Language Learner

One of the great pleasures of parenting is watching how your child learns and grows. It has been amazing to watch E's use and understanding of Spanish grow in our time here.

Every day, he seems to be absorbing more, using new words, asking what words mean in the English, or what the Spanish word is. At the same time, he is developing in so many other ways - learning the alphabet in Spanish, writing letters and words, wanting to learn to read. It is truly amazing. His school seems to be making all the difference.

I'm seeing how E learns language best when it is in context.

"Te amo" with a hug and a kiss.
"Ahorra" each time we rush across the street, avoiding oncoming cars.
"No gracias" to each vendor who walks up to us at an outdoor table.

Of course, there's a good bit of repetition in these situational cues, but I see how this mirrors how he learns new words in English. I sometimes call him "my little tape-recorder." He'll repeat a phrase he's heard us say - exactly - to see how we react. Do we affirm or correct him? When I notice him doing that now, I offer the definition of the unfamiliar word.


I've tried other techniques - offering the vocabulary, explaining the grammar, rehearsing responses - but it sticks fastest if it is contextual.

He seems to have turned a corner recently, and now he uses Spanish as often as English, and interchangeably. With kids who speak Spanish, he uses it easily (though not always correctly).

We hope he will be attending a bilingual immersion school in September, and I'm now thinking I should really try to keep up our Spanish in the interim. A new challenge!

Meal Planning

K: "Would you like a sandwich for lunch today?"
E: "No."
K: "How about a torta, con quesillo y aguacate?"
E: "Si, por favor."

Thoughts on Language

My goal for this trip was to be able to speak Spanish easily, comfortably - outside of a restaurant. I wanted to be able to have conversations with people - not just commercial exchanges.

I started studying Spanish when I was 12-years-old - that's 30 years ago. For the last decade, we've been coming to Mexico and I've been refreshing my knowledge. Six years of classroom learning led me to have a broad vocabulary, but I had some serious gaps. Mainly, past and future tense. I do find in the present, but struggle as soon as I'm discussing something beyond today.

I've finally worked around it for the future by using the "going to [insert verb here]" construction, and I think I've gotten a handle on past imperfect "had [inserted verb here]ed." I am determined to grasp past perfect conjugations for some basic verbs while I'm here.

While that's coming along, I'm already pretty much where I wanted to be. I speak Spanish in all of my interactions - badly, I'm guessing - but it's all Spanish. Having a kid means I'm able to interact with so many more people - on the playground, in the market, at little restaurants. People talk to us so much more, so I am getting so much practice.

Just last night, we sat down to a Fonda in the mercado to have a very late lunch (6pm), and the family was there. We chatted and I ended up helping the 9-year-old son do his English homework.

The process of visiting and registering for school has really opened up another level of communications - official. Using Google Translate, I have struggled to complete paperwork, and we have traipsed around town to comply with only half-understood requests.

Having recently completed applications for kindergarten, I know that bureacracy isn't easy even in your native language, and comparatively, the forms for private preschool aren't that difficult. The whole experience just gives me even greater compassion for immigrants in the US, for the difficulties of traversing a completely foreign system, the need to grasp assumptions that everyone else takes for granted.

Punch Buggy

Even though I considered the downsides, I taught E how to play Punch Buggy.

He was taking an interest in the VW Bugs, which are made in the next state over (Puebla), and are in great abundance here. And I thought it would be a good way to practice his colors in Spanish. (I have a fear that people at his preschool will think he is stupid because he looks so big and can only count to ten and name three colors.)

So far, he thinks that if you see the bug, you get punched, which may be why the punching has been limited to light bumps. We tried to change it to Fist-bump Buggy, but he would have none of that nonsense.

It's a fun game, because there are so so many bugs. We probably saw two dozen on a five-block walk to the Mercado and back.