spanish

My kids sat at the kitchen table, in the house we rented in Mérida, México for the summer, so excited for their first clase de español. Although my kids understand Spanish completely, we love spending the summers in Mexico to get them to practice more speaking, enrich their vocabulary, and immerse them in the culture. Other summers we have enrolled them in cursos de verano, and they love the day camp atmosphere and meeting new friends. On this trip, however,Read More ...

One of the most common struggles for parents raising bilingual kids is getting their children to speak Spanish. This is especially true once the rebellion stage hits and children refuse to use their minority language making their parents extremely frustrated. Bilingualism experts agree that one of the most important tasks for parents raising a child with two languages is to create a perceived need for the minority language. In other words, your kid HAS to feel there are some circumstances inRead More ...

My son Enzo recently started day care. Because I was afraid that full time day care or nursery school would introduce too much English too soon, I decided to go with a part time program. I feel I’ve made the right decision because It’s only been about a month and he already throws around English words in our conversations. I do not act surprised or scold, I simply say, “¿quieres decir _____? ” and insert the word in Spanish. HeRead More ...

The past couple of summers, my family and I have taken vacations that have enabled us to be immersed in Spanish. Our goals have always been to improve our language skills, to learn about and visit the historical sites throughout the country, and to experience the culture. My previous SpanglishBaby posts about our travel experiences always included information about our activities, our Spanish classes, and the home-stays. In the comments section, there were often requests for further information and moreRead More ...

It was back to school for both my children today and while we they had an amazing summer immersed in Spanish, neither is enrolled in a dual language immersion school. This means we have to work hard at home to maintain the Spanish flowing. I’m not really concerned about their speaking skills, as Spanish is the dominant language in our home, but I am concerned about their abilities to read and write in my native tongue. This is particularly trueRead More ...