Note: This experience had to do with the maintenance of Spanish for our kids, but the principles apply equally to all those who try to help their kids speak and preserve any language and culture.
Country of many peoples
This country,,, (The authors raised their children in the U.S., but believe That experience can be useful to citizens of other non-Spanish-speaking.) This country is made up of people from around the world. We or our parents came from Latin countries. Now I live here. We function in two different worlds, the American world and the world of our parents. We all live in 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 we live and how our two worlds.
Country of many languages
The only thing that is most important in the world of our parents' is their language that is ours in several ways. The Spanish language of our parents is a problem for us all every day. We can be proud to speak well. We are not ashamed to speak well. Some of us have gone through periods of trying not to speak because we wanted to speak English better. We can only speak when we encounter someone who needs help in understanding English. We can only remember some sayings of our grandparents or children's songs taught to us by our parents.
We recommend that you review (or study for the first time) your Spanish. We could only find a reference for you. It is expensive and is a textbook, not too attractive, 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 at the National Endowment for the Humanities Division 'education programs asks: "How does America preserve this important resource persons who are competent in other languages? Instead of trying to depress the knowledge of these students come to school, we try to build on it. "(Chronicle of Higher Education, February 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 it is better to forget Spanish and to concentrate on speaking English well. These people are simply wrong. English does not hurt to speak another language helps. Spanish is particularly useful for children in their learning of English vocabulary. Just today I taught my daughter the difference between vowels and consonants. Knowing Spanish has really helped with the idea of consonants. I told her that the consonants have no voice, which can only be pronounced with the vowels. The suenan con-sonants with vowels.
But even though most of us agree that this is a good thing for our children to speak Spanish, most of the guys in the U.S. whose parents were born in Latin American countries do not speak Spanish well.
Even if both parents speak Spanish at home, often the children to their parents reply in English. Look around at your friends and relatives Latin and you will see that most give up teaching their children to speak Spanish. Chicano and Puerto Rican families seem to have some 'best of luck to Latinos from other countries with the Spanish to keep alive their neighborhoods, but even their younger generation is losing fluency in Spanish.
However, parents who want their children to speak Spanish can go against the tide and set the foundation for their children to grow up speaking Spanish. It is not easy. Many families fail in their determination, but can be done. The report will give some tips on how to improve your chances.
REASONS for our children to speak Spanish
There are many reasons why it is good for children to speak your language. One obvious reason is the advantage that might be for them in the labor market. As long as we live in a world with shrunken distances and increasing international trade, someone must be able to speak with people from other countries.
Professor X. Francisco Alarcon 's University of California at Davis says that "now we are moving towards a global economy, it is good to be bilingual in the U.S." (Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb.2, 1994, page A15)
Another good reason to work to learn to speak Spanish is because your children 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 talk to their relatives thanks to improved phone service which is entering the most remote villages of our countries. Selected by the United States is cheap enough to be able to call a couple of times a year. The thrill of being able to talk to their uncles, aunts, cousins and get kids interested in maintaining their language.
We discuss their relations, not only by telephone, but will be able to visit them. The experience of knowing another culture will put you ahead of their classmates who have links with their roots.
Another reason to encourage our children to speak Spanish can be obtained 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, foreign children sometimes exhibit ... is no doubt due in part to the overestimation which the school places upon speaking English. This cut in his family loyalty takes away one of the most significant and valuable of the Italian child. 'She attributed the lawlessness of some of the immigrant children to their lack of respect for their parents and therefore for all authority. "
(History: Five Centuries of Italian American Experience, Mangione and Morreale, p. 222)
Finally, the ability to speak another language can be a great boost to self esteem of a child. If the parents make it clear that they are proud of their language and their people, the child feel closer to his parents and their heritage, customs and, above all, 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.
1. Read simple stories and fairy tales to children in Spanish. if you can not find children's literature in Spanish, then its translation as you go along. It is not necessary that the translation is perfect. Bring your stories. It 'important for your child to have memories of hearing nursery rhymes in Spanish.
2. Leave your radio tuned de Spanish language stations. Linguists place a great importance on "passive listening" as part of learning a language, especially for children.
3. In most areas there is a Spanish-language television station. Wear Saturday morning cartoons in Spanish.
4. Teach simple nursery rhymes and simple songs for the child. If you do not remember or was not taught any tradition of your parents', look for them in garage sales, college bookstores, or your local library. Do you remember or pinpón el Patito? Look for songs in Spanish.
5. to rent a movie in Spanish. Are beginning to be available - and not only in cities with large Spanish-speaking population!
6. and use of proverbs in Spanish dichos. Some expressions that are equally legitimate to say in English proverbs in Spanish. Get your child used to hearing Spanish. You can do this even if you do not speak Spanish well. For example, say mejor tarde que nunca instead of "better late than never." Little by little, just a little, you will feel more at home with only the Latin expression. Have something wrapped up in their culture. They are stubbornly different from Anglo Saxon proverbs.
7. Menos mal used to say instead of "equally good". The English expression is "nothing better" in many South American countries, the equivalent expression is peor es nada. Find proverbs.
8. Not correct their Spanish when they speak. Do not interrupt the flow of their conversation. Do their Spanish to be another homework assignment. It should be something special, even something "secret" in your family. Guys like the mystery and intrigue of having something special of their own. Their Spanish language should be a joy, experience non-threatening. If you make mistakes in their grammar, correct their errors using the same expression correctly a few minutes later. Do not come right at them with the correct form or begin to feel conscious of their expression and stifle their freedom of expression.
9. Getting a good primer 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 learning English. You'll be doing a big favor. Learn to sound out the spelling regular Spanish, which will be a good basis for learning 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 time with relatives or friends where they can only speak and hear Spanish. This works better in about seven years, when children play easily with one another and when Spanish just come naturally to the child who has very little exposure to language. Another good age for a child to be exposed to a Spanish-speaking environment is about 12 years. At this age your child has greater mental development and can observe customs and situations in which some expressions are used. At twelve, most children are still pre-adolescents and are not hampered by embarrassment, self-consciousness, and "feeling different" which hold back teenagers to learn a language or customs other than their own.
Use one of the above methods but start! Your efforts will communciate your children the importance given to Spanish, even if these efforts are not always completely effective.
© 1994 F. Gerace
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