Play Create Explore: Oil and Water Activities: Kitchen Fireworks and Rainbow Raindrops

Play Create Explore: Oil and Water Activities: Kitchen Fireworks and Rainbow Raindrops

This has nothing to do with bilingualism, but lately with the freezing temps I need some indoor fun for a very active young man. I found this !

Story Time in Spanish. "El Cuento."

Do you want your kids to learn Spanish, but you don't speak it? Would you like your kids to experience a new language from time to time? 

I teach Nesta Spanish at home, and I read to him in Spanish. However, I wanted him to experience Story Time in Spanish. I remember back in Denver I would take the kids I took care of to story time at the library. Some libraries offered story time in Spanish, but it was always for older children (3-5 years-old). So , I was beyond excited when I saw that Multilingual Chicago offered story time in Spanish or "El Cuento." The age range at Multilingual Chicago is 11months to 3 years. I took Nesta right away.

Story time in Spanish at Multilingual Chicago is 3o minutes long, which is just long enough for little guys like Nesta. The class starts with toys on the ground for the kids to play with. Then we sing "adios juguetes" and the toys are put away. The instructor then plays with her hands and feet by clapping and stomping. There is some movement of the hands to the front and to the back. Sometimes if the class is large a big circle is made and then a little circle. The kids love the little circle. Then the instructor asks for each kid to say his/her name. She'll say "me llamo _____" and then when the kid says his/her name we'll sing it a couple of times like "me llamo Nesta, me llamo Nesta." By we I mean the moms because the kids don't say much. The parents are encouraged to participate as much as the kids. Some older kids do respond after a lot of repetition, but some kids like Nesta walk around trying to check out all the furniture in the room. More singing takes place, then a puppet comes out and says hi to the kids. The book finally comes out and the kids are encouraged to sing "abre el libro" which means open the book. The last two times we've gone the book has been a pop-out book which means I have to keep Nesta on my lap so he doesn't jump up and tear it! The instructor doesn't read a story from the book, rather points out the characters and makes the animal noises. In one case the story was La Oruga Muy Hambrienta, and the instructor had each fruit(fake)  that the caterpillar eats. She handed each kid a "ciruela" or "manzana" or "naranja." After looking at the book, each kid was asked to feed the very hungry caterpillar the fruit they had been given. This was my favorite story time. Maybe because I love La Oruga Muy Hambrienta, or maybe because of all the props the instructor had. Either way, story time in Spanish is a great tool for kids to learn Spanish. There is a lot of singing and repetition. The best, I think it's that the parents or caregivers have to participate. So, if your kid is shy, he or she may do what you are doing. I do have to say that I felt a bit foolish jumping around and dancing around to all the commands the instructor was giving, while Nesta was off somewhere else trying to find toys or the door. These are the things we go through as parents, and at the end of the day they do a little something that helps you realize that they were listening and they learned something new. I knew this when I praised Nesta for using his signs, I started singing a song I learned at Spanish story time which went like this "Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravisimo, bravo lo hiciste muy bien," as I clapped for him. He started clapping and humming the song. It's funny because Nesta never claps when others are clapping, he usually claps for himself on his own time. This time he clapped with me as I sang the song.
It's the little things. Oh, it's the little things.

¿Cómo se dice...?

I am thirty-four years young, and I arrived in the United States a month after I had turned fourteen-years-old. I've been immersed in the culture of the United States and the English language for about twenty years. I probably became fluent in English in my twenties. I cannot tell you which day, but I do remember thinking that I could understand things better. Most of the jobs I have held have not been jobs where I could speak Spanish constantly. Needless to say, I forget how to say certain things in Spanish. Some things I never even knew the name for it in Spanish. It's kind of funny sometimes, but definitely frustrating. This is another challenge.

A couple of weeks ago we took Nesta to the Shedd Aquarium during one of the free days. We were excited to show Nesta all the cool fish. Nesta was excited to walk around on carpeted floors. For some of the time I carried him and showed him certain types of fish that I found cool. At first I was telling him "Mira los peces, y el del rio que grande!" I was also using the sign for fish. Then we came across a stingray. I was like "Mira la... stingray." Ahhhhh it was so frustrating, and so funny. My husband and I had a laugh, but the entire rest of our time there I kept digging in my brain for the word for it. I also couldn't remember how to say walrus in Spanish, and I just did not know how to say sea otter in Spanish either. This all took me back to a conversation I had with my mom and cousins recently. I was telling them how Nesta loved eating scallops. No one could think of the word for scallops in Spanish.  I looked it up and according to the online dictionary it is vieria.  http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=scallop
Maybe I never dined on scallops when I lived in Mexico, but I definitely had never heard that word before. Actually, I have heard it but as someone's last name.

Well the word in Spanish for stingray is mantarraya. Of course, it came to me once we were home and there were no stingrays for me to show Nesta.
Another word I never knew in Spanish is nutria marina, which is the word for sea otter.
The translation of walrus is morsa. I had to look this one up, and once I saw the translation I remembered that I knew it. Just because we're in the topic of sea animals here are some more translations:
Fish: pez (note-pescado is what you eat, pescado means fished out).
Shark: tiburón
Dolphin: delfin
Whale: ballena

I wish I had taken a picture of Nesta at the Shedd Aquarium, but I was too busy chasing him around. Until next post!

Challenges

As with everything, there are challenges to raising a child bilingual. However, this is a choice that I am sticking with (gosh darn it!). As a new parent I have recently started to give myself a break. At first I beat myself up over not cloth diapering when he was first born. Now, I think that it was the best decision, because we do not have laundry in our place. Then I beat myself up for not letting him CIO, and the list goes on. I have become more relaxed about some of these things. But, there is one thing I will consistently beat myself up over and that's speaking in English to Nesta.

The most challenging time was Christmas. We were so excited to go to Brown County to visit my in-laws, and to see everyone we only see once a year. I was excited for Nesta to see everyone and for everyone to see how much he had changed. I did not realize that being around English speaking folks would really throw my game off. Even my mom was speaking in English to Nesta. She doesn't speak English often. I would be having conversations with one of my sisters-in-law and then I would turn to Nesta and tell him something in English. I caught myself many times and switched quickly to Spanish, but I felt incredibly guilty. Everyone was really great and kept asking me how to say snow in Spanish and so on. I don't think is affected him greatly that mama spoke in English to him, but I don't know that for certain. I did take this time as a learning experience. Now, I am more conscious of when I am around English-speaking folks and Nesta. I right away switch to Spanish when I speak to him because that's what I want him to do. I want him to look at me or anyone who speaks in Spanish and speak in Spanish to them. I also want him to turn around and look at Dad or anyone who speaks English and speak in English to them. Perhaps that's too much to ask for, but I'm his parent and I have high expectations of the little dude. Mainly, I have high expectations of myself. It is my responsibility to teach him to do this.

One of my biggest fears is to speak in Spanish to Nesta and to have him respond to me in English. I think I will cry if he does that. I was just recently at my cousin's house and she too is raising her children bilingual. She is also a dual-language teacher. Her child spoke to her in English while I was visiting. My cousin told her child that she could not understand what she wanted and to please speak in Spanish. Her child responded in English one more time, and my cousin asked her again to speak in Spanish. The third time her child responded in perfect Spanish and from that moment on she spoke in Spanish to her mom. 
I'm sure this scenario happens to her often, and I liked the way she dealt with it. I hope that if this happens to me that the solution is the same. Still, I hope my child knows who to speak in Spanish to.

Something that I thought might be a problem is the fact that my husband and I speak in English to each other. I don't want Nesta to think that Spanish is just the language between Nesta and mama, but then I realized that I speak in Spanish only to my mom. I have also made sure that Nesta hears me speaking in Spanish to other people. This is the reason I take him to Story Time at Multilingual Chicago. This is the reason why whenever a cashier at Target or Whole Foods decides to practice their Spanish with us I welcome it. My mother usually congratulates anyone who speaks in Spanish to her and I find that funny and awesome. My husband and I were once talking about the books we read to him at night. When my husband mentioned that he had been reading books in Spanish to Nesta I cringed. I wanted to tell him (maybe I did) that he should stick to English since that is the language he knows best, but then I thought that he might be learning Spanish by reading these books to Nesta. 

Nesta and Dad over Christmas break (12/2012)

I'm sure there will be more challenges as he grows and I teach him the alphabet in Spanish, and then to read in Spanish. I am not sure what my husband will do then. Right now when I teach Nesta something like "right" and "left" my husband echoes in English. We're new at this, and I am not sure if this is the right way. Right now this is the way for us.

Immersion

Per the definition of http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/immersion : instruction based on extensive exposure to surroundings or conditions that are native or pertinent to the object of study; especially  foreign language instruction in which only the language being taught is used <learned French through immersion> 

I believe that learning language through immersion is the best way and most effective way. This is just my humble opinion. I grew up in Mexico, and I lived in Mexico until I was 14-years-old. Throughout my life there I often took English classes. My mom paid private tutors and then in Secundaria that was part of my regular education. Yet, I was terrible at it. I didn't even know the cool new NKOTB songs. I mean I liked them, but I could not sing them. I remember my friend Myra Luna, you can see her blog here: http://www.myraluna.blogspot.com/ would sing to a bunch of songs in English, she knew every word. I won't mention here who she was listening to :D I would stare and wonder why I couldn't learn English, and why didn't I know the words to Ice Ice Baby! 

Well Myra learned English while in school, or maybe because her mom was an English teacher she could pick it up faster. Whatever the reason (and maybe she'll tell us, wink wink) I was not picking it up. In fact, I started failing my English class. This was a year before I was to travel to the United States that I started doing terrible in class. Crisis averted, I passed and I moved to the United States. I started going to high school and was in bilingual classes. Except my classes we not bilingual; they were in Spanish only. I demanded that I be switched to English classes. For some reason my counselor listened to me, and with the support of my amazing ESL teacher I was fully immersed in English classes. A lot of people were surprised that I was speaking in English by my sophomore year and giving my English teacher hell. Honestly, I just think that being in the culture of the United States, listening to all my classmates speak English, being involved in gymnastics and soccer, and doing homework ALL in English really helped me. Immersion really helped me. It doesn't mean that there aren't other ways. Not everyone can pick up and move to France to learn French (oh but I so want to), but there are other ways where immersion works.

Our household currently consists of: mom, dad, grandma, Albert (cat) and Nesta. Everyone here speaks to Nesta in the first language that they learned (mother tongue, native tongue, etc). So, I speak in Spanish to him, Dad speaks in English, and grandma speaks in Spanish to him. This works for us because the majority of the time he hears Spanish spoken and is starting to understand basic commands. He also understands English and the commands spoken by his dad or any family member who speaks English. Again, this is what works for us. It doesn't mean that this is what everyone should do. 

A friend of mine from high school is also raising her children bilingual. However, her and her family do it a bit differently. Her first language is English, but she speaks Spanish fluently. Therefore, she speaks in Spanish to her children. Her husband also speaks in Spanish to their children. She mentioned to me that because she home schools her children she has to do some instruction in English which is required by the state of Illinois. She said that her and her husband speak in Spanish to the children 75-80% of the time. Of course, they try to do 100% whenever possible! You can see her blog here http://www.quetzalbilingualacademy.blogspot.com

Another lady who I once babysat for also learned English first, but then was moved to a Spanish speaking country at a young age at which point she was immersed in Spanish and is now fluent in Spanish. Her husband speaks English, and she decided to divide her time speaking in English and Spanish to her child. 

A bilingual family :)

Of course, if we all spoke Spanish in our household then we would all speak in Spanish to Nesta. Why? because everyone around us is constantly speaking English and I am not afraid that he will grow up and not know any English. Our friends are English speaking, most of our families speak English and in general English is all around us. From day 1 Nesta heard English and Spanish and I hope that never stops. 

Multilingual Chicago

This is a teaser about language schools in Chicago. I am doing some research to post a lengthier more informative post about this. 

Today Nesta and I headed to Spanish Explorers class at Multilingual Chicago on Milwaukee and Central Park Avenue. I had set it up all via email which is the best way for me to do anything, since talking on the phone while Nesta is around gets me nowhere. He just wants my phone at all times. Anywho, Elise from Multilingual Chicago was my contact there. I emailed about trying out a class, and she emailed me back. I originally set it up for today at 10:30 am but seeing as how naps had been changing I emailed her to see if we could switch it to 9:30 am. She was great and she said no problem.

We arrived at 9:28am and she greeted us. She showed us the room, told us to take our shoes off and informed me that after class there would be juice and cookies for the kids. As I entered the room I heard Spanish spoken only. There were kids from 1-2 years of age with their care givers. One of the care givers had two little girls and she spoke Spanish to them. There were some toys and the teacher Sarah was playing with the kids. Nesta was still acting shy (nadie se la cree) but soon enough he was pulling out toys. Shortly after the teacher sang a song where we said good bye to the toys. Nesta did not like that song. This was weird for Nesta since we do not say Adios, we say Bye. Even when I lived in Mexico we said Bye, so Nesta did not get what Adios was. 

The class started with a song and introductions. Most of the kids were too shy to say anything in Spanish (or English) but one little girl did respond in Spanish. I noticed that her mom also spoke Spanish. The next song asked each kid his or her age. Then we stood up and raised our arms arriba and then brought them down abajo. We then made a circle which grew bigger grande and then smaller chiquito.  Like this the class continued with dancing, and many opposites; fast or slow, to the left and to the right and so on. After the moving and singing the teacher presented the theme of the class which was learning the clothing for winter; hat, gloves, and scarf. A song went along with this as she pulled out each item from a bag. Of course my dear Nesta wanted to hold all these items. A paracaidas was then taken out and Nesta was beyond excited. He loves all the colors. After this she moved on to a project where the kids glued a snow man to a piece of paper and added his hat, gloves, pants and scarf. For the little ones she had crayons so they could color instead of glue. Nesta ate half a crayon. After the projects were done she pulled out a book where a frog was dressing itself with socks and boots, and a hat. Some of the kids pointed to the items she asked of them. At this point, my energetic child took off and was trying to unlock the door or throw himself on someboy else’s grandma. I’m not sure what happened, but I think they were still looking at the book. When we got back to the circle we heard good-bye song.

Overall, I really liked the class. I liked the project even, but at this point it was a struggle for me because Nesta wanted to stick the glue stick in his mouth and he is not even interested in coloring. The other 1 year olds were not walking much so they seemed well behaved, although they were not coloring either. I don’t know what kind of project I would have for a 1 year old.  At home we have edible crayons, but the point is not to eat them. We’re not there yet. I think Nesta would have enjoyed the class more if it had been more about singing and moving around. He really liked that part and of course you have to move around when you are 1!

I spoke to Elise on our way out, and I asked her what she thought of a toddler learning a third language. My husband took French in high school and he wants Nesta to learn French too. I think they will try the French Explorers class next week. 

Some great things about Multilingual Chicago:

• They have adults classes.
• They let registration happen whenever you are ready. $270 for the class, but pro-rated if you start late.
• Free parking if you get a spot at 5/3 Bank.
• They teach kids all ages.
• They offer classes for toddlers in Spanish, French and Mandarin.
• They have Spanish Story time on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 am. 

Here is the website if you want to check them out:http://www.multilingualchicago.com/

Libros para niños en español

When I was pregnant the one thing I wanted to buy for my unborn child the most was books. Let me first say that I'm a nerd. I love books. I love to read, and reread. I love it all. My top five books are:

• To Kill A Mockingbird.
• The God Of Small Things.
• One Hundred Years Of Solitude (in Spanish).
• The Hummingbird's Daugther (In Spanish).
• Of Love And Other Demons (In Spanish).

The list constantly changes. So, you see how important reading is to me. There are benefits to reading and that's why we should ALL read ALOUD to our children. I could go on about the benefits, and how this will help them in school blah blah blah. Yes, that's great, but for me reading is more than that. Reading is a way to let my imagination go wild. Reading is a way for me to fly away and experience new things that I may never experience in my life time. I get to feel what it is like to see a train for the first time like in One Hundred Years of Solitude. I get to feel the magic that seeps out of Teresita in The Hummingbird's Daughter.  This is what I want my son to feel when he reads. It will benefit him in great ways, but I also want him to read a book and live the book. I want him to appreciate literature. Honestly I want him to love reading as much as I do. If he doesn't love reading as much as I do, at least I hope that he can read in English and Spanish ha!

To prepare him for that I started picking up books that were either bilingual or in Spanish. Obviously there is not as much variety in Spanish, but I found some good ones. His favorites are:

• Cuaquito  (the story of a little duck who is afraid to go in the water).
• La Oruga Muy Hambrienta (The Very Hungry Caterpillar).
• Los Pollitos Dicen (Bilingual).
• No Llores Chiquitin   (the story of a baby who cries because he needs to burp).
• Buenas Noches a Todos   (bed time routine book).
• 8 Monitos (8 Little Monkeys).
• Donde Viven Los Monstruos (Where the WIld Things Are).
• ¿Dónde Esta El Ombliguito?

We have many more books that may be some of my favorite's or dad's favorites but maybe not Nesta's favorites, yet. 

Because there are more books in English than in Spanish I sometimes translate as I read. I really like Good Night Moon,  and I know there is one in Spanish, but I couldn't find it. So I translated it and put little post-its on it so that I can be consistent in my translation. Some books are so simple that it is easy to translate. One book I translate is Animal Talk which was a gift by his cousin Jack. It is just pictures of animals with the sound they make plus a question like "What does the happy chimp say?" This book is easy for me to translate, as well as the book Where's Spot?

I will not translate all the time. At some point I will start teaching him to read, and at that point I will just have to read him books in Spanish. I don't know if translating books is a good idea or not. I started without really planning it. It seemed he was getting sick of La Oruga Muy Hambrienta and Cuaquito so I picked up a book in English and started reading it to him. He did not like that I was reading in English. He kept swatting at the book, and trying to close it. I started translating the book and he stared at me for a minute. I continued with the translation and he sat and listened. I thought it was weird that he didn't like me reading in English. His dad reads to him in English and he seats through it just fine. Well, since that day I read to him in Spanish only.

If you find any awesome books in Spanish that you think a 1 year old will enjoy it, please send me the title :)