By: Davida Grant
My husband and I are committed to bilingualism for our kids. With Simone, we hired a nanny when she was 1, whose native language was Spanish. Our thinking was, the sooner she’s immersed in a second language, the better. At 2, we enrolled her in a bilingual daycare. Last week Simone, now 3, started preschool at a bilingual DC PCS. So how is Simone doing? Well, my feelings here are mixed. Yes she knows quite a bit of Spanish. But, her mastery of the English language has suffered quite a bit. I know that every child is different, but Simone is quite behind some of her peers that have not yet been formally exposed to a second language. So, I can’t help but wonder if formally exposing a child to a second language before preschool is too early?
We now have to decide whether to put Grant in an English-centered daycare or bilingual/immersion daycare. I’ve talked to a few bilingual educators on this and there is no consensus. Some recommend that we immerse Grant in Spanish as soon as possible, which is consistent with the approach we took with Simone. That way, he’ll learn the languages in tandem. Others recommend that we wait until Grant enters preschool before putting him in an immersion or 50/50 bilingual program. They believe it’s critically important for a child to have a solid foundation in the primary language BEFORE introducing the second language in any significant way. In their experience, it’s harder for children to master either language if they don’t have a foundation in their native language.
The hubby and I have some serious thinking to do.
Have you had to deal with this issue? What are your thoughts and experiences?
Vida Marie
Just 4 Mommies 
It’s never to early! The earlier the better! I speak to my daughter in Spanish and English, and we watch the Baby First channel in English and Spanish. I alternate every other day. She responds to me in both languages at 7 months.
That’s awesome. I know how much effort it takes. Keep it up! Thanks for sharing.
I am a fluent, but not native Spanish speaker, and I have some lingering guilt over not exposing my first born to another language earlier on. However, I just had a friend tell me that if you are not a native speaker of another language, it is better to just stick with English at first because you have more vocab in English. Guilt slightly relieved…but still. I have also heard one parent/one language is the ideal approach. So who knows. If my son had gotten into a bilingual PCS this year, we might have sent him, but he didn’t, so he is in a private Montessori program. We’ll probably try the lottery again next year. Oh, and it’s fun to read a neighbor’s blog! (I live in Eckington.)
I have a three year old and a 10 month old. The three year old was exposed to some, limited, Spanish until he was two. My husband is a native Spanish speaker, but did not often speak it to him. At two years old, I put him in a Spanish speaking day care, my husband began to speak to him in Spanish more frequently and my mother in law stayed with us for long periods off and on. We just started him in a DCPS that is dual language. The result has been this: his English speaking and comprehension are very advanced. Although it has always seemed that he understood quite a bit of Spanish, he almost never spoke it. Since starting school a week ago, he has started speaking in Spanish frequently. Sometimes I think he wants to speak Spanish but doesn’t know the words, and so he makes stuff up! I’ve been trying to get him interested in Spanish for three years, but it seems school has finally done the trick.
I do think each child is different. In our case, I don’t think early exposure to a second language hindered his English language development. What I have also read is that even if a dual language learner appears to be slower learning than peers, they generally catch up at a certain age and often go on to surpass language development of peers in both languages.
So, my two cents is that you can’t start too early. Good luck!