Miami a truly international city. You walk down any street and you can hear Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Creole and a host of other languages.
I grew up Speaking English in School and Spanish at home. I have memories of "El Noticiero 23" and of course all of the Spanish Novelas like, "El Derecho de Nacer" every evening. However, since I can "pass" for a gringa and grew up in Miami Beach, most people assume that I am not Cuban. I have always felt Cuban, but I knew I didn't fit in with the other Cuban girls that grew up in Little Havana or Hialeah. I eat Bagels and Lox with as much enthusiasm as Cafe con Leche.
I have been married for 10 years and we have been an English speaking household. Well that is until our son was born. We decided that we would teach him Spanish first. This was a huge sacrifice since I think and dream in English. I bought kids English/Spanish dictionaries so that I would not end up teaching him Spanglish. I have always considered myself fluent in Spanish but teaching a little child from Scratch is another thing all together.
So here we are 4 years later. Four years of Spanish only. Wow only in Miami can I raise a gringo looking, blue eyed boy with Spanish as his first language. He does not let me speak English to him. He wants me to translate every book and until recently he would always pick the Spanish sound track on all of his movies.
It is quite funny but he has an accent when he tries to speak English. He has been picking some up recently. How does this happen. How did we do it? Well as it turns out none of the teachers in day care speak English either. Whenever I would go into a new daycare I would ask if people spoke English. Since they though I was American they all quickly tried to speak in their best English to assure me that they did, "O ches wi spiki ingli". I would say no please do not speak to him in English but since they are required to teach them in English it was inevitable that he would pick up their accent. There are things he says to me that I can barely understand. He also picks up things from TV that crack me up. His recent one is "Okay, okay Mr. Wossy" which means "Mr. Bossy" Although I tell him that it is not the right way to speak to Mommy and Daddy, I love it when he says it. I know I shouldn't do this but sometimes I set him up so that he says it. It is the cutest thing I have ever heard.
A few months ago I was very worried that I had made a huge mistake. He started to be shy at the park. He wouldn't approach kids until he knew what language they spoke first. He didn't want to be the one to speak first for fear that he would be in the wrong language. Thank goodness that it was short lived. He has gone back to asking other kids to play with their toys in both languages.
Recently I have been increasing some of the English we speak to him so that he can learn the right way to say things. He once came home singing- Mon- Fri "to" days of the week, only to find out that it was supposed to be "the" days of the week and the teacher herself was saying it wrong. A few days ago he came home singing yet another song but this time I have no idea what the song is and he is basically cursing. He sings it all of the time. " Chicken f&*?" This is a real problem as it is a song they are learning to prepare for a show next month. I have to try and get this on video as there will be 15 kids all yelling it at the same time. I tell him that it can't possibly go that way but he insists. So I ask him to stop singing it until I ask the teacher to teach it to me. He is reluctant but says, " Okay, Okay Mr. Wossy"
