Note: This experience had to try and do with preserving Spanish for our youngsters however the principles are valid for anyone trying to help their children speak and preserve any language and culture.
COUNTRY OF MANY PEOPLES
This country,,, (The authors raised their children in the United States however they believe that their expertise will be helpful for folks in alternative non-spanish-speaking countries.) This country is made from individuals from all over the world. We or our parents came from Latin countries. We tend to now live here. We tend to function in two totally different worlds, the Yankee world and the planet of our parents. All people live in these two totally different worlds in several ways. A number of us were born in the countries our parents came from; others folks were born here. This makes a distinction in how and the way abundant we live in our 2 worlds.
COUNTRY OF MANY LANGUAGES
The one thing that is most vital in our parents’ world is their language that is also ours in several ways. The Spanish language of our parents is a problem to all or any folks each day. We tend to might be proud to talk it well. We tend to might be ashamed at not speaking it well. Some of us might have responded to periods of attempting not to talk it as a result of we needed to talk English better. We might solely speak it after we return across someone who needs help in understanding English. We have a tendency to may solely remember some sayings of our grandparents or children’s songs taught to us by our parents.
You may wish to review (or study it for the primary time) your Spanish. We have a tendency to could only find one reference for you. It’s expensive and is a textbook, not too appealing however 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 vital resource of folks who are proficient in different languages? Rather than making an attempt to depress the information these students come to highschool with, we tend to ought to be making an attempt to build on it.” (Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. a pair of, 1994, page A15)
OUR CHILDREN AND OUR LANGUAGE
We tend to all need our children to talk the language of their heritage. We have a tendency to discount the opinions of those who say that it’s higher to forget Spanish and to target speaking English well. These individuals are just wrong. It will not hurt your English to speak another language; it helps. Spanish is notably useful to youngsters in their learning English vocabulary. Simply today I taught my daughter the difference between vowels and consonants. Knowing Spanish very helped with the idea of the consonants. I told her {that the} consonants don’t have any voice; they can only be pronounced with the vowels. The con-sonants suenan con the vowels.
However although most of us agree that it’s a good issue for our youngsters to talk Spanish, most kids within the US whose oldsters were born in Latin American countries do not speak Spanish well.
Whether or not each folks speak Spanish at home, very often the kids answer their oldsters in English. Look around at your Latin friends and relatives and you’ll see that the majority offer up on teaching their kids to talk Spanish. Chicano and Puerto Rican families appear to own a very little higher luck than Latinos from different countries with keeping Spanish alive in their barrios however even their younger generation is losing fluency in Spanish.
But, folks who need their children to speak Spanish can go against this and set the stage for his or her children to become older speaking Spanish. It’s not easy. Most families fail in their resolve however it can be done. This report will offer some hints on how to improve your chances.
REASONS FOR OUR CHILDREN TO SPEAK SPANISH
There are many reasons why it’s good for the youngsters to talk your language. One obvious reason is the advantage that it may be for them in the duty market. As long as we have a tendency to live in a world with shrunken distances and growing international trade, somebody has to be able to talk with individuals from alternative countries.
Professor Francisco X. Alarcón of the University of California at Davis says that “currently that we are moving toward a world economy, it’s O.K. to be bilingual within the U.S.” (Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb.2, 1994, page A15)
Another smart reason for you to figure at your children’s learning to speak Spanish is as a result of it will create you proud to listen to the compliments of your friends and countrymen as a result of your children are able to speak your language. You grow in prestige as a one that values your roots.
Your youngsters will also be in a position to speak with their relatives because of improved phone service that is getting into the most remote villages of our countries. Direct dialing from the United States is economical enough to be able decision some times a year. The thrill of being able to speak to their uncles, aunts, and cousins can get the youngsters curious about keeping up their language.
They can be chatting with their relatives not solely by phone but will be able to visit them. The experience of knowing another culture can place them prior 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 cluster of Latin immigrants to the United States, the Italians.
“Some social critics were alert to the consequences of sudden assimilation. Mary McDowell, a social worker, wrote en 1904:
‘The contempt for the experiences and languages of their oldsters that foreign children typically exhibit… is probably due in half to the overestimation that 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 a number of the immigrant kids to their disrespect for their parents and thus for all authority.”
(La Storia: 5 Centuries of the Italian American Expertise, Mangione and Morreale, p. 222)
Finally, the power to speak another language will be a nice boost to a child’s self esteem. If the child’s parents make it clear that they’re pleased with their language and of their individuals, the kid can feel closer to his folks and to their heritage, customs, and most importantly to their values.
HOW TO ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO SPEAK SPANISH
Begin early. Strive to talk only Spanish to the child. If only one parent speaks Spanish well, that person should forever speak Spanish with the child. Do not be scared of “confusing” the child. Youngsters can identify with different speakers of various languages as they grow up.
1. Scan simple stories and fairy tales to the child in Spanish. if you cannot realize children’s literature in Spanish, then make your own translations as you go along. It is not necessary that the interpretation be perfect. Create up your own stories. It is important for your child to possess the reminiscences of hearing nursery rhymes in Spanish.
2. Leave your radio tuned de Spanish language stations. Linguists place a nice deal of importance on “passive listening” as half of learning a language, particularly for young children.
3. In most areas there’s a Spanish language TV station. Put on the Saturday morning cartoons in Spanish.
4. Teach easy nursery rhymes and straightforward songs to your child. If you don’t remember them or if you were not taught any from your parents’ traditions, rummage around for them in garage sales, faculty bookstores, or your local library. Does one remember el patito or pinpón? Look for songs in Spanish.
5. Rent videos in Spanish. They are starting to be offered – and not only in cities with a massive 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 kid used to hearing them in Spanish. You can do this whether or not you do not speak Spanish well. For example, say mejor tarde que nunca rather than “better late than never”. Very little by little, poco a poco, you may feel accustomed to a lot of uniquely Latin expressions. They have something of the culture wrapped up in them. They’re stubbornly completely different from Anglo Saxon proverbs.
7. Get used to saying menos mal in preference to “simply in addition”. The English expression is “better than nothing”; in many Southamerican countries, the equivalent expression is peor es nada. Realize proverbs.
8. Do not correct their Spanish after they speak. Don’t interrupt the flow of their conversation. Don’t create their speaking Spanish to be another homework assignment. It should be something special, even one thing “secret” in your family. Children just like the mystery and intrigue of getting something special of their own. Their speaking Spanish should be a joyful, non-threatening experience. If they create mistakes in their grammar, correct their errors by using the same expression properly a few minutes after. Don’t come right back at them with the proper kind or they can begin to feel acutely aware of their expression and choke off their freedom of expression.
9. Get a smart syllabary to teach them the value of the letters and a way to browse in Spanish. If your child’s 1st language is Spanish teach them to browse Spanish before they learn English. You may be doing them a huge favor. They can learn to sound out the regular spelling of Spanish that can be a smart base on that to learn the way to browse in English. You will get the identical results as those that spend money on expensive Phonics programs.
10. The simplest means to get your youngsters to grow in Spanish is to send them to pay some time with relatives or friends where they will only speak and listen to Spanish. This works best at around seven years recent when children play simply with one another and when Spanish will just return naturally even to the kid who has terribly very little exposure to the language. Another smart age for a child to be exposed to a Spanish speaking atmosphere is at around twelve years old. At this age, the child has greater mental development and can observe customs and things in which sure expressions are used. At twelve years old most youngsters are still pre-adolescents and are not hampered by the embarrassment, self consciousness, and “feeling completely different” which wait teenagers from learning a language or customs different from their own.
Use any of the higher than methods however begin! Your efforts will communciate to your kids the importance that you give to Spanish even if these efforts don’t seem to be continually completely successful.
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