Multicultural Kid Blogs is officially one year old as of today. To celebrate we are hosting a virtual birthday party and YOU are invited!

The Party

Be sure to visit the participating blogs (see list at the end of this post) to see what they are bringing to the party, plus link up your own posts on the MKB site!

The Giveaway

Like any good host, we don’t want you to go home empty handed, so we are offering some great prizes to three lucky winners. See the end of the post for details on the prizes.

To enter, visit the MKB site to:

1) Link up a birthday-related post or

2) Comment on the MKB site to tell us your wish for the coming year!

Party Hosts

Dad’s the Way I Like It
MommyMaestra
SpanglishBaby
For the Love of Spanish
Spanish Playground
the piri-piri lexicon
Expat Life with a Double Buggy
Kids Yoga Stories
MarocMama
All Done Monkey

Party Favors

Prize #1

Digital download of Más Canciones en Español from Music with Sara

Prize #2

Set of 2 books from National Geographic Kids – US Shipping Only

Treasury of Egyptian Mythology

How to Speak Dog

Prize #3

Lively Spanish immersion program DVD recommended for children ages 2-7 from Whistlefritz

Now it’s your turn! Visit the MKB site for a chance to win one of these prizes by linking up your birthday posts or commenting to tell us your wish for the coming year!

Giveaway will go through midnight PDT on Monday,  Sept 30.

It’s official! My 3-year-old son’s vocabulary in English has multiplied exponentially the last couple of months, and he’s starting to have a preference for his new language. I’ve been observing him closely lately and I am pretty amazed by the fact that whenever he plays by himself, English is his language of choice. Nothing wrong with that, except that it’s all totally new for me because his sister didn’t really do that.

I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that Santiago has been exposed to a lot more English much earlier than Vanessa, who didn’t go to school full time until she entered kindergarten. And now I can see how much easier it could be for him to go through the rebellion stage and start refusing to speak Spanish — something his sister has not done… yet.

My boy spends most of his day immersed in English, even now that school’s out because I enrolled him at our local rec center’s summer camp. Every day he surprises me with new phrases and tons of play vocabulary he has obviously learned while having fun with his little friends.

Read more: Watching in Awe As My Son Becomes Bilingual

I am so impressed by my son and his amazing language abilities, and though I should be at least a little bit concerned about the influence all this English will have on his Spanish, I am not. But that’s only because his English immersion experience is about to drastically change.

We’re embarking in a summer adventure I’ve been wanting to make a reality for a couple of years now: immersion travel. We’re going to Puerto Rico in a couple of weeks where we plan to stay for a month with my husband’s family. My children have 10 primos hermanos over there, with at least six of them in their same age group.

I’m super excited that they’ll be attending summer camp with some of their cousins, but mostly that they’ll be spending a ton of time immersed in Spanish and our Latino culture. Both of them are incredibly happy about this adventure and are counting the days until we get on the plane. Vanessa has been to Puerto Rico twice in her short life, but she doesn’t really remember. Santiago has never been, so everything will be completely new to him — especially because most of my husband’s family has never met him.

I’m hoping to make this a summer tradition so that when my kids get a little older, we can send them over there for the whole summer, like we did with my stepson, who is now 22 and fully bilingual thank, in a big way, to the summers he spent immersed in Spanish with his cousins in Puerto Rico.

It’s time for our fifth SpanglishBaby LIVE Google+ Hangout and we’d love for you to join us. This time around we’re discussing all about immersion travel. For those of you who’ve never joined a Google+ Hangout, you should know that it’s just like hanging out with a bunch of friends, except that you’re not all in the same room.

WHAT: In our fifth Hangout we’ll be discussing how and why immersion travel can do wonders for your children’s exposure to Spanish.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 9 at 1 p.m. EST.

WHO: Joining Ana and I will be two of our contributors who have a lot of experience with immersion travel as they’ve done it several times with their own bilingual & bicultural families.

Amy Conroy is the mother of three young children and holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology. An advocate of bilingualism, Amy founded habla blah blah to help introduce non-native speakers to Spanish through music and fun. Amy is a native Los Angelean who wrote a series about her experiences while on extended leave in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, MX in 2011-2012.

Becky Morales is a mom to four bilingual, multicultural, active kids ages 4-7; she and her husband are doing their best to raise them as compassionate world citizens, and lifelong learners. She founded Kid World Citizen, where parents and teachers can find global activities to do at home that help enrich little minds. In her free time, she loves to cook and travel and is a wannabe triathlete.

There are many ways for you to be part of this Google Hangout online.

1. First of all, RSVP on the event page.

2. Add the SpanglishBaby Google+ Page to your Circles.

3. On Tuesday, April 9, starting at 1 p.m. EST, the SpanglishBaby Live Hangout will go on air and you’ll be able to watch it on the event page and on our YouTube channel.

4. The hashtag for all our SpanglishBaby Live Hangouts is #BilingualKids and you can use it on Google+, Twitter or Instagram and we’ll find you!

5. Once the Hangout is over, a recording of it will be made available for all to view, share and/or embed on the SpanglishBaby YouTube channel.

If you’d like to have your question related to raising bilingual and/or bicultural kids answered by ourselves or one of our experts, please fill out this form. If you’re interested in participating in one of our SpanglishBaby Live Google+ Hangouts, you’ll be able to let us know in the form too.

If you want to learn more about Google+ Hangouts On Air, check out this page. Feel free to leave us any questions or suggestions in the comments area below, on the event page or our Google+ page and Community!

photo by: Elizabeth Albert

Growing up, I had always been proud of my Mexican heritage. I spoke Spanish at home, and I based many of my school projects on Mexican history and folklore.

That all changed in fourth grade… when we studied the Mexican-American war. I proudly exclaimed that I was Mexican, and Brian Wedemeyer and the rest of the boys in my class began to tease me. In the 1980s, Leesburg, Virginia did not boast a lot of diversity, and in that moment, I realized I was different. And, to fourth grade little me, different was bad.

I stopped speaking Spanish at home and started answering my Mother in English, downplaying my heritage to my peers. As the years wore on, speaking to my Grandparents, who I was very close to, became a huge challenge. I started feeling embarrassed when I stumbled on words or made grammatical mistakes. I was starting to withdraw…

And then my parents had a brilliant idea – as I look back, it was a bilingual/bicultural intervention:

My parents decided to send me back to Guadalajara to study ninth grade, or tercero de secundaria.

I would live with my beloved Abuelitos and attend the same Catholic all-girls school my Mother did as a child, and where her sister taught history and social studies.

The school system was different than in the States – we were on a trimester system where, in the case of math, you studied algebra for the first trimester, geometry for the second and trigonometry for the third.  It was the same with science – a rotation of biology, chemistry and physics. These were subjects I was not very familiar with in English, let alone Spanish. Another novelty was the monthly report cards with 10 corresponding to an A and 5 meaning you had failed the course.

My classmates didn’t know what to make of me. I had an American-sounding name and they were fully expecting a blonde, blue-eyed gringa, yet there I was, dark-haired with brown eyes speaking Spanish with the strangest of accents. As an awkward 13 year-old, I was the youngest of my class, which put me at a disadvantage as most of them were turning 15 and planning their quinceañeras.

I struggled… both academically and socially.

While my classmates had their English class, I was being tutored in Spanish literature and grammar. Most teachers dictated notes during their class, and during my first few months, I wrote everything down as I heard it phonetically, especially if there were words I didn’t recognize. I was thrilled to discover that, despite these challenges, my Mother had taught me to read and write in Spanish very well – my Spanish teacher, Señorita Esperanza, even remarked to the class, “¡Hasta la gringa tiene mejor ortografía que ustedes!” which caused me pride mixed with embarrassment.

As the months went by, el acentito no one could place disappeared. I eventually took notes correctly, and one month even managed to make La Escolta, which is the student color guard that carries the Mexican flag during the pledge of allegiance – an honor reserved for the top academic students. During Semana Santa, my school led a trip to the rainforests of Tabasco to help teach indigenous underprivileged children to read – it was an experience that truly humbled me and has stayed with me all these years. And my Abuelitos were so proud!

I lost my Mom’s sister, my Tía Rossana, the year after I came home from my year abroad. My Abuelito followed eight years later, and my Abuelita recently passed in 2008. For me, getting to know them on a deeper level was a blessing… How lucky was I to have lived with them…

The Spanish I have today is the gift from my year in Guadalajara, although maybe el acentito has returned. And thanks to the friendships made and the tight family bond that was forged, perhaps my children will get to have the same opportunity – and get to know their extended family and culture in a deep and meaningful way.

Jennifer Walus is originally from Guadalajara, but grew up in Virginia where she was raised in a bilingual environment. She went on to study Italian and French at Dartmouth College and as a result has been interested in raising her own children in a multilingual environment. She currently uses the OPOL method at home with her daughter Siena, 5, and son Christian, 2. A marketing expert with nearly 15 years of experience, Jennifer credits her multicultural background for her strong record of developing national and regional public relations campaigns for both the general and Hispanic markets across a wide range of industries, including consumer packaged goods, national and local associations, food, travel and tourism, public affairs, corporate social responsibility, and healthcare. She is currently a freelancer juggling the joys of mommyhood with part-time strategic consulting.