Lately, when I hear my kids speaking Spanish, my heart kind of aches. Since before they were born, it has been my dream for my children to speak fluent Spanish, since I learned Spanish as a teenager (not quite early enough to become truly fluent) and it has been such a joy and a help in my life. They are speaking so beautifully now.
But we are going to China next, and it will be at least 3 years and possibly many more until we return to the region. When we were first assigned to China, I accepted the fact that the kids will likely lose their Spanish. They will only be 5 and 7 when we leave. Everyone tells me they will retain it somewhere and will be able to draw on it when we return to Latin America. I love Latin America and have many dream posts from this region, but the realities of the bid list and all the other requirements sometimes mean that you end up in unexpected places.
I really want to embrace Mandarin. It's certainly a useful and interesting language. I don't know how we will end up feeling about China, and/or whether we'll want to do another Chinese speaking post, but I want to give it our all. So, the whole family will be taking Mandarin in Virginia (assuming my husband gets into FSI class). I have found a Chinese school and plan to sign the kids up for weekly classes. The Chinese schools in the region seem to be more affordable than the language schools that teach a variety of languages, so that's a plus. I think it's all too easy for FS kids to never really learn the local language, and while I understand it, since school and social life are often in English, I am going to do my best to help them learn.
But that brings me back to Spanish. Can I help them hold onto it somehow? People recommend TV shows and videos in Spanish, but I know that won't work. My kids reject those, even now. I'm not sure I can juggle both Spanish and Chinese classes in VA and in China, but I'm thinking about hiring a native Spanish-speaker to come speak with them for an hour a week. Would that be enough to help them hold onto it? I don't know. But I think I want to try.
Thoughts welcome.
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3 comments:
I have the same fear. My kids are older (12 and 9) and although not fluent I would love to do another spanish post to make sure they never lose what we have worked so hard to gain. Finding spanish speaking friends might be a better and cheaper bet, although a bit more difficult. I wish you luck.
Hire someone to come once or twice a week. We are going to use Bernuy to help The Boy out.
I can put you in touch with the Hispanic Committee of NOVA, they may be able to help you out. There's also the cleaning staff if you come back to Oakwood.
We were the opposite. I had spoken Chinese with the kids had them in Chinese school, etc. when my husband joined. When he was assigned to Mexico, I decided we needed to embrace Spanish so I stopped the Chinese and we tried Spanish. I kind of wish that we had kept up the Chinese now but you know what they say, hindsight 20/20 and all that. If we'd gone to Argentina next, I'd probably be glad we did Spanish. Since we're back in Asia, well I wish they had more Chinese. But they are getting there. Good luck whatever you decide! (At least if you are in Falls Church they will have Spanish at school.) Maybe they can do both. Our kids did Spanish at school in FC and we did Chinese school on the weekend. They aren't great at either but I have hope it'll help at some point. Best of luck!
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