Despite living only five  miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I have never had the good fortune of seeing the President or First Lady in the flesh. However, yesterday I, along with the sophomore class of Bell Multicultural High School in Columbia Heights had the pleasure of not only seeing but hearing Mrs. Obama speak on the importance of committing to your education in order to create a better future for ourselves and our country.

However, this school isn’t just any regular high school. Bell Multicultural is part of the Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC) which is a unique globally themed bilingual campus that serves grades 6 through 12 and prepares all of its students for success in college and their careers.

CHEC has been recognized as one of the top schools in the area and country on the Advanced Placement Challenge Index for offering Advanced Placement to all students. It also has the only Spanish language dual immersion high school program in Washington D.C. Students can take a full bilingual program through the 12th grade. CHEC students come from over 20 countries and use this diversity to complement their globally themed curriculum. Every grade explores a global theme, which ties together their learning and builds their global awareness.

During Mrs. Obama’s opening remarks and highly motivational speech she pointed out success stories from the high school including that of Dominican-born student Roger Sánchez saying

“In fifth grade, Roger came to the United States from the Dominican Republic to live with his mother.  When Roger arrived in America, he could barely speak a word of English.  He often couldn’t understand anything his teachers were saying, so he decided to put a piece of paper in his pocket so he could jot down all the new words he heard, and then he’d ask his friends and teachers to translate for him.

He went to the library and poured through books and videos and cassettes to help teach himself English.  And after all those hours of studying and practicing, Roger arrived here at Bell ready to thrive.  And every day, he put the same effort into his classes that he put into learning English.  He joined the baseball, the football teams.  He helped found your Global Kids Club so that students could discuss world issues.  And last spring, he graduated with nearly a 4.0 GPA.”

Following her remarks, Mrs. Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Bell alum Menbere sat on a comfy sofa with BET moderator Jeff Johnson and opened the floor up for  discussion and a Q&A session with the 10th-grade class at CHEC who represent the college Class of 2020.  The First Lady made it clear that she want to “hear your story, your questions your concerns.” Encouraging students to talk.

The school’s goal is to have 100% of students graduate with plans for higher education. In 2012, 82% of students went on to college and they are working towards increasing that number year on year.

Truthfully, I was dying to ask a question. I didn’t get to, but I wanted to get the bilingual aspect of success in there. Especially because we were at such a unique educational setting. I would have asked her and Secretary Duncan talk about research showing how being bilingual helps you get ahead in education and life and to discuss how these particular bilingual high school students place (test wise) among other monolingual high school students.

And in case you were wondering, the First Lady looked immaculate as always! If you’d like to know more about what she wore, her look and how the rest of the day went, then please see Very Busy Mamá.

Editor’s note: We continue with our 31 Days of Reading in Spanish. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our weekly GIVEAWAY of $100 worth of books in Spanish! This is the last week, so you have until July 31 to enter.

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

Papelucho is a series of books by author Marcela Paz and it’s a children’s classic for all Chilean kids. Twelve books were published between 1947 and 1974 — it may seem outdated, but the beauty of Papelucho is that it is timeless! Papelucho is a young 8-year-old boy and all stories are told from his point of view in a diary entry style. He spends most of his days with his nanny, “Domitila” and he is a curious, observants and very funny boy.  There are very innocent and laugh out loud moments as he describes his world from the point of view of a child.

Papelucho was so much a part of my life that when I started blogging in 2010 that he was the inspiration for writing from my son’s point of view. For two years I wrote as my child and described a world as seen through young eyes. To this day, the series is still a best seller and ask any Chilean and they have great memories of Papelucho and call tell you about their favorite book!

BOOK DETAILS

Title: Papelucho (name of series)

Author: Marcela Paz

Ages: 8 — 100!

Publisher/Year: Editorial Sudamericana

Price: $5.99 Kindle version on Amazon.com

We talk about bringing up our babies bilingual, but what about improving and polishing our own bilingual skills? I have heard many of us say that we don’t live in an area where Spanish is spoken or we have significant others who are not native speakers, so English is the dominant language.

I lived in the UK for six years, where I went months without speaking Spanish. I even found myself struggling to come up with words when I would talk to my mother on the phone. However, when I went on maternity leave (an entire year) my Spanish instantly improved — why? I was with mostly Chilean mamá friends on a daily basis and it was like magic. The words came back, accent got stronger and vocabulary was richer. Not that I really “lost” my Spanish, but you know what they say, if you don’t use it, you lose it.

So here are 5 tips to help keep your bilingual brain fit and healthy:

1. Speak to at least one person each day in Spanish — call your mamá, talk to your kids, talk to the dog, talk to yourself (I do!) — just do it!

2. Write your “to-do” list in Spanish. Sounds simple, but I got into this habit when I was younger and to this day I cannot write my list in English, it must be in Spanish. You use words you may not otherwise and it’s always in front of you.

3. Sing in Spanish! I didn’t listen to much Latin music when I was in the UK. But once I did, it sparked my Spanish skills and just made me happy all over. Music is a great way to practice your tenses “te amaré por siempre” or “te amé”, etc. My non-native Spanish-speaking friends say it has helped them improve.

4. Buy a magazine in Spanish and read it OUT LOUD. It’s not enough to just read because we all sound fluent and amazing in our heads, but actually saying the words, pronouncing each one, repeating the more difficult words and getting used to hearing yourself speak Spanish will increase your fluency and comfort level.

5. Take the reading out loud a step further and record your voice on your smart phone or record a video of you reading a story for your kids. That way you can hear and see yourself speaking Spanish. This will help increase your language speaking confidence!

Remember — practice, practice, practice!

How do you exercise your bilingual brain?

{Photo by Mitchell Bartlett}

There is never a dull moment in this bilingual home of ours. Each day my husband or papi is getting better and expanding his vocabulary to more than just “caca” or “leche,” and my son incorporates words he has heard me say into his conversations with me — things he would only get from me. Not my mamá or his tata. For instance, when Lucía was crying he said “me carga cuando llora la Lucía.” Carga being the new word, one that I use probably too much. But he took me by surprise.

I don’t know why, I decided to test my son out. I’d never done it before, but I gave him orders in English. I said “hurry up and get in the car, we have to go now.” He stopped, stared and said laughing nervously “mami, nosotros no hablamos en inglés.” I kept going in English and suddenly I noticed he had tears in his eyes and he just looked scared. I changed back to Spanish and said “Perdóname. ¿No te gusta cuando te hablo en inglés?’ And he said something that took me by complete shock, “Cuando tu hablas en inglés es como que no eres mi mami”.

Talk about a total surprise! Then he followed it up by saying “Y la Lucía llora en español por que todavía no habla.” Wow, wow, WOW!

Then I remembered years ago when my grandparents came to visit us from Chile, my Oma had commented that I was a different person when I spoke Spanish than when I spoke in English. She said my tone of voice was softer and comforting whereas in English it was harsher and less “feminine” (her words, not mine!) It also happened in London, I was speaking with a client in English only to find out later he spoke Spanish as well. He said I was a completely different person when speaking Spanish, again he  mentioned something in the tone of voice. Now I’m no expert, but it makes sense.

I think language and personalities go hand in hand. My entire mamá-hijo relationship has only been in Spanish so to suddenly change now just scared my little guy. Pobrecito, it broke my heart to see the nervousness in his eyes.

What do you think, do you sound different when speaking different languages? Is it a confidence or fluency issue?

One of the greatest perks of being a blogger is all of the connections and new people you meet that you wouldn’t have otherwise. Since starting here at SpanglishBaby my network of other like-minded bilingual parents has grown and we have all been able to connect on different levels yet at the core is desire to raise our children speaking a second language.

A few months ago I received an email from a fellow Latina mamá who had been reading my posts on SpanglishBaby and just so happened to live 10 minutes away! So I wanted to introduce you to Nikki Scully, half-American, half-Costa Rican mom and SpanglishBaby reader or SpanglishMami as I named her. Here we talked about her background, what she wants for her kids and the fondest memories of her bilingual upbringing!

MJO: Tell readers about your background and what makes you a Spanglish Mami?

NS: I am the proud daughter of a Costa Rican mother and a father from Ohio. My father took his love of Spanish language and Latin culture and joined the Peace Corps in 1970. His adventures took him to Costa Rica, where he fell in love with a young tica. And the rest is history.

MJO: Why is it important for you kids to be bilingual?

NS: Mainly, I realize  what a gift my parents gave me. Although I didn’t appreciate it as a child, I truly feel like knowing Spanish opened a world for me, setting me apart in ability to communicate with so many more people and appreciate another culture and its values, music, food and more. Being bilingual and bicultural is a source of great pride, which I’d love to pass along to my children.

MJO: Do you have any concerns about bilingualism?

NS: My biggest concern is: “What will this look like in a few years?” My kids are very young (2 years old and one month!), so I am just at the beginning. Their learning Spanish now is easy in that they spend their days with me, but in the back of my mind I fear that all my efforts will be shot once they go to preschool. I feel like I always seek out parents with children that are a bit older to see what their journey has looked like up to that point (and what our future might look like). Often, it’s reassuring to see that speaking Spanish to their children has really worked!

Also, although my Spanish is good it’s still my second language, so often I could explain/describe something to my son much better in English. I worry that this causes me to talk much less to him overall than I would if we spoke English. I have to make a conscious effort to talk, talk, talk, and many times look up how to say something! It’s really a learning experience for me, too.

MJO: How have others (family, strangers, etc). reacted to your decision to raise them bilingual?

NS: I am still learning to be comfortable speaking to my children in public in Spanish. However, when other parents hear me speaking Spanish to my son, the reaction is almost always positive. Parents usually say that it’s really cool and that they wished they could do the same with their kids.

MJO: My husband is learning Spanish and we have some great “lost in translation” moments. Tell us about your funniest bilingual moment.

NS: My husband is very supportive of my efforts, and he speaks some Spanish and English to the kids. His Spanish skills are getting better as we go, but he can get … creative. Sometimes he thinks he remembers a word, but he’s just off a little bit. For example, he said “conchillo” once when he meant “conejo.” Or “hornatuga” when he tried to say “zanahoria.” I think it’s hilarious that his made-up Spanish words sound like they could be legit.

MJO: What is your favorite bilingual books, toys, movies, etc.?

As someone who loves to sing, I find my most powerful tool to encourage bilingualism is music! I try to expose Jack to all kinds of music in Spanish, whether geared toward kids or not. It takes a little more searching to find good children’s music in Spanish — and I love artists I found on SpanglishBaby, particularly Sara from Music with Sara and Nathalia’s From Here to There CD. I sing the songs over and over, particularly in the car!

MJO:  Tell us about your favorite “Spanish speaking” childhood memory?

NS: I am blessed that my siblings and I grew up taking trips to Costa Rica to visit our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Many of these trips were at Christmas time, when my fondest memories are of evening nochebuena Mass followed by a big meal and waiting for el niño to stop by with gifts! There was always so much excitement surrounding that evening, and it was a treat to stay up late.

Beyond that, my warmest memories include music. I come from a family of guitar players and singers, and to this day family get-togethers always mean lots of hearty singing and dancing! Never a dull moment.

A little more about Nikki: I have a bachelor’s in Spanish and secondary education, and a master’s in Spanish. I taught high school Spanish for nine years before deciding to make the home my classroom! I have aspirations of ramping up my blog — I’m working on it! Connect with Nikki at Fantastic Imaging.

Are you a SpanglishMami? Get in touch and tell me your story!

¡Besos!

{Photo courtesy of María José Ovalle}

I love carrying my baby close to me. I carried Matías everywhere in London and now with Lucía I do the same. I like the feeling of having them close to me and I notice they are instantly soothed and just melt into my chest as they fall asleep.

Other times, Lucía wants to be held and I simply can’t at the moment so in the carrier she goes!  I have vacuumed, washed dishes, done laundry and even sat down to write reviews and blog posts with her snuggled up against my chest — talk about multitasking! But it works for you and baby.  After trying many carriers out through the years, I have come to have my favorites. Some are better for smaller babies, while something like the Moby Go is best for bigger (15 lbs – 45 lbs), heavier and older babies. The durable material and smooth thick straps make it easy and comfortable to wear. Notice I say “smooth” straps — I’ve worn other bulky ones that require too much assembly. Anything that is  made to simplify your life, but requires too much work is a no no for me. As a very busy mamá I need to be as efficient as possible and not waste time.

Carriers should be:

1) Easy to put on. There is no need for it to become a tangled web.

2) Easy to adjust while baby is in position. If you have to ask for someone else to do it, then its no good.

3) Comfortable for YOU to wear. Because if you are not loving it, then neither will the baby.

4) Papi friendly. Trust me on this one, you want a carrier your husband will want to wear. At first my husband didn’t want to carry the kids, but once he got over the fear, he prefers it. Instant papi-baby time!

5) Lightweight with easy access to pockets: You want to be able to easily access your phone, keys and money when out and having a front pocket makes you life and your baby carrying experience easier and enjoyable.

Last night I went to the book launch of Kid Trips book here in Northern Virginia and at the last minute I had to take Lucía with me. It was the perfect time to use the Moby Go for a prolonged period of time. While she slept most of the time, she was comfy and snug and I avoided back and shoulder pain — however I realized the importance of being the right weight. She is just under 15 lbs, and it made a big difference in terms of the coverage the carrier provided and how far down she sat.

Moby Go features:

• Cross-shoulder design evenly distributes weight

• Wide shoulder straps continue the Moby Wrap tradition of superior comfort

• Seat designed for correct support

• Padded leg openings

• Removable hood

• Easy to reach side buckles adjust for the perfect fit

• Unique dual foam waist belt

Very Busy Mamá’s tip: Baby carrying is an art form of sorts. Some women don’t like it or are afraid of it. A woman last night said I was “brave” for carrying her everywhere, but I disagree. Like anything else it’s a matter of practice and finding the right carrier for your needs.

¡Buena suerte!

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one Moby Go carrier to one lucky winner! All you have to do is leave a comment telling us which Moby Go feature you like most. Then enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{First Image courtesy of María José Ovalle}

{Last Image © 2013 Moby Wrap}

Anyway, back to business! This week I wanted to share something a little different. I often get asked, “how do you encourage your kids to speak Spanish without stressing them out?” Very good question and one that I’ve thought about many times. Luckily, that hasn’t been a major problem with my son, but every child is different and it is something to be aware of.

The best advice I give is to make it fun and enjoyable by playing games, singing and dancing. I make up songs and encourage Matías to add on his own verses and then repeat. However, instead of telling you about our Spanish fun, we put together a video of us singing two songs that we composed ourselves!

We hope you like them and that you are inspired to come up with your own canciones. It’s amazing how well children react to them and it allows the second language to flourish with ease.

I have a very curious four-year-old bilingual boy at home who is eager to learn his letters and numbers. He traces them with his fingers, and has learned the letters M, P, and O. “M” for of course, Matías (his name), Mami and… Mono, “P” for Papi and “O” for Oma (what he calls his abuelita).

But here is the real kicker, I only taught these to him two weeks ago when Munchkin, the children’s safety and learning toys brand, sent us their Traveling (portable bilingual) Flash Cards which help children ages 3 and up learn their letters, numbers and shapes with animal pictures. As soon as we opened the box, Matías was immediately drawn to the letters and said “Mira mami, tantas letras. ¡Me gustan!” Every morning he rides to preschool with his cards, which have a carry handle and he goes through each letter and number shouting each one out, then describing the animal in English and Spanish. We even learned a few that I didn’t know, such as  Newt or Tritón.

I am always excited about bilingual learning tools and these little cards have turned out to be a massive help and kickstart to more learning. The real surprise came today when out in the snow, he actually wrote out the letters M and P – I was absolutely floored and overcome with pride. It just goes to show how just a little bit goes a long way. Now every night we sit down with our cards and practice learning a different letter. Tonight we repeated the letters T and D – for Tía Denise (my sister and his madrina)

As for Munchkin, I am a fan of their innovative products and I am happy to see them incorporating bilingual products into their range – they are doing a world of good and so many kids both bilingual and non will be eager to learn and take pride in knowing how to say things in more than one language. The cards are well worth the $5 and the quality is superb. Two hands up from both Matías and Mami.

But the Munchkin goodness doesn’t end there. They have also kindly sent me a White Hot Inflatable Safety Duck Tub  for my little girl (due next week) and their brand new SaraBear PORT Hamper  – which believe me, is like the rockstar of hampers. It folds up nicely when not in use, then it opens up and the handles have magnets which sits like a traditional basket, and it can also be used as a travel bag. Love multi use items!

The Giveaway

One reader will receive not only the Traveling Bilingual Flash Cards, but also the Safety Duck Tub and the SaraBear Hamper. All you have to do is visit the Munchkin website and leave us a comment telling us which is your favorite product. Then, enter the rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I rarely make resolutions for the New Year. I tend to make them year round as I see fit, that way there is a better chance I will actually achieve them. And as far as New Year’s Eve, I was lucky to be awake anywhere near midnight as I’m so tired and just ready to have my second baby (due very, very soon!) But recently the SpanglishBaby team asked us what our resolutions were as they pertained to our kid’s bilingualism and it really got me pondering my goals.

Last week, as I was driving my son to his preschool he suddenly asked “Mami, la guaguita (baby in Chilean Spanish) habla español?” (Does the baby speak Spanish?)

Me: “Sí, ella va a hablar español como tú”. (Yes, she will speak Spanish like you.)

My son: “¡Ay, qué bueno! Porque yo le quiero enseñar inglés también y ¡todos podemos hablar juntos!” (Good! Because I want to teach her English too and then we can all talk together!)

I have always known I was going to speak Spanish to my children, however I had never thought about it from the point of view of my four year old son and his need to have “language comfort” once it is no longer just the three of us. I could feel his concern about including his new sister in our language setup and I could hear the relief in his voice when I told him that he will in fact be able to communicate with her as I do with him.

My resolution for this year is to continue to nurture the Spanish language in our home and watch another little person grow into a smart, capable bilingual individual. However, part of that language nurturing includes (and here’s where the real challenge comes in) FINALLY getting my husband to loosen up and speak more Spanish! He understands and speaks it very well, but he just won’t put his language skills to practice.

I suppose it is part of his personality, the perfectionist in him that wants to wake up one morning and speak it flawlessly. However, I feel now is the right time — we’ve been married eight years and I want to make a stress-free immersion environment with our kids to get him to a comfortable speaking level with us.

He has admitted that by hearing me speak to our son, he has improved his own vocabulary and has better use of his tenses. I hope with two children now, we can all encourage papi to join us and truly make this a bilingual home, even if in small increments.

Baby steps, right?

Have you integrated your non-bilingual spouse/partner in speaking your language? Or does keeping two (or more) languages separate work for you?

Here’s to a wonderful 2013!

{Photo by M H Ryle}

Next week I will be 33 weeks pregnant with our second child, and my husband and I are still deciding on a name. With our first, we agreed early on that we wanted a Spanish first name that was easy to pronounce in English (more importantly one that my husband felt comfortable with).

It was important to me that he stay connected with his Chilean side and I wanted to start with his name. Oddly enough, it was my American husband who found the name Matías — he liked it because it worked in several languages. What we didn’t realize was just how many languages it would work in. When we lived in the UK (where our son was born) we had people ask if we were Greek, German, Polish or Finnish. Talk about a universal name! We are well aware that we will live in the U.S., but like many bicultural and bilingual families, we feel names are an important part of your identity and help keep you connected to your roots.

Now we are having our second child, a girl, and we just cannot decide on a name. It’s been more difficult than the first time and we’ve also learned to keep our ideas to ourselves, because everyone seems to have an opinion on this topic — mostly from my familia. No surprise there! It’s either too old fashioned, or too edgy or too foreign. Yes, these are the types of comments we get. That’s why I’ve had to keep the names to myself despite being asked every chance they get.

Read: What’s in a Name? So many Choices, Only One Winner

What we do know is that  we would like a name that works well both in English and Spanish, but one that won’t be butchered in English and easy for my husband and his parents to pronounce. I know what it is like to have an unpronounceable name or one that gets cut in half — no one wants a lifetime of that.

I keep repeating names to myself, saying them out loud to see how it would sound when calling my daughter and what feeling they give me. Another factor to consider is the shortening of names; for instance, my husband likes Victoria and Magdalena, but I am not a fan of Vicki or Magda. Of course, we won’t call them that, but others may and we don’t want that. Nope, not having it!

So I ask you readers, how did you decide on your children’s names and what factors did you take into consideration? Was having a name connected to your roots imminent in the decision-making process? As for us, we are still deciding, but with the baby due in February, we should have one soon!

{photo by Gato Azul}