This is a pretty huge and exciting announcement for us!

SpanglishBaby has partnered up with Discovery Familia to provide our content on their site en español! Discovery Familia–the only U.S. channel in Spanish dedicated to Latina moms and all that which is important to us–will be translating some of SpanglishBaby´s favorite and most useful articles and publishing them on their site on a special SpanglishBaby-branded blog called Mamás Latinas: Hijos Bilingües

In return, we will be sharing with you news and information about their special events and Spanish-language programs for both kids and mamás. We’ll also soon be putting our video producers hats back on to create clips featuring mamás latinas y sus hijos bilingües on the Discovery Familia blog. Maybe we could feature you?

Discovery Familia has a very rich lineup of kids programming in Spanish with shows such as Artzooka, Harry y Su Cubeta de Dinosaurios, Hi-5, Louie, Pocoyó, Princesas del Mar, WordWorld y mucho más!

The Discovery Kids section of the website is full with videos, games, activities, downloads and more and, sí, all in Spanish!

See how perfect of a fit this is for all of us?!

We´re thrilled to spread SpanglishBaby´s wings even further and bring more people into our collective movement of raising healthy, educated and loving bilingual and bicultural kids. We are just in awe and thankful that a multinational media company like Discovery recognizes our efforts and can distribute our content to more people.

We ask you to please Like the brand new Discovery Familia page on Facebook and tell them SpanglishBaby sent you…you know, just for fun!

Tell us–¡nos morimos por saber!–what do you think about our content partnership with Discovery Familia? Do you get the channel? Would you like to? Do you love our cute banner ad on their site?

Disclosure: There is no monetary compensation involved in this partnership with Discovery Familia as it is solely a barter content exchange. As always, all our opinions are our own.

Image source: khrawlings

Spongebob Squarepants is not good for your 4-year-old’s brain – at least that’s what a new study from the University of Virginia says.

Researchers divided sixty 4-year-olds into three groups. The first group watched a 9-minute clip of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, the second watched a 9-minute clip of PBS’s Caillou, and the third group drew pictures for nine minutes instead of watching television.

When the nine minutes was up, each group was tested in what psychologists call “executive function.” The results? The group that watched the slower-paced and more educational show Calliou as well as the picture-drawing groups performed equally well while the SpongeBob group scored significantly lower.

“SpongeBob is produced for 6- to 11-year-olds. Four-year-olds are clearly not the intended demographic for this show,” Nickelodeon spokesman David Bittler said in response to the study results.

(Read more about the study: HERE.)

As for me, I felt kind of guilty for all the Spongebob Squarepants I’ve let my children watch when I saw the study – but both my boys are honor roll students, and now that I think about it, I was much more selective in what they watched on TV as preschoolers, being careful to choose only age appropriate shows which I felt were educational and also limiting the amount of time they watched. (They’re currently ages 13 and 9 and I’ve obviously relaxed the rules slightly as they’ve gotten older.)

Choosing slower-paced, more realistic and educational programming for young children is important. Limiting the amount they watch, and creating dialogue about what is on the screen by watching with them is also encouraged. This is particularly true if you’re using television to expose your children to Spanish (or any other second language). While there’s not a lot of quality children programming for bilingual children, we’re lucky to have a variety of options. For some samples of those, you might want to check our Video of the Week category.

We recently had the opportunity to talk about the study and healthy TV watching habits for children with Lesli Rotenberg, VP of Children’s Media at PBS. Below is that interview.

SpanglishBaby: When parents pick a television show for their children to watch, what ideally should they be looking for?

Lesli Rotenberg: At PBS KIDS, we believe that the best shows for kids are educational and entertaining, as well as developmentally appropriate, so those are definitely important elements for parents to look for. We also always want to make sure that the characters in a series are positive role models – trusted guides for kids to look up to and to encourage them to learn and grow.

We have great tips and strategies to help parents make healthy media choices for their kids – from selecting appropriate and educational TV programs, to making the most of your child’s screen time – all available on PBSParents.org.

SB: What qualities do shows that benefit children have?

LR: Parents should look for educational programs that are appropriate for their child’s age and stage of development. Also, it’s important for programs to be research-based and grounded in a solid curriculum that supports learning.

SB: Which shows does PBS have currently in their programming for children which you’re most proud of for their educational value?

LR: We’re proud of all our shows for their educational value and their ability to encourage kids to explore the world around them. For example, SUPER WHY! is a series proven to help children build early reading skills. We also have a number of properties that focus on STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – skills, including CURIOUS GEORGE, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!, SESAME STREET and DINOSAUR TRAIN.

Parents can find information on all of our series, along with the curricular basis for each and supporting educational activities, on PBSParents.org.

SB: What new shows are you working on?

LR: We’re very excited for our new DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD series that will be airing starting next fall! It is a new preschool media property that is inspired by the character Daniel Striped Tiger from the classic PBS series MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. The series is designed to help kids build the skills they need to be prepared for success in school – from cooperation and listening to handling emotions such as disappointment and anger.

We’re also in the pilot phase of several properties focused on math for preschoolers and early elementary kids.

SB: What are the educational standards PBS KIDS abides by when selecting new programming for kids and how are these taken off-screen?

LR: We take a research-based approach to selecting programming that will not only educate kids, but also really engage them with lovable characters and great storylines. In addition, much of our content is mapped to curriculum frameworks, which we develop to align with current teaching standards. A great example of how extensively we research the educational value of our content is the work we did on several of our literacy series using a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education; you can learn more about this particular project on our PBSKIDS.org website.

We see technology platforms as a new way to deliver educational content. Online, PBSKIDS.org is the go-to location for kids and parents, with a monthly average of 9.3 million unique visitors. And our PBS KIDS mobile apps have been downloaded over 1 million times. We make sure that we offer the highest quality children’s media content across platforms so that kids can interact with their favorite characters wherever they are, and so that anytime can be a learning time.

Off-screen, we have many educational activities based on our show content for kids and parents and teachers to do at home, school or daycare.

SB: How does your children’s programming help support bilingual learners?

LR: As you know, we recently introduced a new web series called NOAH COMPRENDE that introduces children to the Spanish vocabulary as well as simple Spanish phrases. We also just launched the new Little Pim Spanish iPhone app, which introduces children to 60 different Spanish vocabulary words. And we have extensive Spanish language resources for parents.

Can you believe it’s been four decades since Sesame Street first aired? This lovable and reliable educational show has been there to boost our kids education and tackle problems they might be going through, as we’ve mentioned before. Sesame Street’s 42nd season which debuts this September 26 is no exception. Sesame Workshop has lots of new and exciting material for our niños, and, as always, they have their eyes and ears on the look out for what our children need.

So what’s on the agenda for this season? A new curriculum, lots of Spanish fun, a long list of celebrity appearances, and a reliable good doze of laughter to go along.

Their new S-T-E-M curriculum, which is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math, focuses on these areas because Sesame Workshop has taken note that this is where U.S. kids are falling behind (yikes!). The S-T-E-M curriculum is really tackling this problem in a couple of ways. Sesame is introducing fun segments and characters like the new furry orange friend Murray in “Murray’s Science Experiments,” and some of our kids favorite characters like Elmo, Oscar, and Abby making observations and taking on hands on activities; all to reinforce our kids to say “Let’s find out!”

Our Sesame Street friends are more curious than ever, encouraging our kids to think critically and take on complex problems, all in the tradition of Sesame’s laughter and learning style. Science and math topics will be addressed throughout the season in street scenes, animations, and live-action films. Like Hubert the Human Cannonball who will visit Sesame Street, and Baby Bear will engineer a launcher for him.

The fun doesn’t end there. They have an incredible line up of celebrities for this season, and, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month, Sesame Street is premiering a special episode “The Latinization of Marco.” This episode will feature Gina teaching her adopted Guatemala-born son about his roots and his heritage language. The special guests teaching Elmo some Spanish words on this episode will be Juanes and Sofía Vergara, teaching the word “baile”, and an appearance of the Ballet Hispanico. How great is that!

Check out this sneak peek of “The Latinization of Marco.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn0_ISsT9z0&feature=youtu.be

Of course, we’ll have to celebrate Sesame Street’s 42nd season with a giveaway! We love giveaways, so we have one DVD set: Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days for one lucky winner.

THE GIVEAWAY!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Shaunda!

We have one Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days for one lucky winner.

To enter just leave a comment telling us who your favorite Sesame Street character is and why.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, September 13 at midnight EST and is open to everyone over 18 years of age.  Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Once that hurdle was passed, and I could convince her to watch the show with me, I can honestly say she enjoyed it and asked for más. What got her for sure was the singing and dancing, and what got me was that it is all in Spanish, with the occasional, not accidental, word or phrase in English. I do wish they would have been more careful when syncing the songs to the video, but that only annoyed me. My daughter could have cared less.

From the site:

Dos y Dos is designed to build skills deemed critical for early childhood development. As the cast solves the “Riddle of the day”, they teach fundamental core values like sharing, helping, and the importance of teamwork. Every show has three music videos performed by the cast in Spanish, with one of those music videos performed also in English, making a total of four educational music videos per half-hour episode.

Dos y Dos is being broadcast through LATV U.S. Network in 45 cities. Check here to see if yours is included.

If the show is not being played in your area, you can always check out the videos on the website.  Enjoy this music video in Spanish from Dos y Dos.  It´s perfect for this World Cup season when our kids really know what the word GOL means by now!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM_H52lkWAQ&feature=related

This time, we want to introduce you to PEEP and the Big Wide World.  Peep is a little chicken, or a “Pio”, as he’s called by our girl, who hangs out with his buddies-Chirp and Quack. Through their big-eyed and fun exploration of the world that surrounds them they casually teach our children  basic science and nature concepts like shadows, water, sounds and colors.  Science is all around us, and PEEP makes it so engaging and humorous that your kids will never know it’s all based on science…in Spanish!

Have fun watching this episode where the chirpy friends learn about water and fishes, and then scroll down to enter the special giveaway we have for you!  You can catch PEEP and the Big Wide World Monday-Friday from 9:15-9:30am on your local V-me station. To easily find your channel go here.

El Museo de Pesces

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agn4JNn60Mk

The Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. We´ll announce the winner shortly.

V-me has given us SIX way-too-cute baskets full of PEEP goodies! Think of them as an early Easter treat. Each basket comes with a PEEP and the Big Wide World DVD, removable tattoos, and a mini-flashlight for your little explorer.

To win one of the six baskets please visit the PEEP bilingual website and tell us what you enjoyed about it.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you´ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment on this post for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Visit the V-me Facebook Page and become a Fan.

2. Subscribe to our feed via email or RSS and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber.

3. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

4. Blog about this giveaway making sure to include our link, and you’ll get TWO additional entries.

This giveaway ends Sunday, March 28 at midnight EST and you must have a valid US address to enter.  Good luck!!

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

That’s why I was excited to find out that KCET, local public TV station for Central and Southern California, and The Jim Henson Company have teamed up to bring us all 41 episodes of Sid The Science Kid in Spanish. The Spanish-language episodes of this preschool show that promotes exploration and science readiness in a kid-friendly way started airing last week.  Now, that’s great news! Well, but only if you live in the KCET broadcast area…sorry.

It’s still good to know that the initiative has been taken and I’m sure it won’t be long before your local public TV station picks it up. Give them a call and nudge them to do it.

In any case, we’re happy to share a full episode of Sid el Niño Científico. Just click on this link to watch the episode “Mis zapatos se están encogiendo” and some other fun clips.

While you wait for the episode to load, we invite you to meet Moises Román. Moises appears regularly on the PBS child care information series Los Niños en su Casa as Imagination and Creativity Expert. He is also the educational advisor for “Sid the Science Kid,” produced by The Jim Henson Company and KCET. Román is a renowned advocate of child care and early childhood education. He’s also the proud father to a trilingual boy.

Could you please tell us about your participation in the Spanish version of Sid the Science Kid?

I have been involved in Spanish language Los Niños en Su Casa on KCET and public television, but my involvement on Sid has been on the original English version, in advising on the science learning in the program and in the design of the curriculum that is the basis for Sid.

In your expert opinion, what is the educational value of a show like Sid the Science Kid for young children?

The value of a show like Sid is that it gives children a gentle introduction to early science learning. It introduces children to science concepts that will help make connections about how the world around them works. It teaches children to wonder, ask questions, and critically think about ideas that children typically have.

Why was the decision made to create a Spanish version?

From the beginning, we have hoped to have a Spanish language version of the program, because KCET wanted to make it available to Spanish speaking adults and children. When we had available a very well produced Spanish dubbed version, KCET was delighted to be able to broadcast the program. KCET will also use the Spanish version in its outreach with parents.

Tell us what, other than the language, will set the Spanish version apart from the original English version?

As an additional benefit, we think English-speaking students who are learning Spanish will find the programs very helpful. The program is the same, except for the language. It had always been designed with a multi-cultural cast. Teacher Susie is Latina, as is Gabriella and her family.

How many children do you have and are you raising them bilingual and/or bicultural? If yes, explain how.

I have an 11-month-old boy and he is being raised to speak three languages. He is Mexican and Chinese so he is first learning to speak his two home languages. His mom speaks to him in Chinese and I speak to him in Spanish at home. In his preschool, he is learning English since he started about two months ago. We strongly believe that our child should be familiar with both cultures as well as speak the languages associated with each.

Any tips on how parents can utilize educational TV as a learning tool?

Parents can use educational TV in several ways. Parents can start by co-viewing the show with their children to guide their children through the content that is being offered. Another way that parents can use educational TV is to extend the learning from what was offered on the show. For example to extend the learning, the parents can simply take a child outside to further investigate a concept that has been introduced on the show. If parents need help on how to extend the learning, kcet.org has a section for parents and teachers to get ideas on how to extend the learning.

Her original name was not Dora and Latina she was not.

More than 10 years ago and after working with outside creators to come up with new ideas, Nickelodeon’s Valerie Walsh Valdes and Chris Gifford were given the opportunity of a lifetime: to develop their own show. This is what they thought up: a show about a preschool girl who has a bunch of animal friends and goes exploring every day. Her name was Tess.

But the network’s executives had other ideas. They had just come back from a conference which dealt with the fact that Latinos were the most underrepresented minority on television. What to do about it? Convert ‘Tess’ into a bilingual Latina girl called Dora. The problem? Neither Gifford nor Walsh Valdes were bilingual. So they hired a Latino writer and several Latino-savvy consultants, including Spanish language experts, and Dora the Explorer was born.

“We wanted to give an authentic cultural identity to the character, but also to the world around her,” said Walsh Valdes, the co-creator and executive producer of both Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go.

Making the character a 7-year-old bilingual Latina was Nickelodeon’s response to the lack of positive Latino roles in the media.

“The idea was to make learning a second language appealing,” explained Walsh Valdes. “We were trying to make that [being bilingual] into a positive, something you should be proud of.”

But the idea was also to make Dora universally appealing.

“We didn’t want to alienate audiences who don’t speak another language, who are not bilingual,” said Walsh Valdes.

Which is the reason why Dora the Explorer is not really about teaching Spanish, it’s more about a little girl who goes on a different adventure in each show and happens to be bilingual in English and Spanish. However, since learning at this stage of a child’s life is something fun, the creators of the show definitely take advantage of that, according to Walsh Valdes.

Preschoolers are introduced to a new Spanish word or phrase which Dora uses repeatedly throughout each particular episode. Although Walsh Valdes said they’ve never “claimed to be teaching Spanish,” countless parents around the country credit Dora the Explorer with helping their children learn lots of vocabulary in Spanish.

The show is not only insanely popular in the U.S. – according to Nickelodeon, it’s the top preschool show on all of commercial television – but also at the international level. And it might have to do with the fact that bilingualism is a pretty normal way of growing up in most of the rest of the world.

“It’s not just kids who speak Spanish that identify with Dora,” explained Walsh Valdes. “Other bilingual kids see themselves in her.”

The co-creator of this show credits its unthinkable success to a couple of reasons. The first one is that each show presents “really great stories for that age group” – universal stories that appeal to preschoolers no matter their background. The second one is the “interactive” nature of the show. In other words, the fact that Dora always asks for the audience’s help so the adventure can move along, hence the short silent period right after a question is asked.

Although my daughter, Vanessa, didn’t really start “watching” TV until after she turned two – meaning it’s only been about a year – I have noticed how much more motivated she is to respond to Dora’s request now that she is a little older and has a larger vocabulary.

Gifting her daughter with bilingualism

Ironically, even though Walsh Valdes is not bilingual – despite taking four years of high school Spanish, as she says – she is raising her 2-year-old daughter to be, thanks to the creation of Dora the Explorer. Remember the Latino writer they hired back when Dora was being created? She married him. So now, thanks to her Cuban-born husband and their Latina nanny, Walsh Valdes is experiencing first-hand the amazing ability of children to learn two languages at once.

“I don’t speak Spanish, but I’m learning more from my daughter than I ever did in high school,” Walsh Valdez shared. “My husband says she is as verbal in Spanish as she is in English, which is amazing!”

Valerie Walsh Valdez

VALERIE WALSH VALDES is creator and executive producer of preschool phenomenon Dora the Explorer.  She is also the creator and executive producer of Nick Jr.’s hit preschool series Go, Diego, Go!.
A graduate of New York University, Walsh Valdes earned a master’s degree in Film and Dramatic Writing, and a master’s degree in Education.  While at NYU, she was a member of the Creative Arts Team, an educational theater company dedicated to creating and performing issue-based dramas in New York City schools.  Walsh Valdes has also worked in independent film and theater and produced numerous short films, directed both theater and independent features, and written several screenplays.
Walsh Valdes lives in NY and LA with her husband and daughter.

FYI: We’re giving away FIVE copies of “Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom” – the latest special episode in the Dora the Explorer series which airs Sunday on Nickelodeon – over at our new sister site, SpanglishBabyFinds, where we review the coolest products made with Latino and/or bilingual kids in mind. Don’t miss out!

Photo by ReyGuy

Not sure if my discovery is going to come as news to you, but I definitely had a cathartic moment when I discovered Aprende con Sesame on iTunes.

One of my best tricks for long car rides is to hand over my iPod to Camila so she can be entertained and mami can have some quiet time to attempt to put some thoughts together, or to at least watch the road ahead of me!

The challenge I’ve had is finding videos on iTunes that are both long enough to do the trick and also in Spanish. Seemed like a very unlikely wish to fulfill via iTunes since their children’s video and podcast catalog in Spanish is lacking, or, I should say, practically non-existant.

We already subscribe to both Dora and Diego podcasts  but those videos barely last longer than a minute. That means that as soon as it’s over Camila either hands the phone over to me asking (OK…demanding!) another video or she just throws it. Either way, not ideal driving conditions or conducive to my peace of mind.

Enter Sesame Street and Elmo to the rescue-en español!

Back in 2007, Sesame Workshop made available for free via iTunes a series of educational resource videos-Learn Along with Sesame-featuring the Muppets and cast of Sesame Street.  The series was created to be available in both English and Spanish in the US only (Sorry, for now it’s only available in the US iTunes store.)

The Spanish version is called Aprende con Sesame and has eight episodes available for free download.

Your kid will have a blast hearing Elmo, Telly, Big Bird and Rosita talk to each other in Spanish.  It’s probably new to him and you can use the opportunity to tell him that some of his favorite characters are learning or speaking Spanish, just like him!

From health and safety concerns to dealing with emotions and new situations, these videos engage and educate children and adults alike with the Muppets, lively music and the Spanish language.  Oh yeah, did I mention they all last an average of 25 minutes and can be easily downloaded to my iPod?  Yay!

I love the option of having over four hours of purely educational and free programming in Spanish at hand to watch on the computer, phone, video device, burnt on DVD, etc…

I would have included a video for you to preview the series, but iTunes has made it impossible to share even a snippet with you.  So, just head over there with the link below and start downloading to your heart’s and bandwith’s desire.

Aprende con Sesame

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Photo by Aaron Escobar

Not lots to share with you this first Sunday of June… Although both Ana and I are very excited about a new website related to bilingualism and reading. It’s called Bilingual Readers and it’s actually a “publishing company which provides bilingual resources for families and communities.” Go over there whenever you get a chance and check it out! We can’t tell you how happy we are that more and more sites related to bilingualism are appearing all the time…

1) From LBBC–Father’s Day: Celebrate Dads and Reading – Links to different book lists that celebrate fathers and grandfathers and includes a number of heartwarming books from different cultures and ethnic traditions, including some bilingual English/Spanish books. All these are definitely worth checking out!

2) From Time Magazine: Study: TV May Inhibit Babies’ Language Development – “As most parents of small children will reluctantly admit, nothing can occupy a child quite like television. Unfortunately, the scientific evidence suggests that using the boob tube as a babysitter has its price: the more time babies spend sitting in front of the screen, the more their social, cognitive and language development may suffer. Recent studies show that TV-viewing tends to decrease babies’ likelihood of learning new words, talking, playing and otherwise interacting with others.” Vanessa doesn’t really watch a lot of TV. We don’t have cable and apart from V-me and PBS, there’s not a lot of “quality” programming out there anyway. However, she does watch movies and I often feel guilty about that because she truly loves them and it keeps her entertained for at least a good hour… Now I feel even more guilty. Great.

3) From Bilingual Readers: Want to Help Your Baby’s Language Development Along? Read Together! – “While banning television from your home forever is neither practical nor necessary (thank God), the bottom line is crystal clear: babies learn language best through direct interaction with their parents and other caregivers. This conclusion is even more important for families who are trying to raise their children in more than one language. Of course there are many ways for parents to interact directly with their children, but we at Bilingual Readers believe that one of the most effective ways is through shared parent-child reading.” Thank God Vanessa has picked up my love for reading. I don’t feel so guilty about the movie thing I mentioned above anymore… At least we’re doing something right!

4)  From PRWeb: Bilingual Tots Total Immersion Language Schools Success Leads to National Expansion, Hiring Thousands of Teachers – “Bilingual Tots – based in Boulder, Colorado – offers total immersion in the target language with native teachers in order to help them capture the authentic accent and sound system of the language they’re learning. Parents of children 0 to 3 must be present during class, and all parents are given materials that help reinforce the language learning at home. Each 50-minute Bilingual Tots class is limited to no more than six children so that each teacher can devote time to one-on-one interaction in addition to group activities that center on play and simple interaction with the native-speaker teachers.” In my neck of the woods and I didn’t even know about it. I’ll have to check them out and get back to you…

5) From NPR: Weighing Ethnicity When Picking a Spouse – “As the old saying goes: “Love is blind.” But for the American-born children of immigrants, it’s sometimes impossible not to look at ethnicity when picking a partner.” Another great read – or listen – from NPR’s series: Immigrants’ Children. I know how I feel about this one, but I would love to hear what you all think, though! I wonder how Vanessa  – who is the American-born child of immigrants – will feel about this topic? Luckily, we won’t have to deal with this one for many, many years to come. Ha!

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 Belzie

Today in the U.S. we commemorate Memorial Day by paying honor to all the great men and woman who have passed away while in military service for our country.  Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families who have loved a lost one defending us.

Every Monday we bring you our Ask an Expert series where bilingual experts from various fields take their time to answer a question you have submitted. If you’ve been thinking about sending us your question, but haven’t done so yet, go ahead and do it now. Just click here.

Liza Sanchez

We welcome back Liza Sánchez, founder and Board Chair of Escuela Bilingüe Internacional (EBI) in Oakland, California. EBI is the first independent school in California to offer a Spanish-English dual language program, extending from pre-K through 8th grade. You can also find this mamá of four multilingual daughters blogging at Bilingual Talk.

My toddler only speaks Spanish.  Will she miss out in the community?

Over a month ago Liza answered a question sent in by Blanca Pedroza about her concern that her daughter was not getting enough exposure to English.  This is probably the biggest worry most parents using the mL@H method have.

Liza advised her to continue reinforcing the minority language at home because the majority one (English) will eventually come through exposure at school and such.  Blanca wrote us again because she still has doubts that her daughter will be able to participate with her English-speaking community at this young age when she’s only been exposed to Spanish.

“As I’ve mentioned in a previous question to the experts, my husband and I only speak Spanish to our children (ages 4 months and 1 1/2). My one year old can talk up a storm in Spanish.  She knows all her colors, can hold a simple dialogue with sentences and questions, and loves to learn new words. Others who only speak English would never be able to tell and they just comment that she seems “shy.”

I honestly feel she is very bright (not just because she’s my daughter) and I’m afraid that I may be doing a disservice for her socially because she is unable to communicate with others in the community who approach her in English.

Will she pick up on some English by watching educational television shows? Should I make sure she is exposed to some type of English? I know that when I asked this in my previous question to the experts I was advised to continue exposing her to as much Spanish as possible. However, my concern remains regarding her social skills that she is missing out on in the community (library, park, etc.).”

Dear Blanca,

I completely understand your concern. Many parents, including me, have had similar concerns when it comes to raising bilingual children.

There is no doubt that in order for your child to become bilingual they will have to have as much exposure as possible to the home language. However, each family’s situation is different and what works for one child may not be best for another. Even children within the same family can respond differently to the same language exposure and can have varied experiences as a result. What this all boils down to is that there is no one correct way to raise your bilingual children and unfortunately, there is no one concrete answer to your concerns.

It sounds like you are comfortable with your daughter’s Spanish language acquisition and are now more concerned about her learning English. Should she start learning English now? It isn’t necessary. She is only 1 1/2 and still has many years before kindergarten. I think you will be surprised by how much she will know by that time. I really don’t think it is necessary to provide more English language opportunities at this time but you might want to reconsider this as she gets older. Again, it all really depends on each child and the amount of exposure they are getting in each language.

Will she learn English from watching educational TV? Yes, especially shows that are designed for preschool aged children. TV counts as language exposure.

Should you allow her to enjoy community events and trips to the park? Of course. You can only control the amount of Spanish and English she hears to a certain extent but you certainly don’t want to deprive her of having fun and getting to know the people in her community.

It may seem hard to believe now but she will be speaking English before you know it. Stick with it, raising bilingual children isn’t easy but it is rewarding. Your children will thank you one day.

Please write back to SpanglishBaby and keep us updated on her, and your, progress.

Is there any additional advice or words of encouragement you can give Blanca?  She’s also asked to hear from parents like you who have had success raising bilingual children.

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