Bilingual In The Boonies » learning Spanish

Complaining about cold days and hot links

Carrie — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:18:00 +0000

We woke up here Sunday morning to powdery snow. It was beautiful, but I covered my head with the blankets again. I long for Spring, warm breezes and nesting baby birds.

Aye.

The snow has mostly melted, but it’s still freezing here in the Boonies. And, I am beginning to think of myself as Jack Nicholson in The Shining, but instead of typing “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” over and over and over and over again, I would be typing “Que freakin

g frio, que freaking frio, que freaking frio, que freaking frio.”

I whine about the cold a lot.

It gets old.

I know.

Here’s hot stuff though:

Through Spanglish Baby I found this post by a writer whose kids do not speak Spanish. She feels judged by Spanish-speakers for her monolingual children. Be sure to read the comments. Yowza.

My opinion: Whatever works for you. No one should judge a family’s decision to speak a second language or not. But, if you want your children to be bilingual, it’s not that hard to speak Spanish to your kids. Even bad Spanish. If my lazy ass can do it here in Tennessee, you can too.

I feel strongly about it because my second language has opened doors and expanded my brain — not to mention avoid ordering tongue tacos and buy correct train tickets in Italy. I want my daughter to have extra skills and heart-ties to the culture that swims through her veins. Even her very American father wants that, so we work at it. Constantly. Check out this post too.

As an aside, last week I attended a Latina business women’s luncheon. It was in a popular restaurant. Lots of hip locals, lots of Music Row people. My former newspaper publisher was sitting in the next room. I do not think he heard the women break into a rendition of Los Pollitos Dicen — a loud rendition — as they passed the t-shirts around the table. It was very fun and a reminder that it’s a good thing “English-Only” did not pass.

OK, mira here. I found two Latino food blogs this week that have left me very excited and very hungry. Laylita is from Ecuador and she has a delightful and delicious food site. Excellent photography too. I found her when I was googling for a plantano and three-cheese casserole recipe. I never found the recipe, but found Laylita. (The picture to the left is from her fish ceviche recipe.)

And then there is A Little Cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate and More. I am going to make her albondigas soup. I love the pictures too.

Given that I have had Latino sites on the brain lately, please also allow me to introduce you to a blog portal called Blogadera. They just launched with the mission of gathering the best of Latino blogs. If you have a blog, be sure to submit your site if it isn’t already listed. They’re also on Twitter at @blogadera.

Fancy Nancy en Spanish

Carrie — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:30:00 +0000

A reader recently sent me a note about a book she discovered and enjoyed with her granddaughter, a nena much like my Maria. A fancy one.

I looked up the reviews and decided to add it to our Amazon store. The book also is on its way to my house, where we’re all about spinning skirts, jewels and borrowing Mami’s lip gloss.

I also added a tender book called, Abuela, which Maria adores. It has beautiful illustrations. This Abuela is not at all like her own Abuelita, who is a bit on the fancy side too.

If anyone has any Spanish or bilingual books to recommend, would love to know.

Besitos…

Bilingual resources and a little brainwashing

Carrie — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:43:00 +0000

“Mami, some people don’t speak Spanish.”
“No, they don’t, Maria. Pobrecitos, huh?”
“Yeah.”

So, I’m making a bilingual snob. Poor things who don’t speak Spanish, I tell the kid. It’s really about my brainwashing her to continue her learning. I’m trying to keep us from going back to the days of: “Mami, I don’t speak Spanish, I don’t speak Spanish, I don’t speak Spanish.”
Three was a bear. Really.

Resources for all today…

Go visit Karen at Teaching and Learning Spanish. Get tips, links, ideas. And you Latins who aren’t speaking Spanish to your kids: Look ashamed. Karen is an English-speaking American making the effort to habla. You vagos too can do it.

Give thanks to Monica at Mi Cielito Lindo for links to Primera Escuela, an educational bilingual site for the kids. English instructions here.

Off to further brainwash my kid.

(Brainwash in Spanish: Lavar el cerebro. Doesn’t that sound poetic?)

Dan Zanes: Te Quiero

Carrie — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:59:00 +0000

Please, oh please, do yourself a bilingual little flavor and get Dan Zane’s latest album: Nueva York.

Downloaded it last night and we’re bailando today.

From his web site:

“This CD is the sound of my band and I working with our Latino friends here in Nueva York. While the conversations about who should and shouldn’t live here in the USA rages on, we’re having a 21st century party celebrating some of the amazing culture that’s come here from various parts of Latin America.
The spirit of collaboration and friendship has made this for me the most emotional and exciting of the Dan Zanes and Friends CDs. Did I mention that we ate great food and laughed a lot?
“Friends” for this musical party include Zanes’ group Colin Brooks, Sonia De Los Santos, John Foti, Saskia Sunshine Lane, and Elena Moon Park along with ranchera and jazz singer Lila Downs, singer and actress Daphne Rubin-Vega, Mexican trio The Villa-Lobos brothers, frequent Zanes collaborators The Rubi Theater Company, avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot and Afro-Colombian roots ensemble La Cumbiamba Eneye making ¡Nueva York! a wild, 21st century party of the sort that is sure to be springing up more and more as musicians and their friends build musical bridges with songs that can connect us all.
¡Vivan las canciones del mundo de habla hispana!

Viva Dan Zanes.
(and no one paid me to say that…)

Spanish children's website by RIF

Carrie — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:30:00 +0000

The summer break is nearly here and Maria and I have been thinking about all the cool things we’re going to do — play in the creek, ride our bikes, learn to embroider. She’s going to attend a music camp for a week and we will go to Miami to see the familia.

As much as I am looking forward to mornings that do not include my saying: “Hurry, go pee pee so we won’t be late…” I expect to be driven a little loca as I struggle to hang with her and work business magic at the same time.

We have DVDs and we have friends who are encouraging play dates and sleep overs. That’ll help. Sometimes I let her play on my computer (Noggin and PBS only) when I am packing orders.

So, I am grateful for the shy Puerto Rican lurker (my goodness, so many of you lurk) who sent me a lovely note and a link to the Spanish site for Reading is Fundamental. (Remember them?) It is wonderful. Truly wonderful. Songs, animal facts, games.

I foresee some free time for Mami this summer.

(gracias, comadre…)

Two more learn to speak Spanish podcasts

Carrie — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:34:00 +0000

We are in recovery from Spring Break here today. The casa and the office are “de patas p’arriba,” so this is a brief love note and referral.

A couple more Spanish learning podcasts to add to your playlists: Voices en Español and Cody’s Cuentos. (I included some others in a post here last week.)

Voices is a conversational podcast for upper-intermediate and advanced students and Cody’s Cuentos are — clap with me here — traditional children’s stories in Spanish.

The sites are run by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Eleena de Lisser, now living in Madrid. (Lucky girl.) She’s doing a great job and it was a treat to listen to La Caperucita Roja (Little Red Riding Hood) and Los Tres Cerditos (The Three Little Pigs) with Maria over and over and over again this morning.

Feliz Lunes.

Seeking out the Spanish lessons and ayuda

Carrie — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:46:00 +0000

It is mid-March and there’s a slight panic building about my slack-ass ability to keep pace this summer with Maria’s phenomenal progress in learning Spanish. The espanola she hangs with all day is very proud of her and tells me so as she wrinkles her brow at me and my slack-ass-ness. She is gentle about it, but still, I know she thinks: “Get on the programa, Mama.”

In preparation for intensivo time, I have been searching out free Spanish podcasts on iTunes and downloading whatever I find. No loyalty as I weed them out…and there are plenty to weed out.

My favorite is Notes in Spanish, which offers conversations between a Madrilena and an Englishman, who speaks pretty darned well. He’s got that “th” mastered. You’ll find basic, intermediate and advanced conversations. And, I love how she gently corrects him as he speaks. A lot.

Then, I found Discover Spanish and I’m somewhat in love with the guy, Johnny Spanish. Great voice, but ay, why that name? Rant aside, it is fun and Maria has enjoyed listening and repeating the lesson as she colors her hands blue with a Crayola marker, or sneaks into the pantry to find another chocolate Kiss.

Then, there is Sra. Roman at Vocabulario Espanol. (search for it on iTunes). It’s entirely in Spanish and it kicks off each lesson with a nice little “1-2-1-2-3-4” musiquita. The lessons are on everything from “me gusta…” to “la comida” to “la casa.” Of course, I almost fainted when la Sra. said “no me gusta el agua.” Do you know how much I nag my kid to drink water? Sra. Roman doesn’t like vegetales either. Sra. Roman might have a limited run at our house this summer.

So, it was a welcome surprise to come upon Professor Pocket, a new bilingual music and story CD produced by two in-laws, one of whom is Dominicana. The first CD is “Our Silly Farm Adventure.” The songs are fun (it includes Los Pollitos Dicen), Desi the Dinosaur has a great voice, and Maria has insisted on listening to it each day since we got it last week.

You can preview the songs here and purchase from their site or download on iTunes. (Good God, I love iTunes). The second CD is due later this spring.

Now, when I told my husband about my sumo summer Spanish plans he added this: “Hey, what about downloading some Italian too?”

Cohopio.

A bilingual mix of fun children's songs iMIX

Carrie — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:06:00 +0000

Mami made an iMIX for Maria.
We’re sharing.
Be sure to listen to the bilingual Walkin’ the Dog by Dan Zanes
Enjoy!

Help for Hollywood: Gifts for Latin babies

Carrie — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:29:00 +0000

I imagine this weekend a whole lot of celebrity elite were sending gifts to the royal Latin blessings born to Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. Her father told reporters they’d already bought azabaches for the sweet twins, which no Latino baby should be without. Or at least no Caribbean Latin baby. Must ward away the evil eye of those spreading the mal de ojo. (see above, available on ebay) My mother gets on me for not pinning Maria’s on anymore.

But what else to send babies who have it all?
Cultura, of course!

Here are my gift tips for Latin babies, perfect for all baby showers and newborn gifts — and for American-born Latinas getting newly in touch with their Latinaness. (There are a couple of toddler gift ideas at the bottom.)

OK, teach bebe about La Tradicion with a guayabera and then sprinkle baby with Agua de Violetas, the sweetest baby cologne known to mankind. Cologne for babies? Oh you bet.

Teeny tiny perfect little confections of leather made in Spain and Portugal. And, only Spain and Portugal. When you walk on sunshine, you must be shod by artists. If they’re charol — patent leather — all the better. Oh, and if they’ve got jingle bells on them, even better too.

Sweet shoes go perfectly with these fancy baby outfits from La Ideal in Miami, the first place I went baby shopping for my own princesa. It’s like the Cuban Babies R Us. I didn’t see their gorgeous embroidered Colombian dresses, or fancy outfits from Spain on the web site, which is too bad because these sweet dresses and pant suits are stunning.

Latin parents like the paci, commonly called tete. Give this one, called RaZBaby, designed by two Cuban-American sisters from Miami.

Now, on to music: Lull sweet child with Cuban Lullaby, a delightful collection of traditional lullabies and a personal favorite around here. A little more rockin’ is Diez Deditos, by Jose-Luis Orozco, an awesome album of playful Latin American songs and finger games. There’s a book by the same title.

I usually give my favorite illustrated copy of Los Pollitos Dicen, so baby is sure to learn the words, and yes, I pair it with a Pio Pio Pio Spanish t-shirt from our own collection. (We’re about to add newborn hats and bibs, by the way!)

And, here’s one sure way to get grandma and grandpa to love you: Give an abuelita and abuelito doll that sings Spanish nursery songs. We particularly like Abuelo Pancho, though Maria doesn’t play with hers much anymore. My mother says he is “exiliado al closet.” (exiled to the closet.)

Moving on to a couple of toddler gifts. Inspire rhythm and noise with Salsa in a Box, everything a tiny person needs to channel Tito and Celia. (Or J.Lo and Marc) And teach the “eh-re” and the “ñ” sounds with these blocks, made in the U.S.A.

Alright then, not a bad little regalito list, si?

Mamas y Papas what are your favorite Spanish baby gift items?
Hollywood needs us.

An oop-date on de espanish

Carrie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:21:00 +0000

I cannot stop speaking like Ricky Ricardo since we got back from Miami. Sorry.

Anyway, let me tell you what I learned in the last month Maria was not in school: There is good reason we blame Mother for everything.

If this child does not grow up to speak fluent Spanish it is, indeed, my fault.

She left school in mid-December and was chattering in Spanish like una cotorra. She was going as far as speaking in Spanish to her father, who is not fluent, and expecting him to understand and answer.

Though she spent several days with my parents before Christmas, and this past week in Miami, the ingles ruled. For her and for me.

Why my fault? She follows my lead. If I speak Spanish, so does she. If I speak English, so does she. And, for the life of me, I do not know why it is so easy to speak to my family in Spanish one moment and the next address my daughter in English. (I’ve mentioned being a lazy cow before) And then, of course, she’s speaking in English so her grandmother and tias answer her in English Miami-style. Vicious little cycle I start.

Now, under the tutelage of her abuelito, she did often sing Seis Lindas Cubanas and, to the delight of the viejos, there was frequent recitation of “Los zapaticos me aprietan, las medias me dan calor…” And, much to my delight, she is sounding out and spelling simple words in both Spanish and English. The other day it was “casa,” “pera” and “sol.”

But, I truly expect a note from La Catalana — her teacher — asking me what happened to the chatty, little bilingual during the long break. I’m almost afraid to see her. The woman is a force.

And so, yet again, it begins and ends with Mami and Mami no es doing too bueno a jub.