Language as a bridge and an identity
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At the Grupo Educa weekend language school, children from families with roots in Latin America and Spain are taught to keep the language of their forebears alive and well, writes Hector Tobar in his column.
I was invited to speak on Sunday to a group of 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds, and to their odd, tiny ‘classmate’ -- a stuffed bear.
Like me, the children were all English speakers, born in the U.S. But the stuffed bear spoke only Spanish, the children’s teacher told me. So the kids and I chatted in español -- just so el oso wouldn’t feel left out.
‘Buenos días,’ I said to the children, and they all answered back ‘buenos días!’ The bear kept quiet, however.
The ‘Spanish-speaking bear’ is a little trick they use at the Grupo Educa weekend language school to get the kids to speak Spanish.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City.