My fifteen year old son does not speak spanish (I know...shame on me. It's very hard, because my wife doesn't speak spanish either and there are very few latinos around here.) I really want him to learn...But I see that's going to be impossible here. I'm thinking of sending him to The DR, next summer and getting him enrolled in some kind of intensive course so that he can at least pick up the basics. I'm thinking of having him stay with my sister in The Capital for the summer. I've looked on the web and see that some of the "bilingual" schools such as ICDA have spanish classes, but they are only a couple of hours a week. Not enough to learn much IMO. Does anyone know of any intensive spanish immersion class for foreigners I could sign him up for? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
- Thread starter suarezn
- Start date
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Advice on spanish for my kid
make sure that he gets a Dominican girlfriend and you'll see he'll be fluent in spanish in no time
Greetings
Johan
Greetings
Johan
heldengebroed said:make sure that he gets a Dominican girlfriend and you'll see he'll be fluent in spanish in no time
Greetings
Johan
You just answered what I was going to reply!
Seriously though, just send him to live here with your sister, and let him be part of their lives.. he?ll be fluent in no time!
I would say send him to spend time with relatives as well, especially if they don't speak any English!
I do know of a 3 week summer camp for Spanish immersion - I think it's called "The Spanish Experience". I can't find the website right now but I can find out more if you're interested.
I do know of a 3 week summer camp for Spanish immersion - I think it's called "The Spanish Experience". I can't find the website right now but I can find out more if you're interested.
If you have a sister he can stay with, language aside, a summer in the DR would be a great experience for him, and he'll learn more Spanish by immersion than he ever would in classes. If the family there is bi-lingual, just ask them to use English as little as possible. At 15, he'll no doubt find the girlfriend himself (or she'll find him). Then you will have what is known as a "motivated" language student! Spending a little time with your relatives in the campo near Cotui would probably be a great experience for him too.
All this is easy for an outsider to say, and obviously you are thinking as a father, with a father's concerns. You would know best if your son is mature enough to handle something like this, but as far as learning Spanish, and his heritage, it looks like it would have a lot of "up-side" to me.
All this is easy for an outsider to say, and obviously you are thinking as a father, with a father's concerns. You would know best if your son is mature enough to handle something like this, but as far as learning Spanish, and his heritage, it looks like it would have a lot of "up-side" to me.
Noooo!!!!
You sound just like one of my bothers. He married a "gringa" and moved to Poughkeepsie, NY where he was the only hispanic around (back in the 70's).
When we came to the US, his kids wanted to see their uncles and spend time with them since we were always playing baseball. But they spoke no spanish whatsoever. And us, fresh out of the DR, did not speak english at all. What happened, they withdrew from our part of the family because of the language barrier. Until..
My other brother told my brother off and told him what he should do since the kids wanted to learn spanish. All of a sudden the kids took spanish classes, were watching spanish tv, were making an efford reading spanish and "demanted" to be spoken in spanish by all their spanish speaking relatives. Within one year, there was nothing funnier than seeing these 3 white "blondies" speaking spanish "matao". So many years later, they speak spanish as well as I.
Try and do the same, suarezn. Even if your wife speaks no spanish, YOU can start. Trust me, one person makes a difference!.
Follow these intructions: 1- rub your 2 index fingers(up and down) together and 2- say: shame, shame shame, lol.suarezn said:My fifteen year old son does not speak spanish (I know...shame on me. It's very hard, because my wife doesn't speak spanish either and there are very few latinos around here.) I really want him to learn...But I see that's going to be impossible here. I'm thinking of sending him to The DR, next summer and getting him enrolled in some kind of intensive course so that he can at least pick up the basics. I'm thinking of having him stay with my sister in The Capital for the summer. I've looked on the web and see that some of the "bilingual" schools such as ICDA have spanish classes, but they are only a couple of hours a week. Not enough to learn much IMO. Does anyone know of any intensive spanish immersion class for foreigners I could sign him up for? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
You sound just like one of my bothers. He married a "gringa" and moved to Poughkeepsie, NY where he was the only hispanic around (back in the 70's).
When we came to the US, his kids wanted to see their uncles and spend time with them since we were always playing baseball. But they spoke no spanish whatsoever. And us, fresh out of the DR, did not speak english at all. What happened, they withdrew from our part of the family because of the language barrier. Until..
My other brother told my brother off and told him what he should do since the kids wanted to learn spanish. All of a sudden the kids took spanish classes, were watching spanish tv, were making an efford reading spanish and "demanted" to be spoken in spanish by all their spanish speaking relatives. Within one year, there was nothing funnier than seeing these 3 white "blondies" speaking spanish "matao". So many years later, they speak spanish as well as I.
Try and do the same, suarezn. Even if your wife speaks no spanish, YOU can start. Trust me, one person makes a difference!.
Last edited:
I know he would learn if he spent enough time immersed in The DR. My problem is that he will be 16 years old, by next summer. He'll only have a couple of months to learn anything so I'm looking for some program that will maximize his learning during these two months. He'll have exposure to day-to-day spanish at the home where he will stay, but I also want him to get some formal instruction to augment the Spanish he will hear on the streets. That's why I was hoping someone would know of some kind of intensive program for this purpose.
Suarezn.-
Suarezn.-
Check with the universities......
I know the university in San Pedro has an immersion course that is run in the summer for foreign language med students beginning their studies the following semester. It is a pre-requisite for entering the med school there.
There might be something similar in SD.
I know the university in San Pedro has an immersion course that is run in the summer for foreign language med students beginning their studies the following semester. It is a pre-requisite for entering the med school there.
There might be something similar in SD.