Daily Blog

Our family was fortunate to have had the opportunity to once again immerse our children in Spanish by traveling abroad. You may remember that last year we spent the summer in Peru. This summer was spent in Costa Rica. There really is nothing like travel to enhance your child’s language skills and to provide them with global and cultural understanding. Such trips require planning and effort, but the work is well worth it. Since I do not have family livingRead More ...

As most of you know already, Ana and I are in the process of promoting our first book, Bilingual is Better, which will be officially released next Tuesday, Sept. 18. To that end, we’ll be in Miami all of next week for several media appearances — details of which we’ll be sharing with you soon in case you’d like to see us — and for our book launch party. Although nothing would make us happier than to have all of youRead More ...

Regardless of political affiliation, I would find it very hard to believe that any Latino out there didn’t think San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro‘s keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention earlier this week was inspiring. Castro spoke so passionately and lovingly about his abuelita, his upbringing and all the hurdles his family has overcome that I’m sure many Latinos identified with him immediately. Hearing him sprinkle his speech with Spanish here and there was music to my ears. ButRead More ...

On any given night, you will find my husband, Toño, narrating leyendas and mitos to our four children before putting them to bed: the history of the escudo on the Mexican flag, the story of the hare outsmarting the coyote, stories from the Bible, or even Aesop’s fables. La llorona, David and Goliath, and Juan Diego and la Vírgen de Guadalupe trump Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood when Papi tells — and acts out — these traditional stories. InsteadRead More ...

While the majority of children in the United States will be going back to school this week, Vanessa just finished her third week in first grade. Recently, my husband and I were invited to a sort of parent/teacher conference so Vanessa could get an assessment in terms of her reading, writing and math skills. It was an opportunity for us to let her teacher know about Vanessa’s learning style, her likes and dislikes, and also for us to get toRead More ...

Look what I got in the mail yesterday!!! I have to admit I never, ever thought that it would feel this good! Touching it, feeling how soft and silky the cover feels, flipping through the pages and seeing my picture in the back flap just made all those endless hours and weekends at home trying to put this together make it all worth it. A huge ¡GRACIAS! to our publishers, Bilingual Readers, for putting out a beautiful design and just aRead More ...

Ask my mother-in-law about U.S. Geography and she throws her hands up in defeat. In her elementary school, geography was taught in the third grade — the year she arrived from Cuba. Instead of memorizing state capitals, she was busy learning a new language, culture and city. Academically, third grade was a bust. I’ve been thinking a lot about that story recently as I prepare to send my youngest to a preschool. He’s a rambunctious child whose English vocabulary isRead More ...

Playing is one of the activities that influences kids’ imaginations the most. I know that a lot of kids nowadays play with electronic gadgets, but some still like to play with the same toys that their parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents used to play with. I am talking about “traditional” toys such as balls, ropes, bicycles, “baleros” or dolls. Most Mexican traditional toys are made of pleasant materials and painted in lively colors, as most good toys are. Of allRead More ...