Breaking Español

Ep. 3 - Why We Decided to Raise Our Son Bilingual

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We have a 10 month old son, Jack. He has been the light of our life since he’s joined us here on planet Earth. Naturally, since we want everyone to gain a greater compassion for others by learning a new language, we decided to raise him bilingual.

We have no doubt Jack will grow up being able to better communicate with other kids as a result of these efforts. In this episode we share the steps we’re taking to help our son learn both Spanish and English at the same time. Enjoy!

Tips (Consejos)
  • We decided while pregnant since we were already learning Spanish
  • Bilingual Types: Coordinate vs Compound
  • Our son will have no dividing line between English and Spanish in his brain since he’s learning them both at the same time
  • Our goal is to help our son have compassion for other cultures
  • Through our research we’ve found very little downsides to teaching him two languages at once
  • Don’t worry about using Spanglish, but try to separate your languages as much as possible
  • If a noun ends in “a” it is generally feminine, which you would use “la” as the pronoun
  • Having a nanny has been incredibly helpful in teaching our son Spanish and us!
  • Asking for Spanish books for our baby shower has helped us a lot
  • Seek out places to speak Spanish
  • Host a Spanish night with friends
    • Spanish Words (Palabras Españolas)
    • Quires = You form of Want = Do you want?
    • Cansado = Tired
    • Casado = Married
    • Estoy Cansado/a = I am tired
    • La mesa = The table
    • El programa = The program
    • Arriba = Up
    • Abajo = Down
    • Zapeta = Diaper
    • El Sofa = The sofa / couch
      • Resources
      • care.com
      • Cri Cri Radio on Pandora.com (Spanish children’s music)
      • Bob Zoom en Español (children’s nursery rhymes in Spanish)
        • ...more
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        Breaking EspañolBy Jennie & Ben Sullins