Should I learn Spanish? (home, middle school, to live in)

[pobre]

Originally Posted by m0gwai

Also, I'll be employed as a teacher in secondary public school. I'm unaware of the language situation in SA (or even just Texas in general). Are the Hispanic students (particularly high school age which is what I teach) pretty much fluent in English? I only ask because I'm aware of a large Hispanic population, but I'm not aware of if the majority are first/second/third/etc generation in America (which could create more of a language struggle depending).

Unless you will be a true, certified, bilingual teacher, you will not use Spanish while teaching. There are many who are fluent in Spanish, but, there are also pockets of Arabic and other languages. If you are in an ELL setting, language use other than English is highly discouraged in the classroom (by the teacher).

[AuburnAL]

Originally Posted by Slowpoke_TX

Yes, you definitely should teach your children Spanish. The ability to communicate in Spanish is a requirement for many jobs, and is a strong "plus" for a candidate when applying for a job where bilingual is not (yet) a requirement.

Chinese or German would be more useful for this.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by pobre

Unless you will be a true, certified, bilingual teacher, you will not use Spanish while teaching. There are many who are fluent in Spanish, but, there are also pockets of Arabic and other languages. If you are in an ELL setting, language use other than English is highly discouraged in the classroom (by the teacher).

I'm not so sure what is going on... I attended a meeting at my G daughter's elementary last year or year before. They announced they will now teach Spanish speakers to be fluent in Spanish before trying to teach them English.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by m0gwai

I'll be moving to SA with my kiddos and wondering if I should relearn Spanish (took it way back in high school). Will I NEED it? Should I start teaching it to my little tikes?

Also, I'll be employed as a teacher in secondary public school. I'm unaware of the language situation in SA (or even just Texas in general). Are the Hispanic students (particularly high school age which is what I teach) pretty much fluent in English? I only ask because I'm aware of a large Hispanic population, but I'm not aware of if the majority are first/second/third/etc generation in America (which could create more of a language struggle depending).

Sorry for my ignorance. I'd just like to know if it would be a big benefit for my family to learn Spanish. Also, I'm curious to whether I'm more likely to encounter students who speak fluent English or not.

As always thanks for the (future) replies and your insight.

It is always useful to learn another language. But necessary? No.

The students are typically fluent, and if not, will be in special language programs. For those who are first generation (with parents who are Spanish speaking only), it can help to be able to communicate with parents, but is not a requirement.


Remember San Antonio was Hispanic long before it became part of the US. Many hispanic families have been here for more than 100 years. Others are new arrivals.

Definitely brush up on it, because it's always good to be able to communicate in as many languages as possible. But you can easily survive here without it.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by ggeorgie

What the heck are you talking about??? Yes!! We do speak English here in this city close to the border in South Texas!!. Our national champion basketball team here in San Antonio called the SPURS do speak English and so do their children who are in our ENGLISH speaking schools.....

My kids are in a Spanish-speaking school, here in San Antonio, because we want them to learn Spanish. And French, and Chinese, and as many languages as possible.

Viva Los Spurs!

[pobre]

Originally Posted by SATX56

I'm not so sure what is going on... I attended a meeting at my G daughter's elementary last year or year before. They announced they will now teach Spanish speakers to be fluent in Spanish before trying to teach them English.

Then they are in a bilingual or dual-language setting.

[huckster]

Used to ask me if she was pronouncing something correctly or not. Holmes High.

[txtea]

You should learn Spanish because you WANT to....not because you HAVE to.

[ranchodrive]

Originally Posted by m0gwai

I'll be moving to SA with my kiddos and wondering if I should relearn Spanish (took it way back in high school). Will I NEED it? Should I start teaching it to my little tikes?

Also, I'll be employed as a teacher in secondary public school. I'm unaware of the language situation in SA (or even just Texas in general). Are the Hispanic students (particularly high school age which is what I teach) pretty much fluent in English? I only ask because I'm aware of a large Hispanic population, but I'm not aware of if the majority are first/second/third/etc generation in America (which could create more of a language struggle depending).

Sorry for my ignorance. I'd just like to know if it would be a big benefit for my family to learn Spanish. Also, I'm curious to whether I'm more likely to encounter students who speak fluent English or not.

As always thanks for the (future) replies and your insight.

You need to be just a "tad" more specific on which Spanish you want
to learn.

There's Tex-Mex, pachuco, border, book Spanish, & Spanish as
spoken by the folks from Mexico that are shopping or residing here
& I'm sure there's more...

I grew up speaking mostly "Spanglish".
It was good enough that it helped me make more sales when I worked at the
mall as a salesclerk & tending to the customers from Mexico.

[ggeorgie]

Originally Posted by Chaka

My kids are in a Spanish-speaking school, here in San Antonio, because we want them to learn Spanish. And French, and Chinese, and as many languages as possible.

Viva Los Spurs!

Yes, that is awesome Chaka. My kiddos did the Spanish immersion program, which has the lottery system because soo many parents want it; this was at Howard and at Cambridge.. I understand Spanish perfectly; my problem is speaking. I can speak it, just not where I'd like to be. I have one in h.s. sophomore and one 8th grader in jr. school; point is, Spanish, in my opinion seems to be a dying language where we need to be more proactive and make our kiddos how important it really is. Border towns, like Laredo, Spanish is first language. South Side San Antonio, Spanish is preferred.. Example... Go to H.E. B. on Pleasanton and Military, you hear predominately Spanish; Go to H.E.B. (Re-built) Nogalitos,,, same thing...
My kiddos now have no desire to learn Spanish; it's the generation...........