We all know that once we committed to raising bilingual kids, we embarked in a journey that is not always as black and white as it may seem. You may have chosen the best method of raising children in two or more languages that works for your family, or maybe you found an excellent dual immersion program that can provide much of the necessary input. In any case, there are a few things to keep in mind across the board that will help you remain consistent and motivated throughout the first essential years of raising a bilingual child.

Click here to go to my Babble Voices post where I share a simple, yet precise list of 7 do’s and don’ts to keep in mind for parents raising kids in two or more languages.

Why? Because we want to bring to a national platform our message that raising kids in more than one language is one of the best gifts you can give them. We have been blessed with interviews on Univision and Telemundo to promote the book, but we wanted to be in a general market morning show because we know the impact that has and the ripple effect in taking our mission far and wide.

And it finally happened.

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Yes, we agree the segment was way too short. Erika Levy, Associate Professor of Speech and Language Pathology, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and I definitely had a lot more to share and that needs to be said and Natalie Morales and Willie Geist definitely had a lot more questions. Natalie stayed with us after we went off air sharing how she wishes she would have made a bigger effort to speak Spanish and/or Portuguese to her kids. But she admits to it being really tough for her since her husband only speaks English. We reassured her that it’s really not too late.

A huge thank you to the TODAY Show producers, staff and talent that treated us so well. Gracias to all who shared the video via Facebook, Twitter, emails, etc. The response has been overwhelming and we can’t wait to see what’s next because, yes, BILINGUAL IS BETTER!

The world has definitely become smaller the more connected we are. It’s much easier for anyone these days to be globally minded and connect with someone in the other side of the world and to learn about different cultures without leaving your home. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that individual societies are also more open and diverse racially, culturally and ethnically. Some days when you turn on the news it actually feels like whole groups are becoming much more closed minded out of fear of losing their cultural identity over others.

But our children are the future. Our children can individually be a friend to the whole human race. They are born into the era where technology has reduced both space and time, allowing us to very easily reach out of our own bubble and know that there’s more.

It’s our task to ensure that we provide an opportunity and an environment for our kids to become globally minded citizens of the world. Compassion, empathy, an open heart and an acute emotional intelligence accompany children with global minds that are at ease in different cultures, languages and races.

Click here to read the full post on Babble

We talk about bringing up our babies bilingual, but what about improving and polishing our own bilingual skills? I have heard many of us say that we don’t live in an area where Spanish is spoken or we have significant others who are not native speakers, so English is the dominant language.

I lived in the UK for six years, where I went months without speaking Spanish. I even found myself struggling to come up with words when I would talk to my mother on the phone. However, when I went on maternity leave (an entire year) my Spanish instantly improved — why? I was with mostly Chilean mamá friends on a daily basis and it was like magic. The words came back, accent got stronger and vocabulary was richer. Not that I really “lost” my Spanish, but you know what they say, if you don’t use it, you lose it.

So here are 5 tips to help keep your bilingual brain fit and healthy:

1. Speak to at least one person each day in Spanish — call your mamá, talk to your kids, talk to the dog, talk to yourself (I do!) — just do it!

2. Write your “to-do” list in Spanish. Sounds simple, but I got into this habit when I was younger and to this day I cannot write my list in English, it must be in Spanish. You use words you may not otherwise and it’s always in front of you.

3. Sing in Spanish! I didn’t listen to much Latin music when I was in the UK. But once I did, it sparked my Spanish skills and just made me happy all over. Music is a great way to practice your tenses “te amaré por siempre” or “te amé”, etc. My non-native Spanish-speaking friends say it has helped them improve.

4. Buy a magazine in Spanish and read it OUT LOUD. It’s not enough to just read because we all sound fluent and amazing in our heads, but actually saying the words, pronouncing each one, repeating the more difficult words and getting used to hearing yourself speak Spanish will increase your fluency and comfort level.

5. Take the reading out loud a step further and record your voice on your smart phone or record a video of you reading a story for your kids. That way you can hear and see yourself speaking Spanish. This will help increase your language speaking confidence!

Remember — practice, practice, practice!

How do you exercise your bilingual brain?

{Photo by Mitchell Bartlett}

Not only is my daughter an only child, she’s also a mom blogger’s only child. You could correctly assume she’s a bit — okay, a lot! — spoiled. It’s just the nature of our life. She gets mom’s and dad’s undivided attention when we’re together, and there’s nothing we want to change about that. As a mom blogger’s daughter who lives in L.A., she’s gone to Disneyland and Disney World as a VIP more times than she should have at this age. In contrast, I was 12 the first time I went and it was a dream come true! And it’s not only going to Disneyland — it’s screening movies, getting gifts, unexpected boxes at our front door, and on and on…

I’m honestly afraid that she has no grasp of the “real world” where all her first-world problems, like not being able to get a Sofia the First plush doll because it’s sold out or being oh-so-bored on a Sunday with “nothing to do,” seem so dramatic.

It’s actually not her fault at all. I truly believe we’re all born into the lifestyle we need in order to develop the skills, lacks and desires that will propel us towards our mission in life. Because I can’t and don’t want to change the life we’ve built for her, and am very grateful for, I’m fully aware that it’s our responsibility as her parents to make sure she doesn’t grow up in a bubble that shelters her from all the diversity in lifestyles and life situations that our world is made up of.

I can’t force my daughter to not whine or have tantrums over what we, in our mature adult POV, believe is just plain silly, but we can teach her empathy, which is simply the ability to be aware and sensitive to the feelings of others.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE POST AND 7 TIPS TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY AND TEACH KIDS EMPATHY

The benefits of teaching children two or more languages are immense and really the best gift you can give them. Research has proven that bilingual kids are better multi taskers, they can concentrate and focus better, and they have enhanced literacy skills. Not only is bilingualism beneficial to the brain, but it also opens kids up to wider cultural perspectives and understandings.

That said, parents must be motivated and willing to put in the effort and consistency necessary to successfully raise a bilingual child. Not only that, but the earlier they start, the better because children’s brains are wired for bilingualism as soon as they are born – and even in the womb! Parents should arm themselves with the resources and information necessary, as well as be surrounded by a supportive community that can also provide the necessary language input to the child.

Read more: 10 Tips to Successfully Raise a Bilingual Child

One of the key elements for bilingualism is for the child to constantly be immersed in a fun and playful environment in the target language. This means the art of immersive play takes on a very important role in any parent’s bilingualism arsenal. Children must never feel they are being forced to learn or do anything. They learn most of their skills through play, and language is no exception.

4 tips to make play an essential part of your baby’s language learning:

1. Buy toys and games that include an option for multiple languages. In the U.S. more and more toys are available in both Spanish and English. If Spanish is your target language, then try to have as many of these as possible at the different stages of your child’s life. I particularly love Fisher-Price’s Laugh & Learn bilingual toys collection.
2. Find or start your own playgroups with children and/or parents that speak the target language. It’s very important for children to play with other children in the same language to give them relevancy and even more immersion opportunities. Great places to start and/or find playgroups in your area are meetup.com and spanglishbabyplayground.com
3. Play with puppets! Puppets are an incredible language-learning tool because children can get completely immersed in them and it can separate you from the action. If you speak the target language, consider making or buying puppets and having puppet-play become a must-do and look-forward moment in your child’s day.
4. Play with apps! There are so many language-learning and immersion apps available nowadays. Let your child’s monitored screen time involve play with apps and make sure they are in your target language.

How do you make play an integral part of your language-immersion experience?

Note: I wrote this article as a contributor to the Time to Play blog and am republishing here. Click here to read more of my contributions to Time to Play.

My family loves to play juegos de mesa: from Candyland to Monopoly to dominó, it’s a chance to have fun as a family while speaking lots of Spanish. Some games that we love can be manipulated a bit to play in Spanish, such as Pictionary, Taboo and Scattegories. But here is a list of our favorite board games to play that encourage lots of communication and reinforcement of concepts, without the need to change anything or buy a “Spanish version.”

1. Guess Who? (ages 5+): This game is perfect to practice asking questions about physical features, as you slowly eliminate characters to guess who’s card your opponent has. I have played not only with my kids, but my Spanish 1 students! It’s a great game for non-native speakers to play with their children once you have the basic vocabulary.

2. Spot It (ages 6+): This face-paced game requires players to identify objects that are the same on pairs of cards. Of the 50 plus items in the game, there were several that I didn’t know in Spanish (such as snowflake and padlock), so both the kids and I were increasing our vocabulary. It is a really easy and fun game for families, and though it says 7+, my 5 year olds loved it too. Spot It, Jr. (ages 4+) contains animals, for additional vocabulary practice.

3. Rory’s Story Cubes (ages 6+): Guided story-telling, that gets your creative juices and Spanish flowing as you try to incorporate all of the pictures on the dice in your story. The game box is the size of a deck of cards, perfect for taking it to play with your abuelitos! It’s easy, and enjoyable for all ages- and the kids also love when they get to listen to the adults’ stories. Sometimes we let the kids get together in teams to help them “warm up.”

4. Tell Me a Story (by eboo, ages 3-8): Similar to the Story Cubes concept, but for a younger audience, this adorable game consists of beautifully illustrated cards with different scenes that players use to weave a story. A simple game with endless creative possibilities, you can play this at home or on the go, and engage the whole family in Spanish story-telling.

5. Bananagrams (ages 6+, or any child that is beginning to spell): This banana full of letter tiles lends itself to multiple different games. While the idea is to quickly spell as many words as you can that connect like a crossword puzzle, we let our little kids just make words while we play. We have the English version, and have the kids spell in Spanish, but I did find a Spanish version on amazon if you’d like the additional tiles of rr, ll, and ñ. After playing a couple of times, I noticed a dramatic increase in their confidence of spelling in Spanish!

6. Richard Scary Busy Town (ages 3-8): Cooperative board games (where players work together to reach a goal) are becoming more popular for families, especially when the children are of different ages. In this game, you will work together to prevent the pigs from eating all of the picnic food by finding objects (on cards). We’ve told our kids that the game is in Spanish, and although there aren’t written words, they believe us and solve the problems in Spanish! My kids love the 6’ long board, and the little magnifying glasses you can use for the i-Spy aspect. This game is great for decreasing sibling rivalry, as everyone is on the same team.

7. Hi-Ho Cherry-O (ages 3+): This classic game, like Candyland or Chutes and Ladders, is perfect for pre-readers, who are learning to take turns and count. While the Spanish used will be quite simple (numbers, and simple phrases like “te toca a ti Viviana”), starting to play games with your children while they are young will build critical thinking skills, help kids to follow directions, play fair, and be graceful losers; and playing in Spanish will help them have fun while practicing the language!

What are your favorite board games to play in Spanish? Which ones have I missed?

{photo courtesy of Becky Morales}

Today, I’m writing about something that most of us don’t talk about: MONEY. Personal finances. Status.

Just typing the words makes me cringe because they are such taboo topics in this first world, competitive country. None of us likes to admit that we might be down on our luck, or that we can’t afford to keep up with the Joneses (or los López, as the case may be). This constant pressure is something we can get over when we’re talking about cars or jewelry, but when it comes to our children, we all want to have the means to give them every opportunity. What if lack of funds is a major barrier to raising a bilingual family?

I wouldn’t say this is the case with my family, since we are lucky that our children have exposure to lots of Spanish-speaking family members. However, it is a factor in our inability to send our children to camps, buy them quality bilingual books, and especially take trips to Latin America. By the time we pay for five flights, our vacation budget would be gone…that is, if we had a vacation budget.

To be honest, since my husband and I met and started raising our kids together, we have been dealing with the financial burdens of child support, debt from our respective divorces, and the everyday challenges that come with keeping up a house and cars. Even when we try to make cultural exposure or recreational activities a priority, it seems like we are the couple from the movie Up, constantly breaking open our savings jar because of some expensive emergency.

I’m sure lots of couples feel that way in this ongoing recession, but I never realized how much more depressing this (or, in many cases, true poverty) can be when you’re trying to show your kids that a second language is important. We don’t all have public dual immersion programs available, and we certainly can’t all afford tutoring or good bilingual movies and games. Sure, there are great children’s TV programs in Spanish, but what if (like us) you can’t even justify paying for cable? There are also lots of free apps out there, some of which we review at SpanglishBaby, but what if you don’t have a smartphone or an iPad? It can seem like there’s an expensive roadblock at every turn.

Aside from visiting the public library and reaching out to Spanish-speaking friends or family for in-home language support, what would you advise those who can’t set aside money to establish a bilingual life do to feel better about their children’s Spanish language exposure?

Regardless of the particulars of our financial circumstances, I think we could all use some creative ideas for stepping beyond the world of stuff and remembering that the true beauty of the second-language gift has little to do with purchasing ability. Share your tips in the comments so we can help each other to feel less inadequate and more inspired.

{Photo by slowdownfast.com}

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, especially as a parent of an ever-evolving toddler who has officially embarked on her path of individualism. Alina turned 3 years old this month and I am so pleased with her development. She really is such a cool kid. But, as a parent aspiring for bilingual success, I have definitely failed her. While her vocabulary and articulation in English rivals that of children much older, her abilities in Spanish are those of a one year old. While she can readily identify numbers and common place household items in Spanish, she virtually has no communicative skills.

I know this has a lot to do with my own bilingualism as my abilities vary greatly depending on my surroundings. Knowing that my language skills vastly improve when I am in an environment of bilingualism, my bilingual New Year’s resolution for 2013 is to create an environment in which both me and my children’s Spanish language skills can improve. Here are some strategies I plan to implement in our lives to achieve success in this coming year:

Spend more time with my Spanish speaking friends — being that my Latino family lives in another state, weeks can go by without us ever having dialogue in Spanish. That just isn’t acceptable. To combat that in a natural way, I plan to reach out to a close friend here in Vegas whose family are native speakers. We all have busy lives, but since she loves my kids, my friend is excited to spend more time with us in pursuit of this goal.

Hire Help — We are a one income household, so this will be a challenge, but I am committed to hiring a tutor, nanny or anyone else willing to come into our home and engage with us in Spanish in an academic, curriculum format. Resources are sparse in my community, so I will have to get creative.

Enroll in Lango Las Vegas — the one resource I have found in my community happens to be an engaging, child focused langue immersion program. And they are starting toddler aged classes just a few miles from my home in the coming months! Again, this will be a financial investment, but one I prefer making over other extracurricular activities.

It won’t be easy creating a Spanish speaking community for me, since family is not local and friendships are not yet created. But, with these three focuses in place, I hope to improve my toddler’s ability to engage and communicate in Spanish.

How do you create a bilingual community?

{Image courtesy of Vanessa Bell}