am i overdoing it w/my 2.5 year old?

[Deleted]

If you are truly serious, you will just ship him to a Spanish-speaking country.

Anything less is insufficient.

[Jalapeñomel]

We plan to send D to a Spanish immersion preschool, so I say no. Lol

[eb777888]

I actually think it's awesome. I mean, it's not like you're quizzing him with flashcards right now, lol.

[marissa]

Si

[eb777888]

Sept 21, 2014 17:14:17 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:11:49 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

I actually think it's awesome. I mean, it's not like you're quizzing him with flashcards right now, lol.

:-#

OMG! lol Hey, you do you.

eta: I just saw the flashcard part. Duh!

[azurely]

I don't think you're overdoing it, but if he is at all resistant to it, I'd back off a little so you don't turn him off to all of it.

[nomad100]

Does anyone in the household speak Spanish? Like would be able to converse with the child once he becomes more fluent (other than the nanny)?

I think if your goal is for Toddler Farmvillelover to be fluent, someone else needs to study right along with him. I see a Rosetta Stone purchase in your future, I think.

[lilafowler]

I think it's great. And now I feel like an ass because I'm not working with E on a second language lol.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2014 17:15:42 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:10:34 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

If you are truly serious, you will just ship him to a Spanish-speaking country.

Anything less is insufficient.

we are really considering sending him to spanish full immersion elementary, i just want to kind of prep him right now.  you really don't think this is at least good to expose him a decent amount?

maybe i need to relax bc i was getting so annoyed that he couldn't remember our basic words when i was quizzing him earlier.

Could he even do it in English? LOL. I don't know 2.5-year-olds' abilities.

My take is this -- unless YOU are constantly speaking to him in Spanish, there's no point in all the other stuff to "prep" for his immersion class.

[Deleted]

It doesn't sound overboard because wouldn't he be doing all that stuff in english anyway? So instead of 30 min of english tv, he's watching spanish tv. Instead of an english speaking playgroup, he's in a spanish speaking play group. 

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I think learning a language early is great and almost necessary that I hope to immerse my hypothetical kid in a 2nd language as well.

I think overall you just have to keep your expectations in check in regards to his abilities as he's learning both spanish and english right now. 

[Deleted]

Ok, I just saw about the quizzing part, LOL.

That's probably not necessary. Immersion is much more effective.

[Gato]

I think taping words around the house and watching Spanish videos is a harmless way to expose him to the language. But if he goes to a Spanish immersion elementary, he will pick it up very quickly, so it's not really necessary. DD1 had a little friend that did Chinese immersion; he was crazy good after just the first semester.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2014 17:15:42 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:10:34 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

If you are truly serious, you will just ship him to a Spanish-speaking country.

Anything less is insufficient.

we are really considering sending him to spanish full immersion elementary, i just want to kind of prep him right now.  you really don't think this is at least good to expose him a decent amount?

maybe i need to relax bc i was getting so annoyed that he couldn't remember our basic words when i was quizzing him earlier.

I wouldn't worry at all about "prepping" him for the immersion school. I have two friends with kids in the one in SC and there was no prep needed. Plus expecting a 2.5 year old to recall all this is a little much. I would just turn on some Dora and call it a day. I think all of this sounds wonderful, when he is a little bit older. My son has Spanish in kindergarten as part of his program and I speak it with him at home to practice.

[cville]

Quizzing him is insane. Everything else is fine.

[leeluu]

Sept 21, 2014 17:16:51 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

Does anyone in the household speak Spanish? Like would be able to converse with the child once he becomes more fluent (other than the nanny)?

I think if your goal is for Toddler Farmvillelover to be fluent, someone else needs to study right along with him. I see a Rosetta Stone purchase in your future, I think.

Good idea. Do you really want your child being able to speak a language that you don't, thereby having a great way to easily keep things from you?

[lilafowler]

Sept 21, 2014 17:50:53 GMT -5 leeluu said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:16:51 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

Does anyone in the household speak Spanish? Like would be able to converse with the child once he becomes more fluent (other than the nanny)?

I think if your goal is for Toddler Farmvillelover to be fluent, someone else needs to study right along with him. I see a Rosetta Stone purchase in your future, I think.

Good idea. Do you really want your child being able to speak a language that you don't, thereby having a great way to easily keep things from you?

Turn down for WHUT?

[skib]

I think it's great! I'm absolutely amazed at the amount of Spanish my 3.5 yo DD has picked up just watching Dora. And since we're in Texas, our cable service's On Demand has some cartoons in Spanish. We watch those a couple times a week, and she seems to follow the storylines pretty well. She'll also say the Spanish words for things randomly when we're out somewhere. I know very little Spanish and no one else she's with on a regular basis speaks it either, so I know she's picking it up from TV.

You're inspiring me to do more activities in Spanish with her, though! Maybe a Spanish iPad app? Does your DS like the iPad?

[cville]

Sept 21, 2014 17:52:53 GMT -5 lilafowler said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:50:53 GMT -5 leeluu said:

Good idea. Do you really want your child being able to speak a language that you don't, thereby having a great way to easily keep things from you?

Turn down for WHUT?

Right? Like if little farmer busts out "donde esta la condoms" at age 16, farmer will just throw up her hands in despair and befuddlement.

[elenetxu]

If you are going to do flashcards, make it a fun game and not drilling.

I think you are doing a good thing. We start with English here in the three year old classes. Try and make the learning more visual; adults do well with translation whereas the youngest kids do better with visual stuff.

The Spanish public TV station has their kids programming online: www.rtve.es/infantil/series/

[elenetxu]

Sept 21, 2014 17:50:53 GMT -5 leeluu said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:16:51 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

Does anyone in the household speak Spanish? Like would be able to converse with the child once he becomes more fluent (other than the nanny)?

I think if your goal is for Toddler Farmvillelover to be fluent, someone else needs to study right along with him. I see a Rosetta Stone purchase in your future, I think.

Good idea. Do you really want your child being able to speak a language that you don't, thereby having a great way to easily keep things from you?

Dude, no.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2014 17:50:53 GMT -5 leeluu said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:16:51 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

Does anyone in the household speak Spanish? Like would be able to converse with the child once he becomes more fluent (other than the nanny)?

I think if your goal is for Toddler Farmvillelover to be fluent, someone else needs to study right along with him. I see a Rosetta Stone purchase in your future, I think.

Good idea. Do you really want your child being able to speak a language that you don't, thereby having a great way to easily keep things from you?

Stupid.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2014 17:50:53 GMT -5 leeluu said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:16:51 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

Does anyone in the household speak Spanish? Like would be able to converse with the child once he becomes more fluent (other than the nanny)?

I think if your goal is for Toddler Farmvillelover to be fluent, someone else needs to study right along with him. I see a Rosetta Stone purchase in your future, I think.

Good idea. Do you really want your child being able to speak a language that you don't, thereby having a great way to easily keep things from you?

Lol, what?

[Dezi]

DD started french immersion kindergarten at 4 so I don't think it's overboard at all. It's been amazing to watch her learn another language and it has even helped her self confidence in an amazing way.

[cep1976]

Kids do pick it up very quickly in an immersive environment. My 27 month old has gone to an in home daycare where they speak Spanish all day since she was 16 weeks old. She is speech delayed because of a palate issue, but does have words in both languages and absolutely understands and follows directions in both.

Exposing him to it is fine, but not necessary, because he will catch on quickly when he is in the immersion environment.

[papie]

Not at all. My kids are both bilingual and Anna is almost trilingual. They learn so easily at that age!

[rupertpenny]

I think that even if he doesn't actually learn to speak spanish now this will be very helpful to him. Just hearing the different sounds and sentence structures now will help.

This is just a second degree anecdote of course, but I have an American coworker who lived in Taiwan 30 years ago and had her daughter there. The daughter was exposed to Mandarin and Taiwanese every day until they moved back to the US when she was two. She didn't do anything Chinese language related until she took Mandarin in high school and even though she didn't remember much, she still learned way faster that the people in the class who had zero exposure. The daughter moved back to Taiwan after college and was actually able to become conversational in Mandarin and Taiwanese.

[themoneytree]

I think it's a wonderful idea!

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2014 17:15:42 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Sept 21, 2014 17:10:34 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

If you are truly serious, you will just ship him to a Spanish-speaking country.

Anything less is insufficient.

we are really considering sending him to spanish full immersion elementary, i just want to kind of prep him right now.  you really don't think this is at least good to expose him a decent amount?

maybe i need to relax bc i was getting so annoyed that he couldn't remember our basic words when i was quizzing him earlier.

I think maybe you need to take it down a notch with the flash cards.  How are you teaching him English?  Follow suit in Spanish, I,e, immerse him as much as possible.

yes, the earlier the better with language, but there are a lot of 5 year olds, like my nephew, that go into Spanish immersion elementary school with no prior Spanish and figure it out and do fine.

[bohemianmango]

I don't think you're going overboard. Any consistent exposure and use will help him learn the language.

My friend pretty much learned English from watching Sesame Street everyday. Her parents and most of her relatives only communicated with ASL. Kindergarten was like an English immersion program for her so it helped to have the daily exposure beforehand.

[mandymay]

Sept 21, 2014 22:20:07 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Sept 21, 2014 18:56:44 GMT -5 cep1976 said:

Kids do pick it up very quickly in an immersive environment. My 27 month old has gone to an in home daycare where they speak Spanish all day since she was 16 weeks old. She is speech delayed because of a palate issue, but does have words in both languages and absolutely understands and follows directions in both.

Exposing him to it is fine, but not necessary, because he will catch on quickly when he is in the immersion environment.

thanks, i'd really like to believe this is true!

It's definitely true. My husband was in an immersion class in preschool and kindergarten and although he went to an all English school for 1st grade on he retained a lot of the basis of the language and could speak it when he was in that environment.

Immersion is also great for adults too. It's how I learn language best, hearing it used all the time is a lot better for retention for me than reading it/studying it in a book.

I think the movies/play group/songs/books are a good idea right now, but quizzing might be a bit much at his age. And he'll learn so much when he starts school where he's constantly hearing the language.