Nena, aquí es donde vas aprender inglés, pero con mami y papi vas a seguir hablando español, ¿okay?” (This is where you are going to learn English, but with mom and dad you’ll continue speaking Spanish, okay?)
“Mami y Papi español.” (Mom and Dad Spanish.)
“Si, en la casita de Sabrina hablamos español.” (Yes, at Sabrina’s home we speak Spanish.)
“Casita español, mami.” (Little house Spanish, mommy.)
I had a knot in my throat and my eyes were beginning to swell up with tears as I kissed my 2 1/2-year old’s forehead. This was her first day in an English immersion setting. From the day she was born her interactions with others (including daycare) occurred +90% of the time in Spanish. I knew that today and the weeks to come marked a new chapter in her life. I knew that it would likely change her. I knew that she would learn English at an extremely fast pace given the amount of exposure she would have — she was also going full-time to daycare for the first time. What I feared most was that our Spanish-speaking relationship would change.
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