Daily Blog

Disneyland Resort celebrates the holidays in Latin-style with “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!”. The grand finale is a commemoration of the Three Kings Day/Día de Reyes from Jan. 3-6, 2014. As we shared with you when the  ¡Viva Navidad! celebrations started last month, we’ve been extremely excited by the way our culture is being interpreted for our kids to immerse themselves in it. From the fabulous Street Party with Mojiganga puppets, mariachi and samba music, folkloric dancers and the Three Caballeros and MickeyRead More ...

Disneyland Resort has been celebrating la Navidad a lo grande with “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” throughout the holiday season with beautiful shows, music, activities and food that celebrates nuestra cultura. The grand finale is an observance of Día de Reyes from Friday, Jan. 3 to Monday, Jan. 6. We were there for a media event to capture some of this Three Kings Day magic, happening at Paradise Pier Gardens in Disney’s California Adventure Park, and got the chance to meet withRead More ...

La Plaza Olvera is where the heart of Mexican culture in Los Angeles beats. This is where all the tourists go to in downtown to get a feel of a traditional plaza with its mercadito, churros, tamales and obligatory knick knacks to buy. But Olvera Street is more than a tourist spot, it’s a historical landmark known as “the birthplace of Los Angeles,” or Nuestra Ciudad de Los Angeles. So imagine how thrilled we were when Camila’s Spanish music teacherRead More ...

The Mysteries of Bilingualism II on Psychology Today — Prof. François Grosjean delves into aspects of bilingualism that remain an enigma. In this case, he writes about language choice, code-switching and language interferences — topics that have been researched at the linguistic level, but not at the cognitive and neurolinguistic ones. ¡Aprender español está de moda! on El Sentinel — A look at how more and more people are realizing the importance of learning Spanish as a second language. New Fort Worth program will graduate bilingualRead More ...

If you are a family with multiple cultures represented, a family that has immigrated to a new country, a mixed race family, an interfaith family, una familia multilingüe, an adoptive family, an expat family, a host family, holidays are a balancing act of choosing “which,” “how,” and “when” to incorporate the different traditions and customs. In our family, my husband is from Mexico, I am from the U.S., and we have two biological daughters, and two sons who are adoptedRead More ...

Enzo has made incredible progress in English, and just when I wonder if English has replaced Spanish as his first language, Enzo surprises me by saying things like “Mama, en español por favor.” (Mama, in Spanish please.) He was referring to one of his favorite TV shows, Doc McStuffins, which I usually play for him in Spanish. I was, of course, thrilled. It was very different from a meltdown he had one morning when I switched the Doc McStuffins episodeRead More ...

I volunteer in my boys’ classrooms when I can, and we make a point of going to school events. One of my favorite things to do when it comes to school, though, is just hang out. They’re still young enough to get excited when I have a day off and can come have lunch with them in the cafeteria, and when I pick them up at aftercare on the early side, I like sitting with them and the other kids at the table whileRead More ...

I was with my children in a store last month looking at Halloween costumes.  As usual, our conversation was completely in Spanish. I noticed a mother observing our interactions, and when I smiled at her, she shared her own bilingual adventures with me. Having been born and raised in Mexico, she initially only spoke Spanish to her son. Unfortunately, when he started school, he rebelled against Spanish and refused to speak it. Sadly, this mother gave up and switched toRead More ...