In a dual-language program (whether 50/50 or 90/10), one of the goals is for children to learn to proficiently read and write in both languages. Coming from an English-only classroom, every year I had some students who had difficulty with fluency and speed (how many words per minute they could read). I knew that if they were spending too much time trying to decode words, there was going to be little or no comprehension. Why? Your brain cannot spend a long time trying to figure out a word and at the same time keeping the elements of a story in check or facts if reading non-fiction. Once children became more fluent readers, teaching comprehension strategies became a lot easier.

Fast forward to this current school year.

As I have been assessing my fourth graders to try to find their independent reading levels in Spanish, I found myself dealing with a whole different issue: fluency and speed were GREAT (their decoding skills were extraordinary) yet I knew that some of them had no idea what they were reading about. They may have been able to answer simple questions such as what, when, or where, but no deep thinking. What does this mean? That I have to keep assessing until I find a book that is just right – one that offers the perfect combination of both fluency and comprehension.

Additionally, I am making the following things a top priority as well (especially for students who need it the most):

1. Concentrate even more on vocabulary acquisition. As a native speaker I feel that at times I use words that my students have no idea what I am referring to; now add to this the fact that people from different Latin American countries can call ‘a thing’ ten different ways (popcorn, straws, and sofas just to name a few)

As a parent, are you spending time with your child in order to help him/her develop more sophisticated vocabulary? Reading or talking?

2. Provide more opportunities for students to discuss what he or she knows about the characters based on title and book cover, as well as opening paragraphs and texts read aloud (specifically in Spanish)

As a parent, are you diving right into books when reading with your child or are you taking the time to activate their prior knowledge (asking them about what they already know?)

3. Model and support how to distinguish between more important and less important ideas and details

As a parent, read a book and model your own thinking out loud, so your child knows exactly what is going on in your head

4. Model and teach how to be empathetic toward characters

As a parent, put yourself in the ‘shoes’ of the characters and share with your child what you would do if you were experiencing the same

The key is to have a discussion, a conversation about what they are reading. One cannot just take into account how fast they are, but rather how much they understand. This is particularly important in Spanish as words are really easy to read (vowels sound the same regardless!).

If you are a parent raising bilingual children, think about the importance of reading. Knowing how to speak another language is not enough. In order to access great literature, one must understand what we are reading. I often tell parents to leave the writing piece to the side for a bit. Do not have your child write a summary…they will dread reading. Instead be genuinely interested in what they are reading. You can always access short summaries and reviews of texts that way you are not completely clueless about a story (unless you read it at the same time). Another GREAT tool is using picture books. They are short, yet do not let the pictures or length fool you. Nowadays, picture books are most sophisticated than ever and it can lead to amazing conversations.

Happy reading and more importantly…happy discussions.

Abrazos,

Kelly

Photo thanks to Will Ockenden

“They put me in special ed when I started school. They thought I couldn’t learn, but it was because I didn’t speak English.”

During a conversation with a friend, he shared with me his experience 30+ years ago in kindergarten. During the first week of school, my friend was taken out of his regular class and placed in a separate, segregated class for students with special needs. As an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and a parent of bilingual children, I was shocked. And yet, upon research, I found that the tendency to over-identify students who speak a language besides English as having learning disabilities is more common than we’d like to think.

Misidentifying ELL students and placing them into the wrong class obviously can hinder our children from reaching their potential, but also diverts necessary resources from students with actual disabilities and needs. In my friend’s case: he was bored, didn’t understand his teacher or his classmates, and began misbehaving in class. The school spent a year labeling my friend as defiant and troubled, until finally a new teacher came in who recognized my friend’s strengths and worked with him to help improve his English.

On the flip side, there are true English language learners (ELLs), who do have learning differences that might need attention — whose needs are not met solely in the regular classroom. School sometimes overlook ELL students either because of lack of funding for special education programs, fear of litigation from parents, or lack of knowledge about bilingual students (especially in districts without a lot of ELL students).

From the time we first adopted my son from China at age 3 1/2, he had some difficulties in speech. Different well-meaning teachers, doctors and therapists have mentioned that “maybe” we would want to hold off on speaking Spanish to him until he got English (we didn’t stop) later, in elementary school, others have blamed his difficulties in reading on his ELL status.

Blaming his language background meant that some red flags — that would normally indicate reading issues — were overlooked. Despite my rumblings, my son was not tested for dyslexia or learning disabilities, and not accepted into a special reading program. I was told that his reading fluency (how quickly, accurately, automatically and expressively someone reads) was slow because he was still mastering English (and Spanish).

Fortunately, I am an ESL teacher (though normally my students are older). As his mom, I saw his struggles and recognized that these were not the common difficulties that ELL and bilingual learners experience. With a mother’s love and instinct, and a teacher’s nagging doubt, I pushed and insisted that there was something else going on besides his language learning history. Today, I am happy to report that my son is getting the resources and support he needs from the reading specialist, after assessments have finally indicated that his struggles with reading are not because he is an ELL student.

I have learned many lessons through my journey as both an ESL teacher and as a parent. The number one lesson for parents is to be your child’s number one advocate. You are reading with your children every night, you are helping them with their homework, and you observe if there are tears and impossible challenges in everyday work. If you feel in your gut that your child isn’t “getting” something that they should be able to master after practice — it is your right to request that he or she be tested and resources be made available (even if they are still in ELL classes!). Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds should receive the support and programs they need in order to be successful learners.

At the same time, if you feel that your child has been misidentified as learning disabled because of his bilingual background, ask how their native language was taken into account during the assessments; ask for a second opinion from a district specialist with experience assessing ELLs; ask for six more months of focused English help before they are tested for a learning disability. Bilingual students who are still working on English and are mistakenly placed in special education programs will have more limited access to rigorous curricula, have lower expectations for academic potential, and will not be spending sufficient time learning English as needed to become fully bilingual.

Disproportionate representation of ELL students in special needs categories is a huge problem and barrier to their success (whether because they are in special ed and shouldn’t be or because they are not getting the specialized services they need). While most schools are trying their best, it is our job as parents to advocate for the best possible learning experience for our kids. As a team, parents and teachers can work together to find the most effective program and environment for our bilingual children.

Do you have an experience being mislabeled or being denied services for yourself or your child due to your linguistic background? How did you over come the challenge?

{Photo courtesy of Becky Morales}

I am amazed at how many children have a deep love for writing. They are the ones who take their writing journals to recess, lunch, and even home to record their experiences – they want to make sure they ‘capture’ that special moment that will inspire them to write even more. However, we all know that NOT all children have an innate passion for the written word.

After years of trying strategy after strategy, I believe I have compiled a list that has worked for most of my students. And trust me, whether you are a parent or educator, threats, taking privileges away, or getting upset WILL NOT make them write or want to write more.

1- Make the experience enjoyable. It sounds like a ‘no brainer’ but it is easy to get frustrated and go from “Let’s find something to write about today” to “You are not leaving your room until you have at least a page of writing in your notebook.” With the latest one, you will see that children WILL get the page filled, but with giant words. You requested it, and they delivered (they got the page filled!).

2- Start Small. Writing does not have to take hours and does not need to happen sitting at a desk. Start small. Maybe you want to have your child start with an illustration/picture and then move on to having him/her add information about that picture. Sometimes it is not about baby steps, but rather ‘ant steps.’

3- Let them write in a ‘special notebook.’ Before starting to add words on the page, spend time with your child decorating his/her notebook. Look for photos of family, pets, special events, vacation/trips and/or pictures of things that he/she loves (from ponies to Minecraft). This will really decrease the chances of his/her journal getting lost and, most importantly, they will have a ‘special place’ to record those thoughts.

4- Give them freedom of choice. As long as they are writing, let them write. A word of caution and this applies especially to boys – they love to write about topics that for many adults are just too much to handle. Examples? Bodily/physiological functions, gross things, and violent events (on this last one, you can definitely set boundaries), but keep in mind that boys will be boys.

5- Writing is everywhere. Encourage your child to take his journal everywhere he/she goes and devote a few minutes to writing. You will see that slowly, he/she will see how writing is not as difficult and they first thought.

6- Use mentor texts. Have a special picture book you love? Then share it with your child and try to have your child imitate a craft the author is using. There are plenty of great ideas under the “31 Days of Reading in Spanish.” You will surely find something you both love.

7- Stop being the editor. No one likes to write when we know we will get back a page full of red marks. Editing skills are necessary, but too early in the process can stop your child for wanting to write because of the fear of just doing it ‘wrong.’ Let them become fluent writers first, editing will come later.

8- Know that frustration is part of the process. Writing in another language can be a bit more frustrating than writing in the language your child feels more comfortable in. He/she needs to think harder to find the right words. Don’t discourage them by saying, “Look for that word in the dictionary.” Do you know how long it would take him/her to finish a paragraph? Have them circle the words they are not sure about, you can later meet and chat about those words. An authentic teachable moment indeed.

Writing can be both exciting and fun, but remember to start small. You will be amazed at how your child can soon become an amazing author. And as always, I am looking to expand my repertoire of strategies. What have you done that has proven to be effective? I would love to hear.

Much love,

Kelly

Photo by WellSpring School

PlayTales Gold! is my favorite kind of app. It offers endless entertainment and bonding opportunities for kids and parents. PlayTales Gold is an interactive library with a wide selection of kids’ stories, games, songs, and personalizing options.

Sesame Street is also one of my favorite classic kids’ shows because of its wide array of characters and its integration of Spanish.

Now these two great educational offerings are coming together. PlayTales has teamed up with Sesame Workshop to bring us four new multilingual ebooks. Your kids can read fun titles such as Elmo Loves You! in English, Spanish, German, and Italian.

This partnership truly reinforces the global reach of Sesame Street programming and gives us yet another way to make learning in English and Spanish more exciting for our Spanglish speakers.

All of PlayTales’s books download quickly and remain saved in your library, and each has “Read to Me” and “Auto Play” options in case you don’t want to read it yourself. New titles are added every week, which is especially useful for kids whose reading levels are rising and whose homework includes nightly reading. Apps like this save us from having to spend a fortune updating our home library!

PlayTales Gold offers several different subscription options: monthly for $4.99, semi-annual for $9.99, or annual for $19.99.

Find PlayTales Gold! in iTunes and Google Play

Available for iPad, iPhone, and Android

Recommended for ages 1-12

Price:  Various subscription levels (see above)

Check out the PlayTales website for more info and to begin downloading your copies of the new Sesame Street books.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one annual subscription to one winner AND a monthly subscription to FIVE winners for a total of SIX winners! All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us who you’d like to share this prize with. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

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What’s summer without a good book to read while lounging under a tree? As relaxing as it sounds sometimes reading is not what our kids have in mind for their summer vacation. This week we are sharing fun activities that will get niños excited about reading, communicating, and learning about animals and insects  in Spanish. Check out each activity below and just click on the links for the full description.

35+ Ways to Keep Your Child Excited About Reading

Latinas for Latino Literature shares a list of 40 simple and easy ways to keep our niños excited about reading. These are great tips to show our kids that reading is fun and not just for homework. Check out their list and make sure to check out their summer reading program for kids!

Printable Spanish Questions with Pictures – Una Preguntita 7

Spanish Playground is currently sharing a series called Una Preguntita which encourages kids to practice their Spanish language skills. Each post in this series comes with a set of questions that parents or teachers can ask and a worksheet with images (see above) so that kids can either point or circle the correct answer. Click here for the latest post in this series and the printable version of this activity. 

Proyecto de Trabajo: Las Obejas

Actividades Infantil is sharing 10 printable activity sheets for our bilingual kids to enjoy that are all about bees. These activity sheets encourage kids to solve math problems, learns a few facts about bees and honey, and learn new vocabulary words.

Learning Spanish at the Zoo: Animals (Animales)

The zoo is a fun and educational place for our kids. Why not make it a Spanish learning experience too! Frances of Discovering the World Through My Sons Eyes shares a simple and fun way for our kids to learn the names of the animals at the zoo in Spanish. Click here for a full description of this fun activity and resources.

Manualidades con Niños: Cuadros Reciclados

Reina of Soy Mama En Casa shares this cute and simple DIY to make a decorative craft  from recycled materials. We love this craft because it is a great way to relax and enjoy a conversation with our kids.

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.

For almost two years now, I’ve been taking Vanessa to a monthly Spanish children’s book club started by a bilingual mom I’m lucky to call my friend. While I’ll never get tired of raving about the benefits of joining a Spanish-speaking playgroup, once kids get a bit older and start school, it’s not as easy to participate in weekly meetups for the kids to be immersed in Spanish. Enter the idea of a Spanish children’s book club.

If your kids are already in school and you want a more structured way of exposing them to literacy skills in Spanish, a book club is the way to go. But how do you go about doing something like that? In my case, I got really lucky because my friend Sisi — who worked 16 years as a bilingual kindergarten teacher and is one of the original members of our Spanish-speaking playgroup — was the one who came up with the idea and took the lead. Truth is, though, that you don’t have to be a teacher to do something similar.

Here’s a look at how our book club is structured: Sisi starts by reading the book and interacting with the kids at all times by asking pertinent questions and making sure everyone understands new vocabulary. Once she’s done with the book, she goes through a series of reading comprehension questions regarding the characters, the setting, the problem, the solution, etc. to make sure every kid got the story. Then, there’s always some kind of activity or craft related to the theme of the book. Sometimes it involves food and the kids love that. Before we’re done, all kids get a copy of the book and a stamp in their “passport” so they can keep track of all the books they’ve read.

I highly recommend starting something similar for your bilingual kids and so I wanted to share some ideas on how to get started:

1. If you already belong to a Spanish-speaking playgroup, talk to the other moms to see if maybe one of them is interested and has the abilities to lead a book club for children. Maybe you can help organize all the little details, but someone else can be the “teacher.”

2. Keep in mind that for a Spanish book club to be successful it should be for a smaller group of kids who are a bit older and are already fluent in Spanish.

3. On that note, choose a book that you feel all kids will understand, but that hopefully will teach them new vocabulary words. The theme of the book should lend itself to fun activities and a lively discussion.

4. The club shouldn’t last more than 1 1/2 hours, including snack time and an activity that includes movement.

5. You can alternate who’ll be hosting the club every month to make it easier on everyone.

6. A fun way for kids to keep track of the books they’ve read is through a passport. Kids really enjoy the challenge of filling it up with stamps.

¡Buena suerte!

In my father’s grand tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving in April — or whenever else he felt like it — he and I didn’t celebrate my birthday in May. We did celebrate it with cake or maybe a family gathering. But I always got my big gift, the one I looked forward to all year, in July.

Back in the eighties there was only one place to find books in English in Costa Rica — where I grew up. It was called simply The Bookshop, and it was small, unassuming, and staffed by friendly English speakers. And every year, in July, they had a huge sale. My father would take my brother and me there for our “birthdays” and we would emerge, after what seemed like hours, with piles of books. Money was never an object, and I understand now how important it was to my father for us to have access to books in our minority language. It was the place that introduced me to Enid Blyton, Madeleine L’Engle, James Herriott, and countless other authors I remember fondly from my childhood.

I realize now that I had total control over what my boys read when they were smaller — and I always, always read to them in Spanish. Books I found in Costa Rica, Eric Carle and Dr. Seuss translated into Spanish, and my favorite, lots and lots of children’s poetry, some of which I remember my own mother reading to me when I was little. For quite a while, in fact, they were literally a captive audience — their cribs were crammed in a room so tiny that I could sit between them and read to them that way.

Once they were able to read on their own, though, that all changed. They simply did not want me to read to them out loud anymore, period. They were giddy with their ability to pick out books and read them themselves, without my help. For the most part, I’ve been letting them, and I spend their reading time with them while reading myself.

The books they choose, however, are almost invariably in English. While they read, they chitchat about what they’re reading and we talk about the books in Spanish. But I’ve recently realized two things when it comes to reading around here. One, even though we have shelves full of books, my boys can be pretty predictable and they read the same ones over and over. Two, they’re outgrowing their collection of books in Spanish and I haven’t done anything about it. 

So this spring, I’m taking action. I’m going to try to be merciless and get rid of the picture books they no longer want to read. I’ll also be more selective when it comes to book shopping — I won’t buy books just because they happen to be in Spanish, as I’ve done in the past. And, most importantly, my boys need to be involved, and it needs to be fun and exciting for them, as it was for me.

We’ve started to do some online shopping together, and although it’s not quite as fun as browsing in the bookstore, it’s working out really well. I can also target their narrow interests. For Primo, it’s snakes, sharks and math; for Secondo, it’s airplanes and trains. After a quick Google search the other day, Primo and I found a beautiful hardcover book, Serpientes y Reptiles. We ordered it together, and counted down the days until it would arrive together. Secondo and I just tracked down a book called Aviones Comerciales, which he is beyond excited about.

My sleepy toddler who listened raptly to the poems of Gabriela Mistral and Carmen Lyra has been replaced by a gangly first grader, who shoves his book in my face so that I can fully appreciate just how scary the picture of the black mamba is. But he’s reading, and he’s reading in Spanish, so I’ll take it.

{Photo by sean dreilinger}

My son Isaiah LOVES books, much like Roxana’s daughter. However, he is a bit younger (just turned 5) and is still learning the fundamentals of reading in English. Since starting at a Montessori preschool last fall, he has made leaps and bounds in his reading abilities and has a good handle on the basics. In addition to his English homework and the reading exposure he gets at school, I read to him in Spanish and English every day. I’m a little stumped, though, about helping him cross the barrier into a full-blown Spanish reader as he has done in English.

We have a bit of a reversed situation from many of you, or at least those of you who use the mL@H method. As I’ve previously explained, my son gets most of his Spanish exposure at his father’s house, and has therefore decided that, at least conversationally, English is his language of choice at my house. So we speak mostly English except with extended family, listen to almost exclusively Spanish music and radio, and read in both languages. I don’t have quite the advantage that some may have in terms of using Spanish vocabulary on a daily basis with Isaiah and then finding it in our books. If he’s not getting the Spanish reading reinforcement at school, how can I indicate to him that reading in Spanish is just as important/interesting and is not going to be a chore?

Other than the encouragement factor, my big roadblocks are the logistics. Montessori schools don’t use phonics as some of us may have learned them. They use a multi-sensory approach, and that’s how Isaiah has grown to understand how letters make sounds, sounds make words, and so on. I can’t exactly replicate his Montessori practice in Spanish at home, so will teaching him the traditional phonics-only way serve to confuse him? I’m unsure of whether I should wait until he has completely mastered English reading before I confuse his sounds with another alphabet.

I have experimented a bit with simple Spanish board books to see if he adjusts his vowel sounds, etc. when he knows the book is not in English. I’ve found that he first tries with the English sounds, though (such as “eh” for E instead of “ay”). That’s when I start to wonder if I’m doing more harm than good…i.e. replacing the sounds he needs to know for school with the Spanish phonetics or just risking making reading a frustrating endeavor.

I’d love to have some feedback about your experiences with preschoolers or kindergarteners and learning reading in two languages. Although I know it can happen simultaneously, would there be a benefit in waiting until Isaiah is at a higher level of English reading before I have him dive into reading to me in Spanish?

{Photo by alex ragone}

I have nothing against technology when raising bilingual children. Apps, online games and movies in Spanish are a great supplement in this journey — but they’re just that, a supplement. It is a mistake to think that just sitting your child in front of the television set to watch a show in Spanish or to let them mouse around with a bilingual computer game will expose them to the kind of vocabulary needed to become proficient in the minority language.

More than one study has proven that the best way for children to develop their language and reading skills is through dialogue. This is particularly important for bilingual children. So motivate your child to interact verbally with you and you’ll be teaching him the basics of language: phonetics, vocabulary and grammar. These will eventually help him develop more complex skills such as reading and writing.

6 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Vocabulary:

1) Read, read and then read some more — Nothing is better for boosting your child’s vocabulary than reading. Read to them out loud. Read to them often. And it doesn’t have to be just books. You can read everything from labels to billboards to them!

2) Don’t change the way you normally speak — You don’t have to simplify your vocabulary when you talk to your children. They will get what you’re trying to say even when they don’t understand every single word. I’m pretty sure part of the reason why my daughter’s vocabulary is so extensive for her age is because I always speak to her the way I would if I were talking to, say, my husband.

3) Expand on the conversation — You can do this by responding to your child using longer sentences based on his simple phrases. When my 3-year-old son, Santiago, says something like: “Me encantan mis carritos.” I say something like: “Sí, tus carritos son muy divertidos porque van muy rápido. ¿Cuál es tu favorito?” I also do this a lot when I read him a book and he points to something in particular. I expand on what he’s saying by asking him to describe the object in more detail or relating it to something we did or saw recently. That always gets him going.

4) Understand that her mistakes are part of her progress — Grammar and pronunciation errors will happen as your child establishes her own knowledge of the language. Maybe she understands the rule about conjugating certain verbs, for example, but she’s not aware of the exceptions — and if you know anything about Spanish, then you know those abound. Just give her the correct response, but don’t make a big deal out of it. Vanessa used to do this constantly with the verb poner. She would say, “¿Por qué papito ponió su mochila ahí?” And I would respond, “Papito puso su mochila ahí para no olvidársela“. Eventually, she got it.

5) Turn everything into a topic of conversation — Try to provide your children with all kinds of experiences in as many different places as possible and as often as possible. I love taking walks around our neighborhood with my kids because just about anything going on out there becomes a topic of conversation and helps expand their vocabulary: children playing basketball, Easter decorations, the mailman delivering a package, etc.  In fact, it was thanks to one of our walks that Vanessa learned the phrase “darle la vuelta a la manzana” which translates as a walk around the block.

6) Learn to listen — Being a good listener is such an essential trait, yet not everybody possesses it. My father used to say: “Calla y escucha”. Roughly translated into: “Shut up and listen.” The truth is that you learn a lot more from listening than from talking — especially when it comes to helping your child enrich his vocabulary. It’s absolutely normal for little ones to go off on a tangent when verbalizing an idea or sharing a story with you. Just listen without interrupting and then you’ll be better equipped to ask the kind of questions that will lead to even more conversations.

What are some strategies you use to boost your child’s vocabulary?

{Photo by runintherain}