My Bilingual Kid

New and Used Spanish and Bilingual Books For Sale

2009-03-03T16:19:00.005-07:00

Due to family commitments and my "real job" taking up more and more time, I have decided to close my online Spanish and bilingual children's bookstore. It has been a good run and I have enjoyed talking to parents and recommending books for their children.

Because of this decision I am left with a sizable inventory of new and used Spanish and bilingual books taking up space in my basement. Ideally I would like to sell all (or a large part) of the books to a school or organization that could use them but I am open to any potential buyers (including other booksellers).

The books come from several publishers including Barefoot Books, Chronicle Books and Lectorum. About half of the books are new and the other half are used books that are in fair to good condition. I also have some flash cards and games.

If you or anyone you know is interested in these books, please send me an email and I will send you a list as well as suggested prices.

Tim and Kim, a fun new bilingual book by Kay Linda Nord

2008-12-19T20:40:00.010-07:00

I have been reading about a new bilingual book, Tim and Kim / Tim y Kim, by Kay Linda Nord on several blogs and websites recently. I had heard so many good things about it that I was anxious to see what all the hype was about. To my surprise, I got an email from Kay Linda Nord telling me about her book and her reasons for writing it.

The first thing I noticed when I got the book were the colorful and playful illustrations by Nicole Armitage. Even my 11 month old son who has a hard time sitting still for more than 30 seconds sat still and looked at the pictures on each page as I read him the story.

The story follows a brother and sister who are opposite in nearly every way. Tim is tall and Kim is short. Tim likes blue and Kim likes pink. When their pets are scared by a loud noise, Tim and Kim have to work together to bring their pets out of hiding.

The story is told in both English and Mexican Spanish. Having learned Spanish primarily in urban San Diego, California, I often joke that I speak "Mexican". I appreciate having a book written in a style of Spanish and using vocabulary that I am familiar with. At one point the story talks about a swimming pool which I learned was an "alberca" and not a "piscina".

The lesson that I learned from Kim and Tim is that being different is good because it is our differences that allow us to help others.

Tim and Kim is a fun book that will be enjoyed by any family teaching their children Spanish. It is especially good at teaching basic vocabulary and opposites. I am happy to add this book to our library of Spanish and bilingual books and look forward to when my son is old enough to enjoy more than just the colorful illustrations it contains.

Kay Linda Nord grew up in a bilingual home with a Mexican mother and American father. Now a mother, Kay found that all of the book options available for her to read to her son were translated in traditional Spanish. This caused inconsistency between her oral Spanish and the written Spanish she was reading to her son.

Her goal with her first book is to help parents to have options when it comes to teaching their children Spanish. Kay Linda Nord believes that teaching our American children other languages is vital regardless of the language.

For more information about Kay Linda Nord and her book Tim and Kim / Tim y Kim, please visit her website. You can also purchase her book on Amazon.

Utah Bilingual Parenting Support Group

2008-11-27T11:35:00.003-07:00

I was recently contacted by a fellow parent here in Utah that was looking for support group for parents raising bilingual children. We both did a little looking around and weren't able to find one... so we are looking at the possibility of starting our own group for Utah parents. We might also consider joining a national group if one exists.

For anyone in Utah who reads this blog...Is this something that you would be interested in joining? If so please leave me a comment or send me an email and I will keep you up to date as we try to get this thing going.

For anyone else...Is there a national support group or do you belong to a local group? I would like to hear from you too.

We welcome any ideas or suggestions on how to get this group going as well as any services or resources would be helpful.

Bilingual Education in Utah

2008-11-24T22:32:00.003-07:00

Recently there was a great little story on Fox 13 about the Dual Immersion Academy and bilingual education in Utah.

Click here for part 1.

Click here for part 2.

Schools with Spanish Programs in Utah

2008-11-24T22:23:00.003-07:00

I recently came across this list of Utah schools with language program. Many I am already familiar with or have at least heard of, but there are also many that are new to me. There is also a schools that will start language programs next year. While the vast majority of the language programs are Spanish, I was surprised to see that next year there will be schools that offer Mandarin, French, and Navajo.

Click here for the list.

I hope this is helpful for parents in Utah. If anyone has experience with any of these schools, please post a comment.

Pocoyo Halloween Costume

2008-10-29T18:56:00.005-06:00

Ever since Karen introduced me to Pocoyo we have been waiting for Halloween so that we could dress Harrison up in a Pocoyo costume. I have been searching the internet looking for a ready made costume, but haven't been able to find one. Luckily my wife Sabrina is pretty crafty and figured out how to make everything from scratch. She even made a candy basket that looks like Pocoyo's radio! I am super happy with how it turned out...take a look!

New Music From Juana Molina

2008-10-08T16:31:00.008-06:00

One of my favorite Spanish language musicians, Juana Molina, just released a new album called Un Dia earlier this week. For those not familiar with Juana Molina, she is a popular comedic actress from Argentina turned one-woman-band (if you have watched The Incredibles in Spanish, Juana is the voice of Elastigirl). Molina plays all the instruments and sings herself. Using a looping pedal she records short sections of her music and then plays and records other short sections over the top, creating multilayered and very full sounding songs. Listening to her songs you would think she had a full band supporting her, but when you watch her perform live you will see that it is all her. It is amazing to watch as she layers guitar, vocals, keyboards and other instruments to create beautiful music.

Here is a really good short documentary about Juana:

Make Your Own Books and Learning Materials With Lulu.com

2008-10-08T10:34:00.009-06:00

I am consistently amazed at what is available on the internet these days. It seems that there are more and more sites that make it easy for you to customize and make your own products. If you are not already familiar with Lulu.com, you should be. Lulu is a website that makes it easy for anyone to publish their book without the hassle of finding and working with a publisher, editor, etc. Lulu is based on the increasingly popular "print on demand" model. What this means to self publishing authors is that you do not have commit to buying a large amount of books up front. Lulu has an online community where you can sell your book and find books on virtually any topic you are interested in. You can make your own photo books, children's books, posters, calendars and even comic books.

So what does all of this have to do with teaching Spanish to your children? Lulu has a great selection of Spanish and bilingual books for children written by people like you and I. For teachers, it's an awesome resource for making your own books and learning materials.

I was happy to find that someone had made a book called Ten Elephants and a Spider's Web based on a traditional song that we sing to Harrison.

I am currently working on the illustrations for a book I hope to have available on Lulu within the next couple months. The book is called My Pet Jellyfish and is geared towards younger readers. I am hoping to have it available in English, Spanish, and as a bilingual version.

What book or learning resource would you make?

Spanish Classes for Parents

2008-09-11T19:19:00.006-06:00

I was recently presented with the opportunity to teach basic Spanish classes for adults and am looking for some suggestions on textbooks, workbooks, materials, etc. I love teaching, but have never taught Spanish. I have some ideas on what I think is important and what material should be taught, but I want to get some outside input.

The classes would be relatively small and would allow me to give the students personal attention. Class would be held in the evenings at the McKee Language School (a Spanish-immersion preschool). The idea is to teach the parents of the students (or anyone else) how to pronounce the letters of the Spanish alphabet so that they can speak and read with their children. The class would also teach basic conversational and household Spanish.

I've looked at a few books but wasn't very impressed with any of them. Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone taken a similar course and had something that they liked or disliked about it?

Frijolitos - Fun and Educational Books That Celebrate Latin Culture

2008-09-11T05:19:00.009-06:00

I apologize for my recent absence from posting. Things at work have been keeping me busy during the day and remodeling a house has been keeping me busy in the evenings. Things have finally slowed down a little and I should be posting more regularly.

For those new to this blog, I run a small company called Spanglish Books. We sell Spanish and bilingual books, games, and learning materials through book fairs and through our online store. One of the great things about owning this company is that I get to test out all kinds of Spanish products and read all kinds of Spanish and bilingual children's books.

I recently came across a company called Frijolitos that publishes bilingual children's books. This is the kind of company I love to find and whose products I love to sell. They are dedicated to providing fun and educational products that celebrate the traditions, folklore, and culture of Latin America.

Last week I previewed two of their titles: Picadillo the Armadillo / Picadillo el Armadillo and Tuguita Tere - A Home For My Books / Un Hogar Para Mis Libros. The first thing I was impressed by were the illustrations which are vibrant and full of action. The stories are both fun and educational and highlight various aspects of Latin culture.

Parents and educators will like that the text is in both English and Spanish with select vocabulary highlighted in both languages. At the end of each book is a section with tips on how to read with children as well as lesson plans and vocabulary based on the book.

One of the things that I look for in choosing books for my company is to choose books that not only help children to learn Spanish but also teach about Spanish-speaking cultures. Frijolitos is doing and excellent job of doing both and I join them in their slogan:

¡Viva la Cultura!…Long Live Latino Culture!

Classic Children's Stories in Spanish - Cody's Cuentos

2008-07-25T11:54:00.002-06:00

I just found a great new resource this morning. The website is called Cody's Cuentos. The website features classic children's stories like Rumpelstiltskin and Peter and the Wolf as well as regional stories. All of the stories are available to read or listen to in Spanish. The best part is that all of the audio stories are told by native Spanish speakers. I just subscribed to the podcast so that I can get all the new episodes downloaded automatically. I can tell already that this is going to be one of my new favorite sites! Give them a listen!

Learn Spanish With Your Kids

2008-07-18T17:49:00.004-06:00

There has been a lot of buzz lately on Karen's blog about adults who want to learn Spanish. I thought I would try to add to the conversation by reviewing a couple products I have come across that are designed for parents and their children to learn Spanish together. The great thing about both of these products is that they come with audio CD's that you listen to (with native Spanish-speakers) as you do the activities in the book with your children.

The first is a book and CD called Play and Learn Spanish by Ana Lomba and Marcela Summerville. This is a great book and CD combination that has over 50 songs, games, and everyday activities to help you and your children learn Spanish together. The book and CD are split up into 28 sections that cover basic, everyday activities. Some of these activities are listed below:

Good Morning!
Ready for the Day
Let's Go Outside!
Let's Cook!
Lunchtime
Dinnertime
In the Kitchen
Bath Time!

One thing that I really like about this book is that the CD is completely in Spanish and makes it easy to create "immersion" activities where only Spanish is spoken. The book and CD teach you basic phrases and vocabulary related to each of the activities, as well as fun songs, games, and rhymes. It tries to create a natural learning environment by having you do things that you normally do, only in Spanish. I think this is the best way to learn for kids because it doesn't feel like Spanish lessons. Since you do these things everyday, the repetition makes the phrases and vocabulary easy to remember.
The second product, Learn Spanish Together, is more like a Spanish learning kit than a book. It comes with three workbooks and CDs: Learn Spanish Anywhere, Learn Spanish in the Car, and Learn Spanish in the Kitchen. Each book and CD has 16 games and activities that have you doing things like making lunch, making musical instruments, playing games, coloring, and much more. The kit also includes crayons, stickers, and a Parent's and Teacher's Guide that explains how to use everything. The activities are geared towards children 4 to 8 and involve a lot of participation. Like Play and Learn Spanish, you put in the CD and listen to the native Spanish-speakers guide you through the activities. Unlike Play and Learn Spanish, the CDs are in both Spanish and English.

For those of you trying to teach your child a language other that Spanish, both of these products are available in other languages (French and Italian).

If you have used or heard about any other similar products, please let us know!

Pocoyo: Fun and Dance with Pocoyo

2008-07-03T16:39:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Karen, I am now a huge Pocoyo fan. After watching my first episode online, I immediately thought "where can I get this on DVD?" As it turns out it was harder than I thought it would be to track down. You would think that a show that was produced in Spain in Spanish would be available on DVD in Spanish. My wife finally emailed someone affiliated with Pocoyo in the U.S. and was told that the DVD Pocoyo: Fun and Dance with Pocoyo had a Spanish track as well as English. I ordered the DVD from Amazon and, much to my surprise, the Spanish track is different that the episodes I have been watching online! It has been re-recorded with a much more generic Spanish that the original. Even some of the character's names are different (Pajaroto is now Pajadormilon). One of the reasons that I loved watching the episodes online was that I really liked the accents from Spain. I think it is still worth buying if you are looking for an entertaining and educational Spanish program to show your young kids. I just wish they had kept the original Spanish track...

(Mis) Translations

2008-06-30T16:32:00.005-06:00

As a continuation of my last post about how reading translations can bring new meaning to the text, translations can also make you laugh. Here are a few (mis)translations that I found to be pretty funny:

When Ford introduced the Pinto in Brazil, it learned the hard way that "pinto" was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.

When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word "embarazar" meant embarasss. Instead the ads said that "It won't leak in your pocket and make your pregnant."

An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato".

When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.
*UPDATE* Thanks to Janine Libbey for pointing out that this story is actually an urban myth and never really happened.

I only chose to list some of the Spanish translations since that is my second language, but other languages are not immune. For more click here.

Reading In Other Languages

2008-06-25T07:03:00.003-06:00

I came across an interesting quote in the book that I am reading, Raising A Bilingual Child, about reading in more than one language.

Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, a bilingual Irish-English poet, suggested that different translations each "underline different facets of the original, like differing cuts of a diamond can bring out different lights in a stone."

The author states that "poetry, of all the arts, demands to be read in the original language. No translation can capture the entire sense of words in another language, especially the precisely chosen words of a poem."

Here is an interesting analysis of a translation of a poem by Pablo Neruda that I found on this site:

AQUÍ
Me vine aquí a contar las campanas
que viven en el mar,
que suenan en el mar,
dentro del mar.

Por eso vivo aquí.

HERE
I came here to count the bells
that live upon the surface of the sea,
that sound over the sea,
within the sea.

So, here I live.

Based on the following reasons, here is an alternate translation of the same poem. Notice the difference in imagery and meaning.

"Contar" can mean "to count" --- but it also can be translated as "tell" or "tell about" or "relate."
"En el mar" most often means "in the sea." It says nothing about "the surface."
"Suenan" can mean "sound" or "ring," but if it has a tilde over the "ñ" --- it also can mean "dream of." This is what poets think of as a "word shadow."

Thus we could translate the poem,

HERE
I came here to tell of the bells
that live in the sea
that dream of the sea ---
Within the sea.

Thus I live here.

Since I started learning Spanish I have been fascinated by how one word can mean so many different things. The same is true in English of course, but I had never paid much attention to it until learning Spanish. In the example above "contar" has two distinct meanings that make a significant difference in the two translations.

I am interested to hear what your experience has been with reading translations.

Raising a Bilingual Child - Barbara Zurer Pearson

2008-06-18T08:31:00.003-06:00

I have a really bad habit of reading too many books at once. The latest addition to my current reading pile is Raising a Bilingual Child by Barbara Zurer Pearson. It just came in the mail yesterday so I have only had time to read part of the introduction.

The books claims to be a sort of step-by-step guide to raising a bilingual child with encouragement, advice, and real life examples from other families.

I'm excited to get more into the book. I will try to post anything interesting or helpful that I come across as I read it.

Do you have any other good books about raising bilingual children?

Pocoyo - The Best Children's Program Ever Made?

2008-06-10T07:31:00.004-06:00

Karen at the Teaching and Learning Spanish blog got me hooked on Pocoyo. It's an animated children's program for preschool aged kids that was originally produced in Spain. Not having seen many children's programs (other than Sesame Street growing up), I think this could be the best program ever! It certainly blows the socks off of Barney.

The animation is very lively and entertaining. and there are no backgrounds so viewers really focus on the characters (which are all great). The episodes are short and very funny. I watched about 6 episodes last night and loved every one. Each episode teaches basic things and invites participation from the viewers. I have been looking online to see if they are available on DVD in Spanish. If anyone has found them please let me know. I like that the Spanish is very basic and easy to understand and I also like listening to the narrator with his accent from Spain. Below is a full episode called "Super Pocoyo"

Dreams / Sueños

2008-06-05T08:00:00.008-06:00

I have had dreams about Harrison since before he was born. Most of them have made me laugh at the things he was doing but if he turns out to be anything like what I have seen in my dreams, he is going to be a real handful!

Last night I had another dream about Harrison, only this time he was speaking Spanish! Maybe it was because I had just read this post yesterday. Anyway, Harrison was a little older and was sitting on my lap and we were playing a game in Spanish where I was asking him where different body parts were on himself and on me. I asked him "¿Dónde está el cabello de papi?" He touched the top of my head and said "cabello...papi". It made me so happy in my dream when I realized that he was speaking Spanish.

Hopefully this will be more that just a dream!

A Bilingual Kid in 15 Hours a Week?

2008-05-28T07:33:00.003-06:00

Can you really have a bilingual kid in 15 hours a week? Here is another excerpt from my father-in-law's book about duolingual parenting that I found both interesting and encouraging:

"Our experience is that it takes about 15 to 20 hours a week talking to our children in the target language in play episodes to produce a functional bilingual child. How should the fifteen hours be distributed over the week? During the preschool years, from ages 2 to 6, our children needed a reasonable period of time, preferably each day, where the only language they heard was Spanish. It was not good enough that the total time of say two hours a day be spread out in little segments of a few sentences here and there. Such a pattern lacked focus and did little to help the children generate the rules about the language."

"Our girls need exposure in Spanish in long enough blocks of time to be caught up and engrossed in the linguistic environment. This usually required a minimum of 20 minutes of engrossing activity to produce a meaningful immersion experience. A chain of activities about 20 minutes long, one building upon the other, for one or two hours at a time produced the best results for us. During this extended period of time, the girls were able to think and describe and communicate about the activity in the target language. It was during this type of experience that observable progress in generating Spanish usage and grammar could be detected. Two or three play episodes linked together gave them enough time to fix some useful usage firmly in their minds."

"Will fifteen hours each week give a child enough time to learn a second language? Our experience is that it is not necessary to immerse the child in the target language the entire day to create enough exposure time in the target language. One to three play episodes a day (depending on how long it takes to finish an episode) is usually sufficient. This means that as few as fifteen hours a week in the home, preferably immersed in the target language one to two hours at a time each day, will produce satisfactory results. (p 38-39)"

Wow! Fifteen hours a week doesn't seem like a long time. I am trying to speak to Harrison 100% of the time in Spanish, but I am not home all day for him to hear me. Luckily I work close to home and I can come home for lunch every day and get some extra time with him. It is encouraging to know that is as little as 15 to 20 hours a week I can have a bilingual kid! I think the quality of the 15 hours a week is very important and each episode should be long enough for the child to be completely immersed in and focused on the second language.

El Zahir - Reading in Spanish for Entertainment and Study

2008-05-21T13:15:00.006-06:00

I just started reading El Zahir by Paulo Coelho and am really enjoying it. I wanted to switch up my reading a little bit and squeeze in a few books in Spanish in an attempt to improve my Spanish. I decided to read El Zahir partly because I found a hardback copy at a used book sale for $1 and also because I read El Alquimista a while ago and thought it was a really intelligent and though provoking book.

I am hoping that by reading books in Spanish that I will be able to improve my vocabulary and grammar. I understand around 90% of what I am reading and keep a Spanish/English dictionary close by to make up for the other 10%. When I find a word that I don't know, I look it up and write it in English in the book. I have been through the same process with other books that I have read in Spanish and think that it is an easy way to study Spanish and be entertained at the same time.

Spanish Lesson Plans for Children

2008-05-21T13:01:00.004-06:00

Jessica Roberts has a nice blog about raising her kids to be bilingual called Spanish Lesson Plans for Children. She has also put together some easy to follow Spanish lesson plans and activities that can be done with your children at home. You can sign up for her monthly newsletter, Spanish Time!, for free and also get a free Spanish Colors lesson plan when you register. Although Harrison is a little young for some of the activities in the lesson plans, they will be a good resource when he gets older.

Duolingual vs Bilingual

2008-05-20T07:55:00.005-06:00

My father-in-law, Dr. Trevor McKee, wrote a book called Duolingual Parenting that I have recently started to read. One of the things that I found interesting in the first few pages was the difference between the words duolingual and bilingual.

Duolingual
"The term was coined to describe a resident of the dominant culture who speaks two languages, but whose primary language is the same as that of the dominant culture. For example, a duolingual American is one who speaks a foreign language, perhaps Spanish, exclusively or intermittently in the home or community as a nonnative speaker with unparalleled fluency. The expected linguistic outcome for children of the duolingual parent is to produce a bilingual child with near-parallel fluency in both languages so he or she will be able to communicate in the language of another country." (page 2)

Bilingual
"The term bilingual, in contrast, has both a generic and a specialized meaning. The generic or common meaning is that one speaks two languages naturally with near-equal fluency. The specialized and widely held denotation in education throughout most of the United States describes those residing in the dominant culture speaking a non-dominant language as their primary language or language of the home, but who are fluent in or are learning English as a second language. The linguistic outcome for children of the bilingual parent is to produce a bilingual child fluent in both languages so he or she will be able to integrate socially and linguistically into the dominant culture." (page 2)

I had never considered the subtle difference between the two terms and have alway thought that they were synonymous. I have always thought of myself as being bilingual (although I recognize that I am not completely fluent in Spanish). After reading this part of the book, a more accurate way to describe myself is as being duolingual.

Which one are you? Duolingual or bilingual?

www.mybilingualkid.com

2008-05-19T09:52:00.003-06:00

Thanks to my brother-in-law, I have just started to move the blog over to www.mybilingualkid.com. For now you will still be able to get new posts here, but eventually I will probably only be posting to the new site. The main reason for the change is that the new site will give me a little more flexibility to do some of the things that I have in mind. Please, check it out and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Family Support

2008-05-19T09:24:00.002-06:00

One of the things that has had me worried about this whole experience is that I wasn't sure how our families would take our trying to teach Harrison Spanish, but the last few weeks have shown that everything is going to be alright. I have read other stories online about families that tried to discourage bilingual education and, while I knew that our family wouldn't try to persuade us to give it up, I was worried that they would feel left out. I have really been surprised to see how excited my family is about it. The other day when we were out to dinner with them, my mom and sister were asking me how to say a few things in Spanish so that they could talk to Harrison in Spanish. My sister even told me that she wanted to find some cds to learn Spanish!

On Sabrina's side of the family, her mom has been really supportive too. It's not hard to see why considering that it was her husband who studied language acquisition in children as a professor at BYU and developed a method for teaching children a second language that Sabrina uses in her preschool. Sabrina was raised in a bilingual home where her father spoke to her exclusively in Spanish until she was about 5 years old.

I guess that's one of my fears and doubts that I can check off of my list!

New Words

2008-05-14T09:09:00.002-06:00

I finally pulled out my Spanish-English dictionary last night so that I could look up some of the words that I have been wanting to say and have been avoiding because I didn't know them. Here are some of the words that I had to look up (they may seem strange, but keep in mind that Harrison is 4 months old):

burp - eructo, eructar
sneeze - estornudo, estornudar
wiggle - menear(se)
swing - columpio, columpiar

Raising Bilingual Children Video

2008-05-13T09:34:00.003-06:00

Here is a short video report from Better.tv on some things you can do to encourage bilingualism with your children. Most of the tips relate to things that are available at public libraries (bilingual books, Spanish story time).

Call For Submissions

2008-05-13T08:08:00.004-06:00

I am very interested in hearing from families who are trying to raise their children to be bilingual. In an effort to satisfy my own interests and to provide insights to this blogs readers, I am asking for your profiles, stories, successes, resources, etc. If you would like to share your story, please submit a short profile about you and your family, how you got interested in raising bilingual children, how you started, some of your struggles and successes, and suggestions for other families.

I am also going to look into conducting interviews with some of my contacts in the local Spanish education system. If you have someone you would like me to interview (or if you would like to be interviewed) please send me a short email with the name of the person, a little about them and what they do, and their contact information.

Please email me with your submissions.

Weekend Spanish

2008-05-12T08:46:00.005-06:00

One thing that I have already noticed since I have been trying to speak to Harrison in Spanish is that it gets really hard on the weekends when we are around other people (family, friends, neighbors) who don't speak the language. It is so much easier during the week because we are at home most of the time and because I know that Sabrina understands what I am saying. I think that there are two reasons why it is harder for me to speak to him around other people:

The first reason is that I don't want other people to feel left out of the conversation. Having been in situations where I have been left out because I didn't speak a particular language, I understand that it can be frustrating. One solution might be to look at it as an opportunity to teach a little Spanish to my family and include them in the learning process.

The second reason I find it hard to speak to Harrison around other people is that it's kind of weird (or at least I imagine that it's weird) to see a guy who is obviously not a native Spanish speaker trying to speak to his son in Spanish. I know that it is a little silly, but it is still something that I struggle with. I find myself whispering quietly to Harrison when we are in public because I am a little embarrassed about how I must look.

I am afraid that this blog is turning into a place for me to vent my frustrations, but I am pretty sure that other families have been through the same things. I would love to hear how others have been able to get past the things that I am struggling with.

Do I know enough of my second and non-native language to try and teach it to my children?

2008-05-09T10:39:00.006-06:00

In response to my earlier post about fears and doubts, I found a pretty good FAQ on the BYU Humanities site about raising bilingual children. One of the questions on the FAQ is: Do I know enough of my second and non-native language to try and teach it to my children? Here is the response:

Perhaps the most damaging bilingual parenting myth, which prevents many qualified parents from thinking they are qualified to raise bilingual children, is the myth that you should be a native speaker of a language to teach that language effectively to your children. You do not have to be a native speaker of a foreign language to teach that language to your children. Nor do you have to be living in a country where that language is spoken to teach it to your children. Although very few parents attempt to teach their non-native language to their children, it has been done successfully. And near native fluency is not a requirement. In George Saunder's book, Bilingual Children: From Birth to Teens, Saunders reports in detail of one case of infant bilingualism where the second language taught by the parents was native to neither parent, and in fact the parents were rated by the Foreign Service Institute as intermediate speakers of their second language:

"Reports on cases of infant bilingualism where one of the languages acquired by the child is not the native language of either parent, nor the dominant language of the community, are rare; apart from his [Saunders'] own research, only three are known to this writer: Past, Dimitrijevic and Stephens. Past reports on his daughter Mariana's acquisition of English and Spanish in Texas. Both he and his wife are native English speakers of English, and both also speak Spanish, although far from perfectly. On a Foreign Service Institute type language proficiency test, where a score of 0 represents a complete lack of communicative ability and a score of 5 indicates the ability of an educated native speaker, Past and his wife scored 2+ and 3+ respectively. The Past family's situation differs in several ways from the present study, the principal difference being that the parents attempted to spend 60-90 minutes a day talking only Spanish to each other and to their daughter. That is, in the home there was no clear division of language according to interlocutor. Instead, Mariana was encouraged to speak Spanish, and not English, to both parents at certain times of the day. To increase her exposure to spoken Spanish, her parents encouraged her to watch bilingual television programs, gave her opportunities to play with Spanish-speaking children, and at age 5;0 enrolled her in a bilingual kindergarten. As another means of exposing Mariana to native quality Spanish, her parents began to teach her to read the language, along with English, when she was only 1 year 11 months old and just learning to speak. And what were the results of this experiment? Although Mariana preferred to speak English whenever she had a choice, and although her speech was not as rapid in Spanish as in English and she occasionally had to grope for a Spanish expression, she could communicate well in Spanish if she wanted to. The Oral Language Dominance Measure administered at the start of school showed her English to be only slightly superior to her Spanish and she rated as a balanced bilingual capable of receiving instruction in either language. Her reading ability was assessed as a second grade level in both languages. . . . Her experience with speaking and reading the two languages resulted in practically no confusion and she enjoyed normal relations with her peers. " (33)

I know that parents who speak their non-native language to their children have been successful because I have met a few families who have done it. It is easy to get overwhelmed by a perceived lack of language ability, but that doesn't mean that it is impossible. I like the example from the quote above about the family with two parents who had only average proficiency in Spanish. It just shows that if you are dedicated to bilingualism, you can make it happen.

It also doesn't hurt to expose your child to other sources of the language like music, native speakers, books, movies or TV programs, etc. Here is another question and answer from the BYU FAQ: If I want to teach my children my second language, how can I compensate for my non-native language abilities and help my children learn beyond my abilities?

Try to increase your child's exposure to the second language as much as you can. Form a playgroup with other children who speak the foreign language. Make an effort to learn songs that you can sing to your child at night. Acquire a library of books you can read to your children. Play children's song tapes in the car. Find videos in the foreign language for your children. Use a dictionary to look up a few words each day that you do not know. Review the grammar books. Read books and magazines to yourself for at least a few minutes a day; keep a dictionary nearby to look up unfamiliar words you find in your reading. Play games with your children. Give yourself lots of encouragement and praise; do not get discouraged just because you find yourself fumbling for expressions and vocabulary.

I found a lot of good ideas of things that I can do to expose Harrison to more Spanish. Apart from me taking time to study and improve my own abilities; we can read books in Spanish, play Spanish music and audio books, and watch movies or TV in Spanish. We also plan on enrolling him in a Spanish immersion preschool when he is old enough.

I would like to hear from you. What things have you done to make up for your lack of language ability?

My First Spanish Animal Board Book / Mi Primer Libro de Animales en Espanol

2008-05-07T15:01:00.002-06:00

I was reading this book with Harrison on my lunch break today. He is fascinated with the pictures of the animals and gets really excited looking at them. It's a good book for me to read to him since it helps me to learn the names of a lot of different animals. I think we picked this book up at a used book sale, but it is available on Amazon.com for $6.99. There are a few other books in the series that I want to see if I can find since Harrison seems to like this one and since they are good for helping me to learn new vocabulary.

Online Spanish Test

2008-05-07T14:42:00.004-06:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am far from being fluent. How far from fluent is difficult to judge. I was searching around the other day for an online Spanish test so that I could get an idea of where I was at and what I needed to study to improve my grammar. I found a pretty good one at Don Quijote that I decided to take. Their test has five different levels: Inicial, Elemental, Intermedio I, Intermedio II, and Avanzado. Each level has 10 multiple choice questions. As you answer questions correctly, you move on to the more advanced levels. I ended up in the Intermedio II level. The things that got me confused were the past tense subjunctive and future tense subjunctive.

These types of tests are useful in getting an idea of where you are and what you need to improve. I have always been a little confused with the subjunctive and now I have test results to prove that I don't understand it!

If anyone knows of any other good online Spanish tests I would like to hear about them. I am especially interested in vocabulary tests.

On a side note, Don Quijote also has online Spanish lessons, a section on common Spanish errors, Spanish games, etc. I plan on spending some more time on their site to see what all they offer.

Language Systems

2008-05-06T09:51:00.006-06:00

One of the things that Sabrina and I need to decide now is what language system we want to use to teach Harrison Spanish. Until recently he has only been getting sporadic exposure to Spanish. I have been making an effort lately to speak to him in Spanish as much as possible. I think for this to work we will need to decide on a language system and then stick to it. Having a formal language system can reduce the tendency for children to mix languages and can sometimes prevent the child from refusing to speak the minority language.

There are several language systems to choose from. Following is a brief explanation of some of the most popular systems. For more detailed information, please visit the Multilingual Children's Association.

One Person, One Language (OPOL)
This is the most obvious way to raise bilingual children if one parent speaks another language. In this system the parent (or grandparent, nanny, etc) speaks to the child exclusively in the minority language. In our case this would mean that I would speak to Harrison only in Spanish. While it would be difficult for me, especially as he gets older, I think that this would be the most effective way for Harrison to learn. This is the method used by Sabrina's father to teach her Spanish. He spoke to her exclusively in Spanish until she was 5 years old. As a result she has a much less "gringo" accent than I do.

Some of the concerns I have about this method are that I would need to develop a much better vocabulary and I would worry about excluding others (family, friends, etc) who don't speak Spanish from the conversation. It would put a lot of pressure on me as the lone Spanish-speaking parent.

Minority Language at Home (MLAH)
In this system the family speaks only the minority language at home and the majority or community language everywhere else. In our case Sabrina and I would both speak to Harrison in Spanish when we are at home. This system appeals to me because it would take a lot of the pressure off of me being the only parent speaking a non-native language. It would also help Sabrina and I to improve our Spanish-speaking abilities together.

Other Systems
There are many other systems that can be used, most of which are variations on two above systems.

In the end, I think that we will end up choosing a hybrid system and supplement Harrison's language exposure with Spanish immersion school, Spanish storytime at the library, etc.

I am interested to hear what has worked for other bilingual families and what factors went into choosing the right language system for your family.

Fears and Doubts

2008-05-02T10:35:00.004-06:00

I hate to have my second post be titled "Fears and Doubts" because I am really excited about starting to teach Harrison Spanish. But with that excitement I also have some doubts about my ability to effectively teach my son Spanish. I suspect that some of you have had the same fears and doubts that I have. If so, please let me know how you have resolved them.

Number 1:
I am not a native Spanish speaker. I am fairly confident in my ability to speak, read, and write in Spanish, but I don't consider myself to be fluent. One of the biggest fears that I have going into this experience is that my grammar and vocabulary are lacking. How will I be able to teach him if I don't know the words for so many of the things around me? There have already been a few kind of awkward silences as I have struggled to find the right words.

Number 2:
I have a very bad habit of starting projects and not finishing them. Another one of my fears is that I will get excited about raising a bilingual child only to get burned out on it later and give up. One of my reasons for starting this blog was to help keep me motivated to stick with it. I think that if I have someone to "report to" (readers of this blog) that I will be more likely to keep at it.

Number 3:
Another real fear I have is related to Number 1. I worry that if I only speak to Harrison in Spanish that I won't have the right vocabulary to be able to express my feelings and "connect" with him emotionally.

Number 4:
I don't want to alienate family and friends who don't speak Spanish. I don't want others to feel left out of the conversation if I am speaking to Harrison in Spanish.

Number 5:
What if he doesn't like it? What if he only wants to speak in English?

The answer to some of these doubts is more study on my part to learn correct grammar and to increase my vocabulary. Some of the other answers I think will be found as we go. Anyone have any ideas?

An Introduction

2008-05-01T21:25:00.003-06:00

Welcome to My Bilingual Kid! I would like to get things rolling by introducing myself and outlining some of the goals and ideas I have for the blog.

First the introduction. My name is Josh and I am from Salt Lake City, Utah. My native language is English but I am trying to teach my 3 month old son Spanish. I took a few years of Spanish classes while in junior high but didn't learn much more than a few swear words. My real education in the Spanish language began when I was 22 years old and decided to become a missionary for the LDS church. I spent two years in San Diego, California. By the end of my two years, I had fallen in love with the language, culture and food and felt fairly confident in my ability to understand, speak, read in Spanish. I decided there that I would try to pass along my new skill to any future children that I would have. I continued my Spanish education by taking classes at the University of Utah as well as reading. A few years later I met my wife, Sabrina, who happened to be running a Spanish immersion preschool and whose father had developed a method of teaching young children language while a professor at BYU. I started a small company, Spanglish Books, to help provide Spanish and bilingual books and learning materials to schools with Spanish and bilingual programs in Utah through book fairs. After being married for about two years we had our son Harrison. He is now 3 months old and I am just starting to develop a strategy and speak to him in Spanish.

I hope to use this blog to document my experience, with all the victories and failures, teaching my son Spanish. I hope that you, the reader, will be able to learn from some of the mistakes that I am bound to make and also hope to be able to learn from you what things have worked in your families. I will also be reviewing books, toys, and other products that I come across as well as tips and information on raising bilingual kids. I hope that it will become a resource for other parents who are trying to raise bilingual kids as well as a kind of support community. I am open to any comments, suggestions, and ideas.

In my next few posts I will try to share some of the things that I have read about raising bilingual kids and document some of my early experiences with Harrison. Please keep checking back for updates. If you are a parent trying to raise bilingual children I would love to hear from you.