Spanish Immersion Method: 5 Questions You Might Have

What are the benefits of using the immersive method?

Well, for starters, as you might have realized by now, it is faster and more intense learning. Your kids will learn how to utilize the language in everyday life; in typical situations, they might face each day. After all, the goal of learning Spanish is to be able to use it confidently every day and to become accustomed to hearing the language. They will gain a massive amount of vocabulary, compared to traditional language learning methods.In addition they will learn not to “translate directly” the language. Any of us who have learned a second language know that you cannot just directly translate many things. For example, if you were to directly translate “I dreamed of a cat yesterday”, in Spanish it would be, “Yo soñe de un gato ayer”. But that is incorrect. In Spanish the correct way is “I dreamed with a cat yesterday” or “Soñe con un gato ayer”. Learning in an immersive environment teaches children that things are said differently, as they will learn words together, in real life sentences and not separately, as in a traditional setting.

What are the stages of language acquisition through linguistic immersion?

When every child is learning their native language for the first time, they go through the same steps as when learning a second language. Do you remember when your child was around 9-months-old, and you realized for the first time they understand what you are saying? You asked them to point to their nose, and they did!

The first stage of language acquisition is called the “Pre-production”. In short, the meaning of this is when the students are able to understand what is being said. At this point they already have hundreds of words stored in their brain, but do not necessarily have the knowledge to produce it yet. This is the time when they can most likely answer yes and no questions by head movement. This is when they should be encouraged to repeat everything.

The second stage is called the “Early Production”. This is the time you probably remember most fondly about your children, their first words. At this stage, their verbal output will be in the form of single words. Their word bank in their minds is expanding, and they can answer simple yes and no questions.

What happens next? The learner starts to put words together, maybe not in the right order, but that is okay. In the “Speech Emergence” stage, the students are able to form simple sentences using three or more words. They might not use the grammar correctly but are able to spot the mistakes and correct themselves most of the time, or with the help of the teacher.

Next stage? Sentences get put together. “Intermediate Fluency” stage is the breakthrough. Students are able to write and speak more complex sentences than before and are able to express their feelings and thoughts about topics. They can ask questions if they do not understand something, as well as, familiarize themselves with Spanish literature, stories, and culture at this stage.

The last and final stage is the “Advanced Fluency” stage. This is the where the students will start to sound more like native speakers. All of their hard work has paid off.

How can I help my kids to achieve all of this?

In today’s world, the easy answer is using technology, which nowadays plays an enormous part in everyone’s life. There are many ways that a child can have access to the language, from cartoons with the language changed to Spanish to different apps with games to practice.
However, we find that one of the most effective ways is trying to incorporate Spanish sentences into your family’s daily life. Finding words or sentences that your family uses every day and discovering how to say them in Spanish, and from then on only using the Spanish words or sentences. You could add a new word or sentence per week. For example, for the first week instead of saying  “tie your shoes” every ime your child needs to tie their shoes, you could say “átate los cordones”. The next week add on another one like, “It is time to get up!”, which should now always be said “¡Es hora de levantarse!”Another way to learn household objects is by putting post-it notes with the Spanish vocabulary for those objects. Then, every time you mention the object, only mention the Spanish word “Who needs to load the dishwasher?” is now always “Who needs to load the lavaplatos?”Practicing with the child and making it a family goal to learn Spanish allows for some everyday conversations in Spanish, and helps “automatize” the language use, and, most importantly is much more fun than learning and memorizing in the traditional way.