Bringing up children to be bi-lingual is becoming a more and more realistic option for an increasing number of families living on the Costa del Sol and in the inland villages. What a fantastic advantage and an incredible start to life. An advantage that needs to be nurtured and treated with respect!
If you are a couple who have different mother tongue languages your child will automatically pick-up both languages simultaneously as they grow into the toddler stage.
The actual mother tongue will come first as babies spend more time with their mothers than their fathers for the first few years at least( but no sexism here dads are definitely becoming more and more hands on during the early stages).
This means that if Mum is Spanish and Dad is English speaking he will have to make an effort to ensure that he speaks English to the child as often as possible.
As a Spanish Mum or Dad is quite likely to have a lot of relatives around-grandparents for example – this will increase the Spanish language input. But as long as one person, close to the child, is associated with a different language the child should pick it up.
They say babies and toddlers can absorb up to 7 languages as long as they are associated with different people they have close contact with. This seems a bit fanciful to me but there are definitely children who grow up speaking up to four languages at the same level of efficiency.
Gibraltar has some classic examples of children like this-English, Spanish, Arabic and French speaking teenagers continually amaze me with their ability to change language depending on whom they are talking to!
Bi-lingual children who have parents who are both English mother tongue speakers will probably have picked up the Spanish at a slightly older age. First words will be in English but as their knowledge of their environment increase and they become more responsive to other people around them the Spanish will slip in annoyingly easily.
The TV, the neighbours, the shop assistants, the cleaner, the nanny, the guy in the garage, the local barman- all these influences play a role in making a child bi-lingual. When play school or preschool starts most children born in Spain or who came here as small babies will be fluent Spanish speakers.
To help a child to remain bi-lingual you need to ensure that they can read and write in both languages with the same fluency that they can talk! This is not as difficult as it seems! If your child is attending an International School they will be receiving English based education but also Spanish from the word go-so no problems there.
At a Spanish school the situation is a little different as English classes do not hit the curriculum until the child is 8.You need to start earlier,as soon as they can write in Spanish. Hopefully by this time they will be familiar with books and stories in English so the written language won’t be too much of a problem.
Reading in English is very easily acquired, the Spanish phonetic pronunciation works well in helping them start and once they have got the hang of it, the unusual way of pronouncing some words makes most kids laugh!
Try explaining “should and shoulder” to a child that has learnt to read in a Spanish school and they crack up. Getting your child to produce written work in English may well be more of a problem but if you start early enough-letters to grandma and grandpa, and simple stories- they will progress.
The Letts and Smiths type revision English books (from Gib or Bookworld España) really help and are quite fun! When your child is older you may well consider putting them in for the official Junta De Andalucia language exams.
They don’t need to go to classes they can just sit the exams. The preliminary level is quite easy and gives their confidence a real boost!
The alternatives are GCSE English or GCSE English as a Second Language-essential if you want to send them to university in England. These can be sat in Gib or at various International Schools along the coast.
