RAISING BILINGUAL KIDS - Up until I was about 4 years old I was completely fluent in Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines. My parents migrated to Australia before I was born so Tagalog was the only language I heard at home. Once I started school that's when it disappeared and I'm not quite sure how it happened.
My parents never forced my sister and I to speak Tagalog at home. I presume their reason is similar to someone I spoke to recently who said she was worried her child would fall behind at school or that she wouldn't fit in. I do remember being 7 and saying a classmates name “Mark" and noticing that my pronunciation of the letter R sounded different to how everyone else said it, so I forced myself to change how I said his name.
30 years on and I can understand Tagalog fully but really struggle to speak it. Funnily enough I can write and read but with every language I learn, speaking is the hardest. I absolutely love learning languages and I can speak bits and pieces of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Japanese.
When I met my now husband I was excited to start practicing Spanish with him. He is Colombian and his parents (who live overseas) don't speak a word of English. So I needed to up my game and learn.
Now that I have kids of my own, my husband and I are really pushing to make sure they can speak Spanish. English is easy.. they'll pick it up at school and on TV but Spanish is something we really need to work on to make sure that they are able to speak and understand it. More importantly, we really want them to have these language skills so that they are able to speak to their abuelos (grandparents) when they see them.
We have 2 year old twin girls and a 3 month old baby girl. We speak to them all the time in Spanish or Spanglish for me since my Spanish is pretty broken. The hard part is, the Spanish words have more syllables compared to English so once they know both they sometimes choose the English word because its easier. We try to repeat the word in Spanish to them so it sticks.
We watch all your favourite kids shows in Spanish and we're lucky it's all dubbed and mostly subtitled as well – Cocomelon, Super JoJo, Little Baby Bum all have Spanish versions. Sesame Street have Spanish speaking monsters (Rosita), actors and guest stars who sing in Spanish. Even the Wiggles have a Spanish version called “Los Wiggles" which is a franchise created by the original Wiggles but with Latino Australian actors. These shows really help.. especially me! A 34 year old mum who can now song the Cocomelon “Thank You” song in Spanish!
It also touched my heart that when the girls started daycare the educators tried to speak to them in Spanish. During orientation they told us that we can bring a list of all the words and phrases the girls knew so that they can learn and try to connect with them. I didn't think they would do it so I didn't really push it but I did create a reference sheet for the educators. A week later the educators told me how excited they were when the girls were engaging with them as the educators used some Spanish on them. I knew I had found a great centre!
To be honest, I was a little worried about their speech as they spoke a lot of gibberish. I have heard that it can take bilingual kids a little longer to speak properly and I did wonder whether them being born 4 weeks early might also be the reason. Recently though their speech has sky rocketed and they are saying things that are blowing my mind. They still speak sentences in both English and Spanish but I'm hoping as they get older and their communication skills improve that they are able to pick it up easier. I do hope all this hard work pays off so that the girls are able to connect to their roots as teenagers and adults.
Have you or do you speak another language at home to your kids? What are some tips and tricks that helped you teach your kids another language?
Monica is a mum to 2 year old twin girls and another 3 month old baby girl. Her family are “tree changers" having moved to the Hunter Valley a year ago. Together they are embarking on the adventures of regional living and raising 3 kids under 3 in a multicultural household.
