Daily Blog

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Daisy Galvis, a Colombian-American actress living in North Hollywood, CA with her husband and two bilingual children.  I’m still reeling. My son was not chosen to attend the Immersion Spanish Program in Glendale. I toured Franklin Elementary school, which has an Immersion Language Program, back in 2010 and 2011 . The sight of kids speaking German, Italian, and Spanish just melted my heart on the spot. I knew this was where my son, Jones, wouldRead More ...

Something truly amazing happened yesterday! As I’ve mentioned before, Vanessa has been learning to read in school and I’m quite impressed by how well she’s doing and how quickly she’s perfecting her skills. Not to mention the truly incredible thing she’s doing by transferring those reading skills into Spanish all by herself. Vanessa likes to read to her little brother, but last night, he chose a book in English and asked her to read it. She knows perfectly well that SantiagoRead More ...

Recently, I’ve been thrilled to notice an increase in Marisol’s Spanish vocabulary. Now, this doesn’t mean she is fluent in Spanish —we are most definitely raising Spanglishbabies in our family. It’s been a challenge to even get this far because I am the lone Spanish speaker in the home, and I’d call myself fluent only in limited settings. I am most definitely fluent in “baby Spanish:” Vamos a comer. ¿Quieres leche? ¿Dónde está el gatito? ¿Tienes hambre? But ask me to talk to you in Spanish about myRead More ...

This Wednesday we´ll be hosting our very first Talk at The Motherhood.com and we know you will love it! The topic is near and dear to our hearts: Tips and Tricks for Raising Bilingual Kids. We´d love for you to stop by this Wednesday, March 14 at 1:00pm EST for a 30 minute chat to share any questions you have and also jump in with any of your tips and tricks for raising your kids bilingually. We all have them! JoiningRead More ...

In the lasts months I´ve been buried in all types of research and studies regarding bilinguals because of all the material I  needed for the book we´re writing. Not that I need to be any more convinced about raising my daughter bilingually, it´s just fascinating to read about studies that basically take pictures of the brain, called neuroimaging, to clearly map out how the brains of bilinguals are different from monolinguals. They say a picture tells a thousand words, andRead More ...

Part of my plan for raising bilingual children has always included teaching them how to read and write in Spanish. I find it very discouraging that so few elementary schools offer foreign language education. It is shocking considering all of the recent studies that demonstrate the cognitive benefits of being bilingual. To make up for this shortfall in the public education system, my sons will have Spanish classes with me at home. I am doing some part time home schoolingRead More ...

I think I have discovered the one disadvantage of bilingualism. Because I often tutor in public places (bookstore, Starbucks), I have a lot of people-watching opportunities. What I am never prepared for, though, is the amount of people-listening that my brain wants to do. I can be teaching in English – usually describing how to approach an SAT problem – and also paying attention to the Spanish conversation at the next table. It is to be expected that you wouldRead More ...

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to be part of a group of bloggers who got the change to screen Dr Seuss’ The Lorax and then sit in roundtable interviews with several cast members and crew. Meaning, I got to meet icons like Betty White and Danny DeVito, who plays the Lorax and, as such, “speaks for the trees.” Danny DeVito was dead on as the Lorax. So much so, that the producers at Universal couldn´t imagine anyoneRead More ...