I’m not a huge breakfast eater — unless I go to the French bakery by my house, which is run by a couple from the south of France who moved to Denver five years ago. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but the bakery is on my way to Santiago’s preschool and so I stop in there regularly to devour freshly-baked croissants and the best baguettes I’ve ever had outside of France.

But one of the other reasons I love going there is that I get to practice my French with the owners. And whenever I go with my kids I get to show them — instead of telling them — how awesome it is that I can communicate with other people in their native language: one of the benefits of speaking more than one language.

Although it sometimes seems like there aren’t enough ways to immerse your children in the minority language outside of your home (especially the older they get), the truth is that sometimes we overlook some options that aren’t as obvious, but are awesome opportunities nonetheless. The best part about these is that they’re pretty simple things you can do on a regular basis which don’t require a lot of effort on your part.

1. Churches/Places of Worship

When I was looking into baptizing Vanessa, I knew I needed to find a church that offered services in Spanish so my  then 92-year-old grandmother, visiting from Perú, wouldn’t be lost during the ceremony. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, but I found one. Now, more than six years after moving to Denver, I’ve found many others. For me, it’s a great way to reconnect with my childhood, but it’s also the only way for me to participate in mass. I know this will sound kind of strange, but praying is one of those things I’d rather do in my native language.

Besides giving you and your kids the opportunity to attend services in the minority language, most churches organize activities and events outside of worship time. So this could be another great place for your children to be brought in contact with the minority language with others who share your beliefs. Due to the growing Latino population, you can probably find a place of worship that offers services in Spanish regardless of denomination.

2. Small, family-owned Latino restaurants

Although Denver is not devoid of Latino restaurants, it’s in its infancy stage when compared to Miami, where I spent the first 20 years of my life in the United States. Nevertheless, we have found a few great spots — some we frequent often because they’re near and some only on special occasions because they require a lot more driving. I’m talking about the kind of family-owned restaurants where Spanish is spoken freely and the menu is often in both languages, kind of like the French bakery I talked about at the top.

If you’re children are already reading, they can choose what they want and ask for it in Spanish! If not, you can introduce new vocabulary by talking about the items on the menu. This is also a great opportunity to talk about the importance of food for Latinos and the never-ending options we’re lucky to have.

3. Bodegas/Mercados/Hispanic Grocery Stores

Again, not a lot of these in my neck-of-the-woods, but enough for me to take my children and allow them to be surrounded by some of the smells and colors of our foods — an integral part of our culture. I’ve taken my daughter to one of this mercados and I’ve introduced her to some of the candy I used to enjoy as a child. Some is from my homeland, Peru, and some is from Mexico where I spent a few years as a child. Not only are these great places to expose our kids to Spanish, but also to our culture.

Keep in mind that these suggestions are universal, so they apply no matter which minority language you’re using. For example, just the other day, I drove by a Korean Methodist Church, which I later found out was started to cater to the Korean population in that area of Denver! The same can be said about ethnic food markets, not to mention restaurants and bakeries where other heritage languages, besides Spanish, is spoken.

{Photo by Big Grey Mare}

Photo credit: Victor Bezrukov

My daughter, Vanessa, is always curious about what languages other people speak. I didn’t teach her that. Neither do I go around introducing people to her by announcing they speak English, Spanish or both. Yet, it’s pretty usual for her to want to know.

Once she finds out, she likes to make all aware that she speaks tres: español, inglés y francés—which she doesn’t, but I love that she thinks that way. The little French I’ve exposed her to, has totally stuck. She sings “Frère Jacques,” knows when to say “bonjour” and “merci,” and understands when I say most colors and some animals. Truth is, though, that she probably would be trilingual if I had gone at it a lot more intently.

While I think Vanessa has an affinity to languages, I also know that learning a third one will only occur if her exposure to it is constant and via meaningful interactions—debunking the myth about how children’s brains are like sponges and how they can learn languages effortlessly.

It is easier for children to learn a new language the earlier they are exposed to it, but it doesn’t just happen by osmosis. It takes work from both him and you. The good thing, in our case, is that it’s still doable, but I have to take some steps to make it a reality.

Building Vocabulary

The first thing I have to do is work on building our home library. We’re huge supporters of the power of books when it comes to building vocabulary, so this is a given. It’s a good thing my daughter already loves reading.

The second thing we’re doing is adding a bunch of French music to our repertoire. In the past, I’ve looked up videos of popular French children’s songs in YouTube—such as one of my daugther’s favorites, “Tape, tape, petites mains,”—and she’s  asked me to play them over and over again. (Did I mention she also absolutely loves music and dancing?)

Exposure to Language

One of the reasons why Vanessa likes the song I mentioned above is that she immediately recognized it when I first played it on YouTube a few months ago. She recognized it because she heard it at least once a week for few months when she was about 2 years old and I took her to French language lessons designed for children at our local Alliance Française. I must admit I wasn’t really convinced they were worth the cost, until I realized Vanessa actually remembered a few of the songs she learned there almost two years after she was originally exposed to them.

Don’t Forget to Play

Finally, try to remember that children learn best if it feels like they’re playing. We’ve written about playgroups in the past and we’ll continue to push them because we truly believe in both their importance and their value. Playgroups are a great way for your children to be exposed to others his age that also speak the “other” language. Not to mention how great they can be for you in terms of support and advice.

We already belong to an absolutely awesome Spanish playgroup and I have experienced first-hand the amazing benefits of belonging to one. The good thing is that I already know of at least one of this playgroups in French, so it’s now just a matter of making the time to start participating.

While children’s brains are amazing and the rate with which mine learn new things everyday is almost scary, the truth is they do need to have constant and meaningful exposure to the new language you’re hoping they will learn.

What are some ways that you expose your children to language?

Photo by Orin Zebest

“Au revoir,” my daughter finally said to the owner of our neighborhood French bakery recently as we were leaving after getting our fill of the most yummy, buttery croissants and perfectly baked quiche Lorraine. I was beaming. She’s known how to say goodbye in French for a while now, but she always refuses to say it when I prod…I wonder why?

We go to the bakery at least once every two weeks, after I pick her up from preschool . Up until now, I had always seen it as an awesome opportunity for me to practice my French. But after the “goodbye” episode, I realized it has also been a great way to expose Vanessa to a third language and to show her, instead of telling her, how awesome it is that I can communicate with the owners in their native language. Talk about creating a perceived need for the minority laguage!

This got me thinking about a few ways to expose our children to the minority language that might not seem very obvious or typical, but are awesome opportunities nonetheless. More than anything else, these are pretty simple things you can do on a regular basis which don’t require a lot of effort on your part.

1. Restaurants

Although Denver is not devoid of Latino restaurants, it’s in its infancy stage when compared to where I come from: Miami. Nevertheless, we have found a few great spots—some we frequent often because they’re near and some only on special occasions because they’re far. I’m talking about the kind of restaurants where Spanish is spoken freely and the menu is often in both languages, kind of like the French bakery I talked about at the top. If you’re children are already reading, they can choose what they want and ask for it in Spanish! If not, you can introduce new vocabulary by talking about the items on the menu. This is also a great opportunity to talk about the culture of food!

2. Bodegas/Mercados/Hispanic Grocery Stores

Again, not a lot of these in my neck-of-the-woods, but enough for me to take my children and allow them to be surrounded by some of the smells and colors of our foods—an integral part of our culture. I like to take my daughter to one of this mercados and introduce her to some of the candy I used to enjoy as a child. Some is from my homeland, Peru, and some is from Mexico where I spent a few years as a child. Not only are these great places to expose our kids to Spanish, but also to our culture.

3. Places of Worship

When I was looking into baptizing my daughter, I knew I needed to find a church that offered services in Spanish so my 92-year-old grandmother, visiting from Perú, wouldn’t be lost during the ceremony. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, but I found one. Now, three years after moving to Denver, I know of many others. The great thing is that you can probably find one which meets your needs regardless of denomination. Besides attending the service in the minority language, most churches organize activities and events outside of mass. So this could be another great place for your children to be brought into contact with the minority language with others who share your beliefs.

It’s important to note these suggestions are universal. In other words, they apply no matter which minority language you’re using. For example, just the other day, I drove by a Korean Methodist Church, which I later found out was started to cater to the Korean population in that area of Denver! The same can be said about ethnic food markets, not to mention restaurants and bakeries where other heritage languages, besides Spanish, is spoken.