Daily Blog

The magic words “make them learn English” from The Economist — Immigration reform was huge this week and with that came talk of whether undocumented immigrants on their path to American citizenship should be required to learn English. As long as they’re not prohibited from speaking their native language, the author says, and I couldn’t agree more. “The solution to this apparent conundrum is very simple: bilingualism. It’s a healthy thing that Americans have historically been too suspicious of.” The U.S. needs toRead More ...

January is almost done, completely ushering in 2013. I love this time of year because it serves as a natural point of review and reflection. Sure, you can make goals and resolutions anytime of year. In fact, I encourage anyone to mediate on what is most important in their life, setting actionable steps to achieve those goals. But, January is just that time of year that gives everyone a chance. No excuses necessary. My identity continues to change and grow,Read 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 ...

Mami, hoy es January? That’s my 5-year-old asking from the back seat. I’m thrilled — finally the kids are getting the hang of time — the difference between seconds, minutes, days and months. But his question is also a harsh reminder. He is learning most of these new concepts in school. In school, they teach purely in English. And now the corollary — my husband and I, their only Spanish teachers, will never be able to keep up. We hadRead More ...

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’sRead 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 ...

There’s so much floating around the internet about New Year’s Resolutions this time of year! I don’t tend to make resolutions, but I do love setting a few goals for myself and getting myself organized. As for my boys’ bilingualism, we’ve been chugging along the status quo has been working for us, but I thought I’d take stock of things this January and maybe formally set a few goals for myself in this area, too. So here you have it,Read More ...

Spanish is Second Most Used Language in Twitter from Fox News Latino — Amazing news considering that “60 percent of Latin Americans are still not on the Web.” Do you use Spanish in Twitter? I do! Mexican Teachers Adapt to their American Raised Students from PRI’s The World — A look at what’s happening on the other side of the border. As some Mexicans are going back home with their American-raised children who aren’t fluent in Spanish, Mexican teachers are struggling to communicate with themRead More ...