Aquí se habla español

"Spanish is spoken here"

This one's for you, Mom.

If you've read my previous posts, you know about Jack's provisional placement in the bilingual program at his new school. It is still going well. He's enjoying his first week in the English classroom. It's been a nice break for me too. He is able to do his nightly reading and homework on his own; no translating required. But, it's still Spanish full throttle at home. I do my best to speak all Spanish to the boys. They speak in all English to me, but I answer them and direct them in Spanish. The one big exception is dinner. We eat long before Ted gets home. The only thing that keeps everyone at the table, and constructively occupied, is a conversation they can all contribute to. So, we do mostly English at dinner, with an occasional "quédate en tu asiento" or "no hagas eso" or "toma tu leche" thrown in. Having lived in several Spanish households, it doesn't seem too strange to me. But, I am much more self conscious when we are out and about. First of all, I look about as un-Spanish as you could imagine. Second, the kids can often be heard yelling, "What? I don't understand you!" or "Speak in English!" back at me as we go. There are also a good number of Spanish speakers in our neighborhood, so our conversations are often overheard. Then I have to give a full explanation of how a blond-haired, blue-eyed, girl from Philadelphia came to speak Spanish so well, and with a Castillian accent to boot. In truth, I owe it all to my mother. When I was in sixth grade, we had to choose what language we were going to study in junior high. The choices were French or Spanish. Ever the romantic, I longed to study French, but my mother insisted that I choose Spanish. A terrible, week-long fight ensued; my mother won. When the next school year started, I began Spanish class. I fell in love at once. It was completely unexpected, and a pleasant surprise that I was crazy about languages. I went on to spend most of a summer in Spain at age 15, visiting a Spanish girl I had met in PA, and then an entire year there as an exchange student between high school and college. By then, my Spanish was practically perfect. Since college it's been nothing more than a hobby. So, I guess it's good to take it out of the closet and dust it off from time to time. There aren't too many things that would make me happier than having my kids be bilingual as well. I hope that I'm up to the challenge.