Today on Ask an Expert we´re trying out something for the first time: We gave two bilingual experts the same question and asked them each to answer it from their specific area of expertise. The result is what we feel a broader piece of extremely useful advice. Last week Dr. Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D. answered Leslie´s question through the lens of her expertise in bilingual speech therapy. Today, Lori Langer Ramirez answers the same question as a multicultural and diversityRead More ...
This week’s Ask an Expert question was sent by Leslie. “Does it hurt the child’s development to emphasize more than one language? I am bilingual in both Chinese and English and my husband only speaks English. My baby goes to a daycare that speaks Chinese to him. However, since we live in CA, I wanted to expose the baby to Spanish as well, which I am proficient in but no expert. We read Spanish story books as well as ChineseRead More ...
This week’s Ask an Expert question was sent by Lisbeth Bosshart. “I’d love an opportunity to Ask an Expert. I’m trying to develop a plan for teaching my children Spanish in addition to their learning English. Spanish is my second language (my parent’s first language which I learned growing up). I plan on speaking Spanish to my little ones, but I want to read to them in English so that they can develop strong early reading skills. So I guessRead More ...
This week´s Ask an Expert question was sent by Gloria, who’s expecting her first child. “Hi there! I am happy to have found your website! My husband and I are expecting our first baby and I want to know the best way to raise our child bilingual. Both my husband and I are Mexican, bilingual (he born in Michoacan, my parents from Queretaro but I was born here, both educated in California). Among our relatives, the second generation (nieces/nephews) fallRead More ...
This week’s Ask an Expert question was sent by Donna, mother of three. “I have 3 children. The older 2 who are 12 and 9 mostly speak and understand English. We are trying to speak only Spanish to the baby who is 2 months old. What can we do to be sure that the baby speaks only Spanish first if her siblings are speaking to her in English?” Dear Donna, If you speak only Spanish to the baby, she willRead More ...
No matter which method we´re using to raise our children bilingually, we all know that once the majority language takes over their lives we ´ll be facing the true challenge to keep them motivated to speak the minority language at home and when necessary. Today´s Ask an Expert question was sent by a mom, Sandra Salazar, who´s facing the realization that she neglected encouraging Spanish at home with her two older boys once they started refusing to speak it andRead More ...
Our weekly Ask an Expert series continues to grow into a treasure cove of information and advice concerning bilingual families. The experts in the panel all shine in their own right; amongst them is bilingual English/Spanish speech language professional, Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, who recently debunked three common myths about speech development in bilingual children. Now, we are excited to announce that Dr. Kester has joined the impressive panel of bilingual experts that collaborate in our weekly series-Ask anRead More ...
Yesterday Roxana kicked off the week with an introduction to a four-part series we’ve prepared on baby sign language, or ASL, as a bridge connecting two languages. Teaching sign language to your baby is the equivalent of teaching him an additional language. For your child to fully be able to communicate in ASL it requires a strong commitment and dedication from the parents, like learning any second or more language does. However, and especially for families using the one parent-oneRead More ...
