I was with my children in a store last month looking at Halloween costumes.  As usual, our conversation was completely in Spanish. I noticed a mother observing our interactions, and when I smiled at her, she shared her own bilingual adventures with me. Having been born and raised in Mexico, she initially only spoke Spanish to her son. Unfortunately, when he started school, he rebelled against Spanish and refused to speak it. Sadly, this mother gave up and switched to using English with him. Her son won the language battle, but lost out on the chance to be bilingual.

What amazed me about this situation is that she is a native Spanish speaker, and has decided to use English with her children. Spanish is my second language. I didn’t even start to study Spanish until I was 17 years old, and yet, my children speak fluent Spanish. It has been a major effort, but the road to bilingualism has been one of my most rewarding parenting experiences.

Don’t give up on Spanish! There will be problems. Address the issues so that you will have better strategies for dealing with the challenges. These are some of the common issues I have had to address:

1. Spanish is not my first language. Even my husband, who grew up speaking German at home, feels that English is still his first language. Speaking to my children in Spanish was initially very difficult, but with time, speaking Spanish became more natural. Now that six years have passed, it would feel strange to speak to my sons in English. I feel comfortable using Spanish with them, and it is our special language. Keep using Spanish! No matter how tempting it is to switch to English, stick with it! It will get easier with time.
2. I lack vocabulary in Spanish. Now that my boys are getting older, some of our discussions are a bit more challenging. They have recently become interested in outer space and trying to explain gravity to them proved difficult. I watched some educational videos from Khan Academy in Spanish and learned, not only the scientific concepts to explain to my son, but the vocabulary in Spanish that I was lacking. We are learning together!
3. Your child refuses to respond to you in Spanish. Keep using Spanish and never give up! That was the advice my mother-in-law gave me. She continued to speak to my husband and his brother in German, including when they would only respond in English. Eventually they realized the benefits to being bilingual and started to use German, even taking courses to further their literacy skills. Don’t give up! The bilingual rebellion stage will not last forever.

 
You can do it! I have been successful so far. It has been a challenge, but the boys and I have learned together. Stick with it! Don’t give up! If I can raise bilingual children, you can too! It may seem difficult and challenging, but the rewards for you and your children will be worth the effort.

{Photo by CarbonNYC}

Of course, I quickly started clicking on all of these because I confess to adore Gwyneth for all the reasons so many people envy and resent her. I was anxious to read a juicy story that would show that her and I have so much in common — like the obsession over making sure our kids speak Spanish fluently.

I was oh-so disappointed to see just another link bait after the paparazzi and gossip obsession over Gwyneth’s parenting skills. Her “forcing” her kids to speak Spanish was witnessed by who-knows-who that was present at the same wedding (Cameron Diaz’s assistant) she was at. The grand story is that, supposedly, when Gwyneth’s kids, Moses and Apple, spoke to her in English, she would ask them to say it in Spanish instead.

To read the full story, click HERE.

We all make mistakes, right? Especially along this journey of parenthood, we know that we constantly just don’t know and we try our best every single day. There really isn’t a single parenting manual that is a one-size-fits-all or that’s customized to your particular child and/or parenting journey.

But we do have each other. We have other parents that are open enough to share the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, and do it without giving or receiving judgement. We have our stories to tell so others can be inspired or realize that it’s not part of their own journey.

That’s precisely what we’ve done on SpanglishBaby for almost five years: share stories from many diverse voices on how we’re together creating a collective experience of the how-to and how-not-to raise bilingual and bicultural kids. We all know that we must expose our children to Spanish, or the target language, as young as possible. We know that we can’t force them to learn a language, but we can immerse them in ways that it will become part of their self. We know that we want to take this path for so many reasons, but most that have to do with the heart. Yet, the day-to-day is still full of surprises y curvas inesperadas.

I made one big mistake when raising my now 6-year-old girl as a bilingual child and I’ve been wanting to share this with you ever since I realized it. See, I’ve been obsessed with making sure we never, ever, ever spoke English to her and her exposure to English would be elsewhere and plentiful. I knew English would take over and I even called the stage a bilingual “rebellion,” implying my sort of battle at making sure her Spanish flourished beautifully. And that war is pretty much won.

So which battle did I lose? Where was I not strategic enough?

In her pronunciation in English.

In my obsession to make sure she spoke Spanish perfectly and since I had conditioned myself to never speak English to her, I would never correct her when she would mess up the pronunciation or tense of a word in English. I would just ignore it and repeat it en español. Turns out to not have been a very wise choice and I have no problem admitting it because I might not be the only one that made this decision.

Now that she’s in a dual immersion program and her Spanish skills are flourishing, I’m starting to notice more and more that while she’s completely bilingual (yet still in a really Spanglish/code-switching stage), she has so many more words in English that are used in the wrong tense or mispronounced because there hasn’t been a habit to correct her.

I’m not freaking out about this (yet) because I know she’s still developing her language skills overall and she’s really only in first grade, but I wonder if it would have made a difference if I would have not ignored her English completely.

Would love to know if this has happened to you, or if you also currently “ignore” your child’s mistakes in English or your country’s majority language? Please do share and let’s talk about this in the comments below.

The U.S. does not have an official language. English certainly plays a vital role and I would be lying if I thought it wasn’t a necessary part of an individuals’ linguistic repertoire in order to succeed in this country. That being said, children at an early age pick up on the high status English carries in their everyday interactions.

My nena, for example, already pegs anyone outside her home as “English-speaking.” I have very few friends and family that, in my nenas eyes, are Spanish speakers or bilingual (even though most of my friends are bilingual) because of the status English plays in her interactions with them. For these simple reasons alone I make it a point to attempt to increase the status of Spanish in our everyday lives.

One very strategic move I have made is to make sure all of her doctor visits are with Spanish-speaking, hence bilingual, practitioners. I am even willing to drive out of my way to make sure she see’s a bilingual doctor. In fact, I prefer for them to be female as well. I guess you can see my motives are two-fold. I want her to have role models she can identify with as she develops her identity as a bilingual Latina.

Recently we took her to her first dental appoint. It was important for me to find a Spanish speaking pediatric dentist because we had been talking about what dentists do entirely in Spanish and I wanted my daughter to make the connections we had talked about at home once she was seated in front of her actual dental practitioner. I called at least four different pediatric dental offices and solicited information from my friends on facebook to find a doctor closer our home.

Just like searching for the ideal bilingual school environment, I learned that there are other aspects of choosing the right doctor for my daughter. These aspects include considering whether or not the staff is kid-friendly and if the office had a ambience that made children feel comfortable. Well, all in all, we were lucky to find Texas Tooth Fairies Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Singletary, a Venezuela native, and her staff were amazing. Not only did my nena get her teeth cleaned without a problem she actually LOVED the experience, as did I, because it was mostly in Spanish.

What are some strategic moves you have made to increase the status of Spanish in your everyday interactions?

{Photo courtesy of Suzanne}

We are lucky to have family in the area who can help out with babysitting when needed. Specifically, we have Spanish-speaking family, la abuela, who helps to care for Sofía. In four years, we have never used a babysitter outside of the family. We try to be a self-sufficient unit. I stopped working my job as a teacher to stay home and care for our daughter, so I try to be careful to not need someone else to watch her.

But then I had to have foot surgery. This changed everything and I needed to hire a niñera to help take care of Sofía. I am on crutches and can’t drive, so I began the tedious task of looking for a niñera.

I had the best luck with care.com. I highly recommend it over other sites!

My preference of course was for a native Spanish-speaking niñera, but I didn’t make it a requirement for hire. When Sofía was younger, I would have made it a necessity, but now that she is more comfortable with her inglés, I left it at only a preference. What I really, really wanted was someone who would be young and energetic and take Sofía to do the physical activities that being in a cast prevented me from doing. In my area, that combination was challenging and coupled with last minute hiring, it leaned toward impossible!

SIXTY people applied to be our niñera for the summer! I was blown away by the large number of applicants since this was only a part-time position.  There were many times that I was overwhelmed with emotion because I thought I hit the jackpot of niñeras (local Kindergarten teachers looking for summer employment or college students, majoring in español, home for summer break) only to be let down by an extreme lack of professionalism or human courtesy. Several of the applicants accepted the job, we agreed to meet and then I never heard from them again! (I was particularly shocked when this happened with TWO school teachers that I had “hired”.)

¡No hay mal por bien no venga!

Luckily, I found the best niñera in the whole world!

The first afternoon she took care of Sofía, I called my husband and told him that I thought Sofía liked the niñera better than she liked us! The niñera was only 19 years old, but had the patience of a saint and an amazing insight on child behavior. She reminded Sofía to wash her hands before meals, chew with her mouth closed, and encouraged Sofía to clean up her room! The niñera wasn’t a native speaker of español, but she certainly was an excellent student in school. She used her español with ease and wasn’t shy to do so. (She even asked me new vocabulary words and then used them!) We feel extremely fortunate to have stumbled on such a competent person to take such good care of Sofía and that she does it en español!

For those of you who are looking or may be looking for niñeras in the future, here are my lessons learned:

1.  Make sure you hire a niñera who speaks a language with which your child is comfortable. It will help with separation anxiety.

2.  This process feels a lot like dating. If you don’t get an immediate response from someone, it probably means she changed her mind and is not interested. Move on to the next person.

3.  Text-messaging is IN. Emails and phone calls are out.

4.  Be direct and ask the applicant if she is available for the entire time you need help. I had to eliminate many applicants because they had too many summer vacation plans.

5.  Tell her what the job will entail (mine included light housework like cleaning up after playing and helping me moves things from here to there while I’m on crutches) and how much the job pays and ask if she is in agreement. (I like to do this via email before we speak so that I don’t waste my time.)

6.  Ask if the niñera is comfortable driving in the car with your child and/or comfortable driving your car.

7.   Treat the interviewing process like a CEO of a large company would: interview several applicants and tell them you will get back to them. This needs to be done quickly — niñeras get picked up rapidísimo — especially during high-demand seasons like the summer.

8.  Always meet in a public place for the first time.

9.  Contact references and access background checks if available.

10.  Have a back-up niñera.

11.  Have a Plan B if the niñera cancels right before she is supposed to care for your bebé on the first day.

12.  Once you hire the niñera, try to be home the first few times, making yourself invisible, in order to confirm that you hired the correct person. (We can never be too careful when it comes to the well-being of our bebés, cierto?)

13.  Relax, let go, and breathe!

Eugenio Derbez is one of the greatest entertainers Mexico has ever had and now he’s managed to cross over to Hollywood with a film that has been his dream-in-the-making for over 10 years: Instructions Not Included. This adorable bilingual (English/Spanish) movie, distributed by Pantelion Films, opens in select U.S. theaters this Friday, August 30th. We don’t just suggest you go watch it, we urge you to not miss this movie! Not only will you laugh and will your heart strings be pulled, but you will let go a sigh of relief that finally, finally, Hollywood has captured a beautiful slice of Latino bilingual and bicultural, and even blended, families.

Eugenio Derbez, who not only stars, but also wrote, directed and produced Instructions Not Included,  isn’t the only one that shines in this movie. Loreto Peralta clearly steals the show and Derbez graciously lets her. This is Loreto’s first film, but it certainly shouldn’t be the last. This 9-year-old girl, born and raised in México City, was discovered only after the casting had gone through so many rounds of boys and girls and just couldn’t find the right kid for this part. One of the main requirement? S he must be perfectly bilingual. And Loreto is just that. Not only is she completely at ease going back and forth between English and Spanish, but she’s also an innate artist with incredible talent and a smile that melts our heart. You would think this part was actually written for her!

We got the chance to watch the movie at a private screening organized by Latina Bloggers Connect and Pantelion Films, where we also got to meet and talk with Eugenio Derbez and Loreto Peralta. Of course, we had to ask them about the importance of being raised bilingual. You will love their responses and should bookmark this video for when you need extra inspiration!

I really don’t want to tell you much about the movie’s plot because I don’t want to spoil anything for you. You can check out the trailer below and just know that you will laugh, you will cry and you will walk out of the theatre feeling warm and fuzzy and will want all your friends to feel it too. ¡Es en serio!

We love finding new products for our families that reflect our culture and heritage. Such is the case with the Lanugo line of apparel created by mother and entrepreneur, Carla Curiel. When Carla realized there was a lack of products for Latino families that celebrated our culture’s uniqueness she decided to do something about it. Carla and her husband put manos a la obra and created Lanugo, a line of apparel that is, like their slogan says, Latino de corazón.

You can expect lots of charm and wittiness from every Lanugo product; their mission to preserve our Latino heritage shines through. From their onesies to their t-shirt and water bottles, Lanugo introduces kids to different characters that feature the dichos and refranes we often use.

Lanugo is currently participating in the #GetOnTheShelf contest by Walmart which helps entrepreneurs like Carla get their products in Walmart stores . How awesome would it be to have Lanugo products sold in Walmart for all to enjoy! You can help this mamá continue her mission of preserving our heritage by voting (just click this link right now) for Lanugo to #GetOnTheShelve.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one prize pack of Lanugo products to one lucky winner! The prize pack includes all six items you see below, a total of $75 . All you have to do is visit their on-line store and leave us a comment telling us which is your favorite product.

Toddler T-shirt “De tal Palo…”|Baby Bodysuit “A quien madruga…”|Bib “Barriguita llena…”|Burp Cloth “Oops! Fuchi”|Large Water Bottle “Latino de Corazón”|Small Water Bottle “Café con Leche”

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Images © 2013 Lanugo | All rights reserved

This week’s round-up of Spanish activities and resources features a little bit of everything to get our bilingual kids in the school spirit. The activities feature printables and projects that are similar to projects they might do in school with the added benefit that they are in Spanish.

Back to School en Español // School Supply Flashcards in Spanish

Kali of For The Love of Spanish is ready for the new school seasons and has shared theses back-to-school  flashcards in Spanish to help us all prepare. The cards feature school materials and include the name in Spanish along with the pronunciations and English words for the materials. Click here for the post featuring the printable versions of the school supply flashcards.

Dollar Store Inspiration

Bitty Bilinguals shared their dollar store finds along with printables for their readers in Spanish. Click here for a squiggle story printable and to read about how these templates work in the classroom and at home.

Como Hacer Un Volcán

We’ve all had to do the volcano project at some point in our elementary school years. That’s why we love this DIY volcano project by Adriana of Hogar Mujer. The instructions and materials needed for this project are in Spanish which adds another educational element to this project, the opportunity to practice Español !

The Letter M Counting Book in Spanish {Printable}

Monica of Mommy Maestra shared these awesome Spanish printables featuring the letter “M” which encourages kids to count. Click here to find Mommy Maestra’s post featuring the Spanish printables.

Spanish Listening Practice – Adivina la palabra

Spanish Playground shared a fun and simple game to practice spanish vocabulary in which kids guess the word being described. Click here for a list of Spanish vocabulary and clues to play.

As a Spanish teacher and mother raising bilingual children, I am always searching for resources to support my children and students’ language abilities.  I was absolutely thrilled to be given the chance to review Whistlefritz’s newly released Educator’s Collection!  This comprehensive collection includes the Spanish for Kids DVD series, music CDs, a Spanish Immersion matching card game, and an extensive book that contains original Spanish lesson plans for kids and innovative activity pages.  The collection is indispensable for providing children and students with educational activities to further their knowledge and understanding of Spanish.

My children absolutely loved the captivating and enchanting DVDs!  These award-winning episodes are well made and fascinated my children!  They are their favorite DVDs, and my boys want to watch them repeatedly.  The immersion method, which is essential for the learning of a new language, is used.  I especially appreciate the consistent use of comprehensible input throughout the video.  The Spanish is clear and easy to understand, with the repetition of new words and phrases guaranteeing that children will learn while watching.  The songs in the videos encourage the children to participate and sing along, but for my boys the fun and loveable mouse Fritzi was the star of the show.

We very much enjoyed the up-beat songs on the CDs, which include some traditional Latin tunes as well as some new songs.  The award-winning singer and songwriter Jorge Anaya create music that is easy to learn and fun for singing and dancing along with.  A songbook is included which contains the lyrics and translation for the songs in the DVDs and on the CDs.  Music is one my family’s favorite ways to learn Spanish, and the Whistlefritz CDs are our favorites!

The memory matching cards game was great fun for the whole family!  My boys loved the cleverly illustrated action cards, and my five year old took great pride in reading the verbs under each drawing.  Playing together was a fun way to learn and review new words all while interacting in Spanish.

By far my favorite part of the educator’s collection is the compilation of Spanish lesson plans.  The activity-based curriculum will be invaluable for teaching both my sons and my students.  The content-based units and cross-curricular lesson plans provide excellent ideas for furthering the understanding and speaking abilities of the students in my classes.  I especially love the materials and worksheets that can be copied and used in the classroom and at home.

I highly recommend Whistlefritz’s Educator’s Collection for parents and teachers who are committed to raising bilingual children.  This multi-media collection provides interactive, hands-on language-learning activities, video, and music that will significantly enhance the learning in the classroom and in the home.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one complete educator’s collection to one winner — a value of $175! All you have to do is visit the Whistlefritz website and tell us how you would be using the Educator’s Spanish Collection. Then enter the Rafflecopter below.

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We’re halfway through our “31 Days of Reading in Spanish” where we’re reviewing one kids book in Spanish every single day in July. We asked our contributors and SpanglishBaby familia to choose their kid’s libro favorito en español to review and the result has been a wonderful collection of books that together create the most fabulous Spanish-language library for any child.

For an updated list of all books being reviewed, go here.

We’ve also given away two prizes of $100 worth of books in Spanish for kids to random SpanglishBaby friends who shared on Instagram, Twitter and/or SpanglishBabyPlayground.com a picture of their child with their favorite Spanish book . Our first week winner will receive a collection of books we ordered from a friend visiting Mexico City — very unique and special books not found in the U.S.! Our second week winner took a collection of books from Puerto Rico.

Now that we enter the third week, we’re changing things up a little by also including an entry method through the rafflecopter below for this very special gift pack of unique books provided by LA Libreria.

I met the ladies that launched LA Libreria in Los Angeles earlier this year and was quickly in love with the carefully curated books they offer when I visited their booth at LéaLA in May. I quickly grabbed a small fortune worth in books and I have yet to regret it. I’ve already reviewed two of them: La Cenicienta by Gabriela Mistral and Juegos Tradicionales.

LA Libreria will open up their online store next month, but for now you can check out their full catalog on their website and like them on Facebook so you can stay up-to-date on their books and local events.

You can also be the first to win a prize pack of their beautiful and unique books valued at almost $80. The prize includes:

La Cenicienta by Gabriela Mistral. Ed. Amanuta ($12 + tax)

Juegos Tradicionales by Maria Angélica Ovalle. Ed. Amanuta ($13 + tax)

El Libro Negro de los Colores by Menena Cottin. Ediciones Tecolote ($18 + tax)

Niños de América by Francisca Palacios. Ed. Amanuta ($13 + tax)

El Árbol Triste by Triunfo Arciniegas.  Ediciones SM ($8 + tax)

To enter to win just visit LA Libreria online and tell us which of the books in their catalog you would love to get for your child and why. Make sure you enter via the rafflecopter below to make your comment valid.

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