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My husband is Spanish and I am from Australia. At home we always speak to our son in English because we feel it will be easier for our son to learn Spanish since we live in Spain. We are starting to consider options for when he starts school next year. Would it be best for us to send him to a foreign (American or British) school? Would he feel obligated to correct his classmates’ English? Could he have similar problems in a Spanish school?

Dear Parents,
From what I understand you have chosen the ONE HOME, ONE LANGUAGE (OHOL) model: only one language is spoken at home by all family members. This system has the great advantage of providing an important stimulus for the non-community language (the language which is not frequently spoken in the community you live in), which usually becomes weaker over time and often disappears from the child’s productive range (some children stop speaking this language with their parents on a daily basis when they feel more secure communicating in their “stronger” or dominant language).

You are right about one fundamental thing: your son will receive enough linguistic input to learn Spanish from the community outside your home (in the park, with his grandparents and cousins, on tv, in shops…). You are also right to be concerned about the next phase: the school you choose is a very strong linguistic stimulant so it is important to bear this in mind.

Your question addresses one of the most frequent matters affecting OHOL homes: Should we continue to give priority to the non-community language? How should we stimulate Spanish? What kind of repercussions would sending my child to a primarily English or bilingual school have on my child’s social development?

The first thing you need to know is that there is no “right” answer to this question, and there is no obligation to make a decision and stick with it no matter what. I always use a graphic example to illustrate this matter: achieving a balance between both languages. All bilingual parents want their children to develop a balance between both languages, so that they feel just as comfortable using both their languages. In order to achieve this goal there is just one secret: to design a scale on which the linguistic needs of each child in both languages balance one another out. Imagine a scale with weights for English on one side and for Spanish on the other. The weight we give to each language should depend on two variables: the time your child spends on activities in each language and the need for active communication during these activities (Watching TV does not require your child to speak, so it is just a source of passive input, while playing soccer with Spanish neighbors does require your child to speak and games like “Who’s Who” are even better for this sort of active language use.) The more balanced the scale, the more balanced your child’s linguistic activity will be.

Your child’s education is a major source of weight for this scale. Your child will not only spend many hours a day in this environment, but the school you choose will also define many of his social relationships, which are one of the strongest communicative stimulants, since a child truly develops his linguistic abilities when he has to convince others, negotiate, complain, show confidence, etc. A school where more than 60% of classes are given in the non-community language (this is not always the case in so called bilingual schools, but it is the case in schools like The American School, King’s College, British Council, etc.) are a great opportunity to preserve this language. This sort of education also helps with the development of literacy skills, which are of the utmost importance when defining linguistic abilities in any language.

At this point, your son has a lot of weight on the English side of the scale. For a few years longer (until he is around five), one of the most important weights is the communication in your home (repetitive activities like bathtime, eating, reading…), but soon your child’s friends and after school activities will become more important and it will be harder to maintain this balance. It can be difficult to gain admission to some bilingual schools when a child is older so, although you may not have an immediate need for this sort of extra English input now, you may want to consider looking into this option.

In any case, all bilingual families should bear in mind that  there are other ways of adding weight to the scales: after school activities (especially small group activities and team sports), contact with the community of origen (feel free to contact us if you need contacts in Madrid) and hiring an English speaking nanny are other alternatives. It’s hard to predict which way the scales will tip, so we should always be open to changing our strategy as we go along, putting more emphasis on one language or the other according to each child’s needs.

Of course we should also realize that creating this sort of linguistic environment for our child and even for ourselves as parents will define us to a certain extent as a different sort of family, and a unique child. Like it or not, our extended families and neighbors will have an opinion about this, and we will have to do our best to make this situation feel as natural as possible for our children so that they don’t feel awkward. If you begin to notice that your son’s Spanish level is affecting his social development, there is always time to move the weights around a bit and this can be done as you go along.

As to whether or not your son will feel obligated to correct his peers’ English, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Young children don’t tend to correct one another because communication generally takes priority over correct speech and each child tends to correct himself in order communicate with others. Also, if your child begins to correct his classmates’ English, he opens himself up to criticism of his Spanish, so that sort of situation generally works itself out.

On the other hand, I believe there are other factors to be considered when choosing a school for your child, such as your economic situation, proximity, day to day quality of life, the specific needs of each child and family, whether or not you plan on moving to another country at some point, etc. I’m sure you are keeping all of this in mind, but it is just a reminder for all those bilingual families out there who are faced with similar issues.

If you do decide to choose a primarily English school, it would be a good idea to include a few extra curricular activities to reinforce your son’s Spanish skills, although that will be easy if you live in Spain. If you decide to send your son to an all Spanish school or a bilingual school with 30% of classes in English (we’ll include a more detailed analysis of this option in a later post), you will have to make more of an effort to encourage your son’s English language development. Whatever you choose, you’ll be successful if you make sure to keep those language scales balanced. Good luck with your bilingual family. You already have two of the most important tools for success: intuition and the will to succeed.

Dr. Orlanda Varela is a Child Psychiatrist and the Coordinator of the educational project for Bilingual Families at SINEWS Multilingual Therapy Institute in Madrid. SINEWS organizes bilingualism workshops for parents in Madrid, as well as personalized speech therapy sessions to bilingual families with specific language development problems. For more information, please visit sinews.es.