Why? Because we want to bring to a national platform our message that raising kids in more than one language is one of the best gifts you can give them. We have been blessed with interviews on Univision and Telemundo to promote the book, but we wanted to be in a general market morning show because we know the impact that has and the ripple effect in taking our mission far and wide.

And it finally happened.

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Yes, we agree the segment was way too short. Erika Levy, Associate Professor of Speech and Language Pathology, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and I definitely had a lot more to share and that needs to be said and Natalie Morales and Willie Geist definitely had a lot more questions. Natalie stayed with us after we went off air sharing how she wishes she would have made a bigger effort to speak Spanish and/or Portuguese to her kids. But she admits to it being really tough for her since her husband only speaks English. We reassured her that it’s really not too late.

A huge thank you to the TODAY Show producers, staff and talent that treated us so well. Gracias to all who shared the video via Facebook, Twitter, emails, etc. The response has been overwhelming and we can’t wait to see what’s next because, yes, BILINGUAL IS BETTER!

We just got word that the interview we did with Jorge Ramos for Al Punto about our book Bilingual is Better will be airing mañana! Al Punto is Univision‘s Sunday morning show and it airs at 10 a.m. ET/1 p.m. PT.

The interview was taped about two months ago when we went to Miami for the press tour and I had just been wondering when it would air when we got notice that it was happening this Sunday. We can’t wait to see it and we hope you’ll make the time to check it out too!

We loved that Jorge Ramos — whom I worked with while I was a news producer at Univision eight years ago — could identify with the topic of raising bilingual children as he shared his own struggles with his teenage son. Both Ana and I are very happy that the topic of bilingualism will be showcased at the national level thanks to Al Punto. We need to make more people aware of the benefits of being bilingual and why all kids should be given the opportunity to grow up with two or more languages.

UPDATE:

Jorge Ramos is quoted saying: “‘Bilingual is Better,’ de verdad es un buen libro.”

Watch the full interview here:

Several weeks ago I got an email from an online producer at Univision saying she would like to feature me on an interview for a new series profiling Latinos in the U.S. that are helping preserve our culture. Of course, I was excited about the opportunity and quickly submitted the responses to the interview questions she had sent me.

A couple of weeks later, she sends me the two links where I, along with SpanglishBaby, had been featured y me quedé con la boca abierta when I realized what an honor this really was.

See, during the Latin GRAMMY Awards broadcast last Thursday, Univision announced the unveiling of Generación América, “a new empowerment platform dedicated to preserving and sharing the stories of Hispanics in America.”

And there I was. Hispanos que llevan la voz cantante en EEUU and also Hablar dos idiomas es una gran ventaja.

It felt like a full-circle moment since Univision is precisely where I started my career in communications over 15 years ago. I started there because I always knew I wanted to work within the Latino media industry, even if that was slim pickings at the time.

I love the Generación América idea.

Developed in partnership with the Immigrant Archive Project, Generacion America is a multifaceted initiative that includes video vignettes and events to highlight stories of individual achievement. From athletes to entertainers to everyday heroes, Latinos from all walks of life will share their journeys. Univision’s portfolio of television networks, local television and radio affiliates, as well its digital platforms, including UVideos, will feature Generacion America vignettes. Univision will also leverage local stations to connect with the community and capture additional stories of Hispanics with the goal of creating an archive with stories from around the country.

This project comes to life in partnership with Procter & Gamble and its Orgullosa program, which celebrates Latinas who are “Mujeres con la Falda Bien Puesta” and empowers them to seize their limitless potential. To mark the official launch, Orgullosa spokesperson and lifestyle expert Evette Rios has joined Generacion America ambassadors Lourdes Stephen, host of Univision show “Sal y Pimienta” (Salt & Pepper) and Alejandra Espinoza, entertainment reporter from Univision show “Sabado Gigante” (Giant Saturday), to rally Latinas to share their own unique stories with the rest of the community.

I was definitely thrilled to have my story preserved in this platform, and I’m sure so many of you have beautiful, powerful and inspiring stories to share. ¡Habla! Share them!

Community members can participate in the movement by sending in their unique stories via GeneracionAmerica.com, an interactive destination for users to upload, chat, share and connect with others. Viewers are encouraged to submit Spanish or English written documents or videos that anecdote their own journey living ‘the American Dream.’ The most inspiring stories will be selected to appear on Univision Network programs.

Connect with Generacion America via @GenAmerica, join the conversation as well as share their photos using #GenAmerica on Twitter and Instagram. They can also comment along with other fans and friends on Facebook.com/GeneracionAmerica.

These are exciting times for parents looking for resources to teach Spanish to their children. More and more major media companies are venturing into creating content suited to the needs of Spanish-language learners. They are most likely paying attention to the fact that one out of four children in the U.S. are Latinos and Spanish is the second most spoken language in this country. (In fact, the U.S. only trails Mexico as the country where the most Spanish-speakers reside in the world.)

Noah Comprende Launches on PBS Kids Go!

We applaud PBS for the launch of a new web-original series on PBSKIDSGO.org aimed at introducing 6-9 year old children to the Spanish language:  Noah Comprende. The interactive episodes teach kids Spanish words by engaging them in a way they will never know they’re actually “learning” something.

Noah is a 9-year-old boy who doesn’t speak Spanish but is learning it thanks to his Abuela and her neighbors who don’t speak English. I love that they’ve integrated many of the methods, or tips, that we here at SpanglishBaby are always sharing as musts for a successful bilingual upbringing–immersion, especially through a family member such as the Abuela, being one of the keys.

The webisodes have the added bonus of embedded games that make them completely interactive and fun for our active niños. The arcade-style games, such as Word Games which simulates an Atari-like car race, puts your kids directly in the Spanish-language-learning action.

Parents and teachers alike will find the activities area especially useful. Each webisode has an accompanying activity that reinforces the vocabulary words and concepts that were learned. PBS has organized it all neatly and provides printable PDFs of everything you will need for the activities.

The Parent Show Debuts on PBS Parents

On the same week PBS Kids launched Noah Comprende, PBS Parents announced the launch of The Parent Show, a new parenting show hosted by Angela Santomero, better known as the creator of the hit shows Blue’s Clues and Super Why! We were particularly excited about this announcement because I had met Angela back in January when I was invited by PBS to attend an event in Los Angeles. While there, I was asked if I wanted to chat with Angela about raising bilingual kids; that’s when I first found out about The Parent Show. Needless to say, I was completely unprepared, but there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to tell the PBS audience about the thriving community bonding over bilingual and bicultural kids at SpanglishBaby.

Months later, the show finally launched and it included the SpanglishBaby interview as one of the two shows they premiered with! Not only that, but they included great reference links and articles to explore more about bilingualism and the Spanish-language as part of the webisode’s page. How’s that for a lot of bilingualism and Spanish-language love from PBS?!

If you haven’t seen the interview, you can see it below now. We would love your comments as a way of showing how much we all support these efforts and to encourage more media outlets to create quality content for our niños.  (If you’re reading on a feed and it doesn’t show up you can go here to view it. )

Watch the full episode. See more The Parent Show.

We will always jump at the chance to be invited to talk about our favorite topic of all times:  Raising bilingual and bicultural kids and the rewards and challenges that come with it.

One of our constant partners and promoters is Vme TV.  We have been organically writing about Vme ever since we launched, even before they believed enough in us and you to sponsor SpanglishBaby, because we´ve always believed they have the best free educational programming for Spanish-speaking kids.

One of their most popular shows is TuBebé, hosted by Minerva, Venezuelan mom of a 2 YO boy being raised in Miami. TuBebé covers topics concerning pregnancy, maternity and babies. The producers called me to set up an interview via Skype since I´m in L.A. and their studios are in Miami.  It was the first time they were doing this, so it was a great experiment for all of us.

As you can tell in the video, I had a great time talking to Minerva and totally forgot this was going to be broadcast to hundreds of thousands of viewers!  Her and I just got chit-chatty about our kids, their Spanish, las familias and everything the SpanglishBaby community is about.

Hope you enjoy it!

Disclosure:  Although Vme is a SpanglishBaby sponsor, this is not a sponsored post or part of an advertisement commitment.

Photo credit: babasteve

Happy New Year to all of you! We hope 2011 bring you lots of happiness, peace, love and success! As 2010 comes to an end, both Ana Lilian and I want to thank you for all your support, inquiries, comments and contributions because without it SpanglishBaby would not be what it is today.

This has been a year full of awesomeness for SpanglishBaby. For starters, we celebrated our first anniversary with a major redesign which — after a few minor glitches — completely changed our look, making it much easier to find the information we’ve put together since we launched in Feb. 2009.

We also introduced you to five diverse and very talented regular contributors who have added invaluable insight to what it’s like to raise bilingual and bicultural children across the spectrum. We hope you’ve been enjoying and learning from their posts as much as we have. Along the same lines, we were lucky to add more distinguished experts to our already amazing roster. From what we hear, our Ask an Expert section is one of our your favorites, so rest assured that this is one area we plan on making even better.

We’ve also been truly active in terms of social media this year and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of our 2,800 followers on Twitter and our 1,272 followers on Facebook. We know not everyone has the time to come over here every day, so we appreciate your involvement with us through social media.

While we’re not ready to disclose what we have planned for next year — you didn’t think we’d celebrate our second anniversary sitting down, did you? — we do have lots of new and exciting ideas in store. So we hope you stick around .

In the meantime, I’d like to share with you some of the really cool media coverage SpanglishBaby got this year… Yes, we are bragging a bit, but we think that if this is the way we’re ending 2010, then 2011 can only be that much better!

Let us start with Ana Lilian’s excellent interview on CNN en Español’s NotiMujer:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Ca2b-kQmY

• Parenting.com–Must Read Moms:  Mom Blogs We Love

• El Mundo: El mayor error es darse por vencido muy temprano

• El País: El Spanglish es cosa de bilingües

• Hispanic Business: The New Face of Social Media

• Su Socio de Negocios: SpanglishBaby.com, el blog que convirtió tiempo en dinero

• TodoPapás: Enseñar en el bilingüismo

• La Bloga: Raising Bilingual, Bicultural Kids

• 3 Blogs By Latinas 2010 Awards

¡Feliz Año Nuevo a todos!

Con muchísimo cariño,

Ana Lilian y Roxana