Picnic…en Español

One of my goals when we returned to Perth from Mexico was to find a way for us (particularly Guerita) to keep practicing and speaking Spanish so as not to forget everything we learned in the last 2 years. I’m so pleased with how well Guerita was doing with her Spanish by the time we left and not unhappy with my own progress in learning the language, but I know how easy it is to forget when you’re not using it regularly. I used to be able to speak French quite well, but I’ve lost so much of it now.

So, when we got back I started asking and calling around to see if I could find a conversation class or some sort of Spanish speaking group. I wasn’t feeling very confident about it – Spanish isn’t so widely spoken here as other languages. I’d have no problem finding a French conversation class at Alliance Française and I’m pretty sure there’d be quite a few services for Asian languages. I was pretty happy though to find out about a group called Bilingual Families of Perth – a loose umbrella for different groups of foreign language speakers, who organise seminars, playgroups and after-school activities in various languages. Although the Spanish group is not very large and are not running their usual kid’s meetings after school at the moment, I did get to speak to a lady who’s involved in the organisation and the other day she rang me to see if I’d like to come along to a picnic get-together of the group.

I must admit, I felt a bit nervous about going – just like going along to various social gatherings in Mexico, I wondered whether I’d be able to keep up with the conversation and how we’d go meeting and getting to know new people in a language that is still a bit foreign to us. But I was determined to overcome those nerves, both for my sake and kids. I know my Spanish has already started to get rusty and Guerita has become reluctant to speak Spanish lately. I have been trying to speak more with her in Spanish (both for her sake and mine) which she is happy with, but she shies away from the many requests to “say something in Spanish” and “Teach me how to say … in Spanish”. Unfortunately she seems to have just hit the age where she’s aware that speaking another language makes her different from the other kids and when I asked her why she didn’t tell the kids in her class that she spoke Spanish she said “Because it’s a secret”.

So, off we went on the weekend to seek out the Spanish Playgroup Picnic, at a popular riverside spot on a beautiful sunny long weekend Monday. I’d never been to this spot before and was a little dismayed to see how large the area was and how many people were there. With such great weather, it seemed that everyone who owned a boat or a jetski was putting it on the water that day and without knowing what any of the people we were meeting looked like, I wasn’t sure how we’d go finding them. We wandered amongst the groups of people sitting on the grass, with me saying to Guerita “Listen very carefully for people speaking Spanish”! We probably got some strange looks as we walked just that little bit too close, or paused just that little bit too long to eavesdrop on conversation and right when we were ready to give up, we happened upon a smallish group chattering away at a mile a minute in a familiar way.

I’m so glad we went! We met a lovely group of interesting people from diverse backgrounds. That’s the thing about a language like Spanish – it brings together people from so many countries (which definitely challenges your ear with all the different accents). It was interesting to hear all the reasons that brought these people to Perth (mostly marriage to Aussies or work). Guerita took a little while to come out of her shell and didn’t speak a lot of Spanish, but I’m hoping she’ll relax a bit if we keep going to these meet-ups. There was talk of a once a month get-together which I’m hoping will happen. In the meantime, she and I will have to keep blundering our way through together. I might think about some Spanish lessons for myself, and maybe for her too, but my feeling is that she would respond a lot better to informal conversation rather than formal lessons.

Not to forget about little Chiq either – it’s definitely good for her to continue being exposed to the language. I’m sure she had a fairly good understanding of it when we left, at an 18 month old level of course. Just as we were leaving Mexico she said her first word in Spanish – appropriately, Adios – and she has just started saying a few other things such as Hola and ¡Oje! (which means Hey!). I really want her to have some lasting legacy of the country of her birth, not just the Mexican passport.

Time will tell how we go, but I am keen to keep working on it. It takes a lot of determination, though. There are many times when I just want to take the easy way out and speak English, but I have to force myself to practice!

So, on that note…¡Adios! Voy a practicar mi español. (I’m going to practice my Spanish)

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One more thing – I’m off to Sydney tomorrow so internet access will be light. I may or may not get a chance to post so if not, brace yourself for lots of photos of beach holidays, views from the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge and blogger meet-ups when I return!

I will be able to check email, so if you are interested in coming along to our get-together at 10:30am on Wednesday 8th Oct let me know and I’ll send you the details. We’ve got a good crew coming along but more are welcome.

Otherwise – “see” you all round the net in about 10 days!