Won't Your Spanish Hurt Their English?

Spanish, of all languages, is nearly missing from the landscape of heritage language schools around the city, writes a Los Angeles parent struggling to bring up bilingual children.

By Rey M. Rodríguez, July 24, 2007

I was standing in line at a grocery store in Pasadena with my two boys, who were restless and causing a little havoc. I told them to settle down. Diego and Pablo ignored me, but I did get the attention of a woman standing in line. She was concerned not about my boys' behavior, but about my speaking to them in Spanish.

Wouldn't it affect their English? she asked.

I never worry about my children's English because it is too prevalent in their lives for them to lose it. Diego, our first, communicated with my wife, Vivian, and me only in Spanish until he was two, and his first word was agua instead of water. He still understands the language easily. But since starting preschool, he's battled with us to speak or write it.

Spanish is a part of our home life. We have books and watch TV shows in Spanish and only speak Spanish at home. We've also gone on trips to Mexico and Spain so that Diego would realize that in some places people only speak Spanish. But he still was unwilling to use it, and by the age of five he clearly preferred to speak English.

When Diego turned five I realized that we needed help. I had read studies about the ability of bilingual children to switch seamlessly from one language to the other. I wanted both languages to be integral to his identity, and I thought we had two more years before Spanish would no longer be natural for him.

Vivian and I realized that if we wanted our children to be bilingual and bicultural, we couldn't do it alone. We needed a community of people. So we started looking around for Spanish language programs.

Los Angeles has a rich history of heritage language schools focusing on major languages from all over the planet. To name only a few examples, Chinese language schools have served the needs of the immigrants since at least the early 1900s. French speakers have the five-campus Lycee International de Los Angeles, founded in 1978. Japanese Americans and recent immigrants rely on Saturday schools, some of which have been in existence for over 50 years.

I could go on, but the glaring exception is heritage language schools for Spanish-speakers.

After a lot of searching, we learned about one Saturday school too far from home, which appeared to focus on Argentine culture. Finally, a friend of mine discovered a small group of parents who met on a weekly basis to speak Spanish at a local library. I took my two boys there on the first Sunday that I could.

As I entered the library, I was excited to see 10 to 15 families with children in three groups. Some were seated on the floor, mesmerized by the teacher's voice and hand movements; others sat at tables, writing. Some of the toddlers and preschoolers had to be reminded to answer questions in Spanish, while others spoke readily. The teachers were native-born speakers and they were fantastic. They used beautiful books and melodic children's songs in Spanish to sing and dance to. Diego and Pablo, my second, learned about spring and named the days of the week and months of the year at their first class.

Before I knew it Diego was raising his hand, because he understood the questions and wanted to participate. He was no longer alone in a classroom where all the other students spoke English. And I was thrilled. The community that I was looking for existed and by serendipity I had found it.

Still, pleased as I was to have found a place for my boys to express themselves in Spanish, I was amazed and angry that this small "school" was all that the city of Los Angeles could offer. In a city with many Spanish-speakers, why were there not well-established institutions that would teach my children about their heritage, culture, and language?

Why was I sitting on the floor of a public library with a group of parents who after four years of struggle had cobbled together an informal Spanish language heritage school? Why was there only one option for us? Why hadn't these institutions been created years before?

I want my children to be proud of who they are; and to help them, I need a community that signals that Spanish is important to their lives. It amazes me that a two-year-old boy can already grasp that English is the predominant language and that Spanish is secondary and less valued.

The reality is that learning multiple languages at a young age enhances cognition as children grow. We need Spanish language heritage schools to spread throughout the city in numbers that meet the community's needs, similar to the ones that already exist for other major language groups. Without a vibrant expansion of Spanish language education we will continue to be a city divided between those who feel they belong and those who feel they do not.

So I go back to that woman in line at the grocery store: Don't worry that children won't learn English, because they most certainly will. Spanish speakers like my son understand the value of speaking the predominant language. Indeed, they have a thirst for it, and receive most of their education in it. Instead, I would focus on the real danger of kids losing their Spanish. We desperately need Spanish language heritage institutions that encourage the next generation of Spanish speakers to have pride in who they are and the confidence to raise their hand in a democratic society.

Source: LA Language World
Posted by Juan G. Tornoe on July 25, 2007 in Language

Comments:

As a certified California court interpreter I fully agree that being bilingual is a great asset for anyone, and as a rather recent immigrant from Mexico I wish the Hispanic community really tried to preserve proper Spanish. I am appalled at the state of our beautiful language in this country. It is being distorted with all kinds of horrible anglicisms. It is the Hispanic community that needs to signal to all Hispanic children that Spanish is important, but instead we say "carpeta" instead of "alfombra", "loqueado" instead of "cerrado con llave", and "te llamo pa'tras" instead of "te devuelvo la llamada". I'm a little baffled as to who your anger is directed. It is Hispanic parents who need to show interest and organize if they really want well-established institutions that will teach children about their heritage, culture and language, not the city of Los Angeles. Just as Germans founded in Mexico the Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt, and Japanese founded the Liceo Mexicano Japonés, it is up to Hispanics in the USA to be proactive and take the initiative. But just as these schools acknowledge that Spanish comes first and German and Japanese are secondary without feeling that their languages "are not valued"- it would be to our advantage to acknowledge that in this country it is English that opens doors and not be defensive about it. It is because I speak English that I feel I do belong. I have way too many first-hand examples on how the lack of effort to learn English is sadly limiting our community's options and horizons, how our Spanish unfortunately is hurting our chance for a better future.

Posted by: indra | July 26, 2007 at 23:34

Proper Spanish is absolutely key in today's society. We are surrounded by flaws in every corner and if we join together and make a sincere effort to foster a strong awareness of the need for proper Spanish, things will absolutely continue to turn for the better. In order to stay ahead of the curve, proper language skills are vital.

Posted by: huitjose | July 27, 2007 at 18:33

Love the article. Here's my take on the topic of the Spanish language in United States culture: I believe that it is a disservice to Hispanic children NOT to teach them strong English skills, and I believe it is a disservice to non-Hispanic children not to be encouraged to become bilingual. This is the age of NAFTA and a fairly open border. We are unnecessarily limiting our children when we don't teach them more than one language – and in this area Spanish is the most obvious choice.

I have friends who are from and live in Belgium. Their kids speak Belgian, French, German, English, and Italian with a smattering of Spanish. They're not unusual in Europe. Most other civilized nations encourage more than one language in school.

I cannot tell you how badly I wish I had taken Spanish and then continued it, rather than dabbling around in French and German. But those days were different. I didn't live in Texas and didn't see the signs of a burgeoning Hispanic population nationwide.

I'm not saying that we should have all signs in two languages or force kids to learn Spanish. But the reality of the situation should be addressed and our kids should be prepared for their generation in the upcoming business community AT THE LEAST. It's either going to be an integrated society or it will be polarized. I know which one I prefer.

-- Melanie Poland, Express Personnel Services, Tyler, Texas, July 30, 2007

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