bilingualism

Interactive US Census Map Pinpoints Foreign Language Speakers on Voice of America — Check out the languages spoken at the homes of more than 60 million people in the United States. Signing Foreign Phrases Makes Learning a Second Language Easier on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation — More proof that music is a great way to expose your children to Spanish. Here’s a list of some of our favorite children’s music in Spanish. 96 Things You Can Do Today to Boost Your Child’s Bilingual AbilityRead More ...

In preparation for our addition to the family, my husband and I have switched to speaking Spanish to each other nearly all the time. We even text in Spanish. This is a pretty big break from our pattern of communicating in English with each other and Spanish only with the other native speakers in our life. I have always known that it’s difficult for me to use Spanish when I’m upset, angry, or otherwise emotionally out of sorts. However, IRead More ...

Editor’s note: In the next months, we’ll be bringing you interviews with those who have first-hand experience with dual language immersion schools or programs: the parents who have their kids enrolled in them. The idea is to give you a closer look at what these programs are really like, how and why they work, as well as some of the challenges they face. Thanks to our contributor Elsie for coming up with this great idea! Today, I’m happy to shareRead More ...

The reasons for raising a bilingual child are varied. For me, it’s mostly because I can’t fathom my children not speaking my mother tongue, not being able to communicate with my family back in Peru or my husband’s family in Puerto Rico. But it’s also because of all the proven cognitive benefits of speaking more than one language as well as the financial advantages. I recently got the opportunity to show my 6-year-old daughter Vanessa exactly how it pays toRead More ...

In many ways I feel the same way as Roxana when she wrote, in an earlier post, My Daughter is Bilingual Thanks To Her Teachers, about the important role teachers have played in developing my daughters bilingualism. For the past six months my nena has been hearing English for the majority of her day. I can attest that she is an example of how children acquire language at what seems like a pretty fast pace compared to older children and/orRead More ...