For the Love of Spanish

Liliana has been so intrigued with the Spanish vocabulary since Eduardo's return.  I started to get worried last summer that she had started to lose all of her Spanish.  She seemed to be anti-Spanish and wasn't interested very much in the language of the country she learned to speak in.  

But then Eduardo came back and her desire to learn is more than ever.  She asks him how to say just about everything in Spanish and it's adorable.  I think it gives them something to bond over and something special to have together.  Even when she asks me the answer and I know what to say, if Eduardo is home I tell her to ask him.  She gets so excited and goes running and feels so satisfied to have the answer.  

I'm just thrilled that she is learning so quickly and she actually helps me as well.  It's amazing how much we both learn from watching Dora the Explorer!  There are so many great learning tools out there and I'm always looking for more.  This all gets me even more excited that we are homeschooling and I see just how easy it can be :)  

I love my little bilingual girl!  

Words of the Week

I decided I will do a post each week on the new words Liliana is learning.  She is learning at such a fast rate.  I am completely in awe and blown away at all the new stuff that comes out of her mouth every day.  I always have to stop and have her repeat things to make sure I'm hearing it right.  And sure enough, it's a new word.  She's learning in both English and Spanish.  It feels like she is learning more English right now, but I think that maybe it just feels like that to me because I don't speak very much Spanish or understand even all of her Spanish words.  Eduardo has been telling me some of the new phrases and words she is saying in Spanish, but I find it harder to remember everything he tells me.  With the English stuff, there's no thought process at all.  I just remember.  I also want to add that Liliana has also moved on to phrases, not just words.  She's putting words together now really well and forming full sentences.  So cute to watch a 2 1/2 year old speaking!  So here's what she's come up with this past week or so:  (lots of words ending in "-ing")

English:

Talking

Cooking

Washing

Walking

Making

Waiting

Wait

Working

Laugh

Laughing

Nasty

Sleeping

Scary
Come in
Come on
Coming
I'll be back
See ya later

Spanish:

Calle

Trabajando

Dentista

I also have to add that the -ing words are coming out just as -in at the end of the works, like walkin, talkin, cookin, washin.  It's like she has this accent at the end that's really too cute for words.  It makes me laugh every time.  

Bilingual Blog Carnival

Hey, I found out about this blog carnival tonight that I want to share.  It's all about bilingualism!  Very cool.  I haven't had the chance to read all the blogs yet, but want to share them anyway.  Hope you enjoy too!  Remember, just because you only speak one language in your house doesn't mean you can't be bilingual.  Open up the doors to learning a new language.  It can be fun for the whole family!  I'm blessed that my daughter is growing up bilingual and there are so many advantages to it.  So check out what these fabulous bloggers have to say about the subject:

http://multilingualmania.com/apris-blogging-carnival-on-bilingualism/

Sing-a-long with YouTube

This has to be one of Liliana and my favorite past times.  We love to sing and we love to find videos on YouTube to sing along and dance with.  Amongst our favorite songs to sing are:

The A,B,C's,

The Wheels on the Bus,

The Itsy Bitsy Spider,

Old McDonald had a Farm,

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Los Pollitos (in Spanish)

and the most recent is Baby Beluga by Raffi.

We listen to different arrangements of each song to find our favorites and we have a blast.  Liliana particularly loves any song that has hand motions or body movements with them so today when singing Baby Beluga, I made up my own movements.  It was actually quite funny because it was in the middle of a "toddler tantrum" when I broke out in song and dance with Baby Beluga and Liliana instantly stopped crying.  She then started laughing and dancing around too.  Even hours after this occured, I kept hearing her start singing "Baby Beluga, Baby Beluga".  It was so cute.  They were the only words she got from the song for now and it was adorable.  I would sing along with her and do all the verses.  It was one of those times when I was so in awe of my daughter at how bright and happy she is and how new and innocent the world is when you are 2 and 1/2 years old.  I hope we never stop singing and dancing!

My Bilingual Baby

I have to say that one of the greatest things about marrying into another culture is that my daughter and I get to experience another language.  This has proved to be way harder for me than it has for Liliana.  At 26 months, she is fully bilingual.  We knew right away that we wanted to bring her up bilingual.  We didn't want it to be a choice when she is older because babies and children are able to absorb so much when they are young.  My little one is a prime example of that.

Last week I would have told you how Liliana is saying atleast 2-3 new words every day.  But this week she seems to have bumped it up and repeats nearly everything we say now and remembers it!  I am constantly blown away at how much she can remember and repeat.  Those little minds are incredible.

Since we live in El Salvador most of the time, Liliana's vocabulary mostly consists of Spanish words.  But she understands everything in both English and Spanish.  I still speak with her in English most of the time, but find myself using all the Spanish words I know with her.  I've been making a point lately of showing her how to say things more in English because I know she is picking up on all the Spanish around her.  She knows the English and Spanish versions of a lot of words, including her numbers.  We've been doing a lot of number counting in both languages lately and she knows both perfectly.  She will even switch back and forth between the different languages on her own.  One sentence she will say "moon" and the next sentence she says "luna."  It's incredible she knows that both words mean the same thing.

Going back to the States may be a little tricky this trip next week because my mom and friends don't understand Spanish at all.  I've been thinking I will make a cheat sheet for my mom of words that Liliana frequently uses.  I have no doubt in my mind though that Liliana will be able to get across what she is trying to say.  Once she is submersed in the English language fully again, I know she will pick up whatever she is hearing and being taught.

If only I could be learning Spanish as quickly as she is!!  Yesterday I found she was saying a word that I didn't even understand.  Liliana spends a great deal of time with her abuela (grandma) and learns so much from her.  I had to ask Eduardo what the word meant.  It's actually really cool because she and I are learning Spanish right along side each other.

I find that Liliana learns from other kids really fast, especially when she first started talking.  I still remember when she learned the word "no" from her good friend Pearl ;)  Here in El Salvador she learns a lot from her brother and sister and loves to repeat everything they say.

When people here find out that Liliana is bilingual, they get as excited as I do.  I think that speaking two languages has so many benefits and again her learning so young is perfect.  Spanish is already spoken so many places and I feel she will have such a broader range of relationships because their won't be the language barriers in place for her.

I've always planned on homeschooling Liliana and I think that in homeschooling we will be able to explore the two languages and cultures more than she would ever get to in public school.  I'm really excited about it and already love any chance we get to learn and play together.  My little one already is the one I look up to and I truly believe she is one-of-a-kind and completely incredible.  I will keep you updated with how the language learning progresses!

If you are looking for any bilingual learning tools/toys, check out my Amazon Store!  It has a vast variety of toys, books, DVD's, dolls and more...