Talk the Talk

They can walk the walk, but can they talk the talk? Yes I intentionally mixed that order of that expression. . .

I see so many families throwing money at the second language acquisition process, (now don’t get me wrong we’ve thrown our fair share of cash at the situation) but the element that I suspect really works is time and personal attention. It is doubtful that our 6 week stay in Chile ( when Morgan was shy of 2 years) had any significant impact on her Spanish language acquisition. Rather the 45 days of playing games, reading stories, eating meals, and living life in the company of Spanish speakers and her Spanish speaking father made an impression.

I get the feeling that language acquisition has to feel natural, easy, organic for a child. If you hire the Spanish speaking nanny, enroll in the Spanish preschool, visit the Spanish speaking country, it does no good for achieving bilingual goals if you’re not willing to bring your efforts into your home, you daily routine, your REAL LIFE.  Certainly the extra efforts outside of the home help, but making bilingualism a shared value in your child’s home reinforces the real importance and normalizes the process. It’s not an optional extra, an extracurricular, a past time like soccer or art class. Bringing it home makes it a core value, a life skill, a foundational basic like reading, and writing, good nutrition, and breathing. So while just about anyone of means can pay to have someone else assume the responsibility, it’s the family that walks the path of bilingualism outside the home and talks it inside the home who can expect real results.

So what to do if you legitimately don’t know the language that your kids nanny, teacher, daycare is speaking? How do you bring it home if you don’t know it? Well for starters you can commit to learning alongside your child. Start small. Simple. Concrete. TOYS! My anyone can do it hack of the week is: Amazon, Google, Ebay, and airport terminal shop your way into second language immersion success with second language toys. The beauty of talking toys is they are almost always designed to reinforce basic, concrete and functional concepts: Colors, shapes, numbers, animals, parent/baby interaction, kitchen/bathroom/bedroom daily routines, and on and on. My favorite Spanish toy is a remote control (we snagged this one in an airport toy store on our way home from Panama). It speaks the numbers aloud, and repeats key phrases like “turn it up,” “turn it down,” “play,” “pause,” “stop,” and “change the channel,” phrases that come up a lot in this media rich day and age. Catchy little songs and rhymes help old learners to remember, and help young learners to really engage and enjoy these toys as they would with any talking toy. VTECH, Fisher Price, and Bright Starts are great toy brands to search on Ebay specifically, with “Spanish” (or any target language) preceding the brand for a wealth of affordable options. Amazon and general Google searches are a good place to hunt for ideas and see what’s out there but honestly, shopping within the U.S., it’s probably best to keep an open mind without marrying yourself to one specific toy. As far as shopping outside of the U.S. we have found that airport terminal shopping before return flights have been good for more than just duty free liquor and overpriced food. Trips to Panama, Mexico and The Dominican Republic ended with quick visits to kid friendly souvenir shops. Cab dependent stays at hotels and resorts didn’t always lend themselves to easy access to local toy and department stores. But the airport never disappoints.

Certainly some languages are easier to shop for than others, but where there’s a will there’s a way. Commence with travel and online shopping!

Check out the SuperNoVAs playing with some of their favorite Spanish Language Toys!

https://youtu.be/P6csO1ZAkck

A young Morgan sings (and dances) along to her Spanish play kitchen (by VTECH) in some unintelligible hybrid language.