How To Get Your Kids To Speak Your Language
By Frank Gerace, Sat Dec 10th

Note: This experience had to do with preserving Spanish for ourkids but the principles are valid for anyone trying to helptheir kids speak and preserve any language and culture.

COUNTRY OF MANY PEOPLES This country,,, (The authors raisedtheir kids in the United States but they believe that theirexperience can be useful for people in othernon-spanish-speaking countries.) This country is made up ofpeople from all over the world. We or our parents came fromLatin countries. We now live here. We function in two differentworlds, the American world and the world of our parents. All ofus live in these two different worlds in different ways. Some ofus were born in the countries our parents came from; others ofus were born here. This makes a difference in how and how muchwe live in our two worlds.

COUNTRY OF MANY LANGUAGES The one thing that is most importantin our parents' world is their language which is also ours indifferent ways. The Spanish language of our parents is an issueto all of us every day. We may be proud to speak it well. We maybe ashamed at not speaking it well. Some of us may have gonethrough periods of trying not to speak it because we wanted tospeak English better. We may only speak it when we come acrosssomeone who needs help in understanding English. We may onlyremember some sayings of our grandparents or children's songstaught to us by our parents.

You may want to review (or study it for the first time) yourSpanish. We could only find one reference for you. It isexpensive and is a textbook, not too appealing but complete.Take a look at Nuevos Mundos, Spanish for Native Speakers 2ndEdition, Workbook : Curso de espanol para estudiantes bilingues"

F. Bruce Robinson, assistant director in the National Endowmentfor the Humanities' division of education programs asks "Howdoes America preserve this important resource of people who areproficient in other languages? Instead of trying to depress theknowledge these students come to school with, we ought to betrying to build on it." (Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 2,1994, page A15)

OUR CHILDREN AND OUR LANGUAGE We all want our children to speakthe language of their heritage. We discount the opinions ofthose who say that it is better to forget Spanish and toconcentrate on speaking English well. These people are justwrong. It does not hurt your English to speak another language;it helps. Spanish is particularly useful to children in theirlearning English vocabulary. Just today I taught my daughter thedifference between vowels and consonants. Knowing Spanish reallyhelped with the idea of the consonants. I told her that theconsonants have no voice; they can only be pronounced with thevowels. The con-sonants suenan con the vowels.

But although most of us agree that it is a good thing for ourkids to speak Spanish, most kids in the US whose parents wereborn in Latin American countries do not speak Spanish well.

Even if both parents speak Spanish at home, quite often the kidsanswer their parents in English. Look around at your Latinfriends and relatives and you will see that most give up onteaching their kids to speak Spanish. Chicano and Puerto Ricanfamilies seem to have a little better luck than Latinos fromother countries with keeping Spanish alive in their barrios buteven their younger generation is losing fluency in Spanish.

However, parents who want their children to speak Spanish can goagainst the current and set the stage for their children to growup speaking Spanish. It is not easy. Most families fail in theirresolve but it can be done. This report will give some hints onhow to improve your chances.

REASONS FOR OUR CHILDREN TO SPEAK SPANISH There are many reasonswhy it is good for the kids to speak your language. One obviousreason is the advantage that it might be for them in the jobmarket. As long as we live in a world with shrunken distancesand growing international trade, someone has to be able to talkwith people from other countries.

Professor Francisco X. Alarcón of the University of Californiaat Davis says that "now that we are moving toward a globaleconomy, it's O.K. to be bilingual in the U.S." (Chronicle ofHigher Education, Feb.2, 1994, page A15)

Another good reason for you to work at your children's learningto speak Spanish is because it will make you proud to hear thecompliments of your friends and countrymen because your childrenare able to speak your language. You grow in prestige as aperson who values your roots.

Your children will also be able to speak with their relativesthanks to improved phone service which is entering the mostremote villages of our countries. Direct dialing from the UnitedStates is economical enough to be able call a few times a year.The thrill of being able to talk to their uncles, aunts, andcousins will get the kids interested in keeping up theirlanguage.

They will be speaking to their relatives not only by phone butwill be able to visit them. The experience of knowing anotherculture will put them ahead of their classmates who have no tiesto their roots.

Another reason to encourage our children to speak Spanish can begotten from the history of a previous group of Latin immigrantsto the United States, the Italians.

"Some social critics were aware of the consequences

of suddenassimilation. Mary McDowell, a social worker, wrote en 1904:

'The contempt for the experiences and languages of their parentswhich foreign children sometimes exhibit... is doubtless due inpart to the overestimation which the school places upon speakingEnglish. This cutting into his family loyalty takes away one ofthe most conspicuous and valuable traits of the Italian child.'She attributed the lawlessness of some of the immigrant childrento their disrespect for their parents and therefore for allauthority."

(La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience,Mangione and Morreale, p. 222)

Finally, the ability to speak another language can be a greatboost to a child's self esteem. If the child's parents make itclear 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. Tryto speak only Spanish to the child. If only one parent speaksSpanish well, that person should always speak Spanish with thechild. Do not be afraid of "confusing" the child. Children canidentify with different speakers of different languages as theygrow up.

1. Read simple stories and fairy tales to the child in Spanish.if you can't find children's literature in Spanish, then makeyour own translations as you go along. It is not necessary thatthe translation be perfect. Make up your own stories. It isimportant for your child to have the memories of hearing nurseryrhymes in Spanish.

2. Leave your radio tuned de Spanish language stations.Linguists place a great deal of importance on "passivelistening" as part of learning a language, especially for youngchildren.

3. In most areas there is a Spanish language TV station. Put onthe 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 fromyour parents' traditions, look for them in garage sales, collegebookstores, or your local library. Do you remember el patito orpinpón? 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 youwould say in English are just as legitimate proverbs in Spanish.Get your child used to hearing them in Spanish. You can do thiseven if you don't speak Spanish well. For example, say mejortarde que nunca instead of "better late than never". Little bylittle, poco a poco, you'll feel at home with more uniquelyLatin expressions. They have something of the culture wrapped upin them. They are stubbornly different from Anglo Saxon proverbs.

7. Get used to saying menos mal in place of "just as well". TheEnglish expression is "better than nothing"; in manySouthamerican countries, the equivalent expression is peor esnada. Find proverbs.

8. Don't correct their Spanish when they speak. Don't interruptthe flow of their conversation. Don't make their speakingSpanish to be another homework assignment. It should besomething special, even something "secret" in your family. Kidslike the mystery and intrigue of having something special oftheir own. Their speaking Spanish should be a joyful,non-threatening experience. If they make mistakes in theirgrammar, correct their errors by using the same expressioncorrectly a few minutes after. Don't come right back at themwith the correct form or they will begin to feel conscious oftheir expression and choke off their freedom of expression.

9. Get a good syllabary to teach them the value of the lettersand how to read in Spanish. If your child's first language isSpanish teach them to read Spanish before they learn English.You will be doing them a big favor. They will learn to sound outthe regular spelling of Spanish which will be a good base onwhich to learn how to read in English. You will get the sameresults as those who spend money on expensive Phonics programs.

10. The best way to get your children to grow in Spanish is tosend them to spend some time with relatives or friends wherethey will only speak and hear Spanish. This works best at around7 years old when children play easily with one another and whenSpanish will just come naturally even to the child who has verylittle exposure to the language. Another good age for a child tobe exposed to a Spanish speaking environment is at around 12years old. At this age, the child has greater mental developmentand can observe customs and situations in which certainexpressions are used. At twelve years old most kids are stillpre-adolescents and are not hampered by the embarrassment, selfconsciousness, and "feeling different" which hold back teenagersfrom learning a language or customs different from their own.

Use any of the above methods but start! Your efforts willcommunciate to your children the importance that you give toSpanish even if these efforts are not always completelysuccessful.

©1994 F.GERACE

About the author:Frank Gerace Ph.D has lived and worked in Latin America onEducational and Communication Projects. He currently teachesEnglish in New York City at La Guardia College/CUNY. He provideshelp to parents wanting to have their children speak Spanish at:http://www.bookslibros.com/SpanishForNinos.htm