Reply to bilingual child - Spanish dominant?

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[quote=Anonymous]We applied Spanish dominant for Oyster, were accepted, and passed the screening test. It was not that hard for a child with a native Spanish speaking parent.

FWIW, at the time, the language that my child would call out in during the night was Spanish. Both parents had primarily spoken spanish to the child since birth. Two years later, this child is English dominant. The switch happens FAST.

If you are a native Spanish speaker, or even a skilled non-native, I highly suggest that you switch to Spanish 100% of the time with him. Even with a Spanish dominant start, bilingual schools all the way, father speaking exclusively Spanish, and lots of out of country Spanish-speaking visitors, my child is now English dominant by first grade. English takes over fast. All of the kids that I know who had a similar bilingual start to your child are now highly English dominant. You need to increase the percentage of time that he/she speaks Spanish, recognizing that he/she is picking up lots of language listening to you and your husband speak English ALL of the time together. And that everyone at school will be speaking English most of the time, even at Oyster.

Just my two cents from what I have seen. I guess it actually depends upon how much you care about your child ending up comfortable in Spanish versus just having some knowledge of the language. [/quote]

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