Bilingualism and language learning has been in the news a lot more than usual since 2013 started. Take a look: Bilinguals Have Faster, More Adaptive Brains When They Get Older, Study Finds from ABC News — More proof that the benefits of being bilingual last a lifetime. You can also read Ana’s take on this study on her Babble post. Babies Seem to Pick Up Language in Utero from The New York Times — We knew babies learn to recognize theirRead More ...
I began to learn Spanish a bit in grade school, and then in high school began the typical Spanish classes an hour a day. When I was a freshman, I traveled abroad for the first time to Peru with my dad to bring home my newly adopted brother and sister. This trip changed my life in uncountable ways: experiencing and living the language in bustling Lima and magical Cuzco cemented my love of Spanish and Latin culture. In college, IRead More ...
I take my boys to a weekly Spanish class. The majority of the children have had some exposure to the language, which makes this the ideal class for us. My sons always use Spanish with me, and it is the language that they use with each other. During the art session of this class, one of the mothers started to ask me what I have done to get my kids to be so fluent in Spanish. I rattled off theRead More ...
I’m not a huge breakfast eater — unless I go to the French bakery by my house, which is run by a couple from the south of France who moved to Denver five years ago. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but the bakery is on my way to Santiago’s preschool and so I stop in there regularly to devour freshly-baked croissants and the best baguettes I’ve ever had outside of France. But one of the other reasonsRead More ...
On a recent trip to Tijuana, I got my daughter Vanessa a wall calendar in Spanish. Since we just got back home from a holiday trip, we only put it up yesterday. Immediately, she saw the little drawing on the calendar marking el Día de los Reyes Magos and she realized it was right around the corner. On Sunday, Jan. 6 to be exact. I, of course, panicked because although I have a couple of books I kept over fromRead More ...
My son, Isaías, enjoying a Florida winter. Tomorrow, my son turns 5. It seems like a new milestone, like he’s moving into the big kid phase. He’s tying his shoes and learning to ride a bike without training wheels. Kindergarten is right around the corner, and I’m sure time will continue to whizz by as he discovers elementary school life. Isaiah’s 5th birthday isn’t just a turning point for him, though. It’s a day for me to pause and reflectRead More ...
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 AmericanRead More ...
¡Feliz Año Nuevo! From our SpanglishBaby family to yours, we hope 2013 is filled with love, laughter, peace and LOTS and LOTS of Spanish Happy New Year! ...
Ana
Roxana
We are two Latina moms – best friends since college – who are extremely passionate about ensuring our children not only speak both our languages, English and Español, but that they also grow up proud of both their cultures, Latino and American. Over three years ago we realized there's was a lack of information available for parents raising bilingual + bicultural children, so using our background in media, we launched SpanglishBaby.
