Articles
We were featured in Tumbleweeds in the summer of 2010.
Here is the article from Tumbleweeds, Summer 2010 Issue:
¡Encantada! Why a juera [güera] from Santa Fe is teaching Spanish to families
By Janine Johnston-Somma
I grew up in Taos and Santa Fe, and although surrounded by Spanish as a child and adolescent, I did not learn how to truly communicate in Spanish until university. So, why and how did I come to open my own business teaching Spanish to children, adults and families?
Well, for one thing, as a juera [güera] (blond girl) in northern New Mexico, I have always been fascinated by local Hispanic culture. Perhaps that is where it started? I wanted to understand what people were saying when they switched into Spanish at the grocery, at Sears, at Woolworth’s, wherever and whenever people wanted to bond with each through common culture and language, and perhaps whenever the juera [guera] was not supposed to understand. Then in university I had a dream of studying plants and animals in tropical forests in countries where people spoke Spanish. So, I studied, I got a couple of degrees, and luckily, at some point, I had an epiphany: a switch flipped for me, and I could hear and imitate accents. (Mind you, this didn’t happen until I was living in Chile for several months with very little luck communicating in a university and living with a family.)
And once that barrier was broken, my curiosity about Latin American cultures and Spain and, well, global cultures compelled me to travel more in Latin America, Spain and Asia, and to devour languages. This cultural journey also led me, in a roundabout way, to my husband, who is Argentine. Actually, having lived and studied in Chile, which has a long and passionate distaste for all things Argentine, I, too, initially thought
Argentina was a bitter pill! But of course, love has its way of making the bitter fruit sweet.
And then came our daughter Isabel, a product of two cultures, of two parents who speak Spanish but whose mother’s native language is English. Much resentment built between my husband and me as our daughter apparently could not, or at least would not, speak Spanish as much as she spoke English. Isabel spent most of her time with me and was surrounded by an English-speaking community. At times we attended local parties at which the primary language was Spanish, but the large majority of her days were spent listening to and producing English, except for the few hours a day when she heard her father and I communicating in Spanish. My husband therefore felt that it was my responsibility to speak more Spanish with her, while I felt a little funny speaking a language not native to me, a language foreign to my own childhood and with which I
could not express the “cute” things a mother wants to say to her daughter.
But then we began taking month-long vacations in Argentina, after two
weeks of which Isabel started to speak Spanish in ways we hadn’t thought she could. Surrounded by Spanish (I do as the Romans, er — Argentines do…I speak Spanish while in Argentina), she experienced its relevance and began to express what she had been absorbing all along. In the process, my husband realized the importance of communicating only in Spanish with Isabel. And I made greater efforts to speak Spanish
most of the time when my husband was around and some of the time when we were on our own. Isabel prefers our language to be English, but these days when I teach children Spanish in her presence there are moments of brilliant collaboration between her and me,
demonstrating the use of the language and highlighting our bi-lingual bi-cultural lives: treasured moments indeed.
Having experienced five years of language-learning with Isabel, and now
embarking on teaching our second daughter two languages, I have great respect for the mysterious process of second-language acquisition in children. It takes time and lots of patience on the part of the adults caring for children learning second languages (who never know exactly what is sticking or which stage of the journey to fluency the children are in at any moment), but I have been at it with my older daughter long enough to know that it will happen. The child who perceives enthusiasm for and usefulness of a second language will use that language, particularly when they are hearing no other language but the new one.
Today, I am utterly grateful to have been exposed at a young age to a second language and am eager, when the rhythm of life as the mother of small children lets up (I’ve been told by mothers of college-aged people that it does), to further explore other languages I continue to be awed by the process of second-language acquisition in children, and feel privileged to be able to provide an opportunity for other children, and their parents and other adults as well, to learn Spanish. I seek any avenue for helping
people learn Spanish, whether they be infants and toddlers (for whom I introduce their parents to lots of loving and simple vocabulary); children pre-K through sixth grade, through weekly Spanish classes with my girls during the school year and my Spanish Immersion Summer Camps; or parents of my students and families taking classes together. I also love teaching adults without children.
My classes focus on beginner and intermediate learners, since Spanish is not my native language; every day with my family and every class is an opportunity for me to learn more about the language, and thus I will not feign mastery. But I know that I know enough to help others along to new levels of fluency. And I know how much patience and persistence the journey takes to gain consistent fluency, as I have experienced in my own 18-year journey with Spanish, and as I have witnessed in both my daughters’ forays into the language. Along with the sheer joy and satisfaction that come with speaking a new language, studies also show that the more exposure a child gets to a second language, the
more success that child will have, in multiple aspects of life. Second languages improve grammar in the native language, increase vocabulary in the child’s native tongue, improve mathematical skills, expand creativity, pique curiosity about world cultures, open minds and provide future economic opportunities. In my opinion, every child should have the opportunity to learn at least two languages — and so should adults, as it is never too late!
Summer, when at least in theory families have a bit more free time, is a great time to dedicate to second languages....
Janine Johnston-Somma opened ¡Qué Viva! El Español in February. She is a native New Mexican and a graduate of Santa Fe High School.
Here is the article from Tumbleweeds, Summer 2010 Issue:
¡Encantada! Why a juera [güera] from Santa Fe is teaching Spanish to families
By Janine Johnston-Somma
I grew up in Taos and Santa Fe, and although surrounded by Spanish as a child and adolescent, I did not learn how to truly communicate in Spanish until university. So, why and how did I come to open my own business teaching Spanish to children, adults and families?
Well, for one thing, as a juera [güera] (blond girl) in northern New Mexico, I have always been fascinated by local Hispanic culture. Perhaps that is where it started? I wanted to understand what people were saying when they switched into Spanish at the grocery, at Sears, at Woolworth’s, wherever and whenever people wanted to bond with each through common culture and language, and perhaps whenever the juera [guera] was not supposed to understand. Then in university I had a dream of studying plants and animals in tropical forests in countries where people spoke Spanish. So, I studied, I got a couple of degrees, and luckily, at some point, I had an epiphany: a switch flipped for me, and I could hear and imitate accents. (Mind you, this didn’t happen until I was living in Chile for several months with very little luck communicating in a university and living with a family.)
And once that barrier was broken, my curiosity about Latin American cultures and Spain and, well, global cultures compelled me to travel more in Latin America, Spain and Asia, and to devour languages. This cultural journey also led me, in a roundabout way, to my husband, who is Argentine. Actually, having lived and studied in Chile, which has a long and passionate distaste for all things Argentine, I, too, initially thought
Argentina was a bitter pill! But of course, love has its way of making the bitter fruit sweet.
And then came our daughter Isabel, a product of two cultures, of two parents who speak Spanish but whose mother’s native language is English. Much resentment built between my husband and me as our daughter apparently could not, or at least would not, speak Spanish as much as she spoke English. Isabel spent most of her time with me and was surrounded by an English-speaking community. At times we attended local parties at which the primary language was Spanish, but the large majority of her days were spent listening to and producing English, except for the few hours a day when she heard her father and I communicating in Spanish. My husband therefore felt that it was my responsibility to speak more Spanish with her, while I felt a little funny speaking a language not native to me, a language foreign to my own childhood and with which I
could not express the “cute” things a mother wants to say to her daughter.
But then we began taking month-long vacations in Argentina, after two
weeks of which Isabel started to speak Spanish in ways we hadn’t thought she could. Surrounded by Spanish (I do as the Romans, er — Argentines do…I speak Spanish while in Argentina), she experienced its relevance and began to express what she had been absorbing all along. In the process, my husband realized the importance of communicating only in Spanish with Isabel. And I made greater efforts to speak Spanish
most of the time when my husband was around and some of the time when we were on our own. Isabel prefers our language to be English, but these days when I teach children Spanish in her presence there are moments of brilliant collaboration between her and me,
demonstrating the use of the language and highlighting our bi-lingual bi-cultural lives: treasured moments indeed.
Having experienced five years of language-learning with Isabel, and now
embarking on teaching our second daughter two languages, I have great respect for the mysterious process of second-language acquisition in children. It takes time and lots of patience on the part of the adults caring for children learning second languages (who never know exactly what is sticking or which stage of the journey to fluency the children are in at any moment), but I have been at it with my older daughter long enough to know that it will happen. The child who perceives enthusiasm for and usefulness of a second language will use that language, particularly when they are hearing no other language but the new one.
Today, I am utterly grateful to have been exposed at a young age to a second language and am eager, when the rhythm of life as the mother of small children lets up (I’ve been told by mothers of college-aged people that it does), to further explore other languages I continue to be awed by the process of second-language acquisition in children, and feel privileged to be able to provide an opportunity for other children, and their parents and other adults as well, to learn Spanish. I seek any avenue for helping
people learn Spanish, whether they be infants and toddlers (for whom I introduce their parents to lots of loving and simple vocabulary); children pre-K through sixth grade, through weekly Spanish classes with my girls during the school year and my Spanish Immersion Summer Camps; or parents of my students and families taking classes together. I also love teaching adults without children.
My classes focus on beginner and intermediate learners, since Spanish is not my native language; every day with my family and every class is an opportunity for me to learn more about the language, and thus I will not feign mastery. But I know that I know enough to help others along to new levels of fluency. And I know how much patience and persistence the journey takes to gain consistent fluency, as I have experienced in my own 18-year journey with Spanish, and as I have witnessed in both my daughters’ forays into the language. Along with the sheer joy and satisfaction that come with speaking a new language, studies also show that the more exposure a child gets to a second language, the
more success that child will have, in multiple aspects of life. Second languages improve grammar in the native language, increase vocabulary in the child’s native tongue, improve mathematical skills, expand creativity, pique curiosity about world cultures, open minds and provide future economic opportunities. In my opinion, every child should have the opportunity to learn at least two languages — and so should adults, as it is never too late!
Summer, when at least in theory families have a bit more free time, is a great time to dedicate to second languages....
Janine Johnston-Somma opened ¡Qué Viva! El Español in February. She is a native New Mexican and a graduate of Santa Fe High School.
