I don’t know if it’s because she’s been exposed to both English and Spanish since she was born, but my daughter has always shown an interest in other languages. Last year I started exposing her to French by using the Little Pim line of products. One of her favorite things is a poster that shows how to say “hello” in different languages, which is exactly the topic of Say Hello! the Scholastic Club Leo book I decided to review this month.
The book tells the simple story of Carmelita and all the people she meets in her neighborhood on her way to her abuelita’s home. All the people are from different countries and so they say hello to Carmelita in their own language. There’s the lady at the French bakery, the neighbors from Kenya, the owners of a Japanese restaurant and so on. Vanessa was quick to point out that she already knew how to say “hello” in three languages: Spanish, English and French.
I like that through the story my children can not only learn how to say “hello” in different languages, but it also gives me an opportunity to talk to them about other cultures and peoples of the world. The colorful illustrations really help me do this and I love that they portray a diverse neighborhood because my children are not really exposed to anything like that.
I think this is the perfect book for those children growing up bilingual, but even more so for those who are not so they can be introduced to the notion that there are tons of other languages spoken throughout the world. The book is in English, but has Spanish phrases embedded in it — as well as a pronunciation guide of all the “hellos” at the end of the book.
The Giveaway
We’re giving away one copy of Say Hello! to one lucky winner.
To enter, all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us how you teach your children about other cultures and languages.
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This giveaway ends Wednesday, May 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.
I love Spanglish Baby! I am 5 months pregnant but plan on raising my daughter in a bilingual home (English/Spanish). I am already exposing her to the language, speaking to her abuela in Spanish only, listening to Spanish-language music, reading to her in Spanish and I’ve even found some cartoon classics in Spanish via YouTube. I plan on continuing to expose her to her language as much as possible and both families (her father and I) will continue to expose her to both of her cultures. I am a lover of languages and cultures, so I don’t want to stop with Spanish language. I definitely need this book!
What an awesome giveaway! We bought my son a globe. We look at it, pick a country to learn about, and discuss their cultures! He enjoys it and so do I. =)
We travel a lot and we discusses the different cultures of each country we visit.
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What a great concept for a book! I am a preschool teacher, rather than a mom, so my strategies are varied. I’m heavily Spanish-focused, because the last center I worked at was in the Mission District with bilingual families, and my current center would like me to introduce Spanish — and the concept of foreign languages — to our kids, who are mostly monolingual.
One of the ways that I love to bring in discussion of other cultures is through picture books, because it gives the children a concrete way to connect to someone else’s story of family — such as their routines for celebrating a particular holiday. We spend lots of time talking about how some families celebrate/cook/live one way, and some families don’t celebrate/cook/live that way.
Another way is connecting through cooking food — and best results when story and food are tied together!
For learning languages, I like to engage children very actively — songs and simple games with lots of motions.
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And I already like Spanglishbaby on Facebook — in fact, that’s how I found you guys! From some other community’s “like.”
My son would love this book! We live in Brooklyn and on our daily walk to daycare we say hello to our friends and neighbors in a few languages – English, Spanish, Nepalese (Namaste), Arabic/Urdu (Salaam), and Russian (Privet)… So much fun!
Living in the Washington DC area, we have a lot of opportunities to explore and learn about other cultures. Visiting embassies, cultural festivals and trying different restaurants are all things that my friends and I do with our children!
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We like to learn about other cultures and languages by reading books!
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This is a great book, I teach my daughter buy reading different books about different cultures.
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We try to find songs that our daughter love in several languages, our favorite is “I have a dream” from Tangled…. it great to listen the song in spanish, polish, russian, and chinnesse…she love it! We also show her pictures and talked about other cultures. =)
I usually just teach about other cultures as the moments arise. I had several roommates in college from Asia, and have a few friends now who live overseas, so that works well as a starting point. My overseas friends send letters which I read to my kids.
Our language learning is sort of stalled right now, but I hope to pick it up again this summer.
By celebrating other cultures reading books, music, trying foods and taking classes.
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My Ava is nine months old and I teach her about other cultures and languages by exposing her via books,music, and toys. Her favorite is a SmartPal bear that sings the ABCs in both English and Spanish. I also encourage our friends who speak another language to talk to her in their native tongue. Its great to live in Miami where there are so many diverse cultures. I hope to get this book me to read to her and for her to read to her child in the future.
We listen to songs that are in Spanish. My husband is teaching my daughter words in Chinese and we have several books that have both English and Chinese words.
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This book sounds great! My son and I talk a lot about different cultures, we are fortunate enough to live in an ethnically diverse area. We talk about Chile, where my family is from, as well as where his classmates’ families come from.
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I read to my children in Spanish as much as I can. I speak to them too, but since my husband only speaks English we switch when he is home. We listen and watch media in Spanish as much as possible too. We leave in an area with people from many different cultures, so my kids are exposed to different languages. Thanks
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Looks like a great book. I teach my kiddos about other cultures through books. We also visit museums and multicultural activities when they are offered her in our neighborhood.
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Con comida!
We went out for Japanese one day, and while we are sitting at the restaurant Audrey asks “mami, is this Japan?”…. stirred up a big convo all about Japan for the next couple of days. ( :
We do a lot of reading about other cultures, we listen to different music, and eventually, I’d love to start cooking other cultures foods!
We teach them through their grandparents! My Mom is Filipina, my Dad is German, and my Parents-in-law are Guatemalan. For my work, I travel to Africa frequently, so time with the grandparents, books, maps, and stories is how we teach our children about other cultures and languages.
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We enjoy taking our girls to Latino events and celebrating Latino holidays, but we think it’s important to partake in other cultures’ festivities (e.g. Chinese New Year, St Patrick’s Day, Hanukkah) and explain some of the traditions involved. We’re fortunate to go to a diverse school where we have many opportunities to learn about other heritages. We most recently learned of the Festival of Lights tradition for the Hindu culture.
I try to learn everything she’s learning in her Spanish class at school so I can help her learn and reinforce her learning at home!
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We travel a lot and we sing lots of songs of different cultures and languages! Children love singing and listening to music!