| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | 4 & 2 year olds Spanish/English Bilingual are replying in English most of the time!!! Thread poster: Michelle Silbert
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| Thank you and one more question | Oct 9, 2007 |
Thank you so much to everyone for all the replies. Seems like I'm on the right track as per your responses.
My 4 yr old is improving everyday and is speaking more spanish to me now. As long as she knows how to say the words/sentences. If she doesn't know, most of the time she asks me.
She's also starting to learn to do a lot of preschool books with me at home. Eventhough some of them are in English, I will try translate them for her and turn them into spanish if t... See more Thank you so much to everyone for all the replies. Seems like I'm on the right track as per your responses.
My 4 yr old is improving everyday and is speaking more spanish to me now. As long as she knows how to say the words/sentences. If she doesn't know, most of the time she asks me.
She's also starting to learn to do a lot of preschool books with me at home. Eventhough some of them are in English, I will try translate them for her and turn them into spanish if they make sense. Is this ok to do? I've been teaching her the alphabet in spanish and the sounds of the vowels and consonants. however, when we do rhyming, it doesn't quite work with the spanish translation. So i have to address those in english. Sometimes I wonder if this could be confusing to her. My husband focuses on the english with her, but sometimes she wants mommy to read the books to her.
I also have a book my grandmother sent me from Peru called Coquito. It has great preschool activities for learning to read, so I try to read it with her every night. She now knows a, e, i, o, u in spanish. I was reading her the english book tonight and i was trying to explain that vowels in english have different pronounciations. ex.
apple (ah) - april (ey)
she seemed a little confused and always seems to think that all 'a's are pronounced (ah) even in english.
Has anyone encountered learning to read 2 languages at the same time? is she too young to do this? I was thinking on focusing on it in spanish at home since she'll be learning the english rather quickly in school.
thanks for your time
Michelle ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Gracias Cristina | Oct 9, 2007 |
Hola Cristina,
I see that I'm not alone here. Thanks for your response. My husband took spanish in high school for three years, but he doesn't remember much. He's trying hard though and I commend him for it. At least he understands me sometimes when I speak it to him.
What is really interesting is that my english is basically my second native language and I speak both languages perfectly. So, my kids know that I can speak both very well. Sometimes, this is a big... See more Hola Cristina,
I see that I'm not alone here. Thanks for your response. My husband took spanish in high school for three years, but he doesn't remember much. He's trying hard though and I commend him for it. At least he understands me sometimes when I speak it to him.
What is really interesting is that my english is basically my second native language and I speak both languages perfectly. So, my kids know that I can speak both very well. Sometimes, this is a big disadvantage when we're out of the house and I have to speak English only. Still i do try to say things to them in Spanish, while I'm using my English with the appropriate people.
I guess I'll have to see how it goes when we go to Peru next year. I'm hoping I can put her in some sort of preschool for a few weeks there.
Since you are there, do you recommend any places to stay while in the area? Do people rent homes/condos? How do I go about looking for a preschool there? any help would be great!
I have family in San Miguel, but I'm not sure about staying that way. The area where they are isn't the safest or to my liking. Please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Michelle
Cristina Heraud-van Tol wrote:
I live your exact story, only the other way around! I am Peruvian, and my daughter was born here in Peru. When she was 3 months I moved with her and my husband to The Netherlands, where we lived for 2 years. We lived one year with my parents-in-law until we found a house that we rented and lived there one year on our own. I was the only one at home speaking Spanish to her, vs. 3 people talking in Dutch. Of course it was not until the first year that she started to say her first words, very basic and some were in Dutch ("op" -empty, "oma/opa"- grandpa/grandma), some in Spanish ("luz", "ese", "bebe"), and some few universal words (mama, papa).
When we moved and lived on our own, I was mostly all day long with her while my husband worked, and I talked and read to her in Spanish all the time (my father sent me some DVD's from Peru with the Spanish language option so that could help too), and in this way she really learned lots of Spanish. Then, when she was 1.5 years old, I travelled with her for a visit to Peru of one month and a half. There she talked so much!! She learned the colors, people's names, many little words, etc. and I brought with me more DVD's and books in Spanish.
We stayed in Holland just until she was 2.5 years old, so she never went to preschool there. We came back to Peru and of course her exposure to Spanish was enormous and now she goes to preschool, but still she can talk in Dutch to her father. Grandparents from Holland send books and nice Barbie DVD's. For ex. she has the "Barbie Fairytopia" and "Barbie and the Swan Lake" DVD's only in Dutch. She loves them!! And she plays them constantly! Every now and then she asks her father what does this or that word mean, but I guess she understands the whole movie very well. Her grandparents from Holland visited us this summer and after 4 or 5 days, she talked to them in Dutch.
You will see that when you come for a visit to Peru, they will speak Spanish. Give them some days of adaptation, and when they discover that they can actually communicate with other people and children, when they can watch TV, read ads, order food, etc. in Spanish, very soon they will do so. Let them do things with other people who only speak Spanish and who won't understand any English, and they will be forced to use the language. The language is always there present, in their minds, it only needs a little "switch" to reactivate. I am sure that when we visit The Netherlands, my daughter will start speaking Dutch all day long.
They always told me that each parent should speak his/her own native language. Mixing languages or using your husband's native language will make them more confused. They should learn that they must use either one of the languages to communicate with each one of you. We did an exercise when she was older (now she is 4), in which my husband spoke in Dutch and when she tried to reply back in Spanish he would not accept her answer, until she said it in Dutch; so she was forced to reply in Dutch to him. Perhaps a bit hard at the beginning, because a child gets impatient and wants to say things quick, quick, but she eventually learned and that's what she's doing now. Another thing is that my husband speaks good Spanish, and I have an intermediate level of Dutch, so we can communicate in each other's language. Sometimes we play the "Spanish (or the Dutch) Week/Weekend", a week or weekend in which we all are obliged to speak in any of the two languages. If you make it in a nice, happy environment, the children will enjoy and you'll be amazed of how much they really know.
Good luck!
[Edited at 2007-09-24 20:45] ▲ Collapse
| | | | agora2000
Local time: 02:21
Portuguese to English
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| New view - old thread | Jan 6, 2008 |
Having grown up quadrilingual, with very little "effort" on my part, I think everyone should persevere in teaching their children another language in any way possible! I cannot tell you how grateful I am to my parents for being so far-sighted that they put us in American/bilingual schools even when they didn't speak much English and had no plans of moving to the US (thinking of our futures). We lived away from our home country, Brasil, as well, so we learned Spanish from simply going to school... See more Having grown up quadrilingual, with very little "effort" on my part, I think everyone should persevere in teaching their children another language in any way possible! I cannot tell you how grateful I am to my parents for being so far-sighted that they put us in American/bilingual schools even when they didn't speak much English and had no plans of moving to the US (thinking of our futures). We lived away from our home country, Brasil, as well, so we learned Spanish from simply going to school in various Latin American countries. And when we were small, we lived in 2 French-speaking countries and had French-speaking nannies, so that turned out to be our fourth language.
Growing up, my father in particular ONLY spoke to us - and expected answers in - Portuguese, no matter what country we were in. He also made it a point to talk to us a lot, about a ton of topics, and not just the general "how was school". Almost every dinner was a "mini-lesson" in itself, which was invaluable in learning vocabulary.
My mother was more lenient, although for a time she did not speak any English, so we had to speak to her in Portuguese to be understood. When she learned English once we moved to the US (I was a teen), she didn't really make a big issue of our responding in English, as long as she understood what we said. I wish she had, since we spent most of our time with her!
Now, my siblings and I can all speak and understand 3 languages fluently, and 2 of us picked French up again SO easily in college. But if it were not for my Dad insisting that he would not respond to us unless we spoke in Portuguese as kids, and making sure that he gave us so much to talk about and give opinions on, we would have certainly lost much more of that language. ▲ Collapse
| | | | starwoman
Local time: 08:21
English to Spanish
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| Saturday Spanish School in Amsterdam | Feb 20, 2008 |
[quote]Elena Carbonell wrote:
I have three children, years 9, 7 and 3. We live in Amsterdam, my husband speaks to them in Dutch and I in Spanish. I buy them books, read to them in Spanish, invite Spanish speaking friends, buy dvds in Spanish. Together with some concerned parents, we have started a school for Spanish speaking children and they go there once a week on saturdays but...they reply to me in Dutch.
Well...till now. I was so frustrated that we have moved for a year to Spain. They are going now to a Spanish school and they are surrounded by Spanish speaking people. Now I hear them say things they haven´t learnt from me, which makes me very happy
My recommendation: keep on like that, it´s perfect for them and try to spend as long as possible in a Spanish speaking country and if you feel it´s not enough, think about moving for a year...
Good luck and keep on the good work.
Hello Elena,
I am looking for a Spanish group in Amsterdam for my 3 year old daughter. You mention in that there is a spanish school on Saturdays. Could you please give me more information as to where I could get in touch with somebody from this group. I know you are in Spain now so I would really appreciate it if you could put me in contact with the right person.
Thank you,
Milena
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| Spanish in the US | Feb 20, 2008 |
Hi Elana,
Thanks for the reply. Now that my oldest is 5 and the youngest is 2.5 I'm beginning to realize that they really should spend some time in a country like Peru. It would be ideal to move to another speaking spanish country for a year, but unfortunately that's not doable for us.
I've been thinking of traveling for a few weeks to Peru to visit family, but I have to convince my husband to come with me. Apparently the idea of taking vacation time this way is no... See more Hi Elana,
Thanks for the reply. Now that my oldest is 5 and the youngest is 2.5 I'm beginning to realize that they really should spend some time in a country like Peru. It would be ideal to move to another speaking spanish country for a year, but unfortunately that's not doable for us.
I've been thinking of traveling for a few weeks to Peru to visit family, but I have to convince my husband to come with me. Apparently the idea of taking vacation time this way is not a good one for him. He's been there already and he's in just another city like he says. I can see that he'd rather spend the time elsewhere too.
I speak mostly in spanish at home with my youngest and she seems to be speaking it more than my oldest child. She recently began preschool and of course that has brought up more English between her and her sister. used to be more spanish before. My husband has been trying to speak some spanish at home during meals. I just have to keep reminding him and myself to do this more often. My oldest seems to reply to him in spanish when she hears him. But her spanish needs a lot of work still.
One thing that surprised me was that her teacher mentioned that she wasn't sure if my 2.5 knew her colors in English yet. So she tried asking her Rojo and of course she knew it. Of course her Teacher asked me to start speaking English to her more and to teach her all these basic things like numbers, colors, yada, yada. I felt like that is HER job and not mine. I'm going to continue with Spanish only. The next day my 2.5 comes up to me and says 'Rojo - Red, Azul - Blue,...hahaha. I guess she does know then after all!
I can't believe the teacher thinks that I should stop speaking Spanish to her. Guess she feels I'll confuse her. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Stick to your guns! | Feb 20, 2008 |
Michelle Silbert wrote:
One thing that surprised me was that her teacher mentioned that she wasn't sure if my 2.5 knew her colors in English yet. So she tried asking her Rojo and of course she knew it. Of course her Teacher asked me to start speaking English to her more and to teach her all these basic things like numbers, colors, yada, yada. I felt like that is HER job and not mine. I'm going to continue with Spanish only. The next day my 2.5 comes up to me and says 'Rojo - Red, Azul - Blue,...hahaha. I guess she does know then after all!
I can't believe the teacher thinks that I should stop speaking Spanish to her. Guess she feels I'll confuse her.
Michelle, definitely stick to your guns and keep with Spanish only at home. If the preschool teacher is unfamiliar with the advantages of being bilingual/the ease with which young children pick up languages, you could try to give her some articles or studies that prove this, or maybe meet with her to talk about it. Your teacher's attitude is basically an old-school approach that is "part of the problem", in my opinion, of the US being such a monolingual society.
Yvette
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