Immersion

I thought I should explain our method of "teaching" our boys Spanish. I use parenthesis around the word "teaching" because I do not see it as teaching. We have spoke nothing but Spanish to the boys since they were born. Spanish is my husband's first language so I had no doubt that he could do it. I, however, learned Spanish over a fifteen year period of high school then college then studying abroad then finally living with my husband. I was not as confident in my abilities. It was strange at first. I had to buy CD's of children's music in Spanish because I did not know what to sing to my baby. I spoke Spanish but not "baby" Spanish. Now almost four years later I would not know how to speak English to my son. It is now our family language. My oldest son "D" spoke only Spanish until about six months ago. We maintained the Spanish only by using Spanish-speaking babysitters and Spanish cartoons. Now with the influence of my family, neighborhood friends, and English t.v., my son's English is quickly catching up. I am amazed at his ability to speak English to my mother and then turn to me and translate perfectly what he said to me. (I think that he thinks that I do not understand :) Now maintaining his Spanish is a priority. He still has a Spanish-speaking babysitter but he will also attend a Spanish immersion preschool two days a week. In addition, I plan to continue our projects, crafts, games, and field trips all in Spanish, of course.