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Durante años, he leído mucho sobre cómo los europeos a menudo aprenden a hablar tres o cuatro idiomas en el transcurso de su vida. Por ejemplo, he leído sobre los niños de países como Finlandia que son expuestos a varios idiomas como el inglés y el alemán en la escuela y luego a otros idiomas, como el finlandés y el sueco, en casa. Pero, ¿qué pasa si vives en un país donde más de la mitad de la población es monolingüe y donde los estudiantes generalmente EMPIEZAN a estudiar un segundo idioma cuando están en la escuela secundaria? ¿Qué pasa si entre usted y su cónyuge solo hablan DOS idiomas? ¿Es posible introducir a los niños un tercer idioma en circunstancias tan desfavorables?

Antes de que naciera mi primera hija, leí libros como “Trilingual by Six” de Lennis Dippel y “7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child” de Naomi Steiner, los cuales me dieron muy buenos consejos sobre cómo crear un ” plan familiar “que promueve el uso auténtico y coherente de los idiomas a los que están expuestos mis hijos. Ambos libros sugirieron algunos métodos para poner en práctica nuestro plan familiar, como el enfoque OPOL (Una persona, un método) o el método de inmersión completa que implica el uso de un idioma que no sea el de la comunidad para ser utilizado exclusivamente en casa.

Adoptar un plan familiar para garantizar que nuestros hijos aprendieran español e inglés no fue tan difícil de aplicar. Afortunadamente, mi esposo y yo hablamos ambos idiomas con fluidez, así que nos comprometimos, desde el principio, a hablar con nuestros hijos SOLAMENTE en español (enfoque de inmersión completa) hasta que comenzaran a aprender inglés (idioma comunitario) en la escuela. Una vez que mis hijas mayores empezaron la escuela, las inscribimos en un programa de dos idiomas en el que han seguido mejorando sus habilidades en español a medida que adquieren el inglés.

Nuestras hijas mayores ahora tienen 8 y 6 años. Ambas pueden hablar, leer, escribir y comprender tanto español como inglés. Pero siento que ha llegado el momento de introducir el tercer idioma antes de que mis hijos crezcan y, posiblemente, pierdan interés en adquirir un nuevo idioma.

Estudié francés durante varios años a lo largo de la escuela secundaria y la universidad. Así que decidimos introducir el francés como tercer idioma, solo porque creo que podría ofrecer el mayor apoyo en ese idioma. Además, el francés es un idioma muy estudiado a nivel de escuela secundaria en los Estados Unidos, por lo que sería más fácil para las niñas continuar estudiando el idioma a medida que crecen. Después de investigar un poco más, decidí modificar nuestro plan de idioma familiar para incluir ahora el tercer idioma. Como profesora de idiomas, sé que comprar libros de trabajo y libros de texto en francés no es suficiente. Para aumentar las posibilidades de que nuestras niñas adquieran el idioma francés, deben estar inmersas en el idioma de la manera más consistente posible. Por lo tanto, los siguientes elementos forman parte de nuestro plan PRELIMINAR:

(NOTA: A medida que nuestras hijas crezcan y sus necesidades cambien, es posible que modifiquemos este plan):

1. Vídeos y aplicaciones de inmersión en francés: Dado que nuestras niñas todavía son pequeñas, usan el idioma a través canciones, vídeos y juegos como Gus on the Go: French ($ 3.99 en Apple Store) y French for Kids with Stories de Gus on the Go (GRATIS en Apple Store). Mis hijas usaron Gus on the Go: Spanish cuando eran pequeñas y fue extremadamente efectivo. El contenido de la aplicación está 100 por ciento en francés y se proporciona mucho contexto para que los niños puedan comprender con facilidad. En cuanto a los videos, recomendaría la serie Whistlefritz French for Kids que se puede encontrar en Amazon ($ 9.99 para comprar y $ 4.99 para alquilar). El programa Whistlrfritz también está completamente en francés y también viene en español. Duolingo también es una opción muy común, pero no es muy interactivo ni atractivo para los niños muy pequeños.
2. Libros bilingües de cuentos familiares: Dado que nuestras hijas aún son lo suficientemente jóvenes como para disfrutar de un cuento antes de irse a dormir, he comenzado a reemplazar nuestra lectura nocturna con cuentos familiares traducidos al francés. Uno me gusta leer la versión francesa del popular libro infantil Goodnight Moon de Margaret Wise Brown. Las chicas han escuchado la versión en inglés, la versión en español (Buenas Noches Luna) y ahora se están acostumbrando a escuchar la versión en francés, Bonsoir Lune. Dado que las niñas están muy familiarizadas con la historia en general, les resulta fácil identificar algunos de los objetos comunes mencionados en la historia, en francés. Otros libros bilingües francés / inglés que he comprado incluyen: La Chenille Qui Fait Des Trous (La oruga muy hambrienta), Ours Brun, Dis-Moi (Oso pardo, Oso pardo, ¿Qué ves?) Y Je t-aimerai toujours (Te amo por siempre). Todos los libros se pueden encontrar en Amazon.
3. Campamentos y clases virtuales de francés: Con la llegada de COVID, todos los campamentos se han vuelto virtuales. Mi ciudad, Chicago, tiene algunas escuelas de idiomas, como Alliance Franchise of Chicago, que ofrecen clases de francés para niños. Pero ahora que todos se han vuelto virtuales, hay una variedad de opciones en línea. Algunas clases pueden ser muy costosas, pero algunas opciones a precios razonables que encontré en línea incluyen: Camp Tournesol (https://www.camptournesol.ca/fees-french-camps/), FIAF (https://fiaf.org/class / age5-6-benjamins /), Go Talk To (https://gotalkto.net), Outschool (https://outschool.com/online-classes/world-languages?
4. Televisión francesa para niños: Incluso si no entienden todo lo que sucede, no hay mejor manera de aprender un idioma que mediante una inmersión constante y auténtica. A nuestras niñas les encanta ver y escuchar algunos programas franceses populares para niños como Ladybug y Cat Noir, Rabbids Invasion y The Jungle Bunch. Descubrí estos programas en YouTube y este sitio web proporciona una lista de programas franceses populares para niños disponibles en YouTube, Netflix y Amazon Prime.
5. Introducción a la cultura francesa: para impulsar la motivación y la voluntad de aprender un nuevo idioma, es importante desarrollar un aprecio y un amor genuino por la cultura del idioma de destino. Es importante que los niños no se sientan “obligados” a aprender un tercer idioma. Más bien, queremos que se sientan entusiasmados por hablar varios idiomas y que comprendan el valor que puede aportar a sus vidas hablar varios idiomas. Por lo tanto, además del estudio del idioma, animaría a incorporar elementos de la cultura siempre que sea posible. Visitar restaurantes franceses (o restaurantes de su idioma o cultura de destino). Cocinar comida de esa cultura con sus hijos. Escuchar música. ¡Viajen! Hagan que la experiencia del idioma sea lo más real posible integrando la cultura. ¡¡Muy importante!!

Introducir un tercer idioma puede ser todo un desafío. Puede ser aún más desafiante si usted o su cónyuge no dominan el idioma o si el idioma no es hablado por muchas personas en su comunidad. Sin embargo, no es imposible. Todo es posible con coherencia y determinación. Si establece un plan de idiomas y se mantiene fiel, ¡el multilingüismo está a su alcance!

One night, about a few months ago, as my husband and I were getting our girls ready for bed, I asked my older girls to go get a book from their library to read. “Vayan y busquen un libro,” I say as they run upstairs to their room.

While they’re gone, I read the Contando con Frida” book by Patty Rodriguez to my two-year old twins. It’s one of their faves now that they’re learning colors, numbers and shapes. I purchased that book, along with a few other bilingual board books from Amazon. Getting some Spanish bedtime reading material for them has been pretty easy.

I put the twins to bed and go upstairs to read a book to my seven and six-year old girls before they go to sleep.

As I walk into the girls’ room, I see the book they picked out for me to read on top of the bottom bunk bed: Pinkalicious (en espanol). “Otra vez!” I groan.

“Mamá, es que no encontré nada en español!” says my oldest. “I walk over to their bookshelf and start rummaging through their book selection myself. After about five minutes of searching through all of their bookshelves, I realize that my daughter was right. We had already read through all the Spanish language books multiple times. I either had to choose an English book to read or muster through Pinkalicious (en español) for what would have seemed like the ten thousandth time that night. No offense to Victoria Kann!

I’m sharing this short anecdote, because it made me realize something important: as my girls get older, I find it more and more difficult to find appropriate grade level texts in Spanish for them to read at home. My oldest, for example, is reading chapter books. Going through Amazon, I have found that their options for chapter books that might appeal to her are lacking. This worries me a little bit because if the goal is to ensure that my children become fully bilingual and biliterate by the time they are adults, I need to be able to find them reading material in Spanish that is comparable to the material I can find for them in English. I need to address this issue now that they are still smaller, before they get to high school and I am at a loss on how to help them.

This is definitely something I’ve started to work on quite a bit recently. Luckily, I’ve been able to find a few bookstores online that carry Spanish literary texts for older children (ages 8-12) and young adults (ages 13-17). Many of these bookstores ship to the United States and offer a wide selection of books in various genres.

The purpose of this post is to share these resources with all of you below. I hope you can find them useful and if you can recommend any more, please leave a comment below!!

FULL DISCLOSURE: None of the companies below paid me to plug or promote their products on this post.

1. LA Libreria: https://www.la-libreria.net/iguales-pero-diferentes/

So, this online bookstore is like hitting the jackpot of Spanish children’s literature. Born in 2012, as described on their website, this online bookstore was created “with the goal of promoting children’s literature in Spanish in all its forms” And man, do they deliver!! On this website, you can find books in Spanish organized by theme and appropriate for children between the ages of 0-15 (yay!) Not only can you find books that can complement what your child is learning in their Science, Social Studies and Language Arts classes, but you can find a ton of books for that appeal to a wide variety of interests. I particularly loved that the site offers English language classics like Treasure Island but also offers Spanish language series like A lomo de cuento where students can learn about the geography and culture of various Spanish Speaking countries like Cuba and Peru.  

2. Books del Sur: https://booksdelsur.org/

The philosophy behind the work that Books del Sur does is to “Develop Equitable Spanish Book Collections.” Books del Sur offers a growing variety of books for children ranging from elementary age to high school. The books offered are translated into Spanish, bilingual books and authentic books published across Latin America. The consultants work with you in-person or online to help you align your priorities with the book selection they have available.

3. Libros 787 (Puerto Rico): https://libros787.com/

Libros 787 is a Puerto Rico based online Spanish bookstore. The variety of English language classics offered at this bookstore was a bit larger than my first two options. I was totally psyched to see Alice in Wonderland, 1984, the Count of Monte Cristo and many familiar titles translated into Spanish. I was also excited to see many Spanish language varieties such as books on Puerto Rican history, culture and Puerto Rican movies!! I ordered the book Ellas: Historias de mujeres puertorriquenas to read to my daughters before going to bed. With over 50 short biographies in Spanish, I’ll definitely have plenty of bedtime material now!

4. Syncretic Press: https://syncreticpress.com/collections/early-school-years

Syncretic Press doesn’t seem to be as well known as some of the other titles on this list but I definitely see the room for potential after perusing their site. Founded in 2016 and located in Wilmington Delaware, Syncretic Press is an “independent publisher of children’s books in Spanish, with a special focus on Latin American authors and illustrators.” The books for sale on the site are for children between the ages of 2-12. One thing that I found intriguing on their site, more as a teacher than as a parent, is their “Spanish Book Club” offer. Similar to the Scholastic Book Club, whenever students in a given classroom purchase five books from Syncretic, their teachers gets a free book from the company to add to their classroom library.

5. TiendaMia: https://tiendamia.com/libros

This gem of an online store is based in Miami and sells more than a BILLION products from the United States and various countries in Latin America. In addition to buying all sorts of products (such as clothes, electronic appliances, etc.) TiendaMia has a very vast online bookstore. The books are not only affordable, but I love that I can find books in Spanish for people of all ages and interests, not just small children.

6. Libros in Espanol Libreria Online: https://librosinespanol.com/collections/8-12

Libros in Espanol is another great online bookstore where you can find all types of great books in Spanish, for people of all ages. Now that my third grader is starting to read chapter books, I’m very excited to see popular titles such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Hunger Games available in Spanish for her. As a Spanish literature teacher, I could easily access texts from authors such as Isabel Allende, Mario Vargas Llosa and Laura Esquivel. I also find it incredibly fascinating that this website stocks other classics from authors such as Shakespeare (Macbeth in Spanish), Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Victor Hugo. I truly love the versatility of this website.

7. Rueka Libreria Infantil (Colombia): http://www.rueka.com.co/home-2/

This online bookstore from Colombia contains many cute Spanish books of various genres for children between the ages of 0-12. The blog on this website is also a great resource for parents who wish to learn more about how to support literacy skills and an overall love of reading at home. What stands out to me the most from this website, however, is that each book that you purchase comes with some sort of activity or educational material that will allow parents to engage with the book in a pedagogical way with their child. My guess is that the owner of this online business was a former teacher? Either way, what they’re doing here is pretty cool.

8. BuscaLibre Libreria Online: https://www.buscalibre.us/libros

This website is very similar in format to TiendaMia (mentioned above) with their own selection of diverse titles, all available in Spanish. Payment for books is accepted in American dollars, though the books available come from various countries such as Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Spain.

9. Libreria Internacional: https://www.libreriainternacional.com/Libros/Infantiles

The children’s book selection here only ranges from ages 0-11 but there are still many titles to choose from, especially for secondary dual language teachers. There are many Spanish titles available in science, history, art and literature. After perusing the website, I definitely saw a few titles that I would purchase for myself to use as a reference when planning for a dual language Science or History class, for example.

10. Lehmann Virtual Online (Costa Rica) : https://www.lehmannvirtual.com/

This Costa Rican bookstore was founded in 1896, making it one of the oldest bookstores in Latin America. It characterizes itself for its high quality customer service and personal touch. The online book catalog contains a variety of book titles for children at both the primary and secondary level. There were many examples of Spanish young adult titles such as the popular Divergent series and titles of comics and Japanese manga. Lehmann also contains various educational resources for teachers of various content areas such as World History, Latin American History, Spanish Language Arts and Chemistry.

11. Casa del Libro (Espana): https://www.casadellibro.com/

Founded in 1923, Casa del Libro es the top bookstore chain in Spain. The chain counts with 47 bookstores spread throughout the entire country. The online bookstore is nothing short of impressive. If you’re willing to spend a bit extra in euros to get authentic titles in Spanish, then this option would be worth it. Casa del Libro’s online book catalog contains titles of print and e-books in Spanish of various genres for children between the ages of 0-18. Secondary dual language teachers would appreciate the availability of textbooks, workbooks and educational materials available in various subject areas as well.

12. Librimundi Libreria Internacional (Ecuador): https://www.librimundi.com/lm#/home

This bookstore chain from Ecuador contains very reasonably priced (they use American dollars) books for young children and young adults. Similar to Libros in Espanol (mentioned above), Librimundi has a very good selection of classical literature translated in Spanish, such as Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Anyone who is interested in introducing the classics in Spanish could definitely benefit from the options offered on this website.

I am a firm believer that in order to achieve high levels of biliteracy, we need to be very intentional when it comes to the resources we offer our children in BOTH languages. Even in bilingual households and classrooms in the United States, it’s very easy for English to dominate and overpower the minority language. Therefore, it’s very important that we choose resources in the second language that tap into the same depths of cognitive development as English. I say that from personal experience.

As a bilingual person who was educated in the United States, I didn’t have very many opportunities to read literature in Spanish unless I was given the opportunity to do so in the one Spanish class I took every year at school (out of the seven classes I took, in total) or if I made the conscious decision to read a Spanish text over an English text on my own. Now that very many school districts are offering dual language programs (an opportunity that wasn’t available to me, as a child), future generations of children have the tremendous privilege to access authentic resources in two languages.

The websites that I’ve included on this post all contain authentic Spanish language resources that could help unlock higher level literacy skills for adolescents. I hope that parents and teachers find the resources I’ve included on this post useful!

A former college professor of mine, who is an ardent dual language advocate like me, often refers to the English language as kudzu. For those of you don’t know what kudzu is—it is a Japanese perennial vine that is said to be extremely bad for the ecosystems. It is known to smother other plants and trees under a blanket of leaves, hogging all the sunlight and keeping other species in its shade. My former college professor compared that vine to the English language in the United States: its presence smothers the growth of any other minority language that comes in contact with it.

The decline in usage of minority languages is more pronounced among older children. There are multiple reasons for this. Older children who speak a language other than English at home are often transitioned out of bilingual education programs faster because they are usually under more pressure to learn academic English and perform well on standardized tests. Older children can feel more inclined to speak English as their dominant language because it is the language spoken by their peers at school, as well as the outside community. The English language is also the dominant language of popular music, Hollywood and the internet.

With these factors in mind, it can be difficult for the parents of older children and teenagers in the United States to encourage their children to speak in their home language and maintain fluency in the home language as they get older. As a high school Spanish teacher, I have often heard parents say: ” Yo le hablo en español pero me contesta en inglés.” (I speak to him/her in Spanish but he/she answers me in English) or “No le gusta hablar español porque ya no lo habla muy bien.” (He/She doesn’t like to speak Spanish anymore because he/she doesn’t speak it that well anymore.)

I’m sure I’ll be facing this struggle in a few years with my own children. I’m not exactly sure whether or not I’ll be able to defeat the expansion of the English kudzu but, as of right now, my plan is to support my children’s biliteracy development by applying the elements that encouraged ME to continue speaking Spanish throughout my adolescence and onto adulthood. After comparing notes with my husband, who like me, spoke Spanish as a child and had to learn how to balance between Spanish and English as he got older, I found some strong similarities in the main factors that may have contributed to our own biliteracy development.

This is what I’ve learned about my own biliteracy development and what I intend to apply to my own children:

1. Teenagers Need Opportunities to Speak the Minority Language With Peers Their Age: When I was a teenager, I remember feeling the MOST motivated to speak Spanish when I had the opportunity to speak in Spanish to native speakers in my own age range. I spoke Spanish with my parents and other adults but speaking Spanish to Spanish-dominant kids my own age pushed me to try and speak Spanish WELL in order to fit in with them. Whenever I traveled with my family to Latin America growing up, I was particularly motivated to speak Spanish with my cousins. I carefully listened to how my cousins spoke and tried to mimic their accent. I wanted to learn all the slang that they used and I recall making a stronger effort to speak to them than my uncles, aunts and grandparents. Needless to say, teenagers want to look “cool” in front of their peers. If speaking another language well means looking cool among other kids their age

2. Teenagers Need Frequent Opportunities to Engage in the Popular Culture of the Minority Language: In addition to feeling more motivated to speak Spanish around kids my age, watching Spanish language movies and following Spanish language popular culture also motivated me to keep improving my Spanish as I got older. When I first heard the 1995 song Hasta ayer by Marc Anthony, I bought the album (and the next ten thousand Marc Anthony albums after that) and learned EVERY SINGLE WORD to his songs. I love watching movies so the first time I watched a Spanish movie called Abre los ojos when I was a teenager, I fell in love with Spanish cinema. The 1997 movie starring Penelope Cruz and Eduardo Noriega inspired me to research other Spanish language movies on my own. As a result, I watched a few other movies from Spain and then, I began to watch movies from other Spanish speaking countries. This didn’t only help me improve my overall Spanish vocabulary, but it helped me learn common phrases and expressions from different Spanish speaking countries. Not to mention that watching Sábado Gigante and telenovelas with my mom were also great ways to boost my vocabulary skills in Spanish!

3. Teenagers Need to Feel Supported When Speaking in the Minority Language: When I teach heritage speakers of Spanish, I often have to remind them that I’m not there to put down the way that they speak Spanish or make fun of them. I have found that sometimes students end up losing their home language simply due to lack of practice or due to fear of exposing their language loss to other people. Over the years, students have confessed to me that they choose not to speak Spanish because family members often correct them or even make fun of their mistakes. “Se burlan de mi español pocho,” (They make fun of my broken Spanish) they say. I’m pretty certain that immigrant children do not tell their parents that they don’t want to leave their home country and be brought to another one. I never told me parents that. Immigrant children and children who speak a different language at home have to balance use of both languages depending on the context and if one of the languages is used in more contexts than the other, it will become the dominant language. If parents want to make sure that older children maintain their use of the home language, it is important that parents create a safe space where their children can communicate without feeling ridiculed or judged.

4. Teenagers Need to be Encouraged to Continue Studying Their Home Language Past High School And Onto Adulthood: In the United States, English is king. It doesn’t matter what your home language is or what your cultural background is, if you grow up in the United States, a bulk of your education will be in English. Children are taught all core academic subjects in English and take standardized assessments in English. With so much emphasis being placed on the dominant community language, it’s very easy for the home language to be pushed aside or forgotten. A key factor that led to my capability to preserve my Spanish literacy skills is the fact that I made the decision to continue studying Spanish in college. I took courses in Spanish grammar, literature, composition and history. I took courses to learn Spanish for Business and Law (I was a Pre-Law/Political Science major before switching my major to Education). Taking these courses, really helped strengthen my Spanish skills. I wouldn’t encourage people to take Spanish courses in college ONLY if they wish to pursue a career as a Spanish teacher. I would encourage people to make a conscious effort to study their home language with the same amount of time and dedication that one uses to study the English language. I would encourage young people to take courses or find opportunities to study their home language whenever possible and as often as possible. The rise of dual language programs are helping to make this process more feasible. Dual Language programs allow students to simultaneously develop their English skills alongside a second language. Spanish is the most common language taught in dual language programs and this option works well for children whose home language is Spanish. There are other languages offered in dual language programs as well. There are dual language programs that offer languages such as French, Mandarin, Portuguese and German alongside English. If there is a large population of speakers of a given language residing in a community, I would encourage members of that community to advocate for a dual language program that would afford the children of that community the opportunity to study and maintain their home language. I would also encourage community members to advocate for dual language programs to be expanded onto high school, which is where academic language and literacy skills really begin to develop.

5. Teenagers Need to Truly Feel Empowered to Be Bilingual and Biliterate: It is no secret that bilingualism opens doors and provides people the opportunity to excel in the labor market. Even still, only about 20 percent of Americans are considered bilingual, compared to 56 percent of Europeans. What is the deal with Americans? Why can’t most Americans find it in themselves to really place bilingualism/multilingualism in the pedestal it should sit on? There are probably a ton of reasons for this but I often think that the whole “English is king” idea is a top reason. People are motivated to do things when they feel empowered to do so. If we teach our young people the real power that being able to converse in multiple tongues carries, perhaps more of them will feel naturally compelled to study other languages without worrying if it’s a graduation requirement or not. If we teach our young people that their home languages carry as much as power and have as much value as English, then perhaps more of them will feel inspired to use their bilingualism/multilingualism as the powerful tool that it is meant to be: a tool that breaks barriers, unites people and strengthens human empathy.

Overall, these are some of the main takeaways from my combined experiences as a bilingual learner, a bilingual teacher and now a mother trying to raise her children to be multilingual. Encouraging children to want to speak their home language consistently when the presence and influence of English as a dominant language is so strong is certainly a challenge. This challenge especially increases as children get older. However, it is NOT impossible!! If parents and educators continue to emphasize the value of speaking multiple languages and afford their children opportunities to use their home language in engaging and empowering ways, it bilingualism and biliteracy can be a tangible goal at any age.

For years, I’ve jealously read about how Europeans often learn to speak an average of three or four languages in their lifetime. For example, I’ve read about how children in Finland are exposed to multiple languages like English and German at school and then other languages, like Finnish and Swedish, at home. Must be nice!! But what if you live in a country where more than half of the population is monolingual and where students generally BEGIN to study a second language when they’re in high school? What if between you and your spouse, you only speak TWO languages? Is it possible to introduce children to a third language under such unfavorable circumstances?

Before my first daughter was born, I devoured books such as as “Trilingual by Six” by Lennis Dippel and ” 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child” by Naomi Steiner, both of which gave me some very good advice on how to create a “family plan” that would promote authentic and consistent use of the languages that my children were being exposed to. Both books suggested a few methods to use in order to put our family plan in place, such as the OPOL (One Person, One Method) approach) or the complete immersion method that involves using a language other than the community language to be used exclusively at home.

Adopting a family plan to ensure that our children would learn Spanish and English wasn’t that difficult to apply. Thankfully, my husband and I are both fluent in both languages so we made the commitment, early on, to speak to our children ONLY in Spanish (complete immersion approach) until they started learning English (community language) at school. Once my older daughters started school, we enrolled them in a dual language program where they have continued to build on their Spanish skills as they acquire the English language.

Our older daughters are now 8 and 6 years old. Both of them can speak, read, write and understand both Spanish and English. But I hear the ticking of the language acquisition clock behind me telling me that I need to get on with it and introduce the third language before my children get older and stop speaking to me entirely (just kidding!)

I studied French for various years throughout high school and college so we decided to introduce French as the third language, just because I think that I could offer the most support in that language. Also, French is a highly studied language at the high school level in the United States so it would be easier for the girls to continue studying the language as they get older. After doing a bit more research, I decided to modify our family language plan to now include the third language. As a language teacher, I know that buying workbooks and and textbooks in French will not cut it. In order to increase our girls chances of acquiring the French language, they need to be immersed in the language as consistently as possible. Therefore, the following elements are part our our PRELIMINARY plan:

(NOTE: As our daughters get older and their needs change, the plan will be modified accordingly):

1. French Immersion videos and apps: Given that our girls are still little, they are still engaged by listening to songs, watching videos and playing games. Gus on the Go: French ($3.99 on the Apple Store) and French for Kids with Stories by Gus on the Go (FREE on the Apple Store) are examples of some great language immersion apps for kids. My daughters used Gus on the Go: Spanish when they were toddlers and it was extremely effective. The content in the app is 100 percent in French and a lot of context is provided for children to make the input very comprehensible. As far as videos go, I would recommend the Whistlefritz French for Kids series which can be found on Amazon ($9.99 to purchase and $4.99 to rent). The Whistlrfritz program is also completely in French and also comes in Spanish. Duolingo is also a very common option, but it’s not very interactive or engaging for very young children.
2. Bilingual Books of Familiar Stories: Since our daughters are still young enough to get the nightly bedtime story, I’ve begun to replace our nightly reading with familiar stories translated into French. One I like to read the French version of the popular children’s book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. The girls have heard the English version, the Spanish version (Buenas Noches Luna) and are now becoming accustomed to hear the French version, Bonsoir Lune. Given that the girls are very familiar with the overall story, they find it easy to identify some of the common objects mentioned in the story are, in French. Other French/English bilingual books that I have purchased include: La Chenille Qui Fait Des Trous (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), Ours Brun, Dis-Moi (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) and Je t-aimerai toujours (Love You Forever). All books can be found on Amazon.
3. French Kids Camp and French Virtual Classes: With the advent of COVID, all camps have gone virtual. My city, Chicago, has a few language schools like the Alliance Franchise of Chicago that offer French classes for kids. But now that everyone has gone virtual, there are a variety of options online. Some classes can be very costly but a few reasonably priced options that I found online include: Camp Tournesol (https://www.camptournesol.ca/fees-french-camps/), FIAF (https://fiaf.org/class/age5-6-benjamins/), Go Talk To (https://gotalkto.net), Outschool (https://outschool.com/online-classes/world-languages?q=French&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7sz6BRDYARIsAPHzrNJW4FMI5L8Bq8NP573wvakRCs6TJ8sQWLCePmumEGxpbDV7v5ri2ZgaAmKVEALw_wcB#abk8512h6s&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=LS_Specific_Subjects_Broad)
4. French Kids Television: Even if they don’t understand everything that’s going on, there’s no better way to learn a language than through consistent and authentic immersion. Our girls love to watch and listen to some popular French shows for kids such as Ladybug and Cat Noir, Rabbids Invasion and The Jungle Bunch. I discovered these shows on YouTube and this website provides a list of popular French shows for kids available on YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
5. Introduction to French Culture: To boost motivation and willingness to learn a new language, it’s important to develop a genuine appreciation and love for the culture of the target language. It’s important not to have children feel “forced” to learn a third language. Rather, we want them to feel excited about speaking multiple languages and to understand the value that speaking multiple languages can bring to their lives. Therefore, in addition, to the study of the language, I would encourage incorporating elements of the culture whenever possible. Visit French restaurants (or restaurants of your target language or culture). Cook meals from that culture with your kids. Listen to music. Travel! Make the language experience as real as possible by integrating culture. So important!!

Introducing a third language can be quite the challenge. It can be even more challenging if you, or your spouse, aren’t fluent in the language or if the target language isn’t a language spoken by many people in your community. However, it’s not impossible. Anything is possible with consistency and determination. If you set a language plan and stay true to it, multilingualism is within reach!