The Adventure of Raising Kids in Spanish and English as Non-Native Anglophone Families in Spain

Abstract

This chapter focuses on a minority childhood education-related phenomenon that is gaining presence in Spain: that of non-native Anglophone parents who decide to raise their children in both Spanish and English. The authors analyze these families' perceptions as regards the development of such linguistic raising model both before they started to implement it and during the process. Qualitative information gathered through in-depth interviews is analyzed. The narratives of the studied families (combining aspirations, desires and motivating rewards, on the one hand, and uncertainties, fears and obstacles, on the other) denote a profound sense of adventure in the way they live this educational process. Such sense of adventure must be understood in a context of a certain vacuum for these families as regards referents, guides, or models for them.