I am writing this as Adrian is talking to my mom on the phone in Spanish. I knew that his Spanish is bad at the moment, I know that I have to do something about it but hearing his conversation with my mom breaks my heart, he is barely getting by like it’s his first time he speaks it, not making many sentences, saying yes and no a lot, all the verbs are wrong. I can’t believe it!!!!!
A couple of months after we moved I noticed he started speaking less Spanish, you see I am the only one that speaks Spanish around him, before it was at the pre-school (a lot of the kids spoke Spanish so they translated always just in case), at day-care, at home with my mom and my sister and with some friends we had playdates with. His Pre-school here is only English and there is not one kid that speaks Spanish there.
So I have to ask him every day to please speak Spanish to me, his answers are: -But I don’t know how Mami or, -It’s hard. I help him, I repeat, but he doesn’t and I am realizing today that it’s becoming really hard for him, he IS forgetting it!!! Can this be possible? He does understand me perfectly which is great, but I need to bump up the Spanish.
That’s why I created the following action plan:
- Keep talking to him in Spanish ALL the time.
- Keep playing radio and music in Spanish ALL the time.
- Try to find more cartoons and movies in Spanish. Since we moved we also got rid of regular tv and only have the internet, Netflix and DVDs, well Netflix doesn’t have any kids shows in Spanish which is what we mostly use, I feel it helped a lot when we watched TV in Spanish.
- Enroll him in an after-school Spanish activity; already spotted a great one close-by!
- Read to him more. Derek is the one that does the reading mostly but our Spanish library is huge so I need to use it more with Adrian!
- Look for Spanish speaking play-dates around us. I already joined a group in Meetup.com here in San Diego.
- We are getting him enrolled into a bilingual school next year for kindergarten; just thinking about that makes me so happy.
- Plan the next trip to Venezuela!
It’s very interesting, as we are experiencing this, one of his best friends, Camila is also going through a similar stage and Ana wrote about it too. So we are not alone, and I’m sure many other bicultural families go through this, it just feels so bad once I thought he was excellent with his Spanish, but this is just the beginning, I have to keep being alert and keep teaching him!
And you? Are you raising bilingual kids? Have you had these kinds of trouble before?
-ESPAÑOL-
SU ESPAÑOL ESTÁ EN PELIGRO
Mientras escribo esto estoy escuchando a Adri hablar por teléfono con mi mamá en español. Yo ya sabía que ultimamente su español no es el mejor del mundo y se le han olvidado muchas cosas pero al escucharlo hablar ahorita el corazón se me puso chiquitico, no puedo ni creer como está hablando, no puede configurar oraciones, le contesta más que todo si o no a mi mamá y dice todos los verbos en tiempos equivocados, de verdad que es increible.
Hace unos meses yo ya había notado el pequeño problema de su español. Lo que pasa es que ahora que nos mudamos yo soy la única que le habla español a los niños. Antes en L.A., Adrian lo hablaba más en el preescolar (muchos niños hablaban español también y en el colegio hacían todo en 2 idiomas por si acaso), en la guardería, en la casa con mi mamá y mi hermana y con amiguitos cuando nos juntábamos a jugar. El preescolar donde el está aquí en San Diego es sólo en inglés y no hay ni un sólo niñito que hable español excepto el.
Entonces ahora todos los días le tengo que insistir que hable español conmigo, pero me responde (en inglés) con que -Ay mami, no se como, o -Es muy dificil mami. Yo le ayudo y le digo que repita pero muchas veces no lo hace, la verdad le cuesta bastante y a mi también y me preocupa porque si que se le está olvidando. Será posible? Eso si, lo entiende perfectamente porque yo le hablo en español todo el tiempo y eso no lo dejaré de hacer. Pero lo que si tengo que hacer es ayudarle mucho más.
Por eso aquí va mi plan de accción:
- Seguir hablándole unicamente en español.
- Seguir poniendo la radio unicamente en español TODO el tiempo.
- Buscar más comiquitas y películas en español. Desde que nos mudamos no tenemos tele, sólo Netflix, DVDs y la internet. De verdad que Netflix es lo que más uso para ellos y no tiene nada en español así que tengo que hacer el esfuerzo de encontrar otros programas en español en la internet.
- Inscribirlo en una acitividad que sea en español o clases de español después del colegio.
- Leerle más en español. Derek es el que usualmente le lee a él en las noches pero tenemos muchísimos libros en español, así que me toca leerle más!
- Buscar a grupos de niños (playgroups) para ir a jugar y hablar español. Ya me uní a uno en Meetup.com aquí ne San Diego.
- Lo inscribimos en un colegio bilingüe para el año que viene cuando entre a kinder; me emociona sólo el hecho de saber que pueda estudiar allí!
- Planear el siguiente viaje a Venezuela pronto!
13 Comments
Black Camera Action
November 7, 2011 at 10:24 pmAmiga, Great advice definitely going to try to be more on top of it. I struggle still although having them speak to relatives in Spanish helps a lot too. I think we as parents are the ones in charge of taking action for our kids to become bilingual. I'm glad to know i'm not the only one struggling.
Cecy
November 7, 2011 at 11:16 pmTo be honest, I'm at fault here, but I don't feel alone. We're a bilingual family but in our case, Izzy seems to only understand Spanish and refuses to speak it. She's able to say a handful of words in Spanish but it's not the lack of trying. I need to make myself speak in Spanish. She also refuses to watch cartoons in Spanish, but loves to listen to Spanish music.
Con pañales y a lo loco...!!
November 8, 2011 at 9:40 amme alegro que intentes por todos los medios que siga con el Español, son muy buenas ideas para que no se quede atrás en el idioma. A mí me hubiera gustado haber aprendido inglés desde muy pequeñita porque luego te cuesta mucho más aprender. Saludos desde España!!
Tracy
November 8, 2011 at 4:36 pmIt's really difficult, Dariela. We live in an area where bilingual school isn't an option and for a long time Carlos wouldn't speak Spanish to the kids. (This is a common mistake immigrants make.) It fell on my shoulders to speak Spanish to the kids which is not my native language.
My kids now understand Spanish fluently at grade level, (ages 13 and 10), but they still are behind with speaking. It's painful for me to hear the grammar mistakes and non-native accent when they speak but I remain encouraging to them and determined.
BE STRONG! It's not easy but you have a great plan and your children are still so young. If you do what you've listed here, they will be speaking fluently in no time.
{Abrazos!}
Dariela
November 9, 2011 at 6:54 amGracias chicas, it really feels better to know that others are going through similar situations. Yes Ruby, you are not the only one and there are many of us!
We have to keep trying and trying Cecy!
Amiga desde España: es el ejemplo más claro, de grandes nos lo agraderán! Gracias por la visita!
Tracy: I admire you so much, not being your first language and you do that, AMAZING amiga!
Inês Seabra
November 9, 2011 at 6:13 pmWell, this sounds like a great plan! I can't imagine how hard must that be for you.
My brother-in-law struggles to communicate with his nephews (they live in France) because he barely speaks french and they don't speak a word of portuguese. His brother gave up on speaking portuguese to them… The saddest part is that their father cannot communicate at all with his grandchildren. Can this be? How sad is this?
I think your doing a great job, lady!
Inês Seabra
November 9, 2011 at 6:14 pmI meant: you're doing a great job (oh the typos!)
Dariela
November 10, 2011 at 8:35 amThanks Ines! It is sad when that happens, hopefully in the future they will learn some portuguese?!
Mamá Contemporánea
November 10, 2011 at 5:11 pmQue cara tan preciosa tiene Adrian! Estas haciendo un buen trabajo, no te rindas!!!
Maybelline ~ Naturalmente Mamá
November 12, 2011 at 4:08 amBruno todavía no llega a los dos añitos, pero me doy cuenta que le resulta mucho mas facil repetir las palabras en ingles que en español. La tele la miramos mas que todo en ingles, pero estoy tratando que las películas sean es español porque es lo que mas le cuesta. No te preocupes que veras como mejora su Español.
Bello como siempre en la foto!
Cristina
November 15, 2011 at 7:01 pmDe momento no he tenido ese problema con Emily pero puede que en el futuro llegue. Siempre hablo con ella en Espanol, desde que nacio y siempre lo hare.
No se si tienes un canal muy bueno para ninos que hay en tv. Se llama Cbeebies y Emily lo ve desde que estaba bien chiquita.
Sigue adelante, mientras le hables en tu idioma, todo ira bien.
Saludos desde O.C.
Maria Jose Ovalle
January 13, 2012 at 5:39 amDariela, I am the only one who speaks Spanish to my son (and my mother) and so far is he doing great, but I know that as soon as he goes to school he will have a harder time. English WILL be the dominant language but everything you are doing is great. Keep on with the Spanish, help him find the right words with other Spanish word. And if you can find a Spanish playground and music is always good because they learn without realising it. I did a post last week, let me know what you think http://www.mummysbusyworld.com/2012/01/bilingual-at-three-si-senor.html
Maria Jose Ovalle
January 13, 2012 at 5:41 amI meant Spanish playgroup 🙂