By Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub @ Small World Language
Services
After the main brunt of the 2001-2002 Argentine
crisis blew over and we began to accept the circumstances and repercussions of
a country where prices were unequivocally inflated (hyperinflation as it is
commonly called) and staple items were commonly scarce and certain medicines
completely out of stock for undetermined periods of time, we began to think
about the future of our family and where we’d end up.
There was a small and shrinking community of English
speaking expats living in Buenos Aires at the time, but since we lived in an
area where not many foreigners lived, the chances of my family meeting and making
friends with them wasn’t very high. Moreover, when you haven’t spoken a second
language at home, you fall into a habit of not wanting or making the effort to
start, unless it becomes a necessity or a way to socialize with other people.
Such was my case, as we weren’t afforded the
opportunity to be able to do this, being distanced from these people. I was the
only one who spoke English at home, a professional mom who had nobody to speak
it to and even my own language was becoming corrupted and my English took on
non-natural forms, having been influenced by Argentine Spanish.
I began to be concerned about my children not
growing up learning my native language. After all, how do you explain to them
and others like my family and friends, how I did not teach my own, while I
worked teaching it and translating into it? I truly felt like a hypocrite and a
negligent mother. Beyond that, they needed to know good English for their
lives, in order to communicate with family and friends, have good future
opportunities and thrive.
I began to ponder the meaning of ESL (English as a
Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and determined that due
to my children’s lack of opportunity, English was going to be a foreign
language for them. On another note, the
physical distance of Argentina between any other English-speaking region
presented an extra challenge, as the only other dialects we would hear would be
other Spanish speakers and Brazilians living there who spoke Portuguese. What
to do?
Many years went by and personal circumstances caused
drastic changes in the lives of my family. My Argentine husband suddenly passed
away right before Christmas in 2011 and I suddenly became a young widow faced
with the challenge of raising my two boys alone in a foreign country. It just wasn’t
the same without my husband there, and I began to rethink what our family’s
future held for us.
After much contemplation, I decided that I would
take a much needed trip to the US to see my family and friends there. After
all, too many years had gone by and it was time for a family reunion.
I took just one child with me, my 7 year old, and we
stayed for about one month. It was a beautiful trip and very healing to say the
least. But one of the most amazing things I observed was how quickly my son
caught onto English. He’d never been formally taught by teachers, yet he was completely
absorbing it, like a sponge.
He’d met my family for the first time and wanted to
communicate. After one month, he had quite the extensive vocabulary and list of
expressions that not only made me laugh as I was amused and entertained, but
gave me great joy. Look at this list!
1. Let’s go.
2. Come on.
3. I am hungry.
4. You are fat /
skinny.
5. Goodbye.
6. How are you?
7. I think so.
8. Table, house,
chair, sofa, television, bicycle, bed, photo, walk, drink, eat, play, video
games, milk, hamburger, potatoes, soda, Coca cola, Sprite, food, cereal, bread,
pizza
9. Come play.
10. Stop it.
11. Ouch
12. Help
13. English
14. Computer, Internet
15. Dog
16. My turn
17. Shoes, shirt,
pants, socks
18. Money
19. Swim
20. Run, walk, jump,
climb
21. No way
22. Wii (video game system)
And last but not least, and my personal
favorite: “Careful, watch your fingers!”
I was floored by the amount of English my son had
acquired in just one month. As you can see, he learned to eat, name clothing
and play in his new tongue. And since his personality never exhibited much
inhibition, this helped him to communicate freely, not caring how he expressed
himself, but certainly able to get what he wanted and convey what he felt. It was
incredible!
My quest to satisfy my desire for my children to be
bilingual had begun. And boy was I the happiest mom ever! We always want what’s
best for our kids, and my deep yearning for them to have the best opportunities
in their lives had begun in a wonderful way.
I returned to Argentina, put my house on sale, and
made plans for my boys and me to move to the US as soon as possible. The ASAP
plan was exactly that, since it took me just 2 months to pack up our
belongings, get on a plane and head to the US to live. Little did we know what
exciting adventures awaited us there…
 |
| My son Dylan, riding his bike through his new neighborhood |
Part 4 coming next month! Tune in.
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