Daily Blog

With the rise of dual language education in the U.S., have bilingual children become a commodity? In other words, are children who walk into the dual language classroom already speaking two languages possessing a highly valued commodity: bilingualism? The question, though, still remains, whose bilingualism is valued? Is it the “middle class” students bilingualism or is it those students who come from “lower class” homes? To distinguish between “middle” and “lower” I’d like to clarify how I am referring toRead More ...

The day we’d been awaiting for finally came: first day of school at Franklin Language Academy’s dual immersion Spanish class. Camila, my husband and I had been getting all the essentials like the backpack, lunchbox, name tags and such ready, but we had also been gently reminding the girl that this school would be different than her Montessori preschool because it was all in Spanish. I even took her with me on a trip to Cancun last week where sheRead More ...

We’re back with Season 2 of MTV Tr3s’s show, Quiero Mi Baby – a new series that reveals the realities of cross-cultural parenting, including language, religion and tradition clashes, in addition to many other issues unique to bi/multicultural families. This season has some new, unique couples we’re going to introduce you to! Check out this exclusive preview (meaning YOU WILL ONLY SEE IT HERE!) of tonight’s episode and then see our interview with the couple, Alicia and Steven, below. EpisodeRead More ...

Five years ago today, my husband and I brought Camila into this world. She was healthy as can be, active and awake from day one, and loved and taken care of with an obsession characteristic of first-time parents. Every year she’s hit her milestones right on target and continues to mature into an intelligent, creative and loving girl. Every year on August 18th we celebrate her life with a party of some sorts — cake, a piñata, friends, games andRead More ...

“Secondo will maintain a topic of conversation with a peer for 3 conversational turns in 4/5 observed opportunities over a two-month period.”  The IEPs are tucked away in a drawer at home. We are far away at my mother’s in Costa Rica, so I’m not sure that’s how the text reads exactly, but that’s the general idea. The many IEP goals are formal, measurable, and easy to forget unless I dig the papers out and read them once in aRead More ...

If you grew up like me, you remember being pushed to give an abrazo to relatives you didn’t remember or who just plain gave you the heeby jeebies. I survived all those awkward moments, but I’m not planning to put my children through them. When Ana recently posted about piercing her daughter’s ears, it was the occasion for our first disagreement (friendly, of course). In explaining my reasons for not piercing my girls’ ears, I referred to my belief in bodily autonomy.Read More ...

Did that headline shock you? It shocked me to write it and admit it because I’ve been claiming for years now that my 5-year old is completely bilingual. I mean, we’re doing everything right, or at least we were for a while. First let me tell you why and how I realized she’s not as bilingual as I thought and then I’ll explain where I think we messed up. Fisher-Price invited Roxana and I to be one of their PlayRead More ...

The main thing we were both trying to create when we launched SpanglishBaby, exactly three and a half years ago, was an online community for parents raising bilingual children just like us. Fortunately — and thanks to all of you! — we’ve been able to create a growing community of parents on the same journey of love, passion and determination to raise children in more than one language and aware of their cultural heritage(s). Now the time has come for usRead More ...