share your thoughts! Especially if you think of a name to this “language contact” method I am using to raise my daughter with multiple languages. As I write this, I realize that maybe that’s the name I have been looking for: Language Contact Method (LCM).

{Image by  amslerPIX}