Exposure concerns: OPOL

[kristyen]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been following this sub for a while now! I’d love a bit of advice/ someone to calm my nerves.

I amAmerican and I am married to a Spaniard. We live in a very small Spanish (Galician) city, just north of Portugal.

We are currently following OPOL, so I speak to my (8mo) old daughter only in English, and my husband speaks to her in Spanish.

Her books are in English and Galician language. I have fluency level (C1) in Galician and even higher fluency level in Spanish (have lived here and spoken in Spanish with my husband for 9 years.) I read to her daily, in both English and Galician.

I am concerned my daughter will not have enough English exposure. She has daily English lessons at nursery, but they’re only 15min. All my interaction is ONLY English, but some days I work a LOT and only get to speak to her maybe 1-1,5 hours a day. No one else speaks English to her, as my family is back in the USA. I have been trying to convince my SIL or FIL to also use English with her, as they’re both fluent and English teachers themselves.

Am I silly for being concerned? Everyone around me says she will be just fine, but she absolutely HAS to be a native English speaker as well. How else would she communicate with my family?!

Oh, my husband also only plays English music for her (currently on paternity leave.) In the future, TV and movies will also be in English.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: I’d like to specify that I also want her to be proficient in the Galician language, though it’s less of a concern. She will learn all 3 languages at school naturally, but neither my husband or I speak Galician in a home setting. I had to reach fluency in Galician to become an English teacher here, and I did so by reading in Galician and watching Galician TV. My rule was only Galician and English books for myself, so I want the same for my daughter.

My husband and I speak Spanish at home. He can speak English well enough, but it’s not our language together. I learned Spanish starting at 5 and went to bilingual schools, so that combined with now living in Spain for nearly a decade has made it so some people do not realize I am not Spanish.

 

[hollyroller7]

@kristyen Since your husband speaks English decently, could you have some dedicated times when you’re around your daughter that you two speak English? Even if it’s not perfect, it’ll be great for her to hear that input. It could be that you speak in English while cooking dinner, or at the dinner table, or during bathtime routine, etc. I’m sure having that bit of extra time will certainly help! Although it may feel unnatural for you and your husband to talk in the language you typically don’t use, I think having more input will be helpful for her.

 

[kristyen]

@hollyroller7 I agree. I have voiced this to him as well. Thanks!

 

[godmadegorillas]

@kristyen Could your husband speak to your daughter in English as well and continue speaking to you in Spanish? I remember reading an old study that suggested kids pick up the language much quicker when the language is directed at them, as opposed to being passive listeners

 

[kristyen]

@godmadegorillas I’d rather him not. His English isn’t good enough to teach it to her. As an English teacher myself, I’ve witnessed kids who struggle with grammar and pronunciation because mom and dad attempt to read English books at home when they don’t know English well enough themselves. Some people feel like this is better than nothing, but I’m not a fan personally.

 

[sawyerbrownlive]

@kristyen Hi,

I understand your concerns. Try to maximize the words per hour that you use when you have some quality time with your daughter. Block time in your calendar to focus on speaking to her, singing, asking questions, describing, and interacting in English.

Luckily there are plenty of resources (also online) to support her development in EN.

You shouldn´t be too worried but try to invest as much as you can in giving her quality input (mainly from real human beings, not screens) to get earlier better results. The first years are your best time to build up a solid foundation in your strongest language.

Join me here for more help and support with raising your daughter multilingual: https://www.multilingual.family/sign-up

 

[kristyen]

@sawyerbrownlive Thanks so much! No screen time for now (except FaceTime with the US family) but I focus on playing with her and reading every night. Sometimes I translate books or I just read English ones we have.

 

[sawyerbrownlive]

@kristyen Perfect, another very valuable tip: stick religiously to EN when speaking to her. If you are in an environment where no one speaks in EN, you don´t want to give your child the "choice" of picking the majority language to address you.

Keep on going, you will soon see the fruits of your labor ;0).

 

[kristyen]

@sawyerbrownlive Thank you! Yes this can be hard sometimes and I forget and switch to Spanish, but it’s also weird to me now that I’m used to only English with her! I assume it’ll only get stronger over time ,

 

[billyl48]

@kristyen FaceTime has helped us a lot, both with maintaining a close relationship with relatives overseas but also nurturing that emotional bond with the language. We live in Japan but speak English at home, so my 6 year old’s emotional connection to English as a language is very strong. The minority-language-at-home approach may not suit your situation and that’s totally fine, but if you can foster close relationships and friendships (playgroups?) with English speakers that might help quite a bit.

 

[alisssabru]

@kristyen Every European child learns to speak English nowadays anyway. Even if it does not work out your kid will know English by the time they’re a teenager.

 

[jamesmason10]

@kristyen I'm almost in exactly the same position as you but in Catalonia, with an almost six year old. Honestly, her spoken English isn't great, but she understands absolutely everything, except very occasional random words. Unfortunately my partner doesn't speak English so it's literally only me speaking to her. I let her have screen time in English, my excuse for not feeling so guilty about it. COVID certainly didn't help as we couldn't go visit family at the crucial times, but this Christmas she started speaking loads of English. I am very consistent about speaking only English, but I haven't made as much effort as I could have otherwise so ultimately I'm not upset about it. I'm pretty sure when she needs it she'll be able to speak ok. Maybe next year as she'll be in proper school and hopefully able to read I'll get her a tutor or something.

 

[kristyen]

@jamesmason10 Thanks for your input! Are you American as well? Has your daughter not had any schooling?

 

[jamesmason10]

@kristyen No, not American, British. Oh yes, she was in daycare since she was a baby and is in her third year of school, but next year she moves into primària which is when they start with more serious work, homework, etc. I've never really wanted to pressure her with extra English classes until she can read and write in Catalan (all schooling is in Catalan, although we don't speak it at home).

 

[kristyen]

@jamesmason10 Ah yes, they’re very strict about that in Catalunya.