Try New Adventures – Learning Spanish as a Family
Posted on: October 14, 2010
- In: Life
- 10 Comments
I’ve always thought it would be wonderful to speak a second language. I took four semesters of German in college, and while I could speak/understand it then, I can’t even recall any words now. Jonathan grew up in Texas with a Spanish speaking family, but they never taught him and only spoke to the children in English.
When we had the girls, we decided we really wanted them to learn Spanish. Not only do we think it’s an important language to know, we want them to have a strong connection to their heritage. {For those who don’t know us personally, despite having a very Anglo last name, Jonathan is in fact Hispanic.} When Grandma moved in with us we saw it as a great opportunity for the girls to learn Spanish.
Then Jonathan decided that rather than just having the girls learn, we should make it a family adventure. And so, our family has embarked on learning Spanish. We got some amazing books from the library and are constantly quizzing Grandma on proper enunciation and wording. The girls {i.e. Julia} are slowly picking up on different words and I’m putting together sentences {Yo quiero uno vaso de lecha, por favor – I would like milk please}. It’s been pretty fun, listening to Spanish songs and reading through the picture dictionaries. Hopefully we can say a few Spanish phrases for families back in Texas the next time we visit.
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
10 Responses to "Try New Adventures – Learning Spanish as a Family"
October 14, 2010 at 10:46 am
This is awesome! I really really really want to speak a second language! I took the standard 2 semesters of spanish in college and really enjoyed it, but was unable to take any more spanish classes because I was trying to squeeze in all my nursing prereqs. I would really like to be IMMERSED!
Have you ever been to Germany? I’m sure you would remember more than you think…
October 14, 2010 at 10:46 am
P.S. How’s your running challenge going?
October 14, 2010 at 10:52 am
I went to Germany right after college and so I was able to navigate around pretty well. Haven’t been back since, so I don’t know how I’d do.
And the running is going well. I’ve done 11 miles since Friday! Taking today off though cause I’m a little sore. 🙂
October 14, 2010 at 10:47 am
I took a few years of Spanish in highschool and remebered none of it- until I started learning French and then the Spanish words came to me. Cracked me up! What a fun family adventure; enjoy!
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October 14, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I took 4 years of Spanish in high school plus 2 semesters in college and I’m amazed that I’ve retained quite a bit, even though I don’t use it much. I actually am much better with reading and understanding people speaking than I am speaking myself. I love when I get Spanish speaking patients- we always use an interpreter, but it’s fun listening and trying to follow the spanish conversation. Mike had basically a minor in Spanish in college, so we sometimes practice with each other. We’d both like to be more fluent and teach our kids to speak Spanish, but we really need more opportunity to use it!
October 14, 2010 at 10:14 pm
How fun! I would love to do this with my kids! They’ve picked up a few words from cartoons and we read the bilingual stories in High Five magazines, but haven’t done official lessons…yet.
October 15, 2010 at 1:23 pm
fun! we are learning arabic 🙂 have you heard of the Thompson method? it’s a method where you learn like a child. you don’t learn like we learned in school. like water = aqua that is why we don’t remember. our friends used this method overseas and it’s amazing! you learn by basically not speaking at all the first few months- and just listening, then once you are done with that session you start picking up different words but not by doing the equals things- more of you pick up an apple and just say the word in arabic. does that make sense?
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A Wife Loved Like The Church 
October 14, 2010 at 9:21 am
Bueno!
I am not sure what the Coralville library has, but the IC library has some CD’s and dvd’s also, I think, that you can listen to in the car or on the computer. I had one in one day when Grandma and I were out and about! It was fun!
I have tried a bit, but need to work at it more! In public, most Hispanic folks talk fast like I speak English fast, so it is hard to pick out what the words are!
We have many families from India around us and I sure wish I could speak to them. Actually, they don’t all speak the same dialect!
Tengo un dia bueno! (My computer doesn’t do all of the correct punctuation!)