reading

Part of my plan for raising bilingual children has always included teaching them how to read and write in Spanish. I find it very discouraging that so few elementary schools offer foreign language education. It is shocking considering all of the recent studies that demonstrate the cognitive benefits of being bilingual. To make up for this shortfall in the public education system, my sons will have Spanish classes with me at home. I am doing some part time home schoolingRead More ...

I have made several moves to guarantee my daughter learns Spanish and French. To start, when I was pregnant I made sure to only buy books in Spanish or French. I was also happy to accept hand me downs of books, toys, or clothes from friends and family. One of the large boxes of inherited goods included books – very exciting, until, to my dismay, I opened it up and noticed they were all in English! I decided to keepRead More ...

You might remember how worried I was about teaching Vanessa to read and write in Spanish before she entered kindergarten last fall. In the end, I opted not to go that route and instead she’s been learning to read and write at school in English first. When I made my decision, I figured it’d be easier – for both of us – to transfer the skills she learned in English to Spanish and all would be merry. Little did IRead More ...

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 toRead More ...

Hispanic—or Latino—Heritage Month, a celebration that runs until Oct. 15, started last week. Unlike years past and because of the influence of the growing Latino population, many more communities have special events and activities during this month-long celebration which are a great way to expose your bilingual children to our culture, food, music and arts. Our good friend Melanie, from ModernMami, has compiled an awesome list of resources to celebrate this month with your niños. In it you’ll find linksRead More ...