Hello from Spain
May 19, 2017 22:45:43 GMT 9
Post by Raquel on May 19, 2017 22:45:43 GMT 9
Hi everyone!!
On my search for websites on raising bilingual children, I found Bilingual Monkeys, and then this forum. Lots to read! It makes me excited, as I'm always looking to hear from other parents, read new ideas, approaches...
My name is Raquel, and my husband and I, both Spaniards, are raising our children (our 'big girl' is 3, almost 4, and our baby boy is 11 months old) in English. When I heard about it, I didn't think I could do it, because of my English not being good enough. When I read this wasn't an issue, it was a done deal. My husband decided he'd speak English to them too, for "moral support".
Our daughter's first word was in Spanish, then she started using more and more English words. Between her 2nd and 3rd birthdays she only spoke English and when she turned 3--and especially once school began--she started to use more and more Spanish words. It's funny because she has an English accent when she speaks Spanish. I know Spanish will eventually become her 1st language and her accent will be gone. We've been told she has no accent when speaking English, but I'm also guessing that'll change with time and more exposure to mom and dad's less-than-perfect accent.
Our son only makes sounds at this point, his favorite one being "dah-dah-dah", so I guess he's got the "dadda" part down, but he hasn't used any sounds with meaning yet.
We've made sure our home was a Spanish-free place, other than my husband and I speaking to each other (and I sometimes speak English to him too): TV can only be watched in English, all of their books are in English, and we have many! Santa always brings them a bunch, they get a couple more for their birthday and I always find some more I like that they get during the rest of the year. Toys that speak Spanish are not allowed as presents, so talking toys must speak English. It's the only way we feel we can protect our minority language, when surrounded by Spanish everywhere: family, friends, school... Which is great, because we depend on them for our children to learn Spanish!
I feel our daughter needs to play in English with other children. We'll be spending 10 days in England this summer, hoping she'll see not all children speak Spanish. We'd also love to find other families raising their children bilingual English/Spanish in Spain (if it was in Madrid, it would even be better!) so that we can hopefully get together, discuss our concerns and not be alone in our journey.
Hoping to chat will all of you on the forums and learn a lot from all of you and this site! Thanks Adam for creating this webpage and making it possible for all parents raising their children bilingual to have a place to visit and find so much information and share our experiences, questions, etc.
On my search for websites on raising bilingual children, I found Bilingual Monkeys, and then this forum. Lots to read! It makes me excited, as I'm always looking to hear from other parents, read new ideas, approaches...
My name is Raquel, and my husband and I, both Spaniards, are raising our children (our 'big girl' is 3, almost 4, and our baby boy is 11 months old) in English. When I heard about it, I didn't think I could do it, because of my English not being good enough. When I read this wasn't an issue, it was a done deal. My husband decided he'd speak English to them too, for "moral support".
Our daughter's first word was in Spanish, then she started using more and more English words. Between her 2nd and 3rd birthdays she only spoke English and when she turned 3--and especially once school began--she started to use more and more Spanish words. It's funny because she has an English accent when she speaks Spanish. I know Spanish will eventually become her 1st language and her accent will be gone. We've been told she has no accent when speaking English, but I'm also guessing that'll change with time and more exposure to mom and dad's less-than-perfect accent.
Our son only makes sounds at this point, his favorite one being "dah-dah-dah", so I guess he's got the "dadda" part down, but he hasn't used any sounds with meaning yet.
We've made sure our home was a Spanish-free place, other than my husband and I speaking to each other (and I sometimes speak English to him too): TV can only be watched in English, all of their books are in English, and we have many! Santa always brings them a bunch, they get a couple more for their birthday and I always find some more I like that they get during the rest of the year. Toys that speak Spanish are not allowed as presents, so talking toys must speak English. It's the only way we feel we can protect our minority language, when surrounded by Spanish everywhere: family, friends, school... Which is great, because we depend on them for our children to learn Spanish!
I feel our daughter needs to play in English with other children. We'll be spending 10 days in England this summer, hoping she'll see not all children speak Spanish. We'd also love to find other families raising their children bilingual English/Spanish in Spain (if it was in Madrid, it would even be better!) so that we can hopefully get together, discuss our concerns and not be alone in our journey.
Hoping to chat will all of you on the forums and learn a lot from all of you and this site! Thanks Adam for creating this webpage and making it possible for all parents raising their children bilingual to have a place to visit and find so much information and share our experiences, questions, etc.
