"Baby Steps" Introducing More of the Target Language to My 3 Yr Old

Methods
Many families use the OPOL method of language learning. The One Parent One Language system works wonderfully for native speakers or bi-cultural families. I wasn't so sure it would work well for us though. I am American - a native English speaker, but also speak Spanish and French. My husband is also American and a native English speaker. He understands and speaks a little Spanish, but is not fluent. He is very supportive of the idea of my teaching our boys Spanish, however. When we talked about options for how to teach the boys Spanish - neither of us were completely sold on the idea of OPOL. My concern was that due to work schedules and other factors, I am, at times, the parent with the majority of time with the boys. So most of their English learning opportunities would come from me as well. So I decided to use a system that was more "situational" if you will.

I found this article, in two parts, that relieved some of my concerns. I hope it can do the same for someone else!

Bilingual Children With One Hour of Language a Day - Part 1
http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/09/07/bilingual-children-with-one-hour-of-language-a-day-part-one/

Bilingual Children With One Hour of Language a Day - Part 2
http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/09/8/bilingual-children-with-one-hour-of-language-a-day-part-two/

Here are a few things I took away from the article really gave me reassurance:
1- It's ok to start slow. Every little bit counts and as time goes on, you can include more and more.
2-Stick with it. It can take anywhere from 3 months to a year to see tangible results.
3-I get to define success for my family. There is no right or wrong, no deadline for when my children have to be bilingual. Small goals are fine and goals can change and grow and time moves forward.


Putting it Into Practice
I've mentioned before in a different post the Spanish that our older son picked up from Dora. I've tried to maintain those phrases and build on them. We always use "gracias" and "de nada." In the car, he continues to be a good backseat driver. And I work with him to reinforce colors and other vocab relative to travel. By the time we get to our destination, we have always passed several stop lights, stop signs, cars, lanes, and trucks. We've had ample opportunity to connect the green light to going, yellow to slowing, and red to stopping. In being consistent with this every time I'm in the car with the boys, they are hearing it over and over and starting to retain it. Only being a couple of months into our bilingual journey, our 3 year old still asks questions and makes statements mainly in English. But, when I answer him in Spanish, his responses show that he is understanding everything I say. I feel this is a big victory!

I've tried just switching to all Spanish a couple of times, but this did not go over well. I was told in no uncertain terms, "Mommy! NOT speak in Spanish! I don't know HOW to speak in Spanish! You got to speak in English!" Sooo....back to baby steps. I chose one more concept to start in the target language. I started doing our bedtime routine all in Spanish. Each night when it's time for bed, I say "Vamos al baño para cepillarte los dientes!" And we always end up in the bathroom. I hand him his cup and say, "Toma un poquito de agua primero." (because he insists that he must drink water before brushing)  Then while we're brushing his teeth I usually make up a silly song in Spanish about how we're brushing his teeth, his teeth will be clean, and his breath will be fresh. In this process I'm also able to use phrases like "Abre la boca" (open your mouth." Once we're done brushing, I say, "A tu cuarto mi amor - es la hora de ponerte el pajama." So we get jammies on and then, I say "Busca dos cuentos." I tell him to find two bedtime stories to read. Then we use words like "Listo" - ready, "primero"-first, "Segundo" - second, etc... within the process. So by the end of the night, every night, we have used, spoken, and understood a good deal of Spanish

Even if we're taking baby step, I'm proud of our effort and the results I'm seeing so far. I'm excited to experience this journey together as a family!

Rasing Bilinguals? First I Asked Why and Is It Too Late?

One of the questions I asked myself and one that others have asked me when they find out about my goal is, "Why?" Why do I want to raise my children to speak two languages? I already knew that I loved being able to speak other languages and interact with the world in a bigger way, but was that enough of a reason for me to teach my children to do the same? Here are some of the articles I found that helped me the most.

The Benefits of Multilingualism
http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/05/01/the-benefits-of-multilingualism/

A Link to 10 Different Articles: Research, Expert Information and Studies on Bilingualism
http://spanglishbaby.com/research-expert-information-and-studies-on-bilingualism/

So after reading, the simplest answer to Why - was really, "Why not?" The benefits are many, and the end seems like it would merit the effort and frustrations along the way.

My next question was, "My son is already three. Is that too late to start?" All of the research I found said No! It was not too late. I found a lot of information, much of it for native speakers, so I had to kind of take bits and pieces from here and there to make it work for me (more about that later).

Here's Proof That It's Never Too Late to Start Raising Bilingual Children
http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/11/never-late-start-childs-language-learning-story/

Raising Bilingual Children - Is It Too Late to Start Now?
http://littlewhizzkid.com/raising-bilingual-children/

Perhaps even more helpful (for convincing me) than the expert articles, was the discussion forum at multilingualchildren.org. There are discussion threads dating back to 2006 with many of the same questions and concerns that I had/have. The replies from other families who live bilingualism every day were informative and refreshing.
http://forums.multilingualchildren.org/?forum=29058

I'm even more excited about the idea of raising the boys bilingual now and I'm still researching and reading everyday to find ideas as to successful strategies!

Why now? Taking a cue from my son.

We have two sons now. One is three and one is six months old. When our older son was a little older than 2, he started watching Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go. For a few weeks, those were the ONLY shows he would watch and he would watch the same episodes over and over. While at the time, I wondered about long term effects to my sanity, I began noticing that through this repetition he was learning and retaining Spanish words! He started with some of the basics- "Gracias" and "De nada" being the first. Then he started filing away some commands. "Abre" and "Cierra" became part of a new favorite game. He would pretend that the nearest adult was a gate and would order the gate to open and close so he could go through. He became an excellent backseat driver as well, yelling "¡Para!" when we would come to a red light and "¡Vámanos !" when it turned green.

Around this same time, he also became more inquisitive. His favorite question became "What means _______ in Spanish?" Anything he saw or heard, he wanted me to tell him how to say in Spanish. I took all of this as a sign that NOW would be the time to begin. Now, while he is interested and reaching out for it would be the ideal time to introduce new activities and habits to our routine. So, I began researching everything I could find about raising bilingual children. There are several different theories and methods to consider and most of then are geared toward native speakers of the language. Being a non-native speaker, I searched hard for reassurance that 1) someone like me could be successful and 2) I would be able to find some useful suggestions and motivation out there instead of trying to re-invent the wheel so to speak. I was very excited and encouraged by what I found!  I will post more about the research I did and the articles that I found most helpful soon, but for now, suffice it to say I found a wealth of information to sort through and many ideas that I needed to evaluate for how well they would fit into our lifestyle.

More to come soon!

Back when it started

Ever since I found out we were expecting our first child, I was excited about the idea of raising our children to speak a second language. I will be honest, excitement was as far as it went. Life happened, I got distracted, and I never took another step forward. Now we have a second child and I have been doing a lot of research. I feel like now is the time to begin, even if it is only a little bit at a time. I am determined to expose my children to a second language.

I plan to use this blog to not only share the research and resources I have found, but also to document my own experience as I embark on this journey of raising bilinguals. 

Welcome!

Hello! ¡Hola! Bonjour!

Welcome to my TrilingualTeacherMom Blog!  I will be posting songs, activities, and ideas for use in the Spanish or French language classroom. I will also have posts dedicated to raising bilingual children as a non-native speaker.  You will find a page of links and resources that I have found helpful or useful as a teacher or a parent. Please feel free to comment with ideas to share or suggestions on how to improve what you see. Thanks so much for visiting!