Dual Language Learning: How We Do It, Part 2

Several months ago I published the first part of this post, highlighting two strategies that work for us as we raise our daughters to speak and learn in two languages.  Finally, I give you the remaining three strategies.  And, I include links to additional resources I have located in my explorations of the blogosphere.

Image courtesy of AISD.

3 More Strategies for Raising Dual Language Learners

 

Enlist the help of language speaking family members and friends.

As I mention in my previous post on this topic, we designate the homes of Spanish speaking family members as Spanish only zones.  My husband’s entire family speaks Spanish, and their help with reinforcing the Spanish learned at home and at school is invaluable.  While my children do occasionally speak English with their cousins and uncles, they have also learned that it is impolite to not include their grandparents in the conversation.  Therefore, Spanish is the main language at our family gatherings.

We also interact socially with a number of other families that speak Spanish to varying degrees.  Sometimes, only the adults speak Spanish; sometimes the entire family does.  Either way, our children understand that Spanish is a part of our social life and integral to particular cultural events, such as quinceñera celebrations and certain wedding traditions.

Listen to and watch media in the language.

Because we live in Houston and are teaching Spanish, this is easier for us than it might be for others, although satellite television offers more and more programming in other languages.  We can access network programs from Spanish channels, and we can tune to dozens of radio stations with music and shows in Spanish.  However, we rarely do either because the programming is often inappropriate for children.  Instead, our daughters will on occasion watch pre-selected movies from DVDs that we own with a Spanish language audio track.  When they watch children’s programs on cable television, we will switch the audio through the cable menu to Spanish; this option is increasingly available on network channels also.  We have discovered that a Spanish audio track is available more often than not.

Of course, this means our children rarely attend or watch movies when they are released to theaters.  However, since this was never a regular habit for them, they don’t miss it.  These days, movies are released on DVD and shown on television a few months after their theatrical release, so our daughters never have to wait long to see something they are interested in. 

We also listen to select Spanish language music from our home collection, including a number of children’s Spanish language CDs that we have acquired over the years.  When our collection of children’s music in Spanish was small, I would bring home additional CDs from the library.  Although we have not checked out DVDs from the library, I am sure most of the children’s offerings also include Spanish and French audio tracks.

In her post about raising bilingual children, Tallulah at Bilingual Babes includes both music and television in her top 5 tips.  (Read her other tips here.)

Read children’s books in the language or in both languages.

We do utilize the Spanish language and bilingual collections of children’s books at our local library quite extensively.  We are also able to do on-line library catalog searches for books not available at our local branch but owned by other libraries within the same system.  I am able to request the movement of individual Spanish language children’s books from other library branches to ours.  Also, I can pre-request new books that are already on order, so we can check them out as soon as they are ready to be shelved.

When my oldest daughter was a toddler, we attended a Spanish language story time at a library not far from our home.  If you find one in the language you are teaching, I urge you to take advantage of it.  Or, consider suggesting one at your local library.  The branch we patronize has two weekly story times in Vietnamese; your request may be more useful to other patrons than you think.  My youngest daughter and I attend story time in English, but I always go over some of the vocabulary and theme words with her afterwards, to be sure she knows the concepts in Spanish also.

We also buy books that are bilingual or Spanish only, but the bulk of what we read comes from the library.  I have recently learned about a digital library based in Mexico, where thousands of full color children’s books are available for reading on-line; I am sure there are similar projects in many other countries as well.

Leanna’s post at All Done Monkey about finding books in Spanish contains a number of other suggestions; read her ideas here.

Bilingual ability is important beyond potential job opportunities; language fluency opens up other cultures in ways monolingualism never will.  Globalization is and will even more so be a way of life for our children.  Speaking another language is no longer just an asset; it is a necessary and indispensible skill.

More articles about raising children who speak more than one language:

“5 Myths about Bilingual Children” at All Done Monkey (from Kid World Citizen)

“29 Tips for Raising Bilingual Kids” at In Culture Parent

Next week, I’ll be blogging about our plans for Lent!

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Dual Language Learning: Why and How We Do It, Part 1

We are a bilingual family, speaking Spanish at home and English outside the home.  This path is not an easy one, since American culture encourages assimilation and English primacy.  It has been particularly difficult for me because I am not fluent in Spanish; my parents are from South Texas, but chose to raise their family as English speakers (hence, I blog in English).  I learned little Spanish growing up, and have had to work diligently to learn more as an adult.  My husband and I believe that the struggle to raise children who speak equally well in two languages is well worth all of our effort.

Why do we want our children to learn Spanish?  There are reasons related to future educational and economic opportunities, but there are personal reasons also.  As a Mexican immigrant, maintaining his culture and native tongue, and passing both to our children, are very important to my husband.  Also, his parents are not fluent in English.  One of my grandmothers spoke only Spanish, and I missed the opportunity to develop a close relationship with her because I could not talk to her beyond simple responses to her questions.  I often wish I could have known her better.  My children’s language skills have enabled them to build strong relationships with all of their grandparents, and to converse with extended family members who live in Mexico.

Also, cultural experiences, including traditional foods, music, dances, games, rhymes, songs, and literature are greatly enhanced with knowledge of the original language.  I feel that our life is enriched by our culture and that learning either culture on its own or language on its own are not enough, especially since we have the opportunity to teach both.

So, how do we do it?  I share what is working for us, which admittedly may only work for your family if at least one parent knows the language you wish to teach, or is willing to learn it along with the children.

Image courtesy of AHISD

2 Strategies for Raising Dual Language Learners

(with more to come in a separate post)

Define your language time and stick to it.

We chose to designate our language time by defining our home, and the homes of other Spanish speaking family members, as Spanish only.  I have heard about other families who designate a parent for each language, or devote a certain amount of time each day.  The outcome of our strategy is that our daughters’ primary language is Spanish; we hope this will ensure that they maintain fluency in Spanish while living in an English dominant environment.

Maintaining our family interactions in Spanish has been the most difficult part of our journey.  As the years pass, our older daughter (she is now eight), speaks more and more English at home, in spite of our continuous insistence during each and every day that we speak Spanish at home: nosotros hablamos español en la casa.  I probably say this dozens of times each day.  It would be easy to give up, but we are resolved to raise bilingual children, and that keeps me going on the days when English just keeps coming out of her mouth.

Educate in the language, at school and at home.

Our older daughter is enrolled in a public school dual language program; she and her classmates are learning in both English and Spanish, with a heavier emphasis on Spanish.  She attended a Spanish language pre-k and began the dual language program in kindergarten with eighty percent of her school day in Spanish.  We are extremely grateful for this opportunity, which is rare in our city and state.  The vast majority of Spanish language school programs are designed to teach the children English, with a goal of moving them to an English only classroom as soon as possible.  A dual language program educates with the intention of producing bilingual fluency. I have also heard about immersion programs in both Spanish and Mandarin.

Currently, my daughter and her classmates receive instruction in Spanish for math, reading, writing, and spelling.  They learn science, social studies, more spelling, grammar, music, and participate in physical activity in English. I also supplement my daughter’s school learning at home with lessons in art, religion, cooking, sewing, and more, all in Spanish.  This year, I am homeschooling our younger daughter for pre-k, also in Spanish with a little English (more about this in a future post).

If your school district offers a dual language or immersion language opportunity, I urge you to take advantage of it.  If you are fluent in another language and are teaching it to your children, I hope you will share what works for you.  If you are thinking about teaching language to your children, I highly recommend it.  Even a small amount of instruction can give your child the confidence to learn more as they continue their education.

I have more ideas about raising dual language learners that I will share in another post.  I have been too busy to finish writing the longer post that I planned, and I did not want to delay posting any longer (it has been 11 days).  Check back, and please share your responses, strategies, and ideas in the comment box.

In 2013 I am linking with: Say It Two Ways Thursdays

In 2012 I linked with: Catholic Bloggers Network, My Favorite Things, Worldwide Culture Swappers, Mulitcultural Mondays

This post is highlighted at the September Bilingualism Blogging Carnival.