Educational Resources for Bilingual Kids

Back in the spring, I was invited by New Futuro to participate in a really cool event hosted by Que Rica Vida in Chicago with the purpose of providing information and tools to Latino parents to be able to help their kids succeed. Aptly named Infórmate y Edúcate, the free event conducted solely in Spanish was a huge success with over 500 people in attendance.

I must say I was honored to be in the company of some great Latina women who also participated in the event including Ileana Rodriguez, Vice President of College Board; Clara Lopez, Vice President of Children’s Programs and Services at El Valor; Dra. Isabel Gomez-Bassols, host of Univision Radio’s El Angel de la Radio; and Ana Martinez-Dassow, Founding Principal of Rowe Elementary. I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow Latina journalists Lucía Navarro and Dra. Marisa Azaret of CNN en Español. Oh, and I even got to meet Sonia Manzano, of Sesame Street fame. That was super cool!

But I must say that the highlight of the event was being able to talk to Latino parents (and their children) about the bilingual resources available online so they can help their children succeed. I was super happy to see a great turnout and even happier when the children started participating by asking questions and suggesting additional online resources to the ones I shared during my presentation.

Now that we’re all in Back to School mode, I figured it’d be a great time to share these resources with you. Some you might already know, but I bet you’ll find at least a couple new ones. I know I did while compiling the list. I’ve divided them into categories to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. I think these are great resources for anyone with bilingual kids, but especially for those of you with kids in dual language immersion schools.

Hope you find these resources helpful! Please feel free to add any others ones you and your children use so we can make this list even more comprehensive. ¡Gracias!

READING/WRITING

1) COLORIN COLORADO

2) EL RINCON DE LOS CUENTOS

3) READING IS FUNDAMENTAL (¡LEAMOS EN FAMILIA!)

4) BIBLIOTECA DIGITAL INTERNACIONAL PARA NIÑOS

5) PLAZA SESAMO

MATH/SCIENCE

1) AAA MATH

2) PBS PADRES — MATEMATICAS A TEMPRANA EDAD

3) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

SOCIAL SCIENCE

1) PROYECTO ILLINOIS EARLY LEARNING

2) MAPA HUMANO

GAMES/ACTIVITIES

1) CHILDTOPIA

2) PBS KIDS: MAYA Y MIGUEL

3) BRAIN POP

4) DISCOVERY FAMILIA

{Photo via IICD}