My question is whether I should speak English to her instead of Valencian. I am quite proficient, even though it’s not my mother tongue, so my phonetics and grammar are good but not perfect, and sometimes it can be very tiring for me to do it. But still I would do it gladly if I knew that it would be good for our baby. My husband understands English quite well but he has some trouble speaking. The only native input my daughter would get would be on TV, computer, music, etc. Please help me! I don’t know what I should do. Thank you so much.

Mamen”

Dear Mamen:

What a wonderful way for a little girl to grow up – surrounded by different languages and parents who are so motivated to fill her world with all the richness of the different languages they can offer.  I think it is important that your daughter grows up fully able to communicate in Spanish and Valencian so she can learn and communicate in her family and in her community.  Whether or not you decide to add English to her language experience is purely a personal choice.

One of the books I recommend most often is Dr. Barbara Zurer Pearson’s Raising a Bilingual Child.  She summarizes research that shows a child needs to spend about 50% of their waking ours using a new language – not just hearing it but conversing, singing, and producing it – to become fully bilingual.  Some children do grow up speaking more than two languages but they may not speak all three languages equally.

If you speak only to your daughter in English, she will surely learn it.  Hearing it on TV is not going to contribute much to her learning because she needs to talk in English to really become fluent.  If she is not going to encounter many people in her environment that will encourage her to speak English as a child, then she is not likely to become as proficient in English as she is in her other two languages.  With that in mind, you might not get as much benefit as you are hoping for with all the effort you would put in to try to speak only English to her.  I’m not saying it is a bad plan.  I am saying you shouldn’t feel that you have to do it. Research has shown that children who grow up bilingual have an easier time learning a third language than monolingual children.  So, you might start teaching her English later if you wanted to.  Learning English at some point would certainly be an advantage for your daughter.  It is not necessary for her to learn it from a native speaker, and it is not necessary for her to learn it from the beginning.  She will already have all the advantages of being bilingual, so her English proficiency will just be an extra ability.  It is up to you to decide how much time and effort you want to devote to adding English as a third language.

I wish you all the best on your language adventure!

Do you have a question for the bilingualism experts? Submit it to madre{at}spanglishbaby.com and get free advice.

I’ve been researching how to accomplish this and I’m extremely overwhelmed with the amount of information I’m finding and have no idea where to start. There are so many products out there that claim to help teach a child English and Spanish that I don’t know which one to go with (or what combination to use). Any tips? Any starter kits that I should look in to?

Many thanks!

Roxanne”

Hola / Hi Roxanne ~

I agree that there is an overwhelming amount of information, myths, products and free advice from family and friends when it comes to raising your child to be bilingual!  It’s enough to make your head spin.

Fear not – that maternal instinct is so often what we all need to listen to and follow when it comes right down to any big decision surrounding our child’s well being and development.

I hope to provide you a few places to turn to in the following bullet points:

• Always, always, always I refer moms and teachers to the book titled The Bilingual Edge which is chock-full of great advice for monolingual and bilingual parents who hope to raise their children speaking more than one language.  When advice in this format comes from moms who are in the trenches daily with their own families it takes on a lot more credibility.  Once you read this book you will be better prepared to make a great decision on how you and your husband want to introduce Spanish and English to your child – a way that fits your lifestyle and beliefs.  The book (Kindle edition or hard copy) is easily found on Amazon.com.

• Next I point you to a comprehensive article on raising bilingual children that I published a couple years back (look to point #5 specifically for Spanish-speaking families).

• Lastly (see – I told you I would give you just a FEW so as not to overwhelm you!) I suggest you stay on SpanglishBaby.com as an active member.  Listening in, contributing as you can, and learning from others mistakes, experiences and life lessons will certainly add to your ammunition as you create the best learning ground for your bilingual baby, toddler and preschool age child.

The key to remember is that the first five years of life are in fact THE MOST FORMATIVE.   Wire that little brain with as much quality, enriched learning as possible so that he will be ready to take on all of the global greatness of our communities!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

To send us a question now, just submit an email to madre@spanglishbaby.com with the subject: QUESTION FOR THE EXPERTS. Please make sure you include your name as you would like it to appear on the post.

Beth Butler.-Bilingual educator of young children and strives to create better communication within our increasingly diverse society. She is the founder of the internationally acclaimed Boca Beth language learning series which has garnered various parenting awards.  Ms. Butler lived in Chile and Mexico where she learned Spanish as her second language and has been bilingual and biliterate for more than 30 years. She has spent over 25 years in the field of preschool and elementary education writing and recording four bilingual music CDs in Spanish and English, as well as producing three bilingual educational movies for children.  Read Beth Butler´s answers here.

“Hello, I was born and raised in Norwalk, CT. Both my parents are from Costa Rica. I met my husband in South Florida. He is American-born and raised in California. We got married and had our first baby girl on May 6th, 2009. Now he and I are arguing about what language to speak to her in. I suggested I speak in Spanish, and he in English, but he’s afraid that she will learn Spanish before English, and will not allow me to speak to our little girl in Spanish. I truly want her to be bilingual. Please advise as to what I can do so that this is possible. Desperately awaiting your answer. Thank you – Grettel Golson “Cabrera”.”

Dear Grettel (and others in Grettel’s situation),

You raise a very serious issue. Raising a bilingual child is much, much harder if your husband does not support you in it. Even if you are the one to be the Spanish speaker, the attitude of your husband (and other significant people in your family) will affect your success and happiness in speaking your language with your child.

The bad news is that attitudes are harder to change than beliefs. We are not aware of having them, and usually don’t know where they came from. They build up in small steps over a long period of time, so they are difficult to change quickly. But they can and do change! Understanding beliefs may be a step in the direction of changing attitudes.

What are your husband’s beliefs about children learning two languages? Who does he think of when he thinks about children who speak two languages? Was there someone in his childhood who might have put him off? Or does he just have no experience with it at all? What is it about your daughter speaking Spanish that alarms him? Is he worried about his relationship with her? Will you and she have secrets he can’t share? Is he worried for her wellbeing? Maybe he thinks that she will learn more slowly, or that people will treat her with less respect if she speaks Spanish.

All of us at Spanglishbaby know about the many advantages to the child that come from learning two languages. (I hope I made them very clear in chapter 1 of my book : ) But all the facts in the world do not convince someone with an emotional reaction that keeps him or her from processing your arguments.

The conversation about language attitudes is best undertaken before the baby is born, but it is never too late for couples to try to understand each other better, and hopefully come to an agreement. If you feel you both have too many emotional reactions, it might be helpful to have the conversation with a third party, someone your husband is comfortable with—but who shares your ideas.

Once you know what is behind your husband’s attitude, you can make a plan to begin trying to change it. (Write us back and we can brainstorm with you about it.)

Meanwhile, all is not lost. Your daughter *can* learn Spanish after she learns English. You can even switch to Spanish later when your husband’s comfort level with the language is higher. Your job now is to make or strengthen your connections with Spanish speakers, and create a positive attitude toward Spanish and Spanish speakers in your daughter, so when you get the green light, she will be ready to jump right in.

Suerte,

Barbara

We are expecting our first bilingual baby in August 2010 and would like to speak mostly Spanish in the home. (I learned Spanish as young adult and my partner was raised in a Spanish-speaking household in the U.S.). How can I convince my monolingual English-speaking mother that this choice is not rejecting “my side of the family” or closing her off from her grandchild-to-be?

Thanks,  Megan.“

Bueno, Megan … let’s habla!  I so remember my mom being full of free, unsolicited advice during the birth of all three of my children so realize that this is not the first, nor will it be the last time she (and other well-meaning family members) throws in her two cents worth of advice and/or commentary!

Convincing someone of something so personal takes diplomacy and tact!  Tread lightly amiga and with kindness and smiles.  You will accomplish much with a positive approach.  I know you probably already know that but during the last few weeks of pregnancy, being kind to all of these free advice givers is not always easy.

Here is a step-by-step path to follow to help win her over to you and your husband’s bilingual efforts:

1.    Place post it notes around your home reminding you to smile and be kind.  Daily reminders in writing work wonders. Make them funny, kind of like an inside joke between you and your husband.

2.    Check out the book titled The Bilingual Edge or, better yet, buy it for your mom and ask her for a favor.  Ask her to read it before your child is born.  The book is an easy read and one that’s very convincing from two moms who happen to be Ph.D.s in linguistics.  Let these authors do the “expert” convincing for you!

3.    Invite your mom to family gatherings where both English and Spanish are spoken – before the birth of your baby and as your baby joins your family.  She will witness the amazing flow between both languages and perhaps even inquire as to how she can pick up some basic vocabulary in Spanish.

4.    Find out about local library events that showcase Spanish or Spanish and English, local arts & crafts festivals where the flavors of Latin American culture are highlighted via the sights, smells and sounds, and encourage your mom to join you and your husband and baby.

5.    Avoid taking the defensive when the subject is brought up by your mom.  Realize that being close to you and your family is one of her top priorities in life, and she views the language barrier as an obstacle for getting and staying close to all of you.  Instead, take the loving, upbeat approach and speak Spanish with a sonrisa/smile … one large enough to melt any mom’s heart and win her over.

¡Buena suerte Megan!  You can do this and have everyone come out feeling great!

Beth Butler.-Bilingual educator of young children and strives to create better communication within our increasingly diverse society. She is the founder of the internationally acclaimed Boca Beth language learning series which has garnered various parenting awards. Ms. Butler lived in Chile and Mexico where she learned Spanish as her second language and has been bilingual and biliterate for more than 30 years. She has spent over 25 years in the field of preschool and elementary education writing and recording four bilingual music CDs in Spanish and English, as well as producing three bilingual educational movies for children. Read Beth Butler´s answers here.

“I have been reading many interesting posts here and have found relief in knowing that no one way is the best to raise bilingual kids. I was also happy to see the evidence that supports that bilingualism does not cause confusion. My questions is, can bilingualism cause a delay in speech, though?

I am an elementary teacher and a mom to a 22 month old girl. We live in California and my daughter is exposed daily to both English and Spanish: English mostly (but not exclusively) by dad, since it is his native language, and Spanish by me and her baby sitter. At this point she says about 10 words and then other sounds that stand for words but these are not real words, rather vowel sounds. Speaking of vowel sounds, she does not articulate the “o” or the “u” vowel sounds in Spanish. I am just wondering if there is cause for concern and if I should address this with a speech specialist.

The hard part is that we are moving to Spain in a couple of weeks, and because she is exposed to English, maybe that would not give the specialist the right information to work with (I don’t think many of them in Spain have experience with bilingual kids).”

Dear Susana,

Research in our field indicates that bilingualism does not cause confusion or delays in speech acquisition (sound production) or language acquisition (words and word combinations). Studies on the acquisition of sounds in Spanish-English bilingual children indicates that children may, for a short time, demonstrate less accuracy in the production of consonant sounds when the sounds are not identical in both languages, but these differences do not greatly affect their intelligibility, or ability to be understood by others. An example is the production of the sounds [p], [t], and [k], which are pronounced with less aspiration or airflow in Spanish than in English. A child who learns these sounds in Spanish might use them the same way in English. While their productions are considered less accurate in English, they are still within the normal range of production and can still be understood. Accuracy is not reduced for sounds that are the same in both languages.

You mentioned that your daughter does not use the “o” and “u” vowel sounds of Spanish. These sounds also occur in the English language so it would not be expected that they would be influenced or reduced in accuracy as a result of exposure to both English and Spanish.

With regard to language acquisition, research indicates that the vocabulary of children who are bilingual is similar in size to that of monolingual children. We often look at the number of different concepts children express in words in both languages. We give children “credit” for all of the concepts they express in words in both languages. For example, “dog,” “perro,” and “cat” represent two concepts because “dog” and “perro” are translation equivalents. By 18 months of age, children typically have or are approaching 50 words (concepts) and are at the early stages of producing 2-word phrases.

You stated that your daughter is 22 months of age and uses approximately 10 different words. Given this information, I would recommend that you have her evaluated by a bilingual speech-language pathologist. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (www.asha.org) has a search option for finding speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in your area. They list ASHA accredited SLPs all over the world so if you are already in Spain, this might be a helpful way to find someone who can provide an evaluation.

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D, CCS-LLP – A bilingual (English/Spanish) speech language professional who earned her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of Texas at Austin. She has provided bilingual Spanish/English speech-language services in schools, hospitals, and early intervention settings. Her research focus is on the acquisition of semantic language skills in bilingual children, with emphasis on assessment practices for the bilingual population. She is the President of Bilinguistics, which is “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.” You can read her answers here.

Dear Dina,

The research base on second language acquisition demonstrates that it takes approximately five to seven years to be fully proficient in a second language, so it is to be expected that your son is not meeting grade level standards in Spanish at the third grade level. If he is meeting grade level standards in English reading, he will more than likely be able to master grade level standards in Spanish given a few more years and extensive exposure to grade level text and academic language in Spanish.

The first thing that I recommend is to determine the exact area of concern in his Spanish reading. Some questions that you might want to find out are: Is he unable to decode, or accurately read words? (If he is at or above grade level in English reading, it is probably more than likely that he is not having difficulty with decoding in Spanish). Does he have difficulty with reading narrative/fictional text and summarizing or retelling what he read?
Does he have difficulty with higher order and critical thinking skills? Is it a challenge for him to identify main ideas and details in expository or nonfiction text? Does he need to increase his academic language in Spanish?

The best thing that English-speaking parents in dual language programs can do is to work on reading comprehension and literacy at home in English with students who are experiencing difficulties. Considering that your son is making appropriate progress in English, you should continue to focus on improving his reading comprehension at a more advanced level in English, which will eventually assist him with reading comprehension in Spanish. In addition, you should focus on increasing the amount of reading material that he has at home in Spanish so that he is able to increase his academic language in Spanish. One of the best things to improve reading comprehension in any language is to read, read, and read more!

Find out the topics that interest your son and purchase materials in the form of books and computer software in both languages for him to use at home. Some children in dual language programs tend to gravitate towards English reading as the grade levels increase, so it is important for parents to ensure that children have plenty of engaging materials to read at home in Spanish. Nonfiction texts about real life topics (i.e., animals, biographies, science, etc) tend to have highly complex vocabulary and sentence structure so it is also important to ensure that he has plenty of nonfiction materials in Spanish. If there is a particular topic that he is highly interested in, you might want to purchase books about that topic exclusively in Spanish.

The most important thing to take into consideration when trying to improve his reading comprehension in Spanish is that he needs extensive exposure to interesting reading materials. It’s therefore important to find out what topics motivate him and purchase materials in Spanish about that topic. If it’s not fun for him, he won’t want to read! Take a step back from the formal reading comprehension activities in Spanish at home and just try to show him that reading about topics that interest us can be fun!

Melanie McGrath.-- is a coordinator of Dual Immersion and transitional bilingual education programs in Southern California. She provides professional development training and assistance to parents, bilingual teachers and administrators in the areas of biliteracy development, bilingual program design and English language development. Melanie can also be found blogging on Multilingual Mania. Click here to read her answers.

Photo by kate.gardiner

The following post was originally published on September 18, 2009 under the title “How To Create a Perceived Need for the Minority Language.”

My 18-year-old goddaughter, Veronika, was recently in town for the weekend and I noticed something pretty interesting that I’m still trying to figure out.

Although she was raised bilingual by my (Peruvian) sister and her father, who is Cuban, (but moved to New York as a toddler and thus speaks more English than Spanish,) ever since I can remember, we have always communicated in English. I mean, I know she understands Spanish, but when I talk to her, she has always answered me in English–no matter which language I use.

So, I was pretty surprised when I noticed that whenever she talked to my daughter, her cousin Vanessa, she addressed her in Spanish. Why? I didn’t really get around to asking her, but I think it’s because she probably thinks–rightly so–that Vanessa understands Spanish better, unlike everyone else in our bilingual family.

I guess the interesting thing about this anecdote is that even though, growing up, Veronika basically refused to speak Spanish, the fact that we all continued talking to her in the minority language, somehow paid-off. (I should mention, though, that it has also helped that her boyfriend’s first language–as well as his family’s–is Spanish, meaning that she’s been forced to speak it in order to communicate with them.)

Either way, all this got me thinking about how the topic of how to get your children to speak the minority language continues to be one of the most popular ones since we started SpanglishBaby more than half a year ago. The evidence is in the questions we continue to get for our Ask an Expert series, including this week’s question, the comments in the forums and just the stuff we hear whenever the subject of raising bilingual kids comes up.

One of the main things to do, according to bilingual experts, is to create a perceived need for the minority language. In other words, your children HAVE to feel as if they NEED to speak the minority language in order to communicate. So, how do you do this? Here are some tips:

1) Show them you’re proud of minority language + culture: If your children see you take pride in your language and your culture, they will follow suit. I saw this happen before my very own eyes with my stepson. His father, my husband, is extremely proud to be Puerto Rican. He has always spoken highly of his beloved Island, its music, its food, its folklore. He owns a vast collection of Puerto Rican music which he plays on a regular basis. My stepson, although born and raised in Miami, has always identified himself with his father’s home country.

2) Give your friends and your kids’ friends a taste of the minority culture: This goes along with the first tip, except it takes it a little farther. Now, and until October 15th, it’s the perfect time to do this by celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with a party–especially if you happen to be from one of the countries which celebrates its Independence during this time. You could serve traditional food from your Latin American country and teach the children a few words in Spanish. Again, if your children see that you’re proud of your heritage, they will be too!

3) Invite your family/friends who speak the minority language to stay with you: This works well especially if there are children involved. My cousin, her husband and their 10-year-old daughter are coming from Mexico to spend Christmas with us this year, and I couldn’t be happier. Not only do I get to see them and show-off Colorado’s winter wonderland, but my daughter, Vanessa, will spend about 10 days surrounded by Spanish coming from people other than her father and I. In other words, she’ll experience first-hand how important it is for her to speak Spanish, so she can communicate with her family.

4) Expose your children to the minority language + culture first-hand: Traveling to a country where the minority language is spoken is probably one of the best ways to create a perceived need. Although it’s sad that both my husband’s and my family is dispersed in different Latin American countries, it does gives us the opportunity to go visit them, allowing our daughter to be immersed in the language while spending time with her family. Our plans are that once Vanessa is old enough, she will spend her summers with her cousins in Puerto Rico. We did this with my now 19-year-old stepson as he was growing up, and I’m convinced this is one of the major reasons he is bilingual today. Not only will this kind of trip help reinforce the minority language, but Vanessa will get to experience the culture of her father first-hand.

In which creative ways do you help  your child feel she needs to speak the minority language?

It’s amazing how fast and and how much of the Spanish language my almost 2 year old daughter Audrey is learning. We practice the OPOL method here at home.

We are working on teaching Audrey her body parts at the moment. When she is with dad he tells her the names of her body parts in English and I tell her their names in Spanish.

Lately, when I ask her to show me where her “ojos”, “boca”, “nariz” is she points to the right place but tells me the name in English. I am not sure if I should correct her and tell her to say it in Spanish or just be excited about the fact that she is bilingual and understands both languages, but prefers to say them in English. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Marcela

Dear Marcela,

How children acquire language to represent their world is one of the greatest joys we parents have in raising them. (When they reach adolescence, of course, bilingual insolence is doubly vexing, but that is the subject of another column…) Audrey’s world is bilingual, as she can identify the target body parts, regardless of the language you and your husband are using.  Congratulations! You are doing a good job.  While language development goes beyond identification or association of phonemic units with objects in the physical world, the speed and accuracy of Audrey’s language(s) acquisition can be affected by multiple factors.  I just want to cover a couple of issues here, which may be of help to you.

First, there is a method-based component.  The OPOL method (one parent one language), which has many advantages, tends to produce what is known as “passive bilinguals.” What you are describing is typical of this approach.  That is, the child listens to Spanish but answers in English.  This may be a function of socialization experiences.  If Audrey only uses Spanish at home with you, but does not need to use it in her socialization experiences or in other learning environments, it may be difficult for her to maintain the language.

Suggestions:

• Organize her play dates as well as other social experiences involve other bilingual toddlers/parents, so it becomes natural and practical for her to use Spanish. The point is to use the language in different social settings.

• Being in contact with other extended family members (e.g., grandparents) who only speak Spanish to her is also very important, as she will learn to communicate her needs and wants in Spanish.  In other words, Audrey will learn the utility of using Spanish.

• In the specific situation when Audrey points to her “Nariz,” but tells you “nose,” I would reply: “Muy bien, esa es tu nariz. A ver, di: ‘na-riz.’” And then I would re-inforce her use of Spanish.  Clearly, some Spanish phonemes may be more difficult for her as she is learning to pronounce words in general. Thus, she may say “riz” because that is easy for her. Make a game of it, and reinforce her use of the language at every step, even if she is not saying the word perfectly.  When she becomes older, the same will be true of grammar.  It is better for the child to use the language fluidly than correctly. Let her convey her thoughts, then later correct her and give her appropriate grammatical rules.

The second issue, and perhaps the most crucial for the long term use of both languages, has to do with learning of formal information. Soon, she will be in pre-school, and then kindergarten.

Suggestions:

• As the child starts formal schooling, you may want to incorporate other methods of second language acquisition.  Flexibility to adapt to the needs of the child should be the guiding principle. This may also require the expansion of your Spanish-language library.

• It would seem very important to find a school district that has a dual immersion program in English and Spanish through the elementary years.  Unfortunately, I only know of such programs in selected school districts of California and Florida, but finding this resource will only take some basic searching. There may be private school options as well.

• The point is that the bilingual education of your child is critical to facilitate her development as a balanced bilingual person. It is possible of course to be able to speak, but not read or write in Spanish, and claim some degree of bilingualism. It all depends on your goals and values.

I hope these ideas are of some help to you with you wonderful child.  I leave you with a fun trabalenguas that some day can help you teach Audrey our most distinctive consonant sound: ñ

Tamaño paño
tiñe el maño Nuño
con uña de año
y moña de puño.

Marcel O. Ponton, Ph.D. – Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harbor UCLA. As a clinical neuropsychologist, he leads a team of clinicians at Persona Neurobehavior Group that specialize in the assessment and treatment of developmental, reading, learning and behavioral problems affecting bilingual children and adolescents. He has worked for the past 20 years with bilingual, bicultural patients. He has authored many articles on the cognitive assessment of bilingual individuals, and has co-authored two books. He has a private practice in South Pasadena. Dr. Ponton also leads the Bicultural Experience and Identity network online.

“I would like to teach my kids to read in Spanish. Any suggestions on materials to use? Thanks.”

Hi Leticia! I love your name! Leticia is one of my favorite cities in Colombia – it’s in the Amazon region and it’s a very beautiful place!

With regard to your question, there are tons of great sites online that can help kids read in Spanish. Here is a collection of some of my favorites. You can also check out my Delicious bookmarks (http://www.delicious.com/miscositas) and my website for updated links that seem to pop up every day! ¡Buena suerte!

America Reads Spanish: this is a great place to start looking for reading materials. On this site you can download a book called: Essential Guide to Spanish Reading for Children and Young Adults, which is an annotated bibliographic list of great reading in Spanish sorted by age level and recommended by librarians and educators from around the country!  http://www.americareadsspanish.org/

World Digital Library: this site makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world; materials are available in Spanish and several other languages.  http://www.wdl.org/en/#

International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL): A digital library of outstanding children’s books from all over the world; read full texts with accompanying images; search archive by country to find books in Spanish – and many other languages.  http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

StoryPlace: A digital online library for kids with stories, games and activities; kids can read along with the story as the audio portion plays. http://www.storyplace.org/sp/

BookBox: A neat site with interesting stories in different languages, with subtitles or without them; you can access a sample of the story for free, but the full story is $2.99 to download and keep; free games and other materials as well; materials available in English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Hindi and 21 other languages. http://www.bookbox.com/

MisCositas: My site! I have over 20 “virtual picturebooks” that students can read, with challenging vocabulary words linked to a pop-up picture dictionary; after reading the “book,” kids can view the accompanying video on our YouTube channel. http://www.miscositas.com

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. She is currently the Chairperson of the ESL and World Language Department for Herricks Public Schools, New York. Lori is the author of Take Action: Lesson Plans for the Multicultural Classroom and Voices of Diversity: Stories, Activities and Resources for the Multicultural Classroom, as well as several Spanish-language books and texts (Cuéntame – Folklore y Fábulas and Mi abuela ya no está). Her interactive website (miscositas.com) offers teachers over 40 virtual picture books and other curricular materials for teaching Chinese, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Spanish and Thai. Her areas of research and curriculum development are multicultural and diversity education, folktales in the language classroom and technology in language teaching. You can read her answers here.

“I am concerned that my five-year-old daughter is losing her Spanish skills too quickly since starting English-only kindergarten. We spoke to her primarily in Spanish since she was born. Now that she is in kindergarten in an English-only school district, she is speaking very little Spanish. My husband and I had decided to have him speak to her in Spanish and I would speak to her in English. However, I am concerned that the Spanish is losing out. My older daughters understand Spanish and can speak it when needed. We would like for our youngest daughter to be more fluent. Should we both speak to her in Spanish?”

Dear Blanca,

Language loss is a common pattern that we see when children start school in a language other than their home language.  This is especially true for younger children in a family who have older siblings who are fluent in the school language.

What we know about language is that language input drives language output.  In other words, the amount children hear a language generally matches the amount they speak that language. If your daughter is speaking English all day at school and in after-school activities and play dates with friends from school, she is clearly spending a large part of her day speaking English.  If you want her to speak more Spanish, I would recommend increasing the amount of Spanish she hears.

I think you have a good plan—that both you and your husband speak Spanish to her.

Ellen Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
President
Bilinguistics, Inc.

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D, CCS-LLP – A bilingual (English/Spanish) speech language professional who earned her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish at The University of Texas at Austin. She has provided bilingual Spanish/English speech-language services in schools, hospitals, and early intervention settings. Her research focus is on the acquisition of semantic language skills in bilingual children, with emphasis on assessment practices for the bilingual population. She is the President of Bilinguistics, which is “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.” You can read her answers here.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts or advice about this in the comments below. You can also leave your own question for the Experts here.

We invite you to visit our sister site, SpanglishBabyFinds, where we review the coolest products made with Latino and/or bilingual kids in mind. There’s a giveaway every week!