Jack & Quinn Speak Castellano

Before we got here the boys' Castellano vocabulary consisted of leche and adios, so even though I know that children pick up new languages quite readily, I was still a little skeptical and even apprehensive about how they'd survive in school. As it turns out most of Quinn's classmates speak to him in English, except for Agustín, the boy we met in the kiosko next to the school, who put his arm around Quinn and exclaimed "Quinn is my friend," and whom Erin instructed not to speak English to Quinn (much to Quinn's dismay). Most of them have been learning English for a couple years so they're eager to practice. And most of Quinn's teachers speak English to him, too, so while he is learning Castellano he's certainly not having to rely on it. While he doesn't have to speak it to survive, though, he is writing a ton of it in school and learning to read; even this morning I was surprised at how much he's gained as he read a sentence off some toy packaging out loud to all of us.

Jack, on the other hand, hears almost no English during the school day when he's not with one of us. He has come home singing made-up songs, with lyrics such as, "por ejemplo! por ejemplo!" and surprising us with new expressions, like the day he yelled, "que frio!" when I opened the door downstairs on the way to school. He's known as "señor barbaro" to the porteros in our neighboring buildings because the first time they greeted him and asked, "que tal?" his answer was, "barbaro!" (awesome!). Being younger than Quinn and less reserved, Jack busts out the Castellano wherever he goes.

But since both are learning they play around with their new language at home. One of their first creations was a short dialogue that must have been inspired by one of mom's lesson plans.