We’re used to hearing individuals speak more than one language here in South Florida, and for many of them, it begins early. However, learning a second language can be difficult, particularly for multiracial families. Nonetheless, there are advantages and recommended methods for rearing a bilingual child.
Greetings from the Wheeler family. You can smell the culture of Chile, feel American influence, and simultaneously hear and see two languages here.
Cristina hails from Chile, and she refers to her spouse, Anthony, as her “gringo.” He was born in South Carolina and is an American.
“Once we met, we slowly but surely, started pulling in words and watching telenovelas together,” said Anthony Wheeler.
The Wheeler residence is representative of many residences in this region of South Florida. A mixture of nationalities, languages, and customs. Anthony and Cristina, along with their two kids and in-laws, reside in Miramar.
Raised to speak both Spanish and English, their now 13- and 17-year-old children learnt as much as their father did.
“It was a little challenging, at first, especially when the kids were born, people were in my ear like ‘no, teach them just Spanish but I was like I can’t because my husband is a gringo,” said Cristina Wheeler.
“Children that are so young, learn way quicker than us adults because their mind is so flexible and malleable that that’s why we should teach them at a younger age,” said Jacqueline Lopez, who works as a bilingual and language speech pathologist in Miami.
She claims that although raising a child to know multiple languages can be difficult, the benefits are immense.
“There’s evidence that shows that children and adults who are bilingual, have increased problem-solving skills as well as increased creativity, and it also shows that there’s a different appreciation for different cultures and an understanding for different cultures,” continued Lopez.
Even in cases where only one parent knows the target language, there are numerous methods for attaining bilingualism.
‘One thing that they can do that’s very easy is that mom sticks to one language, dad sticks to one language and they are receiving both languages and receiving both models,” encouraged Lopez.
The One Parent, One Language (OPOL) approach is what it’s called. Time and Place is an additional strategy.
“We talk in English all day, but in bath time, we’re going to speak in Spanish, and then that will just give them a lot of exposure as well to different common objects, common words,” said Lopez.
Although Spanglish is the unofficial language of South Florida, Lopez warns that young children may find it perplexing and emphasises the importance of repetition and consistency.
“We want to do, “Please go get the cup in the kitchen, busca el vaso en la cocina” so they learn this is the rules and regulations, this is the grammar, this is the syntax and then once they’re masters at it then it’s okay,” said Lopez.
“I think it’s important because we live in Florida and I want to be able to communicate with people very well and make really good friends despite the language barrier,” said 13-year-old Anthony Wheeler who was raised learning both languages.
“I think it’s also important to sort of include media in the background, like music, television,” said Abigail Wheeler, 17.
It’s also advised to study using materials in the target language, such as books and programs. Choose the strategy that works best for your family and makes the language integration fun, reliable, and long-lasting, out of the many options available.
“I love being Hispanic, I love celebrating my Hispanic culture, I love bringing it to my children,” said Wheeler.
It’s a prevalent misperception, according to Lopez, that educating a newborn in many languages could cause speech problems.
Spanish playgroups were lacking, so Giovanna Soberon started one, and it has since grown into something much bigger.
“I started in the parks, as a playgroup, that was just the idea, just being a simple playgroup,” said Soberon. “Then, people started asking for more. Let’s do events, let’s do this, let’s do that and it blew my mind all these families looking for this space,” she said.
Soberon has always been active in the community, but as she raised her two small children, she desired for the community to better represent her culture, heritage, tradition, and language.
“We started facing some challenges, I realized it wasn’t enough to speak to him [son] in Spanish so I wanted him not only to be fluent in Spanish, but I wanted him to appreciate our culture, appreciate the fact that he’s bilingual so I was like how are we going to help our son to do that?,” said Soberon.
It was the birth of Groupito. Conceived in June of this year, the phrase means “little group” in Spanish. To support children in developing their Spanish language skills, El Groupito hosts weekly events and activities.
“For Mother’s Day, many events for mothers are in English but then we created one in Spanish for Father’s Day that was our first event. So if we don’t find them then we create them. It’s not easy, it takes a lot of organization,” said Soberon.
Gary, Geo’s Polish and Italian husband, is learning just as much as their 1-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.
“He’ll [son] speak English to me and immediately turn to my wife and speak Spanish and she’ll speak Spanish to him, I’ll speak English to him and it’s happening like rapid fire, like back and forth so it’s very interesting,” said Geo’s husband, Gary Troyanowski
The group had a very successful multilingual storytelling event in September.
“It’s great exposure for her to be around bilingual kids, especially in a world where she’s just surrounded by the English language,” said Sarah Morrison who hopes to raise her 3-year-old daughter, Lily, the way she was.
Every month, the parents and kids go on a Spanish nature walk called Niños en La Naturaleza at Broward Parks. For some families, being proud of your language is just as crucial as simply learning it.
“My grandfather would tell me like, hey, how come we don’t speak Italian or Polish and he’s like during that time his father would say you have to assimilate otherwise you can’t work, you can’t live you can’t put food on the table so having a foreign language wasn’t a desirable thing whereas today it is,” said Gary.
“The big picture of Groupito is to celebrate bilingualism in all languages not just in Spanish and English,” said Soberon.
Moms all over the nation have contacted Geo, she adds, wanting to launch their own Groupito in their local communities. According to Geo, these organisations are crucial for parents as well, who must set an example for their children in language use.
