Another shot at learning Woun meu

I knew that our 3 year old Princess was not as strong in Woun mue (my husband's native language) as she is in English and Spanish. She converses, tells stories, asks "why?", and switches back and forth between the two. She prefers Spanish at the moment, but certainly is not lagging behind in English, nor is she behind for her age.

Yet in Woun mue she says only a few scattered words, and it's hard to say how much she understands. The reason for this is probably three-fold:

1. We don't live in a Wounaan* community, so she's not hearning the language from other kids in her daily play.

2. Because we don't live in a Wounaan community, Alex doesn't think to speak to the girls in his native tongue every day. No one else here speaks it, so it doesn't seem like the natural thing to do.

3. She has realized that almost everyone who speaks Woun meu, also speaks Spanish. So why learn a language that you don't need to?

So what to do? There's no easy answer. But lately Alex has been desirous to try and intentionally teach them the language. I am all for it, and we have talked about me planning him some simple learning activites they can do together. As we talked this over it hit me that maybe Alex needs to be taught how to teach language. Most people don't know much about how kids learn language.

Maybe, maybe.... if they can learn some words and phrases, feel a little more comfortable with the language, than they won't be so overwelmed when a relative comes up, pinches their cheeks and rattles off a bunch of questions. Here's hoping.