How can politicians worry about bilingualism in Los Angeles?????

Politicians and media people, those coming from the right, are concerned that minority parents are teaching their children too much Spanish, therefore, children never get to speak English.

Well, I have to say that they are dumb, dumb, dumb! Even if you want your child to be bilingual/biliterate, it's almost impossible to become bilingual unless you, as a parent, try super hard!

I can't find children's books in Spanish!!! All that's available has a deficit perspective, it's designed to teach children how to transfer skills from Spanish into English. Let me tell you my experience about what is supposed to be a state-of-the-art bookstore, Vroman's, in Pasadena. Vroman's has, practically, a full floor dedicated to children's books and instructional materials. I said to myself, WOW, it's going to be easy to find good materials in Spanish for Hannah. In my dreams! I went to the Spanish section and it was embarrasing! Only a bunch of bilingual dictionaries and practically nothing else.

Then I said to myself, let's go and check out the Alfaguara site. Alfaguara is owned by Santiallana so I thought that they would have lots of materials... Well, if you go to the Argentine Alfaguara site, then you can find a lot! You can find Graciela Montes and all of her books, you can find Maria Elena Walsh and all of her books and CDs. But if you go to the Alfaguara site in the US, all you can find is a bunch of books, which though well intentioned, are very limited. And they are mainly designed for school-age children. Of course, the Alfaguara site in Argentina has lots of interesting things. But unless you have your family bring things with them, then it's impossible to have access to those materials.

Finally, I said to myself, How about the Alma Flor Ada publications? So I went to her site and I found lots of things published for bilingual, bicultural children in the US. There is a lot of potential there. So we will keep trying.... BUt I can already see that it's not going to be easy. But we will do it!

Maybe I have to start writing my own children's books???? Why not?

In my next blog: The use of Motherese or teacher talk....



So my question for all the dumb politicians is: How can you be worried about children not knowing English? It's impossible NOT to learn English. If there are no materials in

A ver, Provechito Hannah! or My Spanish Vocabulary

When Hannah was born and my maternal instincts led me to speak Spanish to her, I found myself using words that I had not used in YEARS! My husband did not, and still doesn't, quite understand my vocabulary. The first time that I used the word "provechito," Vamos Hannah, a ver mama, haceme un provechito... Alan looked at me and said "what the hell are you saying?"

Another expression that I commonly use is "Esta haciendo puchero..." When she is making faces and she is about to cry....

Also interesting is the fact that I have incorporated some vocabulary that comes from Central and North American Spanish. For example, when I talk to Hannah I call her "mi reina." This expression is not used in ARgentina. In contrast, it's very common in Mexico where women talk to each other saying "A ver mi reina..." Also, rather than talking about el biberon, I say mamila, o bottle (English)....

Interesting what is happening to me AND to Hannah! More tomorrow....

A Mother's Dream

At home, my husband and I usually do a lot of code-switching. We mainly use English when we talk about professional issues. We use Spanish when we talk about sports like soccer or Hispanic soaps.

Over the last 16 years, since I came to live in the US, I have found myself using more and more English. There is nothing uncommon about this pattern. It's been documented in the literature on language loss and language attrition.

However, when Hannah, our daughter, was born, we had already decided that we would bring her up bilingually. Why? My home languge is Spanish. Although professionally I use English all the time, I associate Spanish with the language of children. I grew up in Argentina where one of the few children's songs I learned in English was Old McDonald's has a farm.... I grew up listening to Maria Elena Walsh, Gabi, Fofo, y Miliki, and watching Piluso y Coquito... Then why would I resort to English, when my reservoire of sources in children's English is soooo limited?

More importantly, why would I speak English to her when everytime that I see a child in LA, regardless of whether the child's home language is English or Spanish, I will communicate with the child in Spanish. The reality is that I can't speak English to a child. So I need to rely on my SPanish resources to help my daughter develop her language skills.

At the same time, my husband speaks English to Hannah. We are very consistent about our roles: I am the source of input in Spanish and Alan is the source of input in English. And we do this naturally, not because we force ourselves to do this.