I had the opportunity to talk with Vero Villa, founder of Nene Bilingue, a space that offers tools and resources to promote language development and parent/child interaction at home. During the quarantine, Vero suggests to parents of bilingual kids that they be flexible with language learning as children will have to be exposed to both the target language and the majority language inside the house. Vero and I offered suggestions to keep up with target language learning over the next few weeks.
10 tips that parents can use in their language journey the next few weeks
- Be intentional – follow an academic plan that includes learning activities in the areas of math, science, art, literacy. This is a good way to prepare bilingual children for school.
- Be interactive – create diverse activities that promote learning in a fun way.
- Incorporate target language in everyday routine – Tailor to age -counting, days of the week, days of the month, etc.
- Designate times for language learning during the week/day. For example: Monday breakfast and bedtime story are in Spanish. Monday afternoon outside play is in English. Tuesday music is bilingual songs, bedtime reading in English and so on.
- Use music as a learning tool- bilingual children’s music. For example, 1 2 3 Andrés, Canticos, Ana Calabrese_spm, música con Nathalia, Mr.G, Lucky Diaz and Family Band. Y para niños mayores, Tu Rocsito.
- Subscription boxes -For example, Hola Amigo Box provides a theme box every month with a book and activities. Booklandia Box and Sol Book Box are also options.
- Books – continue adding books to your home library in the target language- for now, alternate reading in the target language and in the majority language every other day. Also, create bilingual books by translating them yourself and using labels (helps with cold translations and finding the right words) Printables can help too (Veoleo).
- Face time with family members – grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends.
- Screen time – movies, apps, games in the target language- online classes (Encantos Learning Hub, My Escuelita Spanish for Kids) o storytime ( Nathohnaturel, Leamos por Siempre, Colors of Spanish)
- Go outside- there is much to learn – plants, flowers, colors, insects. Exercise too!
What tip can you add to this list?
Aquí 10 sugerencias para ayudar a los padres a reforzar ambos idiomas en casa.
- Comprométase a seguir un plan académico que incluya actividades en las áreas de matemática, ciencia, arte, lectura, vocabulario.
- Actividades interactivas – incorpore actividades que enseñan pero que son divertidas.
- Incorpore el aprendizaje de idiomas en su rutina diaria de acuerdo a la edad del niño. Por ejemplo con niños de edad pre-escolar, incuya oportunidades para contar, aprender los días de la semana, del mes, etc.
- Establezca una rutina para los idiomas durante la semana- por ejemplo, los lunes se desayuna y se lee en Español. Los martes se juega en inglés y se escucha música bilingue por las tardes. Los miércoles la actividad de ciencia es en Español, etc.
- La música – incorpore la música en su rutina. Para niños pequeños está 1 2 3 Andrés, Canticos, Ana Calabrese_spm, música con Nathalia, Mr.G, Lucky Diaz and Family Band. Para niños más grandes, Tu Rocsito.
- Cajas de subscripción – Hola Amigo Box, Booklandia, Box, Sol Book Box – con temas para el mes que incluye libros y actividades.
- Libros – continue añadiendo libros a su biblioteca familiar – durante éstas semanas, considere alternar lectura entre los idiomas. Para libros bilingües, considere traducirlos del inglés usando etiquetas. Considere ordenar imprimibles gratis (Veloleo).
- FaceTime- a diario o por lo menos una vez por semana: abuelos, tíos, amiguitos
- Tiempo en pantalla –películas, apps, juegos, clases online (Encantos Learning Hub,My Escuelita Spanish for Kids, o cuentacuentos ( Nathohnaturel, Leamos por Siempre, Colors of Spanish)
- Salir afuera- hay mucho que aprender en el patio o dando una caminata por el barrio- plantas, flores, colores, insectos. Ejercicio!
Qué tip puedes añadir a ésta lista?
