Making Summer Count (1)

I’ve been MIA again for a while, but I wanted to check in and say hi!  So much to do this summer and so little time to just sit and write but I promise we have been trying to keep up with our Spanish every day.  Here is a little recap of the fun we have been having with Spanish.  I hope to find the time to get into more detail on them soon, too.

  • We went to Mexico City and Cancun.  The kids were able to meet a TON of family and really fell in love with the culture and language.  This visit especially made them really excited to learn more!
  • We started Spanish Immersion Summer School (just two weeks, but still a good program).  They came home singing songs and told me how excited they were to count to 100 in Spanish.  Nice! We also took a couple of fields trips with the school to learn about different cultures.  I love that!
  • I also ordered Kids Start Spanish Series.  The boys like the memory game and the flash cards.  The videos are a little repetitive, but then again, repetition is always good, right?
  • Oh, and I ordered Whistlefritz Lesson Plans and hope to be able to summon the teacher spirit that runs in my family somehow to keep them engaged.

What have you been up to this summer?  Any tips to keep your kids on the right track for learning languages?  How do you keep up with individual lessons when school starts?  All suggestions welcome! Hope to chat soon!  Enjoy the rest of your summer! 

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Celebrating Life

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Saturday was a wonderful day! We were lucky enough to celebrate with some amazing friends in the morning in our full Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) attire ready for a full day of festivities.  The real Day of the Dead is on November 1st, but because that is a Tuesday, the parade and festival was held on the 29th.

El Dia de los Muertos is a beautiful way to pay tribute to our loved ones that are no longer with us. It is not about sadness, but about celebration of life.  I love that I live in a place where these amazing traditions are honored. In Austin, there is a long standing celebration called Viva La Vida (Celebrate Life) where people can show their love for traditions together.  It is on it’s 32nd year!  Now that is an extraordinary feat in itself! Here is a quick description from their site:

Viva la Vida is Austin’s largest and longest-running Day of the Dead festival featuring Latino artists and entertainment, an exhibition, and educational programs in the heart of downtown.  Part of the proceeds will benefit the education programs of Mexic-Arte Museum, whose mission is to enrich the community through education programs and exhibitions focusing on traditional and contemporary Mexican, Latino, and Latin American art and culture.

Being able to share moments like these with my littles makes me one happy mama. My little loves know how much I love the fact that it is about celebrating life and they celebrate it with me.  We have a mini altar for those we love and miss in my house and my boys know all abut this special day.  Here are some fun pictures from the day. I hope you enjoy them!

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Special Guest Post! Keli Garcia Allen

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Hello everyone! Today, I am so fortunate to share with a very valuable post on how we can help our kids become Bicultural.  I talk about being bilingual, but being bicultural is just as if not more important as it helps people not only understand the language, but understand  how amazing other cultures can be.  Please read her post and enjoy!  Don’t forget to follow her on her links at the end of the post.

Beyond Bilingual: 7 Ways to Help Your Child Become Bicultural 

Foreign language teachers often talk about the importance of learning about culture when studying a language. For students, it’s often the most exciting part of a class! Listening to the music, eating the food, and participating in the celebrations of a particular culture make language study exciting and can entice even the most reticent of learners to participate. Learning about the culture may in fact be just as important as learning the language. The goal is to inspire students to not only become bilingual, but also bicultural, or at the very least, respectful of the culture. Below I examine the true meaning of biculturalism and highlight 7 awesome strategies you can use to guide your children on the path of bicultural education.

What Is Biculturalism?

Biculturalism involves the adaptation of two cultures into a mix that will be unique to an individual. It occurs when a person has cultural behaviors such as language use, choice of friends, media preferences, cultural practices, values and identifications that are influenced by two distinct cultures. So, it doesn’t only mean behaving in ways that are influenced by two cultures (i.e. speaking Chinese and English), but holding values from both cultures (such as strong family loyalty as well as an independent spirit) and identifying with both cultures (like identifying as “Mexican-American” as opposed to just Mexican or just American).

What Are The Benefits Of Biculturalism?

Although we may be somewhat unfamiliar with the terminology, the benefits of biculturalism have long been known. People who are bicultural feel comfortable in both settings, use coping strategies from both cultures, are able to interact with people from both cultures and can even act as intermediaries. They have a greater number of social networks, they are aware of cultural differences and they can enjoy the richness of the life of multiple cultures. Research has even demonstrated that bicultural individuals are more likely to display advanced reasoning (e.g. seeing both sides of an argument and understanding multiple perspectives on complex social issues) and that they are characterized by superior creativity and professional success.*

How Do We Help Our Children Become Bicultural?

Many believe that becoming bicultural is an effect of the circumstances that surround a family. If a family is in a city with a large number of individuals who share the same heritage culture, they will maintain their culture more easily. Therefore, if they are in an area where they are isolated from their culture, they will most likely adapt to the surrounding culture.  However, the family does not simply act as a conduit for the environmental and cultural influences at large. Rather, parents can actively decide how they want their children to acculturate.

Parents can choose to raise their children one of three ways: they can raise their children in a way in which both the heritage and receiving cultural streams are emphasized and valued, they can emphasize the heritage culture more, or they can actively encourage their children to adapt to the mainstream culture. If you want to ensure your child’s biculturalism, then the first option is the one for you.

If you are in an area where your heritage culture is present, then you will have a lot of support from the community, and you can easily emphasize and integrate both cultures into your family life. However, if you are in an area that is devoid of your cultural heritage, then you will have to make a greater effort to teach your children about the customs, traditions, and other cultural markers of your heritage.

One of the most obvious ways of doing this is through language. However, as I said above, culture is more than language, and we must step out beyond in order for our children to learn about their roots. Here are a few ideas to help your child connect with your heritage culture:

  1. Read Authentic Books

Not only is reading essential for language learning, but it is one of the greatest ways in which we can transmit ideas, cultural norms and traditional stories to them. Reading together, especially from a very young age, can also create a strong bond and feelings of well-being between you and a child.

  1. Listen To Music & Explore Other Artistic Traditions 

Music is an amazing cultural experience! Not only is it enjoyable, but it can emit feelings and thoughts in a way that no other medium can. But a culture’s artistic heritage is not limited to music; exploring dance, arts and crafts, sports and martial arts can all bring a sense of national, ethnic and cultural pride and understanding.

  1. Cook & Eat Traditional Foods

Food can truly be a part of who we are. The smells and flavors that emanate from a kitchen can create such strong memories! To this day, anytime I smell lemons I think of my Abuela, who had a lemon tree and used the fruit for everything from cooking to cleaning. Share the richness of your heritage through food with your children and not only will you be filling their bellies, but you will be creating memories.

  1. Seek Out Other Members Of Your Cultural Group 

One of the best ways to connect with your culture is to spend time and create bonds with people who share the same heritage. Having family and friends with whom you can practice language and effectively model cultural characteristics with will be a great way for your children to learn. Making a space where it is not only acceptable, but actually encouraged to celebrate their heritage can make a big difference for children.

  1. Travel

For many people travelling “home” is not always possible. However, if you ever have the opportunity, showing your children where their roots lie will be an unforgettable experience that can really bond them with their heritage.

  1. Participate In Festivals & Celebrations

If you are in an area that holds festivals and celebrations that are meaningful to you, by all means participate! If you aren’t, but can travel to an area that has them (especially if you cannot go back to your country of origin) then I encourage this as well!

  1. Discuss & Teach Some Of The Important Beliefs & Cultural Norms 

Having conversations with our children about our beliefs and norms is so very important. Teaching them wrong from right, teaching them manners, etc. starts at a young age. Don’t miss out on opportunities because you think they won’t understand, even from a very young age, they will always gather a lot from their conversations with you!

As parents wishing to raise bilingual children, It’s important to remember that bilingualism and biculturalism are not the same thing. We may speak to our children in different languages, but if we fail to present the culture in an authentic manner, our kids may miss out on the true depth and richness of our language and heritage. Even if the language you are teaching you children is not part of your heritage, always do your best to include culture into their learning. It’s the best method you have for creating an interest in others and for bringing up compassionate and caring children who will want to experience and explore the world.

We want to hear from you! Are you raising your children to be bicultural? How are you going about it? Let us know in the comments below.

About the Author

Keli Garcia Allen is a certified Spanish teacher and works as a Preschool teacher in a bilingual classroom. She is the Head of Content for Learn Safari and is currently working on Spanish Safari, a Spanish Learning game for children 5-9 years old. You can follow her and the rest of the team on their Website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

* https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201304/advantages-being-bicultural

Review of Language Together’s Spanish Books!

Hi!  It’s me! How have you been?  I hope everyone is fabulous!

I wanted to pop in and let you know about a great program for kids to learn Spanish. I was lucky enough to be able to share these awesome books in Spanish with my littles and now I get to share them with you! 

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Language Together offers programs in different languages for kids. We used the Spanish set, of course.  The set comes with 10 super cute books that introduce new words to kids in a fun way. 

The books are easy to read, have drawings the kids really like because they are funny and the stories are short and sweet.  Since we got them, my boys each get to pick one before nap. I read each page to them and they repeat it back to me. Sometimes we make it fun by saying it as loud we can, singing it or acting it out just to make it fun. I really think it is helping them not only identify words, but build their vocabulary to form clear sentences in Spanish.  This was something I struggled with as they only really wanted to give me one word answers to my questions before. 

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My boys love how silly the books are.

The books are very kid friendly which means the boys do not find them intimidating in the least.  Other programs I have tried have SO much information that they find it overwhelming. That can make learning seem like a chore.  These are little books just the right size for little hands that they can take to their room to browse.  They can share them, trade them and even copy them on their own paper. 

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My oldest is 6 and practicing his reading.  The way these books are written are perfect for him to practice his reading skills as well. I think these may be just what we need to learn to read in Spanish, too! I am very excited about this!

Here is Language Together’s decription of why they work (and I totally agree).

Step by step, our deceptively simple Flashcard Stories introduce new words and phrases. Target vocabulary is woven into short, clever stories that make kids laugh — and forget they are actually learning. Students pick up language naturally, effortlessly, through repeated exposure to comprehensible input.

Click HERE to find out more about the company. 

I completely recommend these books for your little ones.  Making a game out of them makes learning a new language not feel like a task. It’s a great program.  I wish there were more books!

Hope you like my review.  Have a wonderful week! 

Amazon link: Language Together 

Music Magic

I am a total advocate of music being the best tool for teaching.  I don’t think my kids would know the Spanish that they do know without it.  We still have a long way to go, but whenever I hear them sing in Spanish, I can’t help but feel so proud.  I mean, just look at these guys.  They melt my heart every day.

Both boys spend most of the day dancing and singing already.  What better way to make learning fun than adding Spanish songs to the list of songs we sing?  M picks his favorite songs on the Kindle for us to dance to. We also have a couple of CDs we listen to and dance to for our dance parties and I sing to them at night. To my surprise and pleasure lately they have been singing the songs I sing to them at night.

Today, I decided to share one of these amazing performances with you as one proud mama.  Please enjoy this lovely song in Spanish performed by my loves.  Have a happy day!

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