Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Hi everyone,
In the next few weeks I have a just turned two Spanish ESL child. His Mother would like both English and Spanish used in care.

Does anyone have any resources they can recommend?
I dont want to trivalise his cutlure but I do need to learn spanish along with him learning english.

Thanks
Lindy

Thanks LA thats site is excellent!

Interesting ... I have taught many bilingual children and usually I recommend that they do one language at school and the other at home, for obvious reasons, I may mispronounce something or say something wrong without meaning to! Yes I can teach them/introduce them to things about (in your case) Spain, teach some basic phrases, things about the culture etc (though not sure how much of that a 2 year old will absorb), they can listen to songs in Spanish, learn about the clothes, dance etc. However language development wise its best to leave the majority of speaking Spanish to the parents. I have only used foreign languages to give the child an idea of what I was saying in English but as soon as they knew what eg "toilet" "lunch time" "play time" meant in English I dropped the usage of those in their language,

I'm not saying we shouldn't either but simple phrases & words. It just sounded like this parent was expecting more.
I've used a multitude of languages in my career in EC but beyond basic and in my scope i can't do and make it clear to parents.

Dora the Explorer and Diego! They speak Spanish. Kids love their books and their stories have a lot of Spanish words throughout them. Im sure you can find some at the library.

Why dont you get some parent involvement from this? Would the parent be willing to come and teach a few simple Spanish rhymes to the kids?

If you have a look at YouTube you can find a few Spanish videos for kids as well: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... arch_type=

Counting to five in Spanish
Hello
Goodbye
Etc these are relatively easy to learn & yep Dora n Diego always a good idea, haven't met a kid who doesn't like them!!

Thanks everyone for your input.

Mum is definitely very keen to assist in the learning. Mum is very fluent with her English so I will be able to converse with her. I certainly wont be fluent but I feel by having a few Spanish words and learning opportunities that we all will be better people for the coming together of cultures and mutual understanding.

I am interested in the resources available that people find useful. I will definitely be getting Dora and Diego to help! The website LA referred me to too will be helpful.

I guess for me is that for a very very long time now my families have all have the same cultural profile and I am relishing the opportunity to expand the children's knowledge and understanding of things outside their and my culture and understanding. I have never wanted to be the Educator that tokenises 'multiculturalism' and want each child in care to be accepting and understanding of people and cultures that are different and similar to theirs.

I myself am interested in learning another language and if it happens to be Spanish for now then thats great.

I learnt sign language a few years back to support a hearing impaired child in my care and this facilitated another child (Who's had learning and speech issues)) to form a caring relationship with me because I was able to offer another way for him to communicate and be understood.

I hope all this makes sense.

Lindy