Adventure Awaits . . .

Long before our daughters Morgan and Emory were born, even before Vincent and I were a pair, we both romanticized the idea of mastering a second language.  Even better, we dreamed of giving the gift of bilingualism to our children someday.  Our love of the Spanish language was a commonality that was quickly unearthed during our swift online turned in person courtship, and something that we continue to feel very passionate about to this day.

Vincent and I have often found ourselves reprimanding bilingual friends and colleagues who, for one reason or another, chose not to expose their children to their second language.  Having not been through the rigors of child rearing yet, we had no basis of comparison. Now as seasoned parents of 2, we have a better understanding of the challenges set before us.  Teaching a child a second language, in the U.S. is not without it’s hurdles.  There are so many variables to consider:

• We live in a monolingual society.  English is pervasive in the media, in school, and in the community.  This means extra time and $$$ must be spent to cultivate an environment for successful second language acquisition/exposure. . .
  • We hunt for Spanish versions of our daughters favorite shows for IPAD
  • We have enrolled into a number of bilingual/language immersion pre-schools
  • We participate in Spanish story hours and family meet ups in our community
  • We shop for Spanish language toys on Ebay and abroad
  • We keep our Netflix kids on SAP and keep Spanish playlists at the ready on Spotify
  • We relocated to a public school district that offers language immersion in the classroom
  • We seek out like-minded parents, and build relationships with those striving to cultivate bilingualism in their families.
  • We spent 6 weeks in Chile just before Morgan started pre-school for a brief total immersion experience.

• Vincent and I were born and raised monolingual English speakers.  We learned Spanish in school and via immersion.  While Vincent is fluent, I am just functional which places the burden of (grammatically correct) Spanish solely on his shoulders.  Even still our families have been equipped to help in our unique situation.​​​ . .
  • We have adopted the “one person, one language” method. Vincent speaks to the girls in Spanish 100% of the time, while I speak to them solely in English
  • We prepare our extended family with word lists spelled phonetically to reinforce the language as Emory learns it
  • We warn family of the handful of Spanish words that Emory uses most frequently so they can encourage their use rather than discount them as babble
  • We encourage Morgan to speak to her sister in Spanish whenever she can

Morgan is 3 and 1/2, and Emory is 16 months, so we are far from beginners at this early immersion stuff but just 3 and 1/2 years ago we at our beginning not sure of what to expect. Our hope is that Bilingual SuperNoVAs will compel you to try second language immersion with your kids too. You need not perpetuate the stereotype of the monolingual American just because you have no direct cultural ties to a second language. Seek it out. For yourself. For your kids. Expand their worldview when you open your mind to the possibilities. Your adventure awaits.