El Pasoans Give Advice on How to Learn Spanish
Just what do El Pasoans think of non-Spanish speaking Mexicans? CLICK HERE to check out the article I did on this subject. Despite the folks on Reddit saying it's not that big of a deal, when we discussed the topic on the air, it was a completely different story.
Someone over on Reddit wants their kid to learn Spanish and needed some advice. Here's their question:
Hey y’all. The only reason I know how to read Spanish is because I was in Dual-Language courses as a child but I believe that program is no longer available after 3rd grade and I now I’m semi-pocha bc my Spanish education stopped at 8 years old. I don’t want my kid to have the same fate so does anyone know of any after-school programs similar to Korean Heritage Language Schools but for Spanish? I know Spanish is offered in some middle and high schools but I would rather take advantage of my child’s young, high-volume learning years if possible
My kid is in dual-language and I know it definitely helps with her Spanish. Even though she's been brought up around both languages, if it were up to her, she'd only speak, read, and be around English. But that's just because it's the language she is more fluent in and Spanish can be actual work. And we all know how kids feel about actual work.
There were a few responses that stood out to this question on Reddit. Steadydrop said:
Listen to spanish radio, television, have friends that are native speakers? They have kids? Have them hangout. Immersion can help a lot. Fellow pocho lol both my parents were born raised in Mexico then we moved to East Texas when I was little and had to "acclimate" to learning English by the time we moved back to El Paso I had the east texas drawl that I thankfully lost! But my folks spoke Spanish and English at home more English when we lived in Commerce so yeah getting back into the flow in the lower valley was tough.
I agree with this whole-heartedly. In order to help my kid (and me actually) with Spanish, we watch Spanish TV and read books in Spanish. We used to have my kid switch between an English book and a Spanish book, but we're now to the point of just Spanish to really work on that language. Another poster on Reddit said:
The ol’ chancla to the head oughta do it
That does seem to be a popular solution here in the Borderland. And finally, someone else recommended something to learn Spanish that I am a big advocate of. Duolingo. It's free and you can learn all kinds of languages.