I live in an area with a large Hispanic population. I am now kicking myself for taking French in high school and college. I actually learned Spanish throughout elementary school, which is why I opted for French later in life. I simply wanted a change. Now I wish I had put more thought into which language I learned.
I grew up in a college town, which is not the area where I currently live. My elementary school was the closest to campus and so we had numerous children of international students in our class. Some of the parents would come and teach us about their cultures. In kindergarten and first grade we learned a lot of Spanish. My dad says I could even converse in Spanish at that age, but clearly I have lost that skill. Years later, maybe around fourth grade, we learned Arabic. Many of my close friends throughout elementary school were from Malaysia, although they spoke spot on English, so language was never a barrier. Keep in mind all of this happened in (gasp) a public school.
I know there are people who say if you live in the U.S. you need to speak English and nothing else. I'm not trying to stir that pot with this post. Still, because of where I live, I wish I had a better grasp of the Spanish language. It would make my retail job a lot easier. For the record, I also wish I had a better grasp of American Sign Language, as I have had numerous hearing-impaired customers recently. I took an ASL class in college, but my skills are rusty and I don't think these customers want to stand around all day while I finger spell everything.
My daughters are learning Spanish in preschool this year. The teacher's aide in their classroom is one of the only bilingual aides, so many of the students in the class are bilingual or only speak Spanish. I think being exposed to Spanish at a young age will be good for my girls. On the way home from school yesterday, Roo told me some of the kids were speaking Spanish in class. I asked her if she knows Spanish, too. She said yes... "Hola, mommy." It's a start, although I think she already picked up that much from Dora the Explorer.
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