About: Ana Flores

  In honor of my daughter, Vanessa, who turns 4 years today, I’m re-posting this article from July 16, 2009, so I can spend the day having fun with my bilingual child. ¡Feliz Cumpleaños, hija linda! I absolutely love summer…for a lot of reasons, but mainly because my daughter is a summer baby which means we get to celebrate her cumpleaños outdoors in the melting heat (as opposed to indoors hiding from the snow.) In fact, both Vanessa and CamilaRead More ...

I had been waiting for someone to finally come up with exactly these type of bilingual and bicultural greeting cards and Viva Greetings hit the mark.  When Carla, owner and designer, contacted me so I could find out about her online shop I clicked over not expecting much.  Then, first thing I saw when her page loaded up was a simple, yet beautifully designed, red gallo (rooster) saying ¡Hola¡ to me. Trapped, I started furtively clicking through the site toRead More ...

It’s been a while since the last time we took a look at the media buzz regarding bilingualism. In the past, we’ve let you know our reaction to newspaper articles, blog posts or videos related to bilingual education, Latino culture and the Spanish language. Now, we constantly share them on our Facebook page and strike up a conversation there. But what was in the news last week deserves a more in-depth look. The Los Angeles Times, printed three op-ed articlesRead More ...

I think one of the treats I took the most for granted when I lived in El Salvador and, later, in Mexico was the paleta, the ultimate frozen treat.  They are everywhere and anywhere.  I grew up with the ding, ding of the bell hanging from the paletero’s cart as he walked in front of my house at the same time every afternoon.  My favorites were the paletas de coco, de fresa, pistachio and horchata. I still remember the timeRead More ...

Have you ever wondered what famous writers were like when they were children? Award-winning author Georgina Lázaro did and decided to not only find out, but to write about it for all our children to know. Cuándo los grandes eran pequeños is a collection of books in Spanish, pubished by Lectorum, which narrate the childhood of influential writers from all over Latin America and Spain. The series includes Federico Garcia Lorca, José Martí, Pablo Neruda and Julia de Burgos, amongRead More ...

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on this blog in November 2009. I was recently talking to somebody of Hispanic descent who wasn’t taught Spanish at home, but learned it later on in life. She vowed she wouldn’t follow her parents’ footsteps, but ended up doing exactly the same thing with her kids who are now elementary school-aged. “And, now it’s too late!” she lamented. I immediately reassured her that it’s never too late – that’s just a common myth.Read More ...