About: Ana Flores

I grew up in El Salvador going to Piñatas, not fiestas de cumpleaños, but Piñatas. If you guessed that the smacking of the hanging toy was the main attraction, you’re right. The thing is I don’t remember ever having fun when it was my turn to grab the stick and hit the swinging piñata. I never felt tall enough, strong enough, or maybe I simply was never interested enough. I was reminded about this feeling of childhood inadequacy last weekRead More ...

When we launched SpanglishBaby almost six months ago, I wrote a post about why raise bilingual children. In the weeks and months following, we’ve tried to write about or at least mention the latest studies related to bilingualism which have given us even more reasons why it’s such a great decision to raise our children bilingual. But we’ve never really taken a closer, more detailed look at why bilingualism is one of the best gifts we can give our kids.Read More ...

It seems like we can’t write enough about the topic of reading with our children. It just goes to show how important we believe reading is as a tool for language exposure and for overall language skills. Last week we introduced our new monthly series, ReadMe, which focuses on one bilingual/Spanish book and author per month; yesterday’s Ask an Expert dealt with when is the best time to teach your child to read in the minority language. Today, we’re exploringRead More ...

This giveaway is now closed. The winner will be chosen soon. Thanks to all who entered! If you’re a regular reader of SpanglishBaby, you know that I’m a book lover and that there’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing my daughter follow in my footsteps. Books have always been an escape for me and even when I’ve been at my busiest – like when Vanessa was born and I didn’t even have time to shower – they have beenRead More ...

Poko is a children’s show about a little boy with a magic finger.  The beauty of this show, created for the preschool crowd, is that it helps them to identify their emotions and how to deal with upsetting situations by using simple strategies.  Because we all know how easy it is for anything – like an apple cut the wrong way – to totally throw a kid into a crisis! In this episode, Poko, along with his pet dog andRead More ...

The American Library Association just concluded its 2009 Annual Conference a couple of days ago and according to many in attendance, one of the highlights was the Pura Belpré Celebration. The winners of this coveted award – which recognizes the best in Latino children’s literature – were announced earlier this year, but the awards were actually given out on Sunday in Chicago during a ceremony many call nothing less than a pachanga. According to the ALA’s website, the Pura BelpréRead More ...