Photo by shoothead

The following is a guest post by Deanna Lyles, cofounder of Bilingual Readers, a brand new publishing company which provides resources for bilingual and multilingual families and communities. Bilingual Readers will launch its catalogue of bilingual books in October 2009. Get to know them better at www.bilingualreaders.com

A very patient Spanish speaking mom has been reading her daughter Sara’s favorite book Yo Tigre out loud to her in Spanish every night at bedtime for the last month. But tonight Mom’s out with some friends, and it’s English speaking Dad’s turn to read Sara to sleep. He dutifully pulls out adorable children’s book after adorable children’s book, but it’s no use: Sara wants Yo Tigre, and Where the Wild Things Are just isn’t going to cut it. What’s a bilingual Dad to do? Is it alright for a parent in a One Parent One Language home to break his commitment to speaking to his child only in his native language when the child’s love of reading is at stake?

Most of us are aware that reading aloud to small children is one of the greatest tools parents have for helping their children’s language development along. But when it comes to reading aloud in a bilingual home, many questions arise as to who should read to children in what languages. In OPOL homes the easy answer is that each parent should read to the child in his or her native language, but putting this principle into practice is often anything but simple.

Although they are sometimes hard to find for certain language combinations, bilingual books are one of the best tools for getting the most out of storytime in a OPOL home. While reading monolingual books to your children is certainly beneficial, bilingual books are an especially useful tool for bilingual families. Bilingual books allow both parents to take turns reading the same book to their kids, each parent in his own language. If one parent reads a book to a child in English and the other parent reads the same book in Spanish, the child will automatically begin to associate both languages with the stories and objects on the pages of the book. We all know that children love to read and be read the same stories over and over again, so hearing the exact same text in each language every time a book is read is an easy way to reinforce vocabulary and sentence structure for the bilingual child.

In addition to taking advantage of bilingual books, there are also other strategies for reading consistently to your kids while sticking to the OPOL method. Regardless of whether or not you read monolingual or bilingual books (most families will read both), establish a routine to make sure that each parent is reading to the kids in his or her language every single day. If you stick to this routine, it’ll be a great tool for developing your child’s language abilities in both languages. You can also make recordings of your voice reading your kids’ favorite stories out loud. This way your child can still listen to Mom’s soothing voice read a story in Spanish or Dad doing all the fun voices in English anytime, anywhere. (A friend confessed that these recordings are also great for long trips in the car).

Last but not least, if you’ve broken the rules and read a story to your child in your second language, don’t beat yourself up over it. While consistency is key in any bilingual home, nobody’s perfect and slipping up every once in a while will not scar your child for life. The same thing goes for those of you who may not have been consistent readers in the past. Thankfully each day is a new opportunity to read to and with your children. Happy reading!

As a gift for your bilingual story time, we’re giving away a copy of René Saldaña, Jr.’s English/Spanish book The Case of the Pen Gone Missing.  To read more about the book, an interview with the author and how you can win it just go to our first article of the new monthly series: ReadMe.

Do you have any tips for reading aloud to your bilingual children?  We’d love to read them!

Photo by gemsling

We went to a friend’s party this weekend and I was interested in seeing how Vanessa would act around the children there. Namely, what language she would be using. We don’t get to see each other very often – mostly due to the distance between us – so it has been a good few months since Vanessa last interacted with my friend’s children who are being raised via the OPOL method by my Argentinian friend and her American husband.

I was interested in seeing in what language the interaction would take place for a few reasons.

First of all, for some reason, unbeknown to me, Vanessa has been using more English than ever. It’s almost as if she just discovered que puede hablar inglés! It all started about two weeks ago and the only thing it has coincided with is the fact that she is no longer attending preschool. I still haven’t figured out how these two events are related, but it’s the only thing different in her life. As you can imagine, I’ve accepted once and for all that my worries about her not understanding English – which I fretted about here - were completely unfounded.

Ironically, lately I’ve found myself taking my own advice – which I dished out here – with my own daughter. When she talks to me in English, I usually just tell her I don’t understand. I wonder how long that’ll work? I mean, she has to know that I do understand. She hears me speak it all the time with those who don’t speak Spanish. In other words, most everyone else in our lives.

Anyhow, going back to why I was interested in how she would interact with the children, the biggest reason for this is because we’re only 15 weeks away from Vanessa becoming la hermana mayor and I have started wondering how this journey of raising bilingual children will work out the second time around. A falta de hermanos, amigos.

I’ve heard it’s a little bit more difficult with the second (or third, fourth, etc) child. I guess it has to do with the fact that among them, children tend to chose the community language – in this case, English. It seems to be almost an automatic thing and when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. I mean, in our particular case, by the time BB2 (sorry, we know he is a boy, but we still don’t have a name) arrives, Vanessa will be just over three years old. She will have been going to preschool – albeit only twice a week – for a whole year which equates to being exposed to the English language for that length of time. Remember, we use the mL@H method. So we only speak to her in Spanish. Come September, she will be attending preschool three times a week, so her exposure to English will be even greater.

Besides, as BB2 gets a little bit bigger (i.e. when he can actually interact), and starts sharing experiences with her sister outside our home, I imagine he’ll just follow Vanessa’s lead – as most siblings do. Vanessa didn’t have that.

I have already started telling her que su hermanito “no speak English.” And she always want to know why. To which I respond, because like her, English will come later for him. I’m hoping that will work. Who knows?

The research I’ve read – and there isn’t a lot out there – talks mostly about families using the OPOL method and it suggests that parents tend to be less strict about using the method once a sibling is born. Since this is not our case, I don’t really know what happens in families using the mL@H method. I mean, we pretend to continue doing the same thing we’ve been doing all along, mostly because as I’ve explained in the past, it’s what comes naturally to us.

In terms of what happened at this weekend’s party, I had actually expected Vanessa to use mostly English. But I was happily surprised, again! She actually did her own share of code-switching between English and Spanish and for no apparent reason. I wonder if she’ll do the same with her baby brother? How about: will she correct and actually help her brother with his Spanish? One thing seems to be for sure, BB2 will get a lot more exposure to English – and may I add, much earlier – than Vanessa ever did. How much will that affect his Spanish?

Lots of unanswered questions…for now. In the end, I think it’s important to remember that we are all individuals and personality also has a lot to do with outcome, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

If you have more than one child, maybe you can enlighten me about what lies ahead for our family. Are things really different the second time around?

First in an occasional series…

Since we all have different stories to tell and our own ways of raising our kids bilingual, from time to time, we will invite a guest to contribute to SpanglishBaby. Today, we introduce you to the first one. We hope you enjoy it!

The following is a guest post written by Karen:  Spanish learner, mother of two boys and blogger at Teaching and Learning Spanish.

I have to admit that it is difficult to teach Spanish when it’s not your native language, but it is doable. It takes more effort, but the rewards are worth it. Fortunately, I am knowledgeable in the language since I have a BA in Spanish, but I earned that degree back in 1993. After graduation, I didn’t really use the language, but then started studying on my own about five years ago because I wanted to teach it to my two boys, who are now six and nine.

I have discovered that I take a very informal approach when it comes to teaching Spanish to my children. I try to use it on a daily basis and in context. For example, when my younger son is setting the table, we talk about what everyone will need and what we’re eating that evening. I do all of this in Spanish and he responds either through his actions or by words–one word here or there, but he definitely comprehends what I am saying.  Another example is when they get in the car after school, I ask them about their day in Spanish. So, overall they get a good dose of the language every day.

Read: How Can a Non-Native Help Her Child Become Bilingual?

Also, we listen to podcasts together such as Cody’s Cuentos and some of the podcasts (newbie, elementary levels) from SpanishPod.  My older son really seems to enjoy those. After we listen to them, I try to use some of the key vocabulary we learned to help them remember the new words. I also try to incorporate technology in their learning of the language. For instance, my younger son has started doing the activities on Foreign Language Friends. This program has definitely peaked his interest in the language.

In the car, in addition to podcasts, we like to listen to the Professor Pocket CDs and when I say “we” I really mean “we.” I can honestly say I enjoy listening to these CDs with the boys. We also listen to music by Jarabe de Palo, Maná, and others Spanish-speaking bands.

Read: I am not fluent in my child’s second language

Again, it really takes quite a bit of effort on my part to do this. There are times when I get frustrated like when I can’t remember a word or phrase. I try not to let that bother me too much, though. In the end, the fact that they are getting exposure to a different language is what is most important.

Read: Advice for Non-Native Speakers Teaching Their Kids Spanish?

Are you learning Spanish to teach it to your children? We invite you to share your story and tips with us.

If you like what we’re talking about sign up for free SpanglishBaby updates via email or via RSS. You’ll like it.

{Photo by Photo by mikecogh}