Daily Blog

The lechón smells delicious as it finishes roasting in the oven, the majority of the gifts are wrapped and underneath the Christmas tree and the playlist full of trullas navideñas and villancicos is ready for tonight’s Nochebuena celebration, which I’ll be hosting in my home this year. It’s going to be a long night… but one of my favorite ones of the year. I doubt we’ll wait until midnight to have dinner — like we  used to when I wasRead More ...

I’m officially on vacation… and I couldn’t be happier. I don’t plan on doing much the next two weeks, except spend lots of time with my kids and my husband doing pretty much NADA! But before I sign-off until 2013, I just wanted to share with you some of the great Christmas content we’ve gathered throughout the years since we launched SpanglishBaby. After all, this is the fourth holiday season we’re celebrating! From posts about how we celebrate La NavidadRead More ...

Like most kids I know, Vanessa and Santiago are crazy about music. Vanessa loves to sing and Santiago loves to dance and play instruments. A few weeks ago, Santiago got a song book from his preschool with all the songs he and his classmates would sing during their annual Christmas show last week. As soon as Vanessa got a hold of the song book, she started singing out loud as many as the songs she already knew and just readingRead 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 ...

I would’ve loved nothing more than for Vanessa to have the opportunity to attend a dual language immersion program. Unfortunately, the options are few and far between in Denver, and after much debate and consideration, my husband and I decided our neighborhood elementary school was where our daughter belonged. While I get a bit jealous every time I hear the amazing stories coming out dual language immersion schools, I’m convinced we made the right decision. Since Vanessa started Kindergarten lastRead More ...

Change of Language, Change of Personality? Part II by François Grosjean on Psychology Today — Does your personality change depending on the language you’re speaking? I don’t think mine does… although if I have to give a speech or speak in front of a large audience, I do feel more confident if I do it in Spanish. Prof. Grosjean continues to explore this subject. Top 10 Reasons Your Children Aren’t Speaking Your Language from Multilingual Living — From lack of resources toRead More ...

Do you have what it takes to raise a bilingual child? Pretty bold statement, huh? But the reality is that many parents make the decision to not teach their child a second language because they don’t believe they’re capable of doing it or they feel don’t have the resources they need. It could be that they feel that: they are not fluent enough in the second language their partner or family doesn’t support them not enough people around them thatRead More ...

My interest in learning other languages can be traced back to learning Latin while attending Catholic school. Even as a young child, I was fascinated that there was another way to communicate, and I was always anxious to learn what the prayers and hymns in Latin meant. I attribute these early learning experiences to fostering my interest in mastering Spanish, a language derived from Latin, once I got to high school. Recently I have become very interested in the roleRead More ...