Hello there! Being bilingual is a beautiful gift and now having children I’m even more passionate about having my child and future children being bilingual. Now in my case, I’m a first generation Latina in the United States, but I grew up speaking English in my household. I understood Spanish but was too scared to speak Spanish. So how did I learn Spanish? When I was a tween, my father remarried and his new partner in life only spoke Spanish so in order to communicate with her I slowly learned to speak it and she helped along the way. If you are a bilingual speaker in any language and have children, teach them the language. It is so important to keep that heritage alive even if it’s just understanding the language. I have a 2 year old that speaks both languages, English and Spanish. At first we decided that we would only speak to her in Spanish, but soon realized that when my partner and I spoke to each other we spoke in English, the shows we watched are in English, when friends come over we spoke English. So how could we foster a Spanish speaking child when we didn’t speak Spanish all the time? We decided to implement these tips and so far they are working and our daughter not only knows Spanish words she also knows English words.
- Bilingual books
Reading to your children is essential! Both my partner and I have read to our daughter since she was born, but to be honest I don’t read enough to her, I am working on reading to her in the morning when she wakes up because it puts her in a cuddly and good mood. She does love books because I make sure she has access to her books at all times, sometimes she will grab a book and enjoys looking at the illustrations. Here are some of our favorite bilingual books. I try to Links will be provided at the bottom of the post.
2. Spanish shows/movies
Now if you were like me back then and said “My kid isn’t going to watch that much tv.” Yeahhhh…about that. I realized her watching TV helps me do my errands around the house without losing my ish. Now she isn’t watching it all day long, but when we put her shows on, we do so in Spanish and even I learn new words. So win win. These are the shows we enjoy watching in Spanish. Sometimes with movies I do play them in English because the Spanish translation just doesn’t do it for me and I’d rather listen to Moana and Frozen in English. Just being real here.
3. Spanish Nursery Rhymes
We use YouTube to watch Spanish nursery rhymes. Our favorite right now is Canticos! Those little chickies are so cute, they do the nursery rhymes in both English and Spanish, so I get to learn them and we can sing them to each other. Another one on YouTube we watch is called La Granja de Zenon and this one is like a party with their songs about ranch life mixing it with Cumbia rhythm. My daughter likes to dance to these songs and also say MOOOOO when she sees the vaca(cow). Another nursery rhyme we watch is a mixture of songs and a show of Bible stories called Pequenos Heroes. As a growing christian I want my daughter to learn the stories of the Bible and know them. This year I got baptized and am learning the stories of the Bible, so again this is another way for me to learn additional Spanish and bible stories.
3. Spanish Flash cards
I highly recommend the Mud Puppy ring flash cards or flash cards that are durable with a ring. Regular flash cards just get thrown on the floor, in my case, if it comes with a ring they won’t get thrown on the floor or lost. We learn about the animals, colors, and numbers. These will be linked below.
4. Spanish Learning Apps
I’m going to be perfectly honest, we just got little one a tablet last week and I have no idea what to download. My partner said he was able to get a free amazon tablet so he did. We got a Fire 8 tablet, but now I’m disappointed that the App I wanted the most isn’t even on the Amazon store. That was Canticos, yes they have an App and I’ll probably just download it on my iPhone or maybe get another tablet? I’m proud to say that we went two and a half years without a tablet and to be honest we got a tablet only for our long driving trips. So search and download Spanish learning apps for your little one so they can learn and entertain themselves when they have the tablet.
Links
Mis colores book https://www.amazon.com/Colors-Mis-Colores-English-Spanish/dp/0316233471/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mis+colores+book&qid=1624396062&sr=8-1
Lil Libros San Salvador https://www.amazon.com/VÁMONOS-San-Salvador-English-Spanish/dp/1947971433/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17ZUDATE21RX1&dchild=1&keywords=lil+libros+san+salvador&qid=1624396162&sprefix=lil+libros+san%2Caps%2C217&sr=8-1
Looking good Lucir Bien https://www.target.com/p/looking-good-lucir-bien-just-like-me-igual-que-yo-english-spanish-bilingual-board-book/-/A-79515519#lnk=sametab
Mud Puppy Ring Flash Cards https://www.amazon.com/Mudpuppy-Illustrated-Spanish-English-Toddlers/dp/0735339384/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=mudpuppy+flash+cards&qid=1624396503&sr=8-8
Andrea Michelle xo 