immigration

Recently, Roxana asked “Is it Wrong for Bilingual Children in the US to Learn Spanish before English?” Among the comments on SpanglishBaby’s Facebook page, one comment particularly struck me… a fellow SpanglishBaby contributor Suzanne Mateus, said “the controversy is particularly sensitive when the children come from working class homes.”  Suzanne makes a great point. People’s reaction to a parent speaking to her child in Spanish (or any other minority language) might vary depending on their perceptions of who you are.Read More ...

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 Gloria Anzaldua, Chicana author and academic, wrote several books dealing with sensitive issues that arise from living on the Mexico/U.S. border. Friends from the Other Side/Amigos del otro lado is a book that lends itselfRead More ...

  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 Many of us have heard the phrases “Value what you have” or “Don’t be afraid to start over.” It is here that Pam Muñoz, author of Esperanza Renace (Esperanza Rising in English), does anRead More ...

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! BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW I love the multicultural children’s literature written by bilingual teacher and author Rene Colato Lainez. His books feature minority children in a positive way, and his stories encourage all children to dream and work for a better future. Esperando a Papá introduces children to some of the manyRead More ...

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. TheRead More ...