OT Completely!!! Spanish? Que?

[Stoutman]

I have a 4-year old son who goes to day care 3-days a week. He likes to watch Dora the Explorer which for those of you that don't know, teaches kids a few Spanish words. I use to object to him watching it, but now I don't have the energy to keep changing it when he watches it. Now he comes home from pre-school and they are teaching him the days of the week in English and in Spanish. What the f---???

Why do 'they' feel it is important to teach my 4-year old son Spanish words when he can barely speak English?? Is Spanish going to be on the SAT or LSAT or MCAT ???

This is getting really ridiculous.

[Morris Dovey]

| Why do 'they' feel it is important to teach my 4-year old son | Spanish words when he can barely speak English?? Is Spanish going | to be on the SAT or LSAT or MCAT ???

Nope - but it may be needed to obtain a guest worker pass...

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Clint]

:) At least here in Canada we have an OFFICIAL second language. Actually, the town I live in here in redneck Alberta has our stop (and many street) signs in French and English, and all our schools are bi-lingual. There's old farts around here who don't speak any English (only French) and in the video store the other day (renting for my wife, not me. Promise!), there was a young couple just having a normal conversation in French. Still takes me by surprise after being here for 2 years.

Clint

[tom]

[Teamcasa]

Not really. Having a second language can only benefit him later in life. I have been studying Spanish for years (I have 40+ Spanish speaking employees and I travel to Mexico frequently) and really regret not paying more attention in Spanish class.

Remember, one say the Junior Beer man may run a large company that employs Spanish speaking employees. After all, what can it hurt?

Dave

[Norvin]

You are right.

[Lew Hodgett]

I feel sorry for you.

You obviously don't understand the value of being bilingual.

Lew

[Stoutman]

I totally see the value in being bilingual! I wish I spoke 10 languages, that would be awesome.

You are missing my point. He is FOUR. Shouldn't he learn English first?

Instead of teaching him two new Spanish words per day, I would rather 'they' teach ONE new English word!!

[tom]

[Stoutman]

Too funny! This is why you should never drink a beverage while reading this NG. How bad is Yuengling for my keyboar-gksdl dssd?

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

As far as I can tell Spanish is the official language of the USA these days. I have trouble finding the damned directions for things in English! Cheers, cc

[lwasserm]

Actually there have been many many studies that show that teaching a second language is most effectively done when started at the pre-school age, without detriment or delay in learning the primary language. Personal observations of bilingual people in my own family (unfortunately I'm not one of them) certainly bear that out.

[R. Pierce Butler]

"James \"Cubby\" Culbertson" wrote in news:_KednYxZdYn8drzYnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

That is why all of the court documents are written in Spanish as well as the Bills that pass through Congress. All newspapers and magazines are in Spanish as are all of the programs on evey single cable channel.

[R. Pierce Butler]

"Stoutman" wrote in news:VfiUg.253$ [e-mail]:

When one knows more than one language, it opens more doors than if you only know english. If he does learn spanish fluently, then other langages will be easier to learn as well.

NOW is the time to teach him a second or third language. It will never be easier for him.

Would you object if he was learning Dutch, German, or Pidgin?

[cselby]

My wife taught my 3 yr old to speak flawless french all the while that I and the rest of the tribe spoke english. At 4 yrs old she was my 'tutor' when I broke down and finally took french classes.

My 4 yr old grandson also watches 'Dora the Explora' and we do spanish together and he corrects me.

Don't be afraid of a language taught to a preschooler. They can only benefit from the exposure. I wish I knew that 45 yrs ago.

Pete

[Bob AZ]

He is learning more english than you are aware of. As you say there is nothing but good about being bilingual.

All this reminds me of a friend who teaches kindergarten. 20 all day long in her class. The usual mix is at least 10 who speak only one language and it is not english or spanish. One year there were 14 who spoke only one language and it was not english or spanish. After 6 weeks with lots of recess time they all spoke english as well as any kindergartener. And se impressed the parents to keep up the other languages.

Bob AZ

[dadiOH]

He'll learn English without anyone teaching him words. Not so with Spanish.

Que el aprenda bien.

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

No, but it may be the language used at the grocery store. I know it is at mine. I only wish I'd paid more attention to Spanish when I took it in school. No motivation to learn it then... now I realize my mistake.

You need to chill. They're doing your child a service. And don't worry that he can only absorb one language. Using that thinking, you'd need to pull him out of mathematics later because it might interfere with his learning to read. Your kid's brain is like a sponge.... pack as much stuff in there as he can absorb.

And languages... they are easiest to learn at a very early age. Being bilingual is a very good thing in today's world.

[Leon]

Ultimately it will be an asset as when he has his Mexican gardener do something different the gardener will not be able to fall back on the old stand by, I no speakey English, to get out of doing as instructed. Also at this age he will retain more of what he learns than later on.

[Peter Lynch]

I do agree with youthat teaching him spanish is probably not a good idea. They should be teaching him chinese, that way he'll be able to get a job when he grows up.

Pete