Raising Bilingual Kids

As a Venezuelan living in the US with a Scottish husband, I struggle to find a "balance of cultures" for my American children. Are you confused with all the nationalities? Well, welcome to my life in my United Nations family!!! It does get even better - The grandmother (my mother) is in Spain!

I do try as much as I can to remind my children of their roots, but I did make a huge mistake, I did not speak enough Spanish to them to start with. My kids are surrounded by an English speaking world. They hear English 24/7 from their stay-at-home dad, their school, their friends and neighbours (I am probably the only Latina living in a 25 miles radio from my house!) and to top it all off I also spoke English to them as it was easier for me to have an easy flowing conversation with them on the hour or so I got to see then when I came back from work. BIG mistake - Now I know.

But not all is bad, I did realized that I had to do something different a few years ago. If I wanted my kids to learn my language, it was up to me to make some changes. In this series of posts I will tell you the story of how I am slowly reversing my mistake and what did I do to get my kids well into the path of becoming bilingual kids.

I will be very grateful to all of you that can help me and guide me through this journey. I would love to hear your comments!

POSTS:

• Rejecting my language and the beginning of trouble
• Spanish: To speak or not to speak - that is the question
• English Translations not allowed: Find a Full immersion school
• Teaching Spanish or Playing games?
• Let your kids watch TV: In Spanish that is!
• Back to School: New Spanish Class for my boy
• Hopefully Trilingual: Guest Post by Helena from PinkGuayoyo
• The Power of Song!
• Why do I want my kids to learn Spanish?
• Spanish Classes: Vacation is on!