Enzo has made incredible progress in English, and just when I wonder if English has replaced Spanish as his first language, Enzo surprises me by saying things like “Mama, en español por favor.” (Mama, in Spanish please.) He was referring to one of his favorite TV shows, Doc McStuffins, which I usually play for him in Spanish. I was, of course, thrilled. It was very different from a meltdown he had one morning when I switched the Doc McStuffins episode that his dad had started for him from English to Spanish… he started crying and started saying “English mama English.”

I was sad at that moment, thinking that he definitely preferred everything in English now. But thinking about these two moments, I now realize that it wasn’t that Enzo preferred English to Spanish, it was that since his father had started watching the show with him, he wanted to watch it in English, as he usually does with his dad. When I changed the language on him, it threw him for a loop, and that is what made him upset. (I also know this because sometimes I change from English to Spanish when a show has already started, and he doesn’t say a word about it.)

All this to say that I am reassured that Enzo still loves Spanish, and that English hasn’t completely taken over! Just when I feel reassured about one language, the holidays are coming up and soon Enzo will be immersed in French for a whole week before I join him. I am very excited about this experience for him, and at the same time I can’t help but feel a tiny bit nervous.

As Enzo’s vocabulary increases, it is interesting to see the new obstacles he faces; for example, with masculine and feminine words. Subjects aren’t so much an issue. When we teach him new words, we say “LA manzana” or “EL carro” or “UN zapato” or “UNA media.” I realize though, that he doesn’t yet understand that masculine words have masculine adjectives and same for feminine. This, of course, is a concept he will grasp as he gets older. But for now, it is funny to hear him repeat what I say, for example: “Enzo, Mama está cansada.” (Mommy is tired.) Enzo’s reply is “No, Enzo está cansada.” Of course, I explain to him that Mama is a girl, so she is cansada, and Enzo is a boy so he is cansado… but I’m not sure he has completely picked up on it yet.

As language learning continues, I realize that I will constantly be facing new challenges and that it is incredibly important to be consistent…and of course, repeat, repeat, repeat.

{Photo by dbrekke}

I volunteer in my boys’ classrooms when I can, and we make a point of going to school events. One of my favorite things to do when it comes to school, though, is just hang out. They’re still young enough to get excited when I have a day off and can come have lunch with them in the cafeteria, and when I pick them up at aftercare on the early side, I like sitting with them and the other kids at the table while they finish writing and drawing, or wrapping up games of chess and Connect Four.

In the beginning, I got a lot of strange looks from their classmates — because I would sit down and chat with my sons in Spanish. The confusion, though, immediately gave way to curiosity and I was peppered with questions. What language is that? Is that Spanish? I didn’t know they spoke Spanish. Where are you from? Do you speak any other languages? And they listened attentively to my answers. The boys and I only speak Spanish at home. I lived in another country when I was a little girl. I only spoke Spanish with my mother. My job is helping people who speak different languages understand each other. I learned French, too, in France and in Africa.

The part I didn’t expect, and the part I love the most, is that after the questions the floodgates open and I get to hear all about their experiences. My parents went to Costa Rica once! I spent the summer in Russia with my grandparents. I learned my numbers in Spanish in preschool. I love listening to them, and I love building on their questions. Okay, let me hear your numbers. Did you learn your colors, too? Do you know how to say “school” in Spanish? And on and on we go.

In their eyes, I have become The Mom Who Speaks Spanish, and I like it. There are a few children who I know speak at least some Spanish at home, and I’ve taken to only speaking Spanish to them, as well. I think of the adults who encouraged me when I was little and I wonder if some day it might make the tiniest bit of a difference. At the very least, I hope some of them might get excited about languages.

I was walking out of school one day last week and one of the second-grade boys came running after me. “Mrs. Lane? I forgot to tell you the other day that my grandmother used to be a Spanish teacher.” I smile at him and start asking questions. Do you know what grade she taught? Did she teach it in grade school or high schoolers? That is so cool, I’m glad you told me.

I am The Mom Who Speaks Spanish.

{Photo by woodleywonderworks}

As author of “An Honest Boy, Un hombre sincero” — the only children’s book on the life of Cuban legend José Martí — Magdalena Zenaida evokes a sense of cultural pride by embracing biculturalism. We sat down with her to chat about bilingualism, raising proud, bicultural identities and what José Martí means to her.

How do we interest our children in bilingual literature and why should we?  

I think a great way to interest children in bilingual literature is to look at it from the same perspective we do literature in a single language. What I mean is that I prefer introducing language as a function of the story rather than the other way around. Children are drawn to stories more than dictionary-style translations. I think learning a story they love brings a language to life the way memorizing a song does.

For me, I thought it was important to write “an honest boy, un hombre sincero” with the Spanish poetry interspersed throughout the story with translations of the poetry to follow. This was partly to showcase Martí’s poetry and how it fit into the lyrics of Guantanamera, but also to reflect the way I think a lot of bilingual children interact with language at home.

How do we make language learning and history fun?  

I think language and history learning are always at their best when there is a cultural context around the subject and how it relates to the child. One of the great things about Martí was that he recognized how important it was for Latin American, and all children, to have the base of knowledge about ancient Western civilization that was popular at the time, but he saw it as only a starting point. He thought that the internal pride and development that could come from knowing the legends and roots of one’s own land would create greater ways of thinking and connecting with each other. That’s why in this really simple way, I like the idea of talking about Martí, who was a complex political thinker, and connecting him to children who might know about Pitbull’s Guantanamera, or parents who listen to Celia Cruz’s, or grandparents who experienced Martí’s same feelings of exile. It’s a way of connecting.

How does the history of Latin America influence our children’s future across the United States?

This is a complex question with so many answers. I would say that most parents tell me they are interested in teaching their children Spanish because “x” percentage of the country will speak Spanish one day. But I think that really separates language as a skill the way someone would learn a math formula, rather than seeing it as a living language, a part of a growing culture. Latin America is still a place of amazing natural resources and the United States is still, despite its difficulties, a place of professional opportunities. I think Martí was very forward thinking in seeing that these two things were interdependent instead of a one-way relationship, that it wasn’t a producer-consumer relationship even in the early 20th century that would benefit all people. I think the more children are exposed to culture and history of those surrounding them, it breeds a caring about their environment and those further afield and how those things can be integrated.

{Image courtesy of Vanessa Bell}

Her obsession with all things death began when my grandmother passed away last year. My then 3-year-old daughter Kalila had grown fond of Mamá Leonor, and I never really considered not taking her with us to the funeral. Just the year before, she had sat on my lap at my grandfather’s funeral, although I’m sure she didn’t remember. There were other small children there, too, and I had always grown up believing that children were just as much a part of this ritual as anyone else. Children always went where the adults did – to church, to weddings, to funerals.

Maybe she had expected to see Mamá Leonor alive, because when she finally saw her, lying so still and serene, she became quiet and concerned. After a while she summoned the courage to ask, “Is she sick?”

Death is something Latinos celebrate every year during Día de los Muertos. It isn’t something to fear – it’s colorful, playful, it’s a part of the celebration of life. In past years I’ve made altars and mini-shrines; I have a beautiful statuette of La Catrina in our living room; and my little girl has colored countless calacas and calaveras on coloring pages. But at that moment in the funeral home, when I was confronted with explaining what it all really meant to my own daughter, I felt awash in doubt, and I thought to myself, what have I done?

But it was too late to change course now. I answered my daughter’s question: yes, she was very sick and she died after a long and good life, and she went on to heaven to be with Papá Orlando. That seemed like an appropriate response, and she seemed okay with that answer. When we got to the cemetery – a dry plot of ranch land broken up by caliche roads and dotted with oversized gravestones and brightly colored artificial wreaths and bouquets – Kalila turned to my husband and me and asked, “Is this heaven?”

It was searing under the hot South Texas sun, and the warm breeze was kicking up dirt all over the cemetery.

“God, I hope not,” my husband blurted out.

It was then that I realized my simple explanations were going to be no match for a 3-year-old’s curiosity. Despite having mourned the loss of my father and three grandparents in the past five years, I had not really thought much about the meaning of death beyond my own grieving. But mostly, I had never had to explain it to a child.

For Kalila, Mamá Leonor’s funeral was the start of many questions to come over the next weeks and months.

Just a few days after we got home, Kalila told us, randomly, that Mamá Leonor had become a statue. That’s what happens when you die, she said. I started to explain otherwise, but she seemed set on this theory, so I just let it be.

Later, we dealt with a sickness, just a cold, but it came along with questions about whether that was going to lead to death, too.

Then one day she heard the words “children” and “dead” on the news over the radio, and she asked again and again why the kids had died. There was such sadness in her voice. I explained that we all die, eventually, and yes, sometimes children die, too.

Even subtle mentions of death in children’s movies or books have stirred up questions from her. What happened to Lilo’s (Lilo & Stitch) parents? Why did they die? And at the end of Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte the spider dies, but not before explaining to a grief-stricken Wilbur, “After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die.” When I read that to her, Kalila shook her head in agreement as if to say, I get it.

I’m still not sure what she really gets, though. But she seems at peace with her own ideas about death, and I know it isn’t something that consumes her. Dying is part of life and it’s only a matter of time before we have to talk to our children about it. And after talking about the issue so much over the past year, I feel at peace with my decision to take her to my grandmother’s funeral. I’m glad I trusted my instinct. I think we’re finally ready to celebrate Día de los Muertos together as a family, and I plan on making mini-matchbox shrines for our loved ones this year, and of course, sharing that here on SpanglishBaby in the next few weeks.

{Image by  rainy city}

Autumn is here, and that means it’s time to look at some of the issues facing parents of school-age bilingual children.

Our kids are in school, and every day we ask the usual question: “How was school today?”

Their unchanging reply: “Good.”

Keeping the Bilingual Focus

Like most parents raising their children bilingually, we always want them to talk more in the minority language.

Unless your children attend a bilingual or immersion school, their minority language probably isn’t used during the school day.

That means that the parents need to bring the language back into use as soon as the kids get home!

Open-Ended vs. Close-Ended Questions

Conversation with small children requires a lot of prompting.

Drawing your children out, especially in a minority language, requires you to understand the difference between open and closed questions:

• Closed-ended questions only have a limited number of responses. Yes/no questions are closed questions, as are questions that present limited options, such as “Do you want to read your book or go outside and play?”

• Open or open-ended questions do not have a limited number of replies. They require the child to imagine a new response of his or her own.

Most advice will tell you to focus on open-ended questions as a way to develop your child’s speech abilities. Making up a reply requires more language use than repeating something you’ve said to the child, so open questions are more interactive.

For bilingual children, however, it’s important to remember their limits and to use a mixture of questions. Simple, closed questions can be a good way of easing them into the use of their minority language.

How to Draw Your Child Out in a Second Language

Our system for asking our children about school is built around a mixture of closed and open-ended questions:

• First, we ask short, positive questions or statements for the child to confirm: “Wow, that is a lot of drawings you did!”

• Next, we offer a closed question that uses school-specific vocabulary: “Did you go to the special class with the art teacher or did you stay with Mrs. Hanes?

• After that, we stay on the same topic, but ask an open-ended question: “What did you like most about the art class?”

• When they reply using a mixture of languages or the majority language, I make sure to restate their reply entirely in their minority language: “Oh, the big picture of flowers on the wall was your favorite? I like flowers too.”

• Finally, we finish off with a positive, exciting statement: “What a wonderful day you’ve had!”

This helps start our children with easy answers, then moves them into newer and more school-specific vocabulary, and finally leaves them feeling good about their conversation in their minority language!

You can’t always come up with an exciting question every day, but keep at it — and don’t be afraid to use toys or playtime to slip the questions in! Sometimes your child would rather tell Batman or Barbie what he or she did at school than talk to you about it. Encourage them to do it in their minority language, and then sit back and let them run the show.

Olena Centeno a Ukrainian who lives in USA, a happy mom of three wonderful kids ages 2 to 9 and a wife to the great man. She speaks three languages herself and is raising her kids to be multilingual in English, Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish. She founded Bilingual Kids Rock where she helps families on their bilingual journey. She also enjoys photography and video making as a way to preserve precious moments of life.You can connect with her at bilingualkidsrock.com

Editor’s note: We continue with our 31 Days of Reading in Spanish. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our weekly GIVEAWAY of $100 worth of books in Spanish! This is the last week, so you have until July 31 to enter.

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

We all know and love Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, right?  So I don’t have anything to say about the story itself, but I asked my sons to pick a couple of their favorite books for me to review, and this was one of them. I will say, however, that the translation was done by the wonderful Teresa Mlawer. Her Spanish rendition of the story flows beautifully, and remains true to the spirit of the original. In fact, it is quite possibly my favorite book to read out loud to my boys. ¡Que comiencen los festejos!

   BOOK DETAILS

   Title: Donde viven los monstruos

   Author and Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

   Ages: 4 and up

   Publisher/Year: HarperTrophy 1963/Translation 1996

   ISBN: 0-06-443422-2

   Price: $15.27 on Amazon.com

From the moment the test read “pregnant,” it didn’t take long before I was sitting on a plane reading about the OPOL method and other strategies for giving one’s child the gift of two languages.

Friends asked me about birth plans and attachment parenting, but I researched precious little of the topics concerning my other mama friends. I was fascinated by language development and raising a bicultural baby.

The only problem? I don’t speak Spanish. I was relying on my Guatemalan husband to make my bilingual baby dreams come true.

Maybe it’s because I know what it’s like to be monolingual in a multicultural world, but I highly valued passing on both Spanish and English to our daughter. With her nearing 2 and 1/2 and our second bicultural baby on the way, I realize I have learned a lot these past couple of years about what not to do as the monolingual parent in a bilingual home:

Badger the Bilingual

“Speak Spanish!” was my mantra to my hubby that first year… right after “Why are you crying?” which was directed to my new baby.

It’s lonely talking to a baby when they don’t understand or engage. Part of our sanity through the infant days was speaking on her behalf.

I realize now that my husband wanted me to understand what he was saying to her… when he was blessing her, sweet-talking her or mocking her. (Yeah, we’re all-star parents!) We were learning to be a parenting team, and my nagging him to dis-include me held no appeal.

Take Over  

This is a different manifestation of #1. But when I wanted to “subtly” remind my husband to speak to her in Spanish, I would get the ball rolling myself. This strategy was is ill-advised since I’m not fluent.

I had to provide my husband space to take ownership of our child’s Spanish language learning. As she has begun talking more, he enjoys hearing her repeat the Spanish words he teaches. Also, since she’s decidedly favoring English, he has a renewed sense of personal passion to teach her Spanish to communicate easily with family and connect to her culture.

Complain About Being Left Out

One of my worries from the very beginning of our bilingual journey was feeling like a stranger in my own home. I envisioned my husband and our teenagers sitting around the dinner table, joking in Spanish and laughing, while I pushed peas around my plate.

The other day my daughter spoke her first uncoaxed mixed-language sentence, and that fear resurfaced. For as passionate as I am about her becoming bilingual, I want so desperately to be involved.

So I’m working on my own Spanish. Hearing it more at home definitely helps, but I still know her fluency will quickly surpass mine.

Raising a bilingual, bicultural family is a joy I encourage anyone to undertake. Hope these tips help you make the best of your journey!

{Photo by basykes}

Sarah Quezada lives in Atlanta with her Guatemalan husband Billy and their daughter Gabriella. She blogs about cross-cultural marriage and family life, immigration, and multicultural identity at A Life with Subtitles. You can connect with her on Twitter (@SarahQuezada).

I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, where the only place I heard Spanish was within the walls of my high school. And what’s more, I took French! Eventually, I learned Spanish in college and then as a student in Venezuela and Cuba.

While my first job out of college didn’t require Spanish at all, my second did. I worked at a nonprofit that partnered with public schools to provide literacy programs to elementary-aged kids. My students were almost all children of immigrants from Latin America. I saw firsthand how so many of our students were operating in bilingual, bicultural worlds. Kids translated for their parents, for one another, and their teachers. They did it with such ease, navigating between cultures and languages.

We were a literacy program, so naturally, I wanted to find books that resonated with my students’ experiences. I researched and came up with the usual suspects (“Too Many Tamales” anyone?) or nothing at all. Certainly not enough to fill afternoons every day. Over time, I started discovering new books here and there — but never had a great way to find them.

Fast forward to a little over a year ago. I was eight months pregnant and searching for a book to show my son what life would be like as a sibling. In this case, I wanted a book that showed a multiracial child, to reflect our own family. We couldn’t find the right book, until months later, when it was too late. It was out there, but incredibly hard to find.

When I searched on the typical sites, the substance was lacking, but there was no shortage of ads for hair care products. And while I do love Kinky Curly for my daughter’s hair, it wasn’t going to help explain big brotherhood to my son! So, my husband and I decided to solve our own problem and create Zoobean, a site that handpicks remarkable kids’ books and catalogs them in a way that makes sense to parents.

When we created our sets of tags, we did this with all kinds of kids in mind. Our own kids and their experience growing up in a multicultural family (and world). And also the other children we know and love, like the kids I worked closely with in my earlier career. How did that work? We made tags like “English and Spanish,” “multicultural,” “multi­ethnic backgrounds,” “Latino or Hispanic,” and many more. We are just getting started, and trying to make it possible for parents to find books about a wide variety of topics that also reflect their kids and families.

Geena Davis says about girls in media, “If you see it, you can be it.” I believe this completely, for all kids. That’s why it’s critical that we make it easy to find the books that reflect our own families and children. If they see it, they can be it. There is the problem of there not being enough representation of Latino kids in children’s books, which we hope to help improve longer term. Now, we have to make it easy to find the books that are out there and get them into the hands of families that want them most!

What are your favorite bilingual books? If we don’t have them in the catalog already, please recommend today!

Jordan Lloyd Bookey is Chief Mom at Zoobean, a site that curates and catalogs remarkable kids’ books, handpicked by parents. Before she decided to make the leap as an entrepreneur, Jordan served as Google’s Head of K-12 Education Outreach, where she was responsible for the company’s worldwide programs that expand access to technology and computer science kids. Jordan is originally from Des Moines, IA and now lives with her family in Washington, DC. You can usually find her at 1776 DC, working on Zoobean with her husband and Chief Dad, Felix, or exploring the city and trying to keep up with her children, Cassius and Florence.

Editor’s note: We’re spending this week celebrating dads raising bilingual kids with guest posts written by them in honor of Father’s Day. We love having the dad’s perspective and hope this series encourages other papis to share their stories with us.

On November 11, 2009, I was just another young man trying to make his way in the world. Some of us college-aged kids from church were starting a small group, and we were kicking it off with a little get together at one of the leader’s house. His wife is from Ecuador. They spoke Spanish, and I thought it was great, but didn’t give it much thought. I had studied Spanish in high school and a few years in college, however the years since had put quite a layer of rust on my not-so-great-to-begin-with skills. That night, I wished I had paid more attention in Spanish class.

When she walked in, I knew it right away. She was beautiful, different, unique and full of life. The only problem was… she spoke Spanish. Not English. She was in the U.S. visiting family and studying English. She had not quite mastered it yet.

We tried to chit-chat but it was horrendous. I knew enough Spanish to attempt to speak it, but she couldn’t understand a word I said due to my accent. We exchanged Facebook info and I tried to give her directions home. I was pretty proud when she took off going the right way. Months later she would admit to me she had absolutely no idea what I had said. I guess my pointing was the most effective communication that night. The rest, as they say, is history.

From day one, after meeting her, I spent a huge amount of time and energy learning Spanish. I knew this relationship was going somewhere, and when it did, there would inevitably be kids. I knew I would want to be able to pass on to them their mother’s language and culture. Sort of. Ok, I wish I had that kind of insight. It wasn’t quite like that. The majority of the motivation at the beginning, if I’m being honest, was to be able to communicate with the mother of my future children. That was step one. The subsequent steps perhaps transpired a bit more like I described earlier.

As I learned more Spanish, and learned more about my future wife, I fell more and more in love with the language, the culture, and the satisfaction it brought to connect with her on that level. We have a lot of friends where one spouse speaks the minority language and the other spouse doesn’t; they use English as a medium of communication. There is nothing wrong with that, but I personally believe in Nelson Mandela’s famous saying:

“Speak to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. Speak to a man in his language, that goes to his heart.”

I wanted to speak to my wife’s heart and to be able to understand her and my son when they have those moments. Therefore, Spanish learning was high-priority (and still is… you never really LEARN a language). Fast forward three and a half years later and we currently live in the heartland of the U.S., Illinois, and are raising our 11-month-old child, Liam, bilingual. There was never a question as to whether or not we were going to raise him bilingual, only a question of how. He was going to be bilingual regardless. We chose the mL@H method.

Learning Spanish, and interacting with Mexican culture, has literally changed my life. I can’t even fathom not teaching my son Spanish. I’m jealous of him! He’s going to be a true bilingual from birth and have what neither his mom nor I did. We both learned our languages as adults and scratched, clawed and fought our way to fluency. Spanish is now basically second nature to me, but it’s still not quite like English. I don’t like that. I wish it were, but it isn’t. It will be, or at least it can be, for him.

I can’t wait to open his eyes to all the wonders that are out there. To be able to give him, at a young age, a broader perspective on everything from different words to different worlds. He won’t be that 20-something who knows nothing about life. We’re going to travel, learn and raise him in a culturally and linguistically diverse way so he has the keys to unlock his heritage on both sides.

Passing a language down to your child is, in my opinion, an incredibly important part of being a parent. Especially when one of the parents identifies so much with that culture and language. My wife lived in Mexico for 29 years. Mexico will live in her, and in our family, forever. It will take more than a generation to remove us from it, if ever. We will hopefully instill in our son the importance of his culture, his people and his heritage. That is one of the most satisfying and rewarding things I will be able to do as a father; celebrate our family where it is, where it comes from, and where it is going. The challenge will be in making our son understand where he fits in both cultures. A running joke in our house is “allí se va.” We use it, loosely translated, as something like “here goes nothing!” That basically says it all.

Allí se va.

{Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Nelson}

Jeffrey Nelson blogs about being bilingual, raising bilingual children, and all things bilingual at Living Bilingual.com . He and his wife, Gyovanna, are currently raising their 11-month old child, Liam, as a bilingual in English/Spanish. Jeff loves the fact that his son will grow up bilingual and bicultural, a long way removed from his own past growing up in North Dakota; the antithesis of the bicultural childhood.

One of the greatest perks of being a blogger is all of the connections and new people you meet that you wouldn’t have otherwise. Since starting here at SpanglishBaby my network of other like-minded bilingual parents has grown and we have all been able to connect on different levels yet at the core is desire to raise our children speaking a second language.

A few months ago I received an email from a fellow Latina mamá who had been reading my posts on SpanglishBaby and just so happened to live 10 minutes away! So I wanted to introduce you to Nikki Scully, half-American, half-Costa Rican mom and SpanglishBaby reader or SpanglishMami as I named her. Here we talked about her background, what she wants for her kids and the fondest memories of her bilingual upbringing!

MJO: Tell readers about your background and what makes you a Spanglish Mami?

NS: I am the proud daughter of a Costa Rican mother and a father from Ohio. My father took his love of Spanish language and Latin culture and joined the Peace Corps in 1970. His adventures took him to Costa Rica, where he fell in love with a young tica. And the rest is history.

MJO: Why is it important for you kids to be bilingual?

NS: Mainly, I realize  what a gift my parents gave me. Although I didn’t appreciate it as a child, I truly feel like knowing Spanish opened a world for me, setting me apart in ability to communicate with so many more people and appreciate another culture and its values, music, food and more. Being bilingual and bicultural is a source of great pride, which I’d love to pass along to my children.

MJO: Do you have any concerns about bilingualism?

NS: My biggest concern is: “What will this look like in a few years?” My kids are very young (2 years old and one month!), so I am just at the beginning. Their learning Spanish now is easy in that they spend their days with me, but in the back of my mind I fear that all my efforts will be shot once they go to preschool. I feel like I always seek out parents with children that are a bit older to see what their journey has looked like up to that point (and what our future might look like). Often, it’s reassuring to see that speaking Spanish to their children has really worked!

Also, although my Spanish is good it’s still my second language, so often I could explain/describe something to my son much better in English. I worry that this causes me to talk much less to him overall than I would if we spoke English. I have to make a conscious effort to talk, talk, talk, and many times look up how to say something! It’s really a learning experience for me, too.

MJO: How have others (family, strangers, etc). reacted to your decision to raise them bilingual?

NS: I am still learning to be comfortable speaking to my children in public in Spanish. However, when other parents hear me speaking Spanish to my son, the reaction is almost always positive. Parents usually say that it’s really cool and that they wished they could do the same with their kids.

MJO: My husband is learning Spanish and we have some great “lost in translation” moments. Tell us about your funniest bilingual moment.

NS: My husband is very supportive of my efforts, and he speaks some Spanish and English to the kids. His Spanish skills are getting better as we go, but he can get … creative. Sometimes he thinks he remembers a word, but he’s just off a little bit. For example, he said “conchillo” once when he meant “conejo.” Or “hornatuga” when he tried to say “zanahoria.” I think it’s hilarious that his made-up Spanish words sound like they could be legit.

MJO: What is your favorite bilingual books, toys, movies, etc.?

As someone who loves to sing, I find my most powerful tool to encourage bilingualism is music! I try to expose Jack to all kinds of music in Spanish, whether geared toward kids or not. It takes a little more searching to find good children’s music in Spanish — and I love artists I found on SpanglishBaby, particularly Sara from Music with Sara and Nathalia’s From Here to There CD. I sing the songs over and over, particularly in the car!

MJO:  Tell us about your favorite “Spanish speaking” childhood memory?

NS: I am blessed that my siblings and I grew up taking trips to Costa Rica to visit our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Many of these trips were at Christmas time, when my fondest memories are of evening nochebuena Mass followed by a big meal and waiting for el niño to stop by with gifts! There was always so much excitement surrounding that evening, and it was a treat to stay up late.

Beyond that, my warmest memories include music. I come from a family of guitar players and singers, and to this day family get-togethers always mean lots of hearty singing and dancing! Never a dull moment.

A little more about Nikki: I have a bachelor’s in Spanish and secondary education, and a master’s in Spanish. I taught high school Spanish for nine years before deciding to make the home my classroom! I have aspirations of ramping up my blog — I’m working on it! Connect with Nikki at Fantastic Imaging.

Are you a SpanglishMami? Get in touch and tell me your story!

¡Besos!

{Photo courtesy of María José Ovalle}