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How To Get Your Kids To Speak Your Language
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Author: Frank Gerace
Topic: Education
Viewed: 60 time(s)
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Note: This experience had to do with preserving Spanish for our
kids but the principles are valid for anyone trying to help
their kids speak and preserve any language and culture.
COUNTRY OF MANY PEOPLES This country,,, (The authors raised
their kids in the United States but they believe that their
experience can be useful for people in other
non-spanish-speaking countries.) This country is made up of
people from all over the world. We or our parents came from
Latin countries. We now live here. We function in two different
worlds, the American world and the world of our parents. All of
us live in these two different worlds in different ways. Some of
us were born in the countries our parents came from; others of
us were born here. This makes a difference in how and how much
we live in our two worlds.
COUNTRY OF MANY LANGUAGES The one thing that is most important
in our parents' world is their language which is also ours in
different ways. The Spanish language of our parents is an issue
to all of us every day. We may be proud to speak it well. We may
be ashamed at not speaking it well. Some of us may have gone
through periods of trying not to speak it because we wanted to
speak English better. We may only speak it when we come across
someone who needs help in understanding English. We may only
remember some sayings of our grandparents or children's songs
taught to us by our parents.
You may want to review (or study it for the first time) your
Spanish. We could only find one reference for you. It is
expensive and is a textbook, not too appealing but complete.
Take a look at Nuevos Mundos, Spanish for Native Speakers 2nd
Edition, Workbook : Curso de espanol para estudiantes bilingues"
F. Bruce Robinson, assistant director in the National Endowment
for the Humanities' division of education programs asks "How
does America preserve this important resource of people who are
proficient in other languages? Instead of trying to depress the
knowledge these students come to school with, we ought to be
trying to build on it." (Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 2,
1994, page A15)
OUR CHILDREN AND OUR LANGUAGE We all want our children to speak
the language of their heritage. We discount the opinions of
those who say that it is better to forget Spanish and to
concentrate on speaking English well. These people are just
wrong. It does not hurt your English to speak another language;
it helps. Spanish is particularly useful to children in their
learning English vocabulary. Just today I taught my daughter the
difference between vowels and consonants. Knowing Spanish really
helped with the idea of the consonants. I told her that the
consonants have no voice; they can only be pronounced with the
vowels. The con-sonants suenan con the vowels.
But although most of us agree that it is a good thing for our
kids to speak Spanish, most kids in the US whose parents were
born in Latin American countries do not speak Spanish well.
Even if both parents speak Spanish at home, quite often the kids
answer their parents in English. Look around at your Latin
friends and relatives and you will see that most give up on
teaching their kids to speak Spanish. Chicano and Puerto Rican
families seem to have a little better luck than Latinos from
other countries with keeping Spanish alive in their barrios but
even their younger generation is losing fluency in Spanish.
However, parents who want their children to speak Spanish can go
against the current and set the stage for their children to grow
up speaking Spanish. It is not easy. Most families fail in their
resolve but it can be done. This report will give some hints on
how to improve your chances.
REASONS FOR OUR CHILDREN TO SPEAK SPANISH There are many reasons
why it is good for the kids to speak your language. One obvious
reason is the advantage that it might be for them in the job
market. As long as we live in a world with shrunken distances
and growing international trade, someone has to be able to talk
with people from other countries.
Professor Francisco X. Alarc?n of the University of California
at Davis says that "now that we are moving toward a global
economy, it's O.K. to be bilingual in the U.S." (Chronicle of
Higher Education, Feb.2, 1994, page A15)
Another good reason for you to work at your children's learning
to speak Spanish is because it will make you proud to hear the
compliments of your friends and countrymen because your children
are able to speak your language. You grow in prestige as a
person who values your roots.
Your children will also be able to speak with their relatives
thanks to improved phone service which is entering the most
remote villages of our countries. Direct dialing from the United
States is economical enough to be able call a few times a year.
The thrill of being able to talk to their uncles, aunts, and
cousins will get the kids interested in keeping up their
language.
They will be speaking to their relatives not only by phone but
will be able to visit them. The experience of knowing another
culture will put them ahead of their classmates who have no ties
to their roots.
Another reason to encourage our children to speak Spanish can be
gotten from the history of a previous group of Latin immigrants
to the United States, the Italians.
"Some social critics were aware of the consequences of sudden
assimilation. Mary McDowell, a social worker, wrote en 1904:
'The contempt for the experiences and languages of their parents
which foreign children sometimes exhibit... is doubtless due in
part to the overestimation which the school places upon speaking
English. This cutting into his family loyalty takes away one of
the most conspicuous and valuable traits of the Italian child.'
She attributed the lawlessness of some of the immigrant children
to their disrespect for their parents and therefore for all
authority."
(La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience,
Mangione and Morreale, p. 222)
Finally, the ability to speak another language can be a great
boost to a child's self esteem. If the child's parents make it
clear that they are proud of their language and of their people,
the child will feel closer to his parents and to their heritage,
customs, and most importantly to their values.
HOW TO ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO SPEAK SPANISH Start early. Try
to speak only Spanish to the child. If only one parent speaks
Spanish well, that person should always speak Spanish with the
child. Do not be afraid of "confusing" the child. Children can
identify with different speakers of different languages as they
grow up.
1. Read simple stories and fairy tales to the child in Spanish.
if you can't find children's literature in Spanish, then make
your own translations as you go along. It is not necessary that
the translation be perfect. Make up your own stories. It is
important for your child to have the memories of hearing nursery
rhymes in Spanish.
2. Leave your radio tuned de Spanish language stations.
Linguists place a great deal of importance on "passive
listening" as part of learning a language, especially for young
children.
3. In most areas there is a Spanish language TV station. Put on
the Saturday morning cartoons in Spanish.
4. Teach simple nursery rhymes and simple songs to your child.
If you don't remember them or if you were not taught any from
your parents' traditions, look for them in garage sales, college
bookstores, or your local library. Do you remember el patito or
pinp?n? Look for songs in Spanish.
5. Rent videos in Spanish. They are beginning to be available -
and not only in cities with a big Spanish-speaking population!
6. Use proverbs and dichos in Spanish. Some expressions that you
would say in English are just as legitimate proverbs in Spanish.
Get your child used to hearing them in Spanish. You can do this
even if you don't speak Spanish well. For example, say mejor
tarde que nunca instead of "better late than never". Little by
little, poco a poco, you'll feel at home with more uniquely
Latin expressions. They have something of the culture wrapped up
in them. They are stubbornly different from Anglo Saxon proverbs.
7. Get used to saying menos mal in place of "just as well". The
English expression is "better than nothing"; in many
Southamerican countries, the equivalent expression is peor es
nada. Find proverbs.
8. Don't correct their Spanish when they speak. Don't interrupt
the flow of their conversation. Don't make their speaking
Spanish to be another homework assignment. It should be
something special, even something "secret" in your family. Kids
like the mystery and intrigue of having something special of
their own. Their speaking Spanish should be a joyful,
non-threatening experience. If they make mistakes in their
grammar, correct their errors by using the same expression
correctly a few minutes after. Don't come right back at them
with the correct form or they will begin to feel conscious of
their expression and choke off their freedom of expression.
9. Get a good syllabary to teach them the value of the letters
and how to read in Spanish. If your child's first language is
Spanish teach them to read Spanish before they learn English.
You will be doing them a big favor. They will learn to sound out
the regular spelling of Spanish which will be a good base on
which to learn how to read in English. You will get the same
results as those who spend money on expensive Phonics programs.
10. The best way to get your children to grow in Spanish is to
send them to spend some time with relatives or friends where
they will only speak and hear Spanish. This works best at around
7 years old when children play easily with one another and when
Spanish will just come naturally even to the child who has very
little exposure to the language. Another good age for a child to
be exposed to a Spanish speaking environment is at around 12
years old. At this age, the child has greater mental development
and can observe customs and situations in which certain
expressions are used. At twelve years old most kids are still
pre-adolescents and are not hampered by the embarrassment, self
consciousness, and "feeling different" which hold back teenagers
from learning a language or customs different from their own.
Use any of the above methods but start! Your efforts will
communciate to your children the importance that you give to
Spanish even if these efforts are not always completely
successful.
?1994 F.GERACE
About the author:
Frank Gerace Ph.D has lived and worked in Latin America on
Educational and Communication Projects. He currently teaches
English in New York City at La Guardia College/CUNY. He provides
help to parents wanting to have their children speak Spanish at:
http://www.bookslibros.com/SpanishForNinos.htm
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