Mummy - You're speaking Dora!

I was rubbish at languages when I was at school. When I had the opportunity for a year abroad, I chose somewhere where I could become competent in their language within a year - which is how I ended up living in Bogota, Colombia. I think I achieved my aim, as by the time I left I would be dreaming in Spanish. I love the language, its turn of phrase and its fluidity.

Having this second language is useful. On this last holiday I used it when we arrived: I spoke to our taxi driver in Spanish to make sure he didn't fleece us. As we got to the hotel he told me it was closed! He then explained it was part of a chain. He drove us to the next hotel and I asked him to wait with hubbie and kids in the car. I spoke "extremely fluent" spanish to the receptionist who was able to explain our booking had moved to another hotel. I was also able to translate what has happening to a pair of Russian girls in the same circumstances. Being able to do this made a stressful situation less stressful.

In previous years my spanish was particularly useful when we got stranded at a local tourist site in the middle of Cuba. I was able to hitch a lift off some local lads. In Seville, I managed to negotiate a cot for our hotel room which somehow had been "lost" from our hotel booking. In Malaga, I got away with a major "scratch" on my hire car when I returned it to the rental place at the airport.

However, what I love most of all about speaking spanish is that I'm a role model for my daughter. Whilst trying to reclaim one of my son's baby spoons which had been cleared away accidentally by the waiters in our hotel (una cucharada blanca por un bebe con una pollito amarillo), my daughter kept saying to me "Mummy - you're speaking Dora". It wasn't particularly helpful at the time, but she made me realise how important it was that I could "speak Dora".

I then noticed that my daughter had started to seek out situations with the hotel maids to say "Hola!" She was frequently disappointed when they didn't hear her, or they were already engaged in conversation with someone else. And now, back home, she keeps singing a spanish song that they played every night at the Mini-Disco.

Following on from the holiday, I'm feel ecouraged to maintain my daughter's motivation. I have overcome my challenges as a teenager and I feel confident speaking another language. I want to support and develop both my children so that they are able to speak a second language with ease. Not only is is practical, but it's empowering.