My Children Don't Speak English

One of my commitments to my children is to pass our language on to them. Being fluent in Spanish is one of the most important educational goals I have for them.

My family and I moved from Venezuela to the United States when I was eight-years-old. At the time we lived in Irvine, California, where there were few Latinos and I was the only Spanish-speaker in my ESL (English as a Second Language) class. The other students spoke Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese. The sounds I heard, especially while we were doing math assignments, when everyone would count out loud, were deafening and I wanted to be a part of it, so I started to pretend I spoke Chinese just to feel like I fit in. My classmates found it amusing and funny and the situation made my initial school days lonely and a little frustrating, but turned into a do or die for me -- either I learned English or Chinese. I was young, but the advantages of choosing English were clear to me.

Within three months I was transferred to a regular classroom, with English-speaking students. Soon I was chosen to work at the school snack bar and the cafeteria, coveted jobs by all fourth and fifth graders. I told my classmates that I had gone to the "bitch" instead of the "beach", and I couldn't understand why the school was so religious (they promised harsh punishment for "swearing"), but over all I made huge strides.

My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Beachum, valued me and encouraged me to read by allowing me to stay after class to choose books from her "treasure cabinet." I read too many books to count and by the end of the year I was a better speller than a lot of my classmates. In high school I was an an honor-roll student, graduated at the top of my class and later received a double degree from the University of California at Davis.

Some people are surprised to learn that my children don't speak English. Others are not surprised, but alarmed to learn this fact about my kids. After all, my husband and I are college-educated professionals who actually feel more comfortable speaking in English ourselves. But I want Camila and Mateo to favor Spanish for now. I want them to feel strange speaking to my husband and me in English so that they will always hold on to our language which is the portal to our culture. I want them to tell and understand jokes in Spanish. To argue, sing, dream in Spanish. I want them to read Cervantes, Borges, Neruda, Garcia-Marquez and to savor the beauty of our language. And I believe that by speaking to them in Spanish, and only in Spanish, I am giving them an advantage from which they will reap benefits for the rest of their lives.

I have to admit, at times I want to speak to them in English. Especially when I see them struggling to communicate with other children and adults. On occasion I question myself and wonder if I'm setting them back. But I think of all the people I've met who have said to me "I wish my parents had spoken to me in Spanish/Chinese/Tagalog/German/Vietnamese," and I push away the impulse and the doubts. Having lived here most of my life I feel more "me" when I speak in English and in all honesty, the easiest thing for me would have been to speak to them in English from the beginning. But being a parent isn't about what is easy for me, it's about what is best for my children. And I know the only opportunity my kids have to learn Spanish well is by learning it from my husband and me.

They will learn English... they are learning English everywhere already; at school, at the park, the supermarket, at story-time in the library, in swim class and gymnastics, from the radio, and from members of our family that don't speak Spanish. I was able to learn it at age eight, in three months. I have no worries about Camila and Mateo being English-speakers... soon.

So when my family from abroad speaks to my children in English again I will smile and explain that my U.S.-born children don't speak English. And when I see my children struggling to communicate with others I will smile and think ahead to when they'll be able to communicate with a multitude of people in not one but two languages. I will take pride in how competitive they will be in an ever globalized job market. I will peak into their future and hear them speaking to their own children in Spanish.

For now I will continue to explain "My children don't speak English... yet."