mrs-mop

Hi All

Just wondered if anyone has moved back to UK (or knows anyone that has) with kids and whether the kids managed to keep their spanish language going??
My son is now 9 and we have been here 7 years so he is fluent but I am worried that if we went back he would lose this skill?

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

twistedmelon

I doubt that a child that has been speaking spanish since the age of 2 will lose the ability completely but as he will be speaking mainly english in the uk it will depend on how much effort you/he puts into keeping it.

JLFS

I moved when I was 7 to the UK, my parents spoke Spanish at home so I had an advantage there, but today, with internet is would be relitively easy to keep up with Spanish.

I also knew a few like me, and although we did not lose our language, we did speak a rather strange Spanish, ie we said the Spanish words with an English slant, so we all had to listen and try to learn.

Rosemary

I dare say that it will very much depend on the policy of the school that he goes to in the UK. One member of BE who used to post very regularly found that her sons new school was very good and made sure that he was able to keep his skill going and I think that she said that he was able to take exams in Spanish at a younger age than normal.

Rosemary

JLFS

I would not say that school is very relevant at all at aged 9, because most schools dont even teach Spanish at that age.

And even if they did a 9 year old would not want to go back to rojo, azul, verde etc.

Internet and parents speaking at home is the most important.

Lynn R

We have some friends who had to move back to the UK a couple of years ago with their children, due to the lack of work here. Their children had been born in Spain so grew up bilingual, and both parents are fluent in Spanish too.

Since returning they make an effort to have regular times when only Spanish is spoken at home, and their son is taking his GCSE Spanish this year, aged 12. His mum is also taking GCSE Spanish at evening classes, for moral support!

They have hung on to their house in Spain as they hope to be able to return here to live eventually, and the wife and children spend all the school summer holidays here so the children can keep in touch with the friends they grew up with, whilst the husband joins them for a couple of weeks.

mrs-mop

Thanks for this info, hopefully he will settle and we will find a tutor to help him (and us!) keep our Spanish going. I know he will probably lose his fluency but I am sure he will still have a good grounding in languages as he gets older!

Rosemary

Another way that may help is to take back DVD´s in Spanish and watch them as a family. If one of you does not understand something tha is being said in the film the others can explain it and so you help each other to retain your knowledge base. As you have rightly said it would be a shame to lose your skills and also you never know when these skills could come in handy.

Good luck with your move.

Rosemary

Rotor

To keep them up to speed insist that when they rent a DVD it`s first viewed in Spanish

agoreira

Presumably he will have Spanish friends, he can keep in touch with them via skype or similar. Also plenty of Spanish TV available on the internet.

manamama

Hi

We moved back last September and we too were concerned about their spanish.

We were there only for 3 years and their spanish was fluent in that time.

For my eldest aged 12, the school wants her to do a GCSE next year. So that encouraging.

For my younger ones, 7 and 8 year old we plan to take them over to spend the weekend with their spanish friends house. I took them October half term and hubby took them Feb half term. We will have a week in the summer too so that will help.

Plus most mornings we have spanish cartoons on before school ... like Eraz Una Vez..which they like. So fingers crossed,,,

Rosemary

Out of interest to posters who are contemplating returning to the UK with their children, did it take them long to settle into their new schools, was their schooling at the same standard, did they make new friends easily or has it been difficult for them?

Great to see you on here again, hope all went well for you on the move back and the settling in.

Rosemary

mrs-mop

I was going to ask the same questions!!

Would be great to know this stuff, although I am slightly scared about the answers!!

Rosemary

I thought that it might be useful. They are very honest people and will not give you either a rose tinted nor a bitter response. Not surprised that you are nervous of the answers but they may be able to help you to either anticipate the difficulties and start to address them or put your mind at rest. It is the unknown that is the most difficult to deal with, so all knowledge helps us to cope better. You appear to be planning things logically and sensibly so you should not have too many problems.

Rosemary

lynnxa

it's a shame spain doesn't come on here often now - they had been here rather longer when they returned & I think her son was 12 or so when they went back

I do know he took a spanish GCSE his first year back & his teachers were talking about A level too

I know he used to chat with his Spanish friends on the phone in Valenciano quite often too