When I watched Ana and Roxana’s interview with Jorge Ramos of Univision last week, I was struck by an irony. Roxana spoke about the fact that the Latino community used to be all for assimilation, thus interested in teaching their kids to be as American as possible, which meant speaking English only (or at least more than Spanish). As evidenced by the growing numbers of SpanglishBaby supporters and the flurry of national conversation about bilingualism, this attitude is changing. The irony is that as the previous generation’s fear of acting or speaking like a Latino is on its way out, white culture has adopted that fear in reverse.

By that, I mean that some whites are now even more hateful toward Latino immigrants and their children than they were before this minority had any chance of becoming the majority. Although there are many non-Hispanic Americans like myself, who are interested in and passionate about giving our children a multicultural and multilingual upbringing, a huge demographic segment still resists the influx of Latinos to this country. Because it’s become harder for these people to avoid all things Latino (por ejemplo: “Press 1 for English, para español marque 2”), they are buckling down and holding tight to somewhat ridiculous representations of white America.

Since when have we cared if road signs or bathroom signs are written in both Spanish and English? Are people truly inconvenienced by extra text that makes no sense to them?

Why do some people get frustrated that their electronics instruction manual is translated into Spanish? That inclusion is just good business sense on the part of the manufacturer.

I admitted in a previous post that the prevalence of Spanish is also difficult for me, even if I understand the words. Yet, I’m not complaining about its availability for those who need it. In fact, I’d rather have warning signs and instructions written in Spanish than endure the consequences of people not following them because they can’t read English. To me, constant visual reminders of how many people in our country would rather read the Spanish part of the sign causes me to pause and be grateful for living in a place where people can thrive (not just get by) even when they do not speak the majority language.

In a time of great change, there will always be backlash. Fears are natural, and both Latinos and whites have felt this particular one – that their comfort zone is slipping away. Because we’ve both felt it, though, we should be more capable of understanding why the other group needs some reminders of home. I can only hope that this culture war inspires people to be more flexible, and especially causes whites to finally see the difference between cultural dominance and the reality of the “melting pot” we claim we have always had. Are we ready for the fact that some people will never mix in that pot, and therefore be  ready to accommodate everyone?

{Photo by incolor-inc}

On this Election Day, I am pondering how much America is changing and how much it is changing me. The earliest recollection I have of the political process is the 1992 election in which Ross Perot ran for president. I was 6 years old. This was long before I had an overwhelming cultural awareness, and certainly before I spoke Spanish. Twenty years ago, this country was not plagued with worry about how well the government would represent Latinos, and hearing a Spanish campaign ad was as rare as finding a decent Spanish radio station. Although I knew a few Latinos at the time, I never could’ve imagined the impact this demographic would have on the future of the country, and on my own life.

As someone who studied political science in college, I like to delve into the grand symbolism of each candidate’s ideology and why masses of people can be corralled into a two-party system. I see voting as a civic duty that we have to perform in order to take advantage of government services in exchange, not necessarily as something personally meaningful.

However, this election is the first that has made me look around and realize what a large stake some people put in their right to vote in America. I remember that I have never lived in a country in which this kind of participation is impossible. I have never lived in, for example, any part of Latin America that has been ravaged by civil war and ruled by militant means. My memories are of my parents watching the news, discussing amendments, and taking me along to the polls. Not exactly a gut-wrenching argument for the importance of the democratic process… at least not in the way that a dangerous political past can be. I realize that a lot of the people standing in line beside me — immigrants in particular — are there because they are moved by more than just a sense of duty.

My daily exposure to so many people who were not born in this country is shifting my view. I’m starting to understand, if slowly, why voting is not just a responsibility. I do experience something almost magical standing in line (sometimes for hours) with other average people who are all empowered by the feeling of bubbling in a ballot. Maybe this is the most powerful thing I’ll ever feel about my right to vote, since I can’t generate memories of a home in which this isn’t possible. I wouldn’t volunteer to switch places with someone who lives under a despotic government, but I am grateful for the opportunity to live vicariously through each person who has an even more sentimental connection to America than I, a native American, do.

As I watch white Americans like myself become the minority in the near future, I hope I can remember — even if it’s only once every four years — that America means different things to different people, but all of those things are equally relevant.

{Photo by Vox Efx}

Editor’s note: They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so this holiday season we asked all of our regular contributors – we’re up to nine! – to just send us a photo that expresses what the holidays mean to them for this collection of Bicultural Christmas Photos. What kind of photo would you have sent in?

“I am starting new, multicultural Christmas traditions with my newly blended family this year. The photo is of my stepdaughters and son – Amalia, Yahaira e Isaías – enjoying chocolate caliente in front of the tree. Each of them will get to have multiple celebrations in multiple houses (and languages)!”

Infinity Insurance is the resource behind a new program called Read Conmigo, a bilingual literacy program intended to support Spanish literacy by helping parents get past one of the greatest barriers: access to developmentally appropriate Spanish literature. Via their Club Read program, anyone can receive FREE K-5 bilingual books in the mail. It’s easy and free, and will give your child one more excellent Spanish story to read every month!

What’s more, if you’re an educator, you can receive 20 books and Parent Flyers to give out. Just check “Teacher/Educator” on the sign-up page. Just use the promotion code BABY to sign up as a SpanglishBaby amigo!

For book summaries of past titles and to get the ebook versions, visit Smashwords.

Watch this video to learn more about the inspiration for this program. Also, check out Read Conmigo on facebook.

{Image by: loop_oh}

These days, it seems that the terms “Latino,” “Hispanic,” and “Spanish” are interchangeable in colloquial speech. Few people know the difference, including those who fit into these categories. Much like other racial and ethnic terminology, the words we use to describe Spanish speakers and those of Hispanic origin are confusing, inadequate, and often inapplicable.

My son, for example, could be categorized as a white Hispanic. Yet, that’s only because he is part white and he looks white like me; in truth, he has non-white ancestry on his father’s side. He is a Spanish speaker, while many who look more Hispanic than he does don’t speak any Spanish.

“Hispanic” is not a race, but an ethnic term. Although it originally signified a family connection to Spain or Portugal, it now means having a connection to Latin America. This could mean speaking Spanish or not, having dark skin or light skin, and engaging in a Latin American, Central American, or South American home culture to whatever extent you choose.

As we all know, though, it means much more than that. In fact, it means something different to everyone.

Before we can teach our kids what it means when they check the “Hispanic” box on forms throughout their lives, we need to evaluate what the word means to us. I did some informal research – asked friends and family (adults and children) what “Hispanic” means to them – and here is a sampling of the responses:

“Delicious food, saucy personalities, killer music and beautiful people (inside and out).”

“Born and raised in a Latino country and 1^st language being Spanish.”

 “Rich culture and family traditions.”

 “Celebrating Spanish things with your family.”

 “Always speaking Spanish when someone around you doesn’t know English.”

 “Close families, tight-knit circles.”

Also, check out this previous post from Eugenia about her personal exploration of cultural labels.

To me, “Hispanic” is a blanket term, a general category. There are more differences than similarities amongst Hispanics, but non-Hispanics tend to gain a skewed understanding of the group because they may be exposed to only one type of Hispanic person. For example, in Orlando, we associate the term with Puerto Rican and other Caribbean cultures, since they make up the majority of the Hispanic population here. We think of a particular kind of food, dance, and use of language only. It is therefore hard to grasp what Hispanic denotes on a national scale.

For those of us who are not of Hispanic origin, it is even more important to consider how we use this and other words to describe the people around us – even, as is the case for me, our own children.

What does “Hispanic” mean to you? Do you prefer any particular term to describe your ethnic background and culture?

Too many people associate the phrase “early reading” with elementary school. In fact, an affinity for reading begins developing much earlier than that. Exposure to how words on the page become spoken words are valuable even in infancy.

This exposure is all the more crucial for Spanish reading skills, since many of our children will have less reinforcement of Spanish literacy than of English literacy in school. In an English-majority culture, we are always fighting the proverbial uphill battle to maintain a bilingual home, and this challenge is even greater when it comes to encouraging our little ones to love – and understand the need for – reading in both languages.

Although you may be tempted to overload your kids with cool reading apps and recorded stories, you should know that it is always best for kids to hear a live human reading aloud. Recordings are missing the natural inflection, reactions, and opportunities for discussion that provide the true value during story time.

Ready. Set. Grow! LA is at the forefront of the read-aloud movement with its Read early, Read ALOUD! campaign. At SpanglishBaby, we are extending the research and tips behind this crusade to our little Spanish readers.

 Why is reading aloud so important? Check out what the experts conclude:

Colorín Colorado confirms that the benefits of reading aloud continue into elementary school: “Listening to stories read aloud by the teacher is one effective way for students to enrich vocabulary.”

According to the Reading is Fundamental campaign, every time we read aloud to our children, we are stimulating their imagination.

Reading aloud encourages conversations that you may not otherwise have with your kids. See what Usborne Books has to say about this benefit.

Here are ways you can help instill a love of the written (Spanish) word in your children:

• Give them your time. Remember that you don’t have to read a stack of bedtime stories for your child to benefit. Give what you can – whether it’s 5 minutes or 50 – for reading aloud and know that it’s making a difference.

• Establish a routine. Creating a positive association with reading Spanish stories is like giving your babies a hug or their favorite comfort food. It will become something they can’t live without.

• Read various types of books. In the same way that it’s good for adults to read both fiction and nonfiction, children can develop a breadth of reading skills by seeing everything from picture books to lengthy stories to nonfiction books about their favorite animals, places, or other interests.

• Be animated. Even if you’re not the dramatic type, get invested in stories with your niños. Give each character a different voice and repeat catchy phrases.

• Learn to laugh at yourself if you make a mistake pronouncing a word so that your kids will learn that reading is a trial-and-error process. This is imperative for children who have a preference for English or a weaker Spanish vocabulary.

Ready. Set. Grow! LA is giving away a library of 50 books to one lucky winner. To enter, you must fill out the survey on www.ReadySetGrowLA.org/contest and/or Follow Ready. Set. Grow! on Twitter and post a Tweet about your favorite book to read with your child with the contest hashtag: #myfavbook. For more contest details, go here.

{Photo by: kaylhew}

Living in Orlando, Florida, provides a multitude of opportunities to speak Spanish. Everywhere I go, I hear Spanish speakers. At the bank, I often notice that not a single person is speaking English when I walk in. Sometimes, I find myself jumping in to translate for monolingual Spanish speakers in the grocery store or at the mall.

There is one place in which they are not being accommodated, though: education. Latinos make up 24% of the K-12 population of Florida, yet bilingual schools are hard to come by around here.

Since I have chosen not to put Isaías in school for another year (because of his January birthday and my unusual work schedule), I assumed that I would have the time to thoroughly research options for bilingual programs and find something that fits. Instead, I have found exactly two options: one, a bilingual Montessori school on the opposite end of this sprawling town; the other, an elementary school with a foreign language academy that my stepdaughters currently attend. Sure, plenty of preschools in the area offer weekly Spanish lessons or exposure to Dora and Diego books, but only those two offer full-time instruction in English and Spanish.

What is the cause of this major shortage of Spanish in Orlando schools? For one, Florida has never been known for its high-quality public education, to say the least. This is just another example of how antiquated it really is. Another problem is the growing white-to-Latino prejudice: the exaggerated backlash against the fastest growing demographic in this region. Finally, there are so few bilingual teachers in Florida. Ironically, this stems from the fact that many bilinguals are not given the same opportunities as monolingual Americans, and therefore cannot achieve the necessary scholastic milestones to become public school teachers. Many do not even have high school diplomas, much less a Master’s degree.

Aside from having to face the sad reality that my son may not have the Spanish reinforcement he needs in his academic life, I take a professional stake in this topic. A good amount of my tutoring business comes from bilingual students whose parents do not speak English. I help them apply to college and assist their parents in getting around all the barriers that immigrants face when their children are learning in a language they do not understand. More than the average Orlando resident, I see Spanish speakers as allies, rather than enemies. If we do not train and educate young bilinguals as well as we do white, monolingual Americans, we will end up with an uneducated majority in the near future.

As my son walks around with his little “pack-pack” on, asking to go to school with his stepsisters, I agonize over the fate of his Spanish skills and of my increasingly Spanish-speaking community.

{Photo by: John-Morgan}

Editor’s note: We’re dedicating this whole week to Back to {Bilingual} School. We have a variety of posts that we hope will make the transition easier regardless of what your kids’ schooling situation is. We hope you come back all week to read the posts by our amazing guests and to enter the awesome giveaways we’ve put together for you!

I have always joked that I was born with a book in my hands, but this wasn’t my choice. Someone had to have put it there. That someone, for those of use who were lucky enough to be exposed to reading at a young age, was a parent. Now that we are the parents and are taking on the incredible challenge of raising bilingual or multilingual children, we are responsible for whether our little ones will devour books for a lifetime, or someday use them as coasters.

There is no better time to discuss reading than right now, at the start of a new school year. Sending the little ones off to school can be a test of our linguistic goals if they are being flooded with English; even if our kids are attending dual-language or immersion schools, their language input is different than it is at home. So, how do we make up for and supplement what the school environment can provide? One technique is better than all the rest: READ.

According to the National Literacy Panel’s research on English Language Learners , literacy in a native language is a huge plus when one is learning to read in a second language. Factors such as phonological awareness – an understanding of the sounds of a particular language – play a large part in the level of success a child achieves in reading that language. Perhaps the most important part of the NLP’s findings, though, is that a lack of background/cultural knowledge is a significant barrier to achieving literacy.

The Multilingual Children’s Association confirms that “frequent book reading leads to more advanced language skills.” It is not just the type of books, the level, or even the language in which they are written that matters. Literacy is a result of frequency; the old “practice makes perfect” adage is nowhere more appropriate than in a discussion of learning to read and write.

Speaking of writing, it is an essential life tool tied to reading. Writing skill is directly proportional to reading ability, and focusing on one can push the other to a higher level. The Alliance for Excellent Education and others agree that good writers become academically successful. We have a responsibility to give our children this other piece of literacy en español so that they can be personally fulfilled in both languages, in life and in school.

So what does all this research mean for you on a daily basis? Other than making a concerted effort to open up a Spanish book with your children as often as possible, you can promote early and sustained literacy with the following tips:

- Encourage an interest in your native culture, not just the words on a page. Use a book from La Tiendita to supplement a holiday or event, such as your child’s birthday, and parallel American traditions with your own. If your child is consistently intrigued by the traditions associated with the Spanish language, he or she will be more apt to read about them.

- Place special emphasis on the letters and sounds that differ in English and Spanish: vowels and sounds like that of the “eñe.” With my son, I play school at home and trace and pronounce the alphabet one letter at a time, in both languages. That way, he hears the contrast while seeing that the visual representation of the letter does not change.

- Have your children come up with a Spanish story every week by creating a sentence a day. Have them tell you what they want to add to the story each day, and write each week’s growing story on a large writing tablet or chalkboard. In this way, your children get to be the authors AND the readers, and will make the connection that someone came up with their favorite stories in the same way. This is the road to raising good writers – and readers – in any language.

- Read this great post from Corey Heller, of Multilingual Living, about the process of becoming “biliterate,” and take her advice: relax and watch your children find their way to literacy.

El Perro, a funny little guy who talks incessantly, explains everything to his friend, El Gato. The fat, purple cat is only concerned with food and his catch phrase alternates between “¿Qué?” and “What?” The unusual pair gets into predicament after predicament. As the dog narrates their adventures in both English and Spanish, vocabulary words pop up on the screen.

These newly released DVDs are most appropriate for children ages 2-5, but you will find yourself absorbed as well. My favorite scene is when El Perro y El Gato are doing yoga – or trying to. None of the 4 DVDs included in this set lasts more than 25 minutes, but each has an interesting variety of scenes to hold a child’s attention. My son laughs hysterically through every one and pretends to be the cat for the entire day after watching.

Check out this clip called Sharing and see for yourself…hilarious!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WQ6wAkdUeU

El Perro y El Gato can also be enjoyed in a bilingual book format that’s perfect to accompany the shows.  To find the shows check out Amazon and the HBO Store.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winners: MJ and Zuwi!

We’re giving away one, four DVD set of  El Perro y El Gato (pictured above) to TWO lucky winners.  To enter just leave us a comment telling us if you are a Perro or a Gato person.

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):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, August 30 at midnight PST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Photo by: Nina Mathews Photography}

When I first started writing for SpanglishBaby, my son and I were going it alone. I was a single parent trying to keep up with speaking my non-native language to him full-time. It was challenging, but relatively predictable.

Now, I have taken on a whole new set of challenges regarding parenting and bilingualism. I am in a relationship with a wonderful man who has two daughters, ages 9 and 11. The girls both know Spanish, but have quite different views on speaking it. While the older sister comes out with Spanish voluntarily and gets excited about learning new phrases, the younger is resistant to the brink of tears. Although she attends a foreign language academy, she is afraid to make a mistake, and doesn’t even want to speak to her abuelos in Spanish.

With all three kids, we have attempted heart-to-heart talks about their Latino identity and incentives for speaking their heritage language. We’ve even played “the Spanish game,” where the first one to slip up and use English is the proverbial rotten egg.

Still, despite her perfect accent and comprehension, the 9-year-old wants a translator and asks for English TV shows when she visits her relatives in Puerto Rico. Even more worrisome, my son has picked up on his stepsister’s opposition and claims he doesn’t want to speak Spanish at our home because she won’t understand him.

All these intricate relationships with the Spanish language and blended cultures in one family have expanded my understanding of what we all mean when we say we are raising bilingual children. No matter the availability of books, movies, Spanish-speaking relatives, and immersion opportunities, things will sometimes go awry. A simple preference for one language or a general dislike for language learning can come about as children grow and develop a sense of individuality.

Even more than learning how to be a mother figure to two preteen girls in addition to raising a stubborn 3-year-old boy, this has taught me – once again – that it is not the result of parenting that matters; it is the chain of events that make up our daily lives. We should not expect that there will be a day when all our efforts come to fruition and our children are as fluent as we tried to make them. Instead, we have to supply them with the tools to arrive at some form of fluency, even if it is not exactly what we would have chosen.