My daughter is 4 and is being forced to learn spanish. Should this be allowed?

Question

My 4 yearold goes to a preschool in the headstart program. Because of our countries immigration status she is being forced to learn spanish. She is still learning english and has trouble pronouncing some letters. Since starting preschool she has been having even more trouble with pronounciation and learning new words in the AMERICAN language. I honestly think she is getting confused. I pulled her from that preschool and placed her in a christian preschool that teaches the 'OLD' lessons. I have recieved alot of critisism from people who say I am only hurting my daughters future by not make this second language a part of her early learning. What do you think?

I am not a racist at all! My nephew is half american and half mexican. I am well aware that part of my family migrated here. I do not have an issue with people wnating to come here to make themselves a better life, I actually respect that. My problem is with forcing us to learn a language so that these people do not have to learn ours. If you want the AMERICAN dream then be an american. The preschool that I chose had nothing to do with it being christian. It is infact our YMCA, which also has spanish speaking children. Rather than teaching the english speaking kids spanish they are teaching the spanish speaking kids the american language. ENGLISH.

Answer 1

i commend you for wanting your child to learn english!!! this is america after all!!! i am trying to concieve and would be unbelievably pissed if some one who was taking care of my child was making them learn a different language before english!! i cant tell you how irritating and annoying it is when i hear people speaking other languages to their children! they dont realize its just going to make it harder for them when they reach school age and cant understand what is going on because they dont understand english!! this may sound really racist but, i think if your going to live in america, then you need to learn and speak english (especially if you plan on raising kids here) before anyone even lets you into this country. i dont think you are hurting your childs future at all. i think that program is the one hurting your childs future!!! what would their answer be if your child couldnt communicate with you because you both spoke different languages? would they tell you to learn spanish? that is just insane!!! good luck and please continue teaching her english!!

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I think you were absolutely right. I had the same problem with my sons school. My family is currently taking Japanese lessons and the private tutors aren't cheap, when my son started kindergarten his japanese went way downhill and he started throwing in spanish words. I knew it was spanish because I do speak the language, I took four years of it. I went to the school and was told because some of the kids speak only spanish they had decided to teach it to all the children. I was a little upset and told them maybe they should work on teaching the spanish kids english. They were so rude and basically called me a racist until I started screaming at them in spanish about all the money I was putting into the japanese lessons and if they were going to undermine that then they could just reimburse me for all the money I had spent. They were alot more understanding after that, but it's depressing to know that a white person in the same situation who didn't speak the language would simply be considered a racist.
Above all, she's your child. You should have a say in what she is taught, and if a school doesn't respect you then either pull your daughter out or sue the hell out of them.
Although to be honest, a second language is a good thing. From what you've said it seems to be hurting her english at this point so she's probably not ready for it, but it's something to consider in the future.

Answer 4

A lot of other countries require that school children speak more than one language. I really don't think there's any harm in a child learning a language at all. Studies have also shown if learned early, they're more easily retained. There is nothing wrong with a child learning spanish or french, or any other language. They are both very beautiful languages.

However, you have every right to be pulling your child out if she's having a hard time. Trying to learn another language now when she's having a struggle isn't very wise. I don't know how you could be looked down upon for that.

Answer 5

These days you can learn how to speak Spanish over the internet. Check out this online course, it's voted as the best Spanish online course of all time: http://www.rocketlearner.com/spanish The course is very easy to follow, I was able to learn Spanish in just 3 months.

I live in New York City, I wanted to go to a Spanish language teacher but that would have cost me over $800 per month. Good thing with this internet, $800 it's a lot of money for me.

Answer 6

Your daughter should be proficient in computer first. it is something they teach in Kindergartenclasses. It should be her decision to learn another language and frankly, I think by the time she needs to use one in busines it will be a world that teaches spanish as a second class elective since most of all foreigners speak english anyways.
Sure some people of foreign nations stick to their own language (some just to preserve it), but English has become predominant in even countries such as China (where the most spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese) .
No she should learn any foreign language except for computer language( it is almost foreign in itself but essental to learn at her age) I started at age 43 and still have no idea what I am doing at times. They didn't have Computer classes when I was in High school and that is why I am going to college late to learn it ,
Spanish taught me nothing; neither did doing graphs in algebra. but the computer is the new world and the only thing to stop your daughter from it learning how to type fast(Istill have not got that down) .
And English is the only language spoken in the business world . So you definitely made the right decision.

Answer 7

See. This is what I love about being a parent. You get to make all the decisions for your child with out having to worry about others opinions. I think that if you think that your daughter will benefit from being in the christian preschool opposed to a preschool that taught a second language than you made the right decision. You know your daughter and you know her learning capabilities. It is now mandatory for every child to eventually take some form of a foreign language. Maybe when she gets to that age she can decide which language she wants. But for now I would stick with your gut instinct and let her learn english first.

Answer 8

I imagine she isn't learning Spanish as a first language in class but it's being taught because of the poor little kids who come from only Spanish speaking homes as a way to bridge the communication gap. I think it can be good for her in the long run as long as she doesn't have a learning disability that is effecting her speech development.

As a parent, it is your right to do what is best for her and if you feel you are helping her by pulling her from the headstart program...who cares what anyone else thinks? So what if you want her to develop her English vocabulary first?

My son is in headstart too and I would pull him if I felt anything was interfering with his development...of course I wouldn't choose Christian but that's me.

Answer 9

I think that the amount she would learn in preschool is minimal. I know that children learn languages easier but it's not like she can't make the decision on her own when she gets to high school or something if she wants to learn it or not. In elementary school they might teach some words/phrases which is good b/c she will have learned English well enough to establish the difference between the two langauges by then. I don't think there is anything wrong with you changing preschools.

Answer 10

Learning forgiven languages is constantly a excellent thing in existence. If you thought in begin learning some new language why don’t you start with one thing easy like Spanish, easy if you learn it right here https://tr.im/jiSTx with Rocket Languages, an straightforward program with a lot of characteristics that make this method of finding out even much easier.
Rocket Languages it is a acknowledged leader in online language finding out. With Rocket Language course you will have functions like: voice recognition, testing, games, in-constructed flashcard app and a fascinating design and style.
Rocket Languages is the ideal decision to discover Spanish language.

Answer 11

I'm not sure which American language she is learning now - there's so many - Arapahoe, French, to name a couple but I think English should be what she should know.

The learning of two languages at especially her young age is actually a good thing, because she will be able to pronounce both languages correctly. It's very hard when you're older. I would encourage her to learn another language at a young age, there's alot of bilingual children who do fine in other countries.

I'm also concerned about the "new" school - if this country's immigration status somehow is forcing children to learn Spanish, how is that "new" school be exempt?

I'm sorry you're getting critisisms - but she will be okay, learning both languages.