Spanish...French...English

Outside of Borders in Stanton, DE, carrying books to show to anyone who would listen, was the cutest two year old you would want to see. He was dressed in a NY Yankees outfit, complete with buttons that looked like baseballs. His shoes has velcro closures and these too were like the binding on the seams of the baseball. I couldn't help but notice him. "Hey good looking," I said to him. He immediately began to point to the buttons on his outfit and talk to me in a language that only he could understand. I responded to what I thought he might be saying and he continued. My first instinct was to be concerned that his language expression was anything but clear. His mom was standing nearby, and she explained so much to me. It made me realize that we often see or hear and jump to conclusions. What is the truth is this. In the home they speak Spanish and French to the little guy and some English as well. He can jump back and forth between them all often using words from any of the 3 languages. She said he was speaking "Spanglish" to me. When I realized that, I said a few words to him in Spanish. It was about Mickey, Minnie and Goofy on the cover of the book he was carrying. We immediately began to understand each other in Spanish and his language was clearly understandable. I asked his mom if she was at home with him or if he attended child care. I was curious what his language would be like in that situation and how everyone communicated. No, she was a stay at home mom, lucky to be with him. So, I saw a first hand demonstration of what I mostly read - young children and their dual language learning. I read that if one parent speaks in one language and the other parent in the other language, the child will understand and speak both. Yes, it is true from first hand exprience.
I write this today to recognize the lesson I learned about not "assuming" and also about the comfort and openness of his mom as she talked with me about her son and what he was doing. All it takes is an opening statement, affirmations and time to listen.