Joys and Challenges of Raising Bilingual Children

As an educator and business owner, I am always motivated and so impressed by my young student's enthusiasm for learning. Whether it is a 2 year old in my Bilingual Toddlers class, or a 9 year old in my Bilingual Big Kids class, their ability to absorb the language never ceases to amaze me. Of course my customers and students are willing participants in the language learning process because they have expressed an interest and desire to learn Spanish. I love working with these amazing learners!

Now for my role as the bilingual mom.... some days I just want to say ( in the words of my 3 year old) " Ay Chihuahua!". My husband and I have made the decision to raise our children in a bilingual household and Spanish/English has been a part of my children's lives since they were born. We are fortunate to travel to Spanish speaking countries and to have family that we can communicate with and practice. Additionally we have certain times of the day that we have ' Spanish only', which encourages our children to communicate and to keep their language skills alive. Of course with young children, things must always be focused on fun and relevancy in their lives.

My daughter embraces the language and her ability to understand and communicate. She is always a willing participant in our conversations and she enjoys communicating other Spanish speakers. My son ( el tremendo) continues to challenge us. We understand learning styles are different, so we have found the best way for my 3 year old to communicate in Spanish is if we are playing Super Heroes. I have made up some fantastic stories about Martian Manhunter, Wonder Women and Aqua Man in recent weeks! His currrent favorite game is to hide Spanish language bean bags all over the house and put a Super Hero figure underneath. We have to search for the color and then guess who is hiding ( all in the Spanish). Muy divertido!

Both in my classes and with my own chldren, I look forward to finding creative and stimulating ways to encourage the language learning.

I think a trip to Mexico is on the horizon for us......

This Week Only...

We are offering FREE shipping this week, as well as a beautiful set of hand painted Mexican maracas with each order from The Fun Shop! Here are variety of ways you can incorporate Spanish learning fun with your maracas:

1. Shake and count in Spanish. 1-20. By 10's. By 5's. By 2's. Backwards from 20-1.

2. Play Simon Dice/ Simon Says. Touch different body parts w/ maracas. Use the command " toca.... la nariz", etc.

3. Create rhythmic beats. Shake maracas and count as you create different beats. Have chldren imitate you, then they teach you a new beat. Ex; uno, dos, uno, dos, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, uno, dos, uno, dos.....

4. Practice opposites. arriba/abajo, delante/detras, izquierda/ derecha, lado al lado, rapido/lento, abre/cierra

5. Dance Party Fiesta. Play upbeat Spanish music. Kids have to make up dances using the maracas. Encourage them to incorporate the opposite actions that you have practiced.

There are many different ways to incorporate bilingual fun in your child's day!

Ay Caramba!

Our Bilingual Fun classes are always great fun and we love to see our students so engaged and having fun while learning!

Yesterday, however, was a bit chaotic for the Bilingual Fun program. We currently teach parent/child Spanish classes in 3 different locations. We have one main classroom, that we use as our 'base' and then we travel to the other communities. At one of our travel destinations, we were instructed to hold class outside due to scheduling conflict with the room we normally use. Being the flexible and creative instructors that we are, we thought 'no hay problema'.

Except of course it was 92 degrees yesterday. Si hay problema! Luckily we met under a shady area, so we didn't melt like queso. As we are singing, dancing, and playing the hands on activities planned for the day, the lawn service arrived! Yes, they decided to start their services regardless of the group of preschoolers, parents, and dancing Spanish teacher under the trees. Ay caramba! In order to keep the children engaged and learning, we always use creative techniques, such as movement and games. This was a great opportunity to swap the original plans and incorporate some activies such as :

*The Freeze Dance: kids danced to music, when music stopped I shouted a body part and they had to touch their nose, etc.
*Caliente/Frio: we hid a small toy and I child was chosen to close eyes. They tried to find it by the class shouting commands caliente/frio ( hot/ cold).
*Las Maracas: so many uses for our trusty maracas. We counted backwards from 20-1 while shaking our instruments louder than the lawn mowers.

Then, on to a different location that evening for another round of parent/child classes. Guess what? The road was under construction at each major crossroad surrounding the building we meet at! Si, tenemos otro problema! Ay caramba! We had to creatively cut through neighborhoods to arrive at our location. I had many stressed out, hot and bothered parents arrive with their little ones in tow that evening. Many spent much more time in the car than planned and arrived late. Ay caramba! It all turned out good. We extended our classes to compensate for everyone's late arrival. I cranked up the air condition for the parents and quickly began engaging their children in a game of Dress Rosita ( our stuffed bear that we use for clothing review). We put silly clothing combinations on Rosita such as : los lentes del sol, la gorra del invierno, los pantalones cortos, la bufanda, y las sandalias. The kids got a kick out of telling me " esta bien or esta mal la ropa". The parents were able to relax a bit as well. We even gave some fun directions in espanol to the parents on their way so that they could take the secret short cut home.

Although we said Ay Caramba more than once yesterday, we had fun as usual interacting with our students and families. Everyone left our classes with new songs running through their heads, expressions and words to practice for the week, and
'tarea' to focus on for the next class.

Today is a new day.... no more construction and lawn services for Bilingual Fun, I hope.

Bilingual Fun at LibertyFest!

We just had an exciting weekend as participants in the International section of our community's Liberty Fest. We were invited to join various other multicultural groups as we shared cultural information about Latin America, as well as our Bilingual Fun language program and educational products. It was a great day full of sunshine and excitement. We met so many people and enjoyed sharing information about early language instruction, as well as interacting with the children as they played Bean Bags Color Toss in Spanish, made Ojos de Dios ( Mexican handicraft), colored pictures of various Latin American culture topics for a coloring contest, and had merengue dance lessons!

My husband, children and I love to participate with our company in the community, and having a tent at the International Fest was a fabulous opportunity! The global society that we live in is so diverse, and we love the opportunity to share our cultural experiences, as well as learn about others. We were situated next to the live stage performances and we enjoyed Chinese and Indian dances, as well as a Native American storyteller and a popular Irish band. Next year we look forward to moving our Latin dance lessons to the main stage so that it can be more interactive with a larger group of participants. Participating in the festival gave our family the chance to highlight our company that we have worked so hard on for the past 4 years. We also spoke to many families that have bilingual children or would like to start their children's bilingual development. We were able to give firsthand advice and input about our own family's experiences and how our children learn.

We have a fun filled summer ahead for Bilingual Fun! We will be doing various free events in throughout the local communities, as well as starting a new program, and of course always seeking fun, interactive bilingual activities that we can implement with our own family and share with others. Feel free to comment on any cultural events you have or will be attending this summer!

Spanish lessons at home

Are you trying to incorporate Spanish learning into your child's everyday life? Would you like some new ideas to keep the language learning alive? As parents who are trying to raise their children in a bilingual household, my husband and I love to hear what other families are doing to make language connections with their children and to enrich their development. Please feel free to share any idea ( big or little) that you use with your child. The first 10 people to respond will receive a Hola/Adios t-shirt ( available in youth and adult sizes, red or purple). Gracias!

* Play Memory: This is a great activity for vocabulary development and reinforcement. When have a couple of different sets that have different thematic pictures, so it is a great way for our children to practice various grammatical structures. We always ask ' dónde está....? or qué es?, as we look for the specific picture.

*Cooking: my kids love to help in the kitchen when we are preparing meals. We are sure to tell kids " es la hora de español" or ' ni una palabra de ingles", as we begin our cooking adventure. I tell my kids to find certain items in the pantry and refridgerator in Spanish. It is a great identification practice. My 6 year old is able to help pour and measure, so all commands are given to her in Spanish as helps with the recipe. When cooking in Spanish, we are intentional to keep the conversation going, incorporating questions such as: ' te gusta...?, quieres probar...?, cuál es tu favorito?, etc.

* Mirror Mirror on the wall: My children love looking at themselves in the mirror! We often play ' make that face'. We give our kids the Spanish word for a specific emotion, and they have to make that face. Then they give us the commands for enojado, triste, feliz, etc. When kids can see themselves as they hear or say the word, it helps to make a language connection.

By reinforcing the language through activities that are relevant to children's lives, we are giving our children a great head start in their development and acquisition. Tell us what you do at home!

Taking Control of My Life with Bilingual Fun

My family and I really try to live up to the title of our business. We are bilingual and we love to have fun. But I do have to say, the life with young children and running a business definitely takes a toll on our ' fun' factor. I have learned a few things about being a stay at home mom/work at home mom/entreprenuer. It is hard work!!! I have also learned that sometimes while in these roles, you don't often have spontaneous, exciting, opportunities. Well, luck fell in my lap last week in the form of Good Morning America's Take Control of your Life Tour!

GMA made a stop in our hometown and Tory Johnson did her usual motivating segment about finding and sustaining work in today's society. I met inspiring women and had the opportunity to share my story with many interested parents. I got up way before dawn, drove throuth the dark city and joined an exciting group of people for a live TV segment. It was a huge pick me up from my day to day grind. Additionally I had the fantastic opportunity to be interviewed so that I could share my passion about The Bilingual Fun Company and why I think it is so important to expose young children to languages. Here is the video clip if you want to take a peek. Click here.

So, now that my 3 minutes of TV interview is over, I am back to having fun with my bilingual children and students. I am such an advocate for teaching our society's children to speak multiple languages, and I am so excited and motivated when I get parent feedback about their interest and drive as well. Even if it is for a very short time, exposure and repetition help tremendously for the young learner.

Bilingual Fun and Charades

Who doesn't love a good round of Charades? I remember as a child, this was often a favorite wintertime game for the family. We would gather in front of the fire and act out silly things. My 5 year old received a kids version of Charades for Christmas this year. As always, we are looking for ways to make our children's bilingual development fun and natural. So after one round of English, we made a new rule: Spanish only.

Both my 3 yr old and 5 yr old had a blast! Using actions to reinforce language is a common technique I use in my language program. Otherwise referred to as TPR ( total physical response), you teach actions and movements that are associated with words or phrases in Spanish. When children are actively participating in the language learning, vocabulary is often absorbed more easily. My daughter picked out the cards, which had pictures only on them and acted them out. I guessed in Spanish, and this was an excellent reinforcement for her comprehsion. Then we switched and I acted out the words, and she had to make the guesses. Again, producing the words in the target language is more difficult, but she was able to do it with ease. Then my 3 yr old was able to act some out as well. We guessed in Spanish and he was able to tell us if we were right or wrong, showing his grasp of the language comphrension.

Charades for children is a perfect way to keep the language learning fun and relevant to their lives. The words we acted out were things that are common in their little worlds, such as truck, ball, dancing, ice cream, jumping rope, etc. Even if your child doesn't not have fluency in the language, they should be able to recognize and produce simple words and phrases with this game. It is good practice for the parents too!
This is going to be our new evening activity when we need some action and bilingual fun!