Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name’s Sarah Cosgrove, I’ve been living in Sheffield for the last 10 years. I’m a speech and language therapist, and I’m taking a career break so that I can spend more time with my fantastic 10 month old daughter.
Where did the idea of Baby Spanish come from and how have you developed it?
I speak passable Spanish after working at a special needs school in Peru for 5 months many years ago, and I also took it at A Level. I’m always looking for opportunities to practice so when I met Victoria, another new mum, at a baby group, who happens to be from the Canary Islands, I was keen to chat with her in Spanish. We started meeting up for lunch and playtime in Spanish so that my little one could hear the language, get familiar with the sounds and hopefully start to absorb some of the rhythms and words. Other friends said they’d like their baby to hear another language too, and from that the idea for Baby Spanish was born!
As a speech and language therapist I’ve got lots of experience in developing and running groups, and it’s been great fun putting together something a bit different. Victoria’s been here to help make sure the Spanish that I’m using is correct and to teach me the new vocabulary you need for babies – I hadn’t previously needed the word for nappy or crawling, for example, so I’m learning lots of new things too.
How exactly do you teach babies?
The sessions are very interactive, with the same types of activities we do in other sorts of baby groups. There are familiar action songs, fun activities, snacks and sensory play, but all done in Spanish. We’ve also created songs to well known tunes about day to day activities, to help parents learn relevant, baby-orientated vocabulary. We’ve run a few development sessions with volunteers and had really positive feedback. They’ve given us lots of ideas for extra things and tweaks to make the sessions even better. A bonus I hadn’t thought about that was mentioned in the feedback, is that unlike other baby groups, there’s something new and interesting for the parent to learn too, not just for the babies.
We’d looked into other language groups for babies, but we couldn’t find one that focussed on play and using the language in a natural context that’s relevant to the babies.
Why do you think it’s important to teach in this way and at this age?
Baby Spanish is aimed at 6-18 month old babies and their grown-ups. This is the age when babies are natural language sponges as they are listening, learning and trying out ways to communicate all the time. The more of a language they’re exposed to, the more they can pick up. But the language needs to be in a meaningful context, such as a familiar activity like having a snack, so that they can begin to make sense of what they’re hearing. We hope that Baby Spanish sessions will be a starting point for families who would like to give their babies the opportunity to soak up a second language. We aim to give parents the ideas, knowledge and confidence to use Spanish in routine activities, songs and play so that their little ones can take advantage of their natural language learning abilities at this age.
What do you think of the standard of language teaching in schools currently?
A Modern Language is now compulsory in Key Stage 2 and it’s great that this is now included in the curriculum. Although it’s easiest to learn a second language before the age of 3, any time before puberty is beneficial. After puberty, new languages appear to be stored differently in the brain – you now have to explicitly learn them, and it is usually accessed by translating in your head.
When and where do you run classes?
Regular Baby Spanish sessions are starting after the Easter holidays, the week beginning 4th April. You can join us on:
Monday afternoons 3-4pm at Broomhill Methodist Church
Friday mornings 10-11am at Woodseats Scout Hall
Website: www.babyspanish.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/babyspanish
Email: info@babyspanish.co.uk
Interview by Sara Hill
Images courtesy of Sarah Cosgrove
