Is your child embarrassed by your Spanish, Cuban, Mexican or Puerto Rican accent? Young people do not want to be different. Youngsters wish to belong, especially to the country and to the culture they were born into or have adopted. They are true conformists and their parents and grandparents who do not have fluency and a certain dexterity in English make them feel ashamed, uncomfortable, and embarrassed in front of their peers.
I just had an issue like this with my step-daughter. Her mother is a Cuban immigrant that arrived here a couple years before my step-daughter was born. She has an accent when she speaks English. My step-daughter told her to go back to school and learn to speak English before talking to her. It really surprised me. I had along talk with her about immigrants and how hard it is to learn another language and she hasn’t mentioned it again. My parents are Cuban immigrants as well, with heavy accents, but it never bothered me. I guess you learn to live with it.
Thank you for commenting! I´m bilingual but I spent my youth abroad and now my kids correct my English pronunciation. Apparently I´ve been pronouncing Luther as in Martin Luther King wrong all my life, sigh. I´m so glad you talked to your stepdaughter. Yes, it´s really ok to have an accent.