Mama, Mere, Mother Eric Speaks All Three

Abstract

<p>If you were to follow Eric Mateos through a day you might find him speaking Spanish at breakfast, English at lunch, and French at dinner. Eric's father, Manuel, a graduate student in Civil Engineering at Iowa State, is a native Spanish senor. His mother, Brigitte, a language instructor at Iowa State, was born and raised on the west coast of France. And his babysitter is an American. Mrs. Mateos teaches all clay and Manuel stays with Eric in the morning. His conversations with his son (still quite onesided) are always in Spanish. In the afternoon, Manuel goes to class and the babysitter takes over. Of course she chats to Eric in English. When Brigitte gets home, she feeds and plays with him and carefully speaks French to him.</p>