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.

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

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

Thanks for your help!

Jana”

Dear Jana,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best wishes,

Barbara

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

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

This week’s Ask an Expert question was sent by Yaz who says she’s getting discouraged because she didn’t think it would be so hard to raise bilingual children. We’ve all felt that way at some point in our journey, Yaz! Please hang in there and know you can always come back to SpanglishBaby for support.

“I’m the mama of a very bright and sweet 19 months old. My first language is Spanish and my husband’s is English. We have a wonderful nanny, but unfortunately she only speaks English. I only speaks Spanish to my son, while my husband and nanny speak English. He goes to My Gym where he socializes in English. All my family is back in Puerto Rico.
Him and I watch TV in Spanish, listen to music in Spanish, I read to him in Spanish and even when we are out I still speak Spanish to him, I buy any and every bilingual toy, but it’s not enough. He say some words in Spanish, but he’s learning English way faster of course. Sometimes he even stops saying the word in Spanish and starts saying it in English. I tried having play dates with other Spanish speaking kids and mothers but it’s not always easy for me to do so.
I know I’m kind of rambling now, but basically I’m getting discouraged and very sad. I feel that what I’m doing is not enough and he won’t speak Spanish. I plan to visit my family in Puerto Rico as often as possible, but I can’t stay more than 1-2 weeks at a time. Also, I’m due in December with my second son or daughter and I wonder if it is going to be even more difficult. I must admit while I knew it was not going to be easy, I didn’t expect it to be this hard, at least for me.”

Dear Yaz,

I totally sympathize with you.  We all think it will be hard for someone else to raise their child bilingually, and are discouraged when it’s hard for us, too. Just think, though, how much English is in your child’s world.  Even if you are a hands-on mom, you are only one person in an ocean of English.

Reading between the lines in your message, I take it that it’s not hard for you to speak Spanish with your boy—and that he understands you.  I think that is a great foundation.  Reaching out to Spanglishbaby is a good step, too.

Pretty soon, when your son asks you why you speak to him in Spanish (and to everyone else in English), you can tell him you are looking forward to taking him with you to see your family in Puerto Rico. You want him to have the same good feelings about your home as you do.  So, you are trying to make sure he will be able to understand what is going on when he is there—when everyone is speaking Spanish.  It will be a good opportunity for you to tell him about all the people on your side of the family.  Showing him pictures–telling him who everyone is, and what it looks like down there–will make your reasoning real for him.

In Puerto Rico, when he’s with his grandparents and especially if there are cousins for him, he may want to speak Spanish with them.  Even if he doesn’t, it’s still better for him to understand them than to be lost and uncomfortable when he’s there.  That’s a gift you are giving him *and* your family.

As for the new baby, I found having two children two years apart was also harder than I thought it would be—especially at the beginning.  But it doesn’t sound to me that it will be more of a strain for you to speak Spanish to the baby, too.  This will be a time for you to shower the new baby with the Spanish that comes so easily and naturally to you.  Pull out those songs and finger games from when you were a child. The older boy may decide that the baby speaks Spanish and may speak to her or him in Spanish a little too.  But he may not.  It is not wise to push him.

The second child usually has even more English in his life than the first child—from the older brother and his friends.  But you can have the same confidence that you are preparing the little one, too, to come with you to visit your family and to receive visits from them.

We don’t know what will happen later.  But that’s later. This is now. First, I hope you will stop being sad or angry at yourself. You are doing what you can now, and you’re right. It’s not easy.  (That’s why I wrote a whole book about it!)

Keep us posted and best of luck,

Barbara

Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph. D. - A bilingualism expert with over twenty years of research experience in the fields of bilingualism, linguistics, and communication disorders, Pearson is the author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child. She is currently a Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her pioneering work on bilingual learning by infants and children and on language assessment has been published in scholarly journals and in the book Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children. As Project Manager, she contributed to the creation of the innovative DELV tests, culture-fair assessments of language development published by The Psychological Corporation. You can see her answers by going here and follow her work through her blog.

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

Another Monday another question answered by one of the members of our amazing and always growing panel of experts as part of our weekly series: Ask an Expert. If you have missed previous entries, no worries, you can catch up on all their useful advice by clicking here. Today’s question comes from Natalia Coto an Argentinian living in Calgary, Canada, with her two sons, 29 and 10 months old and monolingual husband.

I’m really glad I’ve found this website made by and for moms experiencing circumstances so similar to mine regarding raising bilingual children!

My intentions were to ensure that my children grew up bilingual all along, but right now, with my older one, I’m worried that I haven’t reinforced his exposure to my language enough, since he’s picking up English at an amazing pace -I guess that’s what happens at this age with speech in general, but Spanish doesn’t come up to him as easy, not nearly. He won’t spontaneously say anything in Spanish, and half the time he won’t even try to repeat what I “translate.”

He goes to daycare three times a week (English only), watches quite a bit of  TV (again, just English) and talks in English to his dad  so it is hard for me to counterbalance all that input. To make matters worse, I’ve just come to realize (after reading Barbara Zurer Pearson’s book) that it might have been a huge mistake on my part to talk (and read!!!) to Oliver ALSO in English sometimes.  I confess this has been happening mostly in the last four, five months, at the time when he was starting to learn tons of words and expressions (in English, from daycare I gather), and I felt like ‘consolidating’ this new knowledge by repeating and giving him opportunities to use those words.

Now that I’ve decided to talk to him exclusively in Spanish, I’m feeling some resistance and fear that I’ve weakened the very basis of his becoming bilingual effortlessly by not defining our relationship ONLY in Spanish from the beginning. Is it too late to make up for this mistake?  How should I deal with this day by day: is translating and insisting on speaking ONLY in Spanish likely to backfire when dealing with a stubborn little person? I don’t have much material (DVDs, books) in Spanish either, suggestions? We get to go to South America once a year, and maybe a visit from somebody of my family from there yearly too, but that is such a short period for him to really ‘immerse’ in the language that I can’t really count on that as a booster.

Thanks for any useful comment.  I hope to hear from anybody that has gone or is going through the same. I feel a bit embarrassed of this recent ‘relapse’ on teaching Oli my language.  In an all-English environment it can get a bit lonely sometimes (I’m a late learner of English, so I could never resign myself to the fact that my kids won’t speak -and hopefully read and write- fluently in Spanish!) Thank you very much again!

Dear Natalia,

You are experiencing first hand why I wanted to write a book for parents and why Ana and Roxana started SpanglishBaby. Your situation—and Oliver’s resistance to your language—will strike a chord with many SpanglishBaby readers. You feel like the only one for miles around who speaks Spanish, and I see from your very fluent letter that you are quite comfortable in English. You’re expecting yourself to raise bilingual children all alone in an all-English environment. It’s possible to do that, but it’s so much better and easier with a community. It could be an actual physical one—or it could be electronic, on the web or through Skype.

I am thrilled that you have read my book and that I get to hear that you have. (Thank you, SpanglishBaby!) It is true, as you say, that I recommend speaking only Spanish if possible, and I report that it’s easier if you can set up the habits of your household before the child is aware that there is another way to go about things. But I also caution that if you let language become a battlefield with your child, you will lose.

One thing I think I hear in your letter is that you have few opportunities, yourself, to speak Spanish in your daily life. That is where I would start– with yourself. A powerful way to encourage Oliver to *want* to speak Spanish is to do it in front of him. Look harder for at least one person in Calgary—yes, Calgary—who can speak Spanish with you. Try the university. (A young woman from my small town in Massachusetts teaches Spanish there.) I’m sure she can help put you in touch with someone who wants or needs to speak Spanish. Then, try to find ways to do the things you are already doing—going to the park, having playdates, eating a meal—with the other Spanish speaker. Let Oliver see you laughing and having fun—in Spanish.

A second step will be to find Spanish-speaking playmates for the children, but first work on making Spanish at least a small part of your own life and routines.

On a day-to-day basis, you can certainly translate what Oliver says to you as a base for your response to him. “Oh, tu fuiste al zoo? Qué viste?” [Oh, you went to the zoo? What did you see there?], but I wouldn’t make him repeat it. You also have his little brother. If Oli hears you speaking only Spanish with the baby, he may conclude that he only understands Spanish and may speak to him in Spanish, too. If you have a cat or a dog, speak to them in Spanish.: ) Oli may be almost old enough for you to explain to him that Spanish was the language your mother and father and your oldest and dearest friends spoke with you, so you have very special feelings about Spanish and it makes you feel good to speak it with very special people, like him. If he doesn’t want to respond in Spanish for now, that’s all right, but it’s very important for you to speak it for your own reasons (and not “resign yourself” that your kids won’t speak it).

Other tips:

1. Look for a Spanish speaker to help take care of the children. Maybe a student, or a student’s wife. I report some hints from Jane Merrill in my book (chapter 4) for finding such people and giving them guidance. If you can’t afford to hire someone, maybe you can arrange some trades.
2. Don’t discount those “occasional” visitors from abroad. Spend time preparing for them. You might be able to work with Oli (and soon the baby) on some “routines” or dialogues, so they can help the visitors feel at home—or for some other reason that doesn’t focus on him.
3. Have the visitors help you find books and CDs and DVDs for the children. Look for them when you go to Argentina. (There are many more outlets for Spanish materials in the U.S. than before. Several of them advertise on this website.)
4. Don’t expect Oli to choose a Spanish DVD over an English one, but if you (and the baby) start watching one “that you like to see,” he’ll probably join you eventually.
5. Also, start planning now for how in a few years from now you can spend enough time in South America so Oli will eventually feel comfortable going there on his own. Many people, in fact the editor of my book, reported that trips to see her grandparents, once the child was old enough to go on her own, are what turned the situation around for her.

Children’s language—and their ideas about language–change. If you don’t persevere in Spanish now, it will be harder for him to rediscover it later when he’s ready. In terms of reinforcing his English learning from the school, that seems to me to be your husband’s territory. It sounds like a perfect way for father and son to bond.

Hopefully many readers of SpanglishBaby will write you with encouragement and advice, and some may even become regular correspondents with you. You’ve taken an important first step by reaching out to SpanglishBaby. Now let it help you start to turn things around.

Best wishes,
Barbara

Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph. D. - A bilingualism expert with over twenty years of research experience in the fields of bilingualism, linguistics, and communication disorders, Pearson is the author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child. She is currently a Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her pioneering work on bilingual learning by infants and children and on language assessment has been published in scholarly journals and in the book Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children. As Project Manager, she contributed to the creation of the innovative DELV tests, culture-fair assessments of language development published by The Psychological Corporation. You can see her answers by going here.

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

“My husband and I are raising our sons to be trilingual–I speak to them in Spanish and he speaks to them in German. He will learn English since it is the majority language, and he understands it since my husband and I speak to each other in English. My oldest son, 22 months, has done very well with both languages, and easily moves between Spanish and German. The problem is, when he speaks, he almost always uses the second person singular form, the ‘tu’ form. Rather than saying ‘I want milk’ (‘quiero leche’), he says ‘you want milk’ (‘quieres leche’). My husband says that he makes the exact same error in German. I feel that with more exposure to the language, my son will correct this error on his own. My husband feels that we should tell him the correct way to say the sentence. I have tried my husband’s method, but my son continues to make the same error. Should we address his errors, and if so how?”

Dear Susan,

I think you and your husband are both right.  You’re right that your son will probably get his pronouns straight in a month or two by himself.  If he doesn’t, though, you may want to help him along, as your husband suggests.  But not by correcting him.

If we think about it, what the child has to learn is really pretty complicated.  When we call someone by name, the name doesn’t change. You are Susan whether you’re the speaker or the listener.  But the terms change when it’s “you” and “I.”  You are “I” when you’re the speaker, but you are “you” when your son is the speaker. You call your boy “you”—so he figures he’s “you.” (The other person may be “I.”) Many children go through this stage you describe, although most do it so briefly we don’t notice it.  They overhear others switching “you” and “I,” and get the idea that they need to do it, too. Others, like my grandson (!), stay in that stage almost a year.  My grandson E would say things like “Mommy, change your diaper!” (meaning his diaper, since his mother doesn’t wear them : ).  When he wanted someone not to play with his fire engine, he said “I can’t touch it.  I can’t touch it” in a distressed tone of voice.  The other kids couldn’t figure out that he meant “you” meaning “them,” so it was hard for them to cooperate with him.

I confess I was worried because for some children, this failure to change the point of view in their sentences may be associated with autism. When my grandson was 3, he was speaking a lot and had a tremendous memory, but was still not reversing his pronouns.  So, I’d say, “Oh look, E says, Please Grandma, will you push me in the swing. Can you say that?”  Or, “E says, Grandma, I want you to hug me.  Now you say it.”  (And of course, then I got to hug him.)  For a while, he just repeated my sentences like a parrot, but after a few months, he would hesitate like he noticed something was different, but didn’t know what. I didn’t say, “No, you’re wrong.  Do it like this.”  I just gave him the correct model and tried to make sure he was attending to it.

Eventually, E changed.  We don’t know when. We just noticed that he was reversing the “you” and “I” like everyone else.  Of course, we have no way of knowing whether my little tricks worked or whether he just finally grew out of it. In any event, since we made it like a game, no harm was done.

After a few months, if your son hasn’t changed or if you are worried, you should consult a speech-language therapist.  This isn’t an issue of bilingualism, but it would be good to find an SLT who is familiar with bi- or trilinguals, so he or she doesn’t automatically say the problem comes from hearing too many languages—as often happens.

It is so interesting that your son does this in two languages, and it makes perfect sense.  If I had spoken with you before I wrote my book, I would have asked you if I could put your example in it.  Let me know how it goes.

Best wishes,

Barbara Zurer Pearson

Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph. D. - A bilingualism expert with over twenty years of research experience in the fields of bilingualism, linguistics, and communication disorders, Pearson is the author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child. She is currently a Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her pioneering work on bilingual learning by infants and children and on language assessment has been published in scholarly journals and in the book Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children. As Project Manager, she contributed to the creation of the innovative DELV tests, culture-fair assessments of language development published by The Psychological Corporation. You can see her answers by going here.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts or advice about this in the comments below.

We invite you to visit our new sister site, SpanglishBabyFinds, where we review the coolest products made with Latino and/or bilingual kids in mind.

Photo by cesarastudillo

Our weekly Ask an Expert series continues to grow into a treasure cove of information and advice concerning bilingual families. The experts in the panel all shine in their own right; amongst them is bilingual English/Spanish speech language professional, Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, who recently debunked three common myths about speech development in bilingual children. Now, we are excited to announce that Dr. Kester has joined the impressive panel of bilingual experts that collaborate in our weekly series-Ask an Expert.

We invite you to visit Dr. Kester’s website, Bilinguistics, to learn more about her and her team.

They are “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.”

Click here to send her your questions regarding speech development in bilingual children.

Should I start teaching my son how to read in Spanish?

A couple of weeks ago author and celebrated researcher Barbara Zurer Pearson answered the question: “When should my child learn to read in a second language?”
Today’s question, sent by Claudia Hadad, digs in deeper into the issue of teaching young bilinguals to read in the minority language.

“We use both English and Spanish at home but our native language is Spanish. My son is 5 and already reads in English. Should I start teaching him how to read in Spanish? Would he be confused with the fact that we use the same alphabet but the sounds are different.”

Hi Claudia,

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

Children are just as capable of becoming bi-literate as they are of becoming bilingual. Dual language learning does not confuse children. Will your child make mistakes in the process of learning to read in two languages? Yes. Just as monolingual, mono-literate children make mistakes when learning to read, bilinguals will as well. Many of the mistakes bilinguals make in development may be the result of influence from the other language but this is part of the learning process. Some people call that “confused” but with feedback, bilingual children learn to correct those errors, just as monolingual children learn to correct their errors with feedback. Children quickly learn to to use both systems. Recent research also suggests that the earlier a child learns two languages, the better off he will be for dual language reading development .

If your son is already reading in English, he should have a relatively easy time learning to read in Spanish. Spanish is considered a “transparent” language because of its mostly one-to-one letter-to-sound correspondence, while English is considered an “opaque” language because there is often more than one sound associated with a letter. Transparent languages are generally easier to learn because their rules are more consistent than opaque languages. Additionally, the orthographies of English and Spanish are very similar, making it easier for children to transfer knowledge from one language to the other.

For a lot of detail on the differences in the orthographies and sound systems of English and Spanish, please see Gorman & Kester (2004) at the following link:
http://bilinguistics.com/education/abad_0701/abad_0701.pdf

Happy reading!

Ellen Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Photo by phil wood photo

During the past weeks we’ve been dedicating some time to the topic of reading to bilingual kids.  Last week we launched our new monthly series ReadMe where we’ll showcase a bilingual/Spanish children’s book and author.  We also posted an article sent to us by Deanna Lyles (www.BilingualReaders.com) titled “Raising Bilingual Readers:  The Art of Reading to Children in a Bilingual Home.” We highly recommend reading to your children as a language motivator and we’ll continue to explore this topic with you.

Today’s Ask an Expert question was sent by Silvia from Mamá Latina Tips.  She digs deeper in to the topic of reading by exploring when is the right time to teach a child to read in a second language.

To answer this question we’ve invited one of the excellent experts in our panel, Barbara Pearson, Ph. D., respected researcher and author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child.

This is the book that got Roxana and me started and we highly recommend to you, as we stated in this post: Top 10 Books For Parents Raising Bilingual Children.

When Should My Child Learn to Read in Spanish?

“My son is five years old.  He is reading in English and making a lot of effort to read in Spanish (which I think is easier, I tell him this every day! I think he is getting it though).  He is also writing in English and he will start kindergarten in the Fall. So my question for the expert is: At what age or school grade should I start working at home with him to improve his writing and reading skills in Spanish?”

Dear Silvia,

You have discovered on your own what our study of 1000 children in Miami revealed. It is easier to learn to read in Spanish than English.In our study, children who learned to read in Spanish and English at the same time read quicker and better than those taught in English only. I have heard people insisting that you should not start a child reading in two languages at the same time, but we found that it worked very well.

You are right that it is very important for your son to go beyond speaking in Spanish. Just because people can speak, doesn’t mean they can write in it.His knowledge of the language will be so much deeper, if he can read it and write it, too.

I would just caution you to make sure your Spanish sessions are enjoyable for the boy and that he doesn’t see them as a chore.You want him to have only positive feelings about your language. Make sure he feels he’s getting special attention from you—and he doesn’t feel he’s missing out on something else to do Spanish.

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

Have any tips to share on how and when to teach your child to read in a second language? We´d love to read them!

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Today’s Ask an Expert question was sent in by one of our fellow Mamás Blogueras, Tati from Wanna Jugar With migo.  She´s concerned about her daughter having a hard time rolling her R´s.

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

The perfect expert to answer this question is Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D, CCS-LLP, a bilingual (English/Spanish) speech language professional.  You can read more about Dr. Kester, check out her previous posts and ask her a question (or any of the other experts on our panel) here.

My Daughter can’t Roll her R’s

“My daughter is almost 5 and she still can’t roll her r’s. How do I teach her to roll her r’s? Are there certain exercises that help? Do native children speakers have a hard time also?”

Hi Tati,

The trilled R is the latest sound to develop in Spanish.  There are a number of resources for speech development in Spanish and they all indicate that children do not typically roll their r’s until 5 to 7 years of age. Your daughter is not behind but if you want practice the trilled r, here are a couple of ideas.

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

The syllable level:

DRA DRE DRI DRO DRU

TRA TRE TRI TRO TRU

The word level:

PARDO, TARDE, CUERDA, GORDO

Hope this helps.  Please keep us up-to-date on her progress.

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

Bilinguistics Speech and Language Services, Austin, Texas

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The weekly series Ask an Expert has turned out to be one of the most popular categories in SpanglishBaby.  We’re still humbled and in awe of the amazing panel of professional bilingual experts we’ve managed to put together to answer your questions once a week.

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

Today’s question is answered by Barbara Pearson, Ph. D., author of the informative and extremely useful book Raising a Bilingual Child.

This is the book that got Roxana and me started and we highly recommend to you, as we stated in this post: Top 10 Books For Parents Raising Bilingual Children.

We Moved to a Foreign Country and my Son Stopped Speaking Spanish

This question was sent by Christine McCollum, a native US mom who now lives in Turkey with her husband and son.

“I have a 5 year old son who was raised speaking Spanish. Both his father and myself spoke only Spanish to him and he began speaking in Spanish. We are not native speakers and we raised him in Utah. Almost two years ago we moved to Turkey. After three months here I stopped speaking Spanish to him because I realized he had no way to keep up on his English. He didn’t have the friends, family, TV, and basically everyone on the street to teach him English anymore. My husband has continued to speak Spanish to him but instead of responding in Spanish like before, he now responds in English and will rarely speak Spanish unless we beg him to repeat something. I would really like to get him to start speaking Spanish again with his father. How can we do this without making him feel too much pressure?”

Dear Christine,

It sounds like your family made a good start on Spanish, and then hit a big bump in the road when you went to Turkey. Learning three languages at a time is very possible for children, but your circumstances there are not the best for that purpose. It might be time to change your expectations for your child’s Spanish for the time being.  But don’t give up on it.  In your situation (and any situation), I would not pressure the child, but I wouldn’t give up my own love affair with Spanish.

I think your husband’s language task in Turkey is to keep Spanish alive for your family, so when your situation (or location) changes, you will still have a base to build on.

Your son is telling you that he doesn’t feel the need or the desire for Spanish. It was important to him back home when he needed Spanish to talk with the people he loves most in the world—you and your husband.  But now, that’s no longer necessary. (You don’t say what you two speak with each other, but I suppose it’s not Spanish.)

My advice is for your husband to continue speaking in Spanish. He should make it clear that he prefers to speak in Spanish even if your son does not.  In my book, I give a spectrum of responses (from Elizabeth Lanza) for how to respond when the child doesn’t speak to you in the language you want him to use. I would concentrate on the middle of the spectrum.  That is, your husband can repeat the child’s turn in Spanish before responding.  But it’s cumbersome to do that on every turn.  Sometimes he’ll just want to respond in Spanish and go on, taking extra care to help the child understand him (without translating into English).

Given your isolation from Spanish, it may be hard for your husband to keep up his fluency in the language.  He may need to find some native speakers for conversation even if it’s on the internet.  To make Spanish less abstract for himself, your husband might enlist a puppet. Do you remember the Tom Hanks movie where he makes a companion out of a deflated volleyball whom he calls Wilson.  To keep his sanity on a desert island, Hanks spends a lot of time talking to Wilson.  Your husband might find a puppet (or his own volleyball to be his Spanish sounding board).  Your son may even be willing to talk to a puppet whom he perceives as speaking only Spanish.

Use this time abroad to build your son’s awareness of how special it is to be able to speak Spanish.  You could set aside a Spanish time every week when you join your husband in speaking Spanish.  For this special time, make special foods your child likes and do activities that he likes in Spanish.  Do songs or movement dances together—or karaoke.  Maybe have a few special things you do only in Spanish.

You’re “selling” Spanish, but using the soft sell, not the hard sell.  Eventually, your son may chime in, but even if he doesn’t, it’s important for him to see you enjoying yourselves while speaking the language. Given how well you did in Utah, I think you really will enjoy it.

Then when circumstances change again, you re-assess.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Best wishes,

Barbara

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

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Last week we introduced you to bilingual English/Spanish speech language professional, Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, who debunked three common myths about speech development in bilingual children.  Now, we are excited to announce that Dr. Kester has joined the impressive panel of bilingual experts that collaborate in our weekly series-Ask an Expert.

We invite you to visit Dr. Kester’s website, Bilinguistics, to learn more about her and her team.

They are “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.”

Click here to send her your questions regarding speech development in bilingual children.

Does my Son Have a Speech Delay Because He’s Bilingual?

Today´s question was sent by Claudia McGlothlin who´s raising two children using the OPOL (One-parent-one-language) method.

Hi. My name is Claudia and I am raising a 34 month-old boy and a 14 month-old girl, both bilingual in English and Spanish. I am from Perú and my husband is from the U.S.

I only speak to my children in Spanish and my husband speaks in English to them. Sometimes he repeats the words that he knows in Spanish but I keep telling him to stop. Some friends told me that the kids can get confused.

My son is not talking yet. He developed his own sign system and he only has a few words: go- jugo-globo-mami-dada-tres(when I count “uno, dos y…” he finishes my sentence)-bus- agua.

I am starting to get concerned on when he will be talking? He completely understands both languages, but I can tell he understands more Spanish since he spends more time with me. Is this normal?  Thanks.

Hi Claudia,

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

First, let me commend you for your efforts in raising your children as bilinguals.  In today’s world, speaking more than one language will open many doors for your children.  There are three points in your letter that I want to address.  I’ll address them in the order you presented them.

You commented that you tell your husband to stop repeating the Spanish words he knows for fear that your children will get confused.  Stop telling him to stop!  “One parent-one language” is one way that people raise bilingual children but it is not the only way.  Children learn to differentiate their two languages when each parent speaks a different language, when one parent speaks both languages and the other speaks one language, and when both parents speak both languages.  Research indicates that there is no evidence that children with normal language development or children with language impairment are “confused” by learning two languages at the same time.  The more language input your child receives, the better.

Your son is 34-months old and is only using a few words.  This is not typical and it is not a result of a bilingual environment.  Children between 2-1/2 to 3-years of age typically have vocabularies of several hundred words and converse in phrases and simple sentences.  I have 31-month-old twins who live in a bilingual environment.  One has typical language development and converses in sentences.  The other has delayed language skills with a vocabulary of less than 50 words.  They are in the same home and school environments but have very different levels of language skills.  The bilingual environment is not the culprit.

Your son understands both languages well.  This is a great indicator of future language skills.  Children who have comprehension skills similar to their peers are those who are most likely to catch up to their peers in expressive language skills.

I recommend that you have your son evaluated by a bilingual speech-language pathologist who is well-versed in bilingual language development.

To find one in your area, go to the website for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and select Find a Professional.  Follow the prompts to put in your city or zip code and the language(s) you speak.  It will give you a list of providers in your area who can help you.

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

Bilinguistics Speech and Language Services, Austin, Texas

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