One of the best parts of raising bilingual and bicultural children is that from the get go they are exposed to more than just one culture. Plus, because both my husband and I have family outside the United States, my children have had the opportunity to travel and experience how people live in other countries.
So I was intrigued when I saw a set of three books entitled Nuestra Comunidad Global (Our Global Community) on Scholastic’s Club Leo catalog and I decide to choose it as my pick for the January Scholastic Parent Circle.
I am glad I did! Each book covers a different topic, so there’s one about musical instruments, another one about markets and the third one is about houses all from around the world. Reading them has given me the opportunity to talk to my daughter not only about geography (one of my favorite topics!), but also about cultures that she knew nothing about.
Without a doubt, the vibrant photos are what really make these very short and slim books interesting. My daughter’s favorite book is the one about houses (or hogares like the book calls them in Spanish. My daughter wasn’t familiar with the word, so she got a little lesson on synonyms.) She liked the tree house and the floating house the most. The text is extremely simple, which is great for my daughter who is just learning how to read.
Each books contains an illustrated glossary and additional information about each of the topics covered. The one about musical instruments, for example, groups instruments by kind at the end of the book. So I got to talk to my daughter about wind, string and percussion instruments.
(P.S. After some research, I found out there are other topics in the series, including schools, families, games and clothing. I think I’ll be checking those out too!)
The Giveaway
This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Lucila!
We’re giving away one set of Nuestra Comunidad Global to one lucky winner.
To enter, all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us what you do to explain other cultures to your children.
That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):
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This giveaway ends Sunday, January 8 at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.
I am waiting on my first baby to arrive in May, but in the meantime, I spend time in my Spanish classroom talking about two of those three things: markets and music. I’d love to be able to add some high-quality visuals to my mini-lessons on cultural similarities/differences!
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We read a lot of books about different cultures and listen to tons of different music. Also, it is never a “bad” thing to talk about in our house. Any and all questions are welcome.
I try to expose her to as many different cultural events and foods as I can find. We find things at the libraries celebrating different cultures and try to find books to go with is. I have her in a spanish immersion school.
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We always try to go to local celebrations of other cultures, for instance we live near Cahokia Mounds and they have Native American events all year round. We went to a Dia de los Muertos party at our local library too. Mainly, we read, read, read about other cultures and countries
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Food is a great way to introduce kids to new cultures.
As a kid, both my parents were from different countries and I remember having books (mostly photography books) about them. I loved looking at these pictures and reading (or being read to) where they belonged to.
I can’t wait till my baby is old enough to start sharing the world with her!
These look awesome! Our daughter is in the Spanish immersion kindergarten program at an international school where they also teach Chinese and Japanese so she is immersed in different cultures at school every day. We also read about other cultures at home and attend cultural events in our community. Her class is just starting a unit about countries so these books would be fantastic!
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I like to show my little kids about culture using pictures. I think it is easier to explain it to them that way!
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As a Spanish homeschooling mommy of two boys these books look wonderful for our learning time! My oldest 6 y/o is showing signs and interest on learning Spanish this semester
thanks for sharing!
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Through music, food and books. We try to go to different local cultural activities. He is also in a Spanish Immersion school.
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I teach spanish to grades k-6 and would love to use this in my classroom. I teach culture whenever I can! Right now in first grade we are learning spanish food vocabulary and will be talking about mexican hot chocolate, mayans and mucho mas!
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My daughter and I listen to music from around the world. We also read books about many different cultures.
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we try to go to local activities organized by other communities.
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I make sure my kids have ample opportunities to not only interact and play with other kids and families from other cultures, but I also make sure they see the connections between themselves and their friends. We talk about how they celebrate particular cultural celebrations that are different but similar to ours, we talk about how they visit their family in other countries like we do also even though the countries are different places on the map. I want my kids to see how we are all different, but connected.
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We mostly use books. We love to read stories from other cultures and about other people and places. A couple of surprises that have really opened doors are when we read about interesting and familiar things from other places. For example, my son loves trains. When we read about the bullet train in Japan, he became interested every time he heard about anything from Japan. I have visited there and so now he wants to return with me to ride the bullet train; we also looked on the map to find Japan and found other people who live there and later connected it to eating Japanese food. Just that one connection opened up a vista of learning about another place and its people and their culture that will probably grow and expand for the rest of his life just because there is a special train there.
Another note, the book “hogares” was in the reading curriculum when I taught first grade as one of few non-fiction texts. I think it was one of the students’ favorites. They especially loved responding in writing to the different homes and imagining how they would live in them.
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My son and I love reading, He is 3 yrs old and attending preschool, besides We are attending a play group in Spanish and gathering with people from different culture backgrounds. We like listening music from different countries and I notice He enjoys it a lot He is even speaking or saying phrases in other languages like Italian and Portuguese; I’m pretty interested in raising him bilingual, bicultural and get him to appreciate diversity.
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So I hope to win that giveaway! Lol…
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I’m learning Spanish with my son and daughter. We sing Spanish songs throughout the day, listen to Spanish music, and watch cartoons in Spanish. I’m hoping my daughter will be accepted into a bi-lingual Spanish/English first grade class next year. We’re focusing on Spanish now, but I’d like to expose my kids to more languages and cultures as we grow together.