I hope I can get some help. My son have been on virtual school (K-12) for 2 years, he is now on 3rd grade. I want to do homeschool, I have chosen the curriculum, etc but, my son don’t want to speak english (he speak Spanish also) with me. He prefers to speak Spanish sometimes. My husband told me that we should send him back to school (face to face) to see if he can gets obligated to speak… I NEED HELP, I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO? ANY ADVISE.
We are afraid that he will not be fluent in english if he continues at home
Hi May,
Did you choose an English-based curriculum or Spanish-based curriculum? If you have selected an English-based curriculum, it will teach him how to speak, read, and write in English so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I would also set certain times of the day when you only speak English in your home, so he has to during that time, but also realizes that he can go back to Spanish after that time is up, which is probably more comfortable for him. The more he speaks it, the more fluent he will become and the less hesitant he will be to speak it. Emersion is the best way to learn a new language, so the more you speak English the better he will do. You can also look for ESL classes that will help focus on English as his second language.
Our situation is different, so it might be helpful or might not. We are native English speakers, and our whole family is trying to learn another language to be able to communicate in our new home with our new friends as expats. We have friends who put kids in the local schools, but that’s not what we feel is best right now for our kids.
Firstly, we try to make TV in the target language. I’m sometimes better about this than others, but it’s a fairly easy switch.
Secondly, we try to encourage our kids to play with local kids ana practice the target language. We frequent parks and restaurants where the target language will be the only language spoken.
Thirdly, we use an app to work on the target language vocabulary (DinoLingo). Our daughter is very proud of her ability to count in the target language, and that’s how she learned.
