Daily Blog

A few months ago I was texting back and forth with my good friend Melanie of ModernMami and she came up with the excellent idea of getting our girls to become pen pals. Although they’ve only met each other once when we visited Disney last year, we figured it’d be a good way for them to keep in touch and practice their Spanish at the same time. Plus, I have such fond memories of my own pen pals growing up (IRead More ...

Not a lot going on this week, but here are a few interesting links you might have missed! The July Carnival is Here! from Non-Native Bilingualism  — I love the monthly blogging carnival on bilingualism because it introduces to so many other parents who, like us, are doing everything they can to raise bilingual (or multilingual) children. The best part is that these are families all over the world and even though the language pairs they use are different than ours,Read More ...

I am one of six children. Like so many Latino families, we look like a spectrum of skin colors from very light/white to dark brown. Unlike some Latino families, we all have dark hair and eyes. Some of us get confused for middle eastern or european. My hair, with it’s big curls, is generally what helps people place my ethnicity as Latino, much more than my light skin. When I had a Salvadoran passport, I had to check either “negro”Read More ...

  I read with great interest the Wall Street Journal article featured in Spanglishbaby’s Week in Links regarding parents who move to China so that their children can learn and improve their language abilities. Learning another language and experiencing another culture can be a great experience for anyone, and it is especially valuable for children who tend to have an advantage at second language acquisition. The question that I was left with after reading the article was: Why Chinese? NoneRead More ...

Over the weekend, my husband and I had a freelance television production gig and we got to meet a pretty neat Mexican family. The story they shared with us for the TV program we were working for has nothing to do with bilingualism, but I had to conduct all the interviews in Spanish and I must say I was very impressed by how well it was spoken by the children in the family. What surprised me the most is thatRead More ...

Hablando Español and Other Ways Travel Has Affected My Children from NYCityMama — I absolutely LOVE this post by our friend Carol Cain. Her family and her just came back from a trip to Costa Rica, which obviously did wonders for her children’s bilingualism and understanding of other cultures. Nothing like exposing our children to language and customs through travel. ‘The Translator’ – The story of Angel Pagan from FoxNewsLatino — For all the baseball lovers out there, this articleRead More ...

With babies and toddlers there is always a time when a lullaby comes to our rescue. And yes, I mean rescue because lullabies are fundamental to sooth a crying baby or simply to create the right bedtime environment. These songs are useful not just to lull the baby to sleep but also any little brothers and sisters who may be around. Lullabies in all languages have put to bed millions and millions of babies, all over the length and breadthRead More ...

My good friend Sisi — the mastermind behind our Spanish book club — has been hosting a Fourth of July parade for the kids for the past three years. I had never been able to take my kids because of work until this year… and I’m so happy we finally did. The kids had a blast decorating their bikes and wagons and when everyone was ready Sisi turned on the Sousa marches (that reminded me so much of my dad)Read More ...