Bilingual Education

Some weeks ago I posted an update on my personal Facebook profile sharing how much I love volunteering at my daughter’s kindergarten Spanish immersion classroom. Not even five minutes later I get a text from a very good friend whom I spend a lot of time with teasing me about using the word “love” in the same sentence as “volunteering.” She kept on going that there was no way I could love that and I had to be exaggerating. IRead More ...

We did our very first Google+ Hangout yesterday and we’re super happy with the results. It felt great to just be able to hang out with a group of moms — including our expert — talking about a topic we’re so passionate about and that we’ve invested in so much. For our fist session of SpanglishBaby LIVE, we tackled the always popular subject of dual language immersion programs. And there was so much to talk about! From the many DLRead More ...

February is a great month not only because I get to celebrate another year of life, but because it also marks SpanglishBaby’s anniversary. We’re on our fourth year now and in our constant effort to offer even more resources for parents raising bilingual and bicultural children, we’re super excited to announce our very first SpanglishBaby Live Google+ Hangout. WHAT: An opportunity for you to ask questions and discuss topics on bilingualism LIVE with Ana, myself and one of many experts onRead More ...

This post is long overdue, but I didn’t want to not share this super cute video with you and our experience at the Kallpachay Winter camp last month. These last holidays we decided to stay in Los Angeles because we had already taken a trip to Playa del Carmen earlier in December for a friend’s wedding. As much as I wanted to go back right away, we needed to stay put y tranquilitos at home. That meant that Camila wouldRead More ...

In December I got an email from Deepa Fernandes, early childhood development correspondent for 89.3 KPCC Public Radio in Southern California. She wanted to interview me and visit Camila’s elementary school because she was working on a series on bilingual education. The 3-part series finally airs this week and I got to listen to the first one live this morning. You can listen to it here or below. The series called “Bilingual Learning: The science, options and dilemma of dual language education”Read More ...

Lately, I have seen posts by our SpanglishBaby familia about whether or not a Spanish immersion program is the right fit for their child. Well, interestingly, it is a topic that has been something my little familia has also been debating. Even before I had Sabrina I was scoping out our foreign language schools options. I got on several waiting lists and eventually got into all of them! In fact, I keep my nena on a rolling waiting list becauseRead More ...

I am lucky enough to be in a public school district with a 90/10 bilingual immersion program from K-5, and growing. The district currently offers a Mandarin and Spanish program, and is about to expand the Spanish program to a second elementary school. Because my daughter will be eligible for Kindergarten in Fall 2013, this Fall has been spent touring our public, charter, and private options. It’s been exhausting and eye-opening. With preschool we were lucky enough to find theRead More ...

An article published earlier this week in The New York Times titled “For Young Latino Readers, an Image Is Missing” has created a flurry of commentary about the dire need for more children’s books with which our Latino kids can identify. In other words, more children’s books with characters that look like them and with storylines that speak to them. While I would love nothing more than to see all Latino authors been given the opportunity to be published, I’m having aRead More ...