In Plain Language

Does storytelling occasionally feel more like a chore than a special family activity? Do you want your child to learn important reading skills AND to grow a love for reading? These invaluable storytelling tips from the pros — voiceover artists Sheli Baez (the voice of Malty the Blue Tiger!) and Brock Powell (the voice of The Kool-Aid Man!) — will help.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to use great storytelling to grow your child’s literacy skills such as reading comprehension, visualization, and critical thinking — and to turn them into an avid reader for life.

Follow Sheli on Instagram: @shelibaez

Follow Brock on Instagram: @brocktalks

Shop teacher-recommended bilingual books & audiobooks now! Take an extra 15% off your order with the code PODCAST at www.maltythebluetiger.com. These are the resources that will teach your child language and help them embrace their unique voice.

Did you ever make up secret words — or even an entire language — as a child? This can happen for a number of reasons, which we discuss in this episode of In Plain Language.

We'll be talking about kids who create languages for fun (a hobby that can actually be super beneficial!), kids who create code words with friends, and twin speak. Hear invaluable tips from linguist David Adger, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London and psychologist Joan A. Friedman, PhD, of Santa Monica, California. 

Don't forget to subscribe and review this podcast if you love what you hear! Those little things go a long way in spreading the word about this resource. You can shop teacher-recommended language learning books and audiobooks at www.MaltyTheBlueTiger.com (U.S. only) or find us on Amazon (globally). 

Audiobooks give you a special opportunity to help your child improve their reading comprehension and fluency skills — and to learn another language! Find out how to use audiobooks in the most effective ways to advance reading and language skills, raise a happy reader and/or bilingual child, and help your child succeed in school in beyond.

In this episode, we chat with Justine Bruyère, PhD, a lecturer in the reading education program at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College in Nashville, TN.

We just launched Malty’s NEW language learning audiobooks! Get 15% off your order at www.MaltyTheBlueTiger.com by using the code PODCAST at checkout today. These innovative digital audiobooks continue Malty’s adventures and teach kids new Spanish words along the way — and even come with free printable read-alongs of the story. Best of all: No subscription fees! Visit www.MaltyTheBlueTiger.com to claim your 15% off now. 

The opportunity window refers to the first few years of a child's life in which it's said to be easiest for kids to become bilingual. But does that mean the opportunity to truly raise a bilingual child is out the window if your child is older? 

In this episode, we chat with Frances Evans, the founder of the blog Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes, who successfully raised a bilingual son. However, she was worried that she had missed the "opportunity window" when she started. She shares with you what she learned! 

You'll also hear from Cindy Medina, a high school Spanish teacher who has tips for teaching older kids another language. 

Shop Malty the Blue Tiger dual language children's books (available in English/Spanish or English/French) on Amazon today to give your kids new language skills and confidence in their unique voices. These books are essential tools for both bilingual families and new learners!

You can also sign up for our Malty newsletter now to get an exclusive discount on our digital language learning audiobooks for kids when they launch on February 4: https://www.maltythebluetiger.com/newsletter-page 

Speaking eloquently and confidently for a crowd is an invaluable skill — yet it's one that children are rarely taught, even as they’re expected to make great presentations as part of their academic success in school (think oral book reports, science experiment presentations, and social studies debates). However, you can instill this skill set in your child with these five easy tips.

We spoke to Lauren Mosback, a licensed professional counselor and author of My Sister’s Super Skills, and Herman Otten, a public speaking expert, to bring you the best strategies for helping your child rock school presentations and public speaking overall. By the end of this podcast, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge you need to raise an exceptional public speaker (or become one yourself — after all, these tips work for grownups, too!).

Shop Malty the Blue Tiger bilingual children's books (available in English and Spanish or English and French) on Amazon today to give your kids new language skills and confidence in their unique voices. These books are essential tools for both bilingual families and new learners!

Get your Spanish edition: https://amzn.to/2O0hBXH

Get your French edition: https://amzn.to/2K8GLSM

Love what you hear? Leave a review if you can — it means the world to everyone who contributes to and creates this show! Plus, we’ll be featuring some of your reviews on the air. You can also support this podcast with a small monthly donation at anchor.fm/in-plain-language. In doing so, you help to continue these important conversations about language.

Overwhelmed by all of the information out there about how to raise bilingual kids? Get the insider facts directly from the people who are successfully doing it right now. In this episode, you'll hear from three parents — each with a unique story about how they are teaching their kids two languages at once — and you'll get their best advice and direct, tangible tips for pulling it off yourself. After all, there's no better way to learn than to hear from someone who's been there. 

You can buy Malty the Blue Tiger bilingual children's books (available in English and Spanish or English and French) on Amazon today to give your kids new language skills and confidence in their unique voices. These books are essential tools for both bilingual families and new learners alike!

Get your Spanish version: https://amzn.to/2O0hBXH

Get your French version: https://amzn.to/2K8GLSM

Love what you hear? Leave a review if you can — it means the world to everyone who contributes to and creates this show! (Plus, we’ll be featuring some of your reviews on the air.) You can also support this podcast with a small monthly donation at anchor.fm/in-plain-language. In doing so, you help to continue these important conversations about language.

Consider this: A recent study from The Ohio State University found that reading to kids a certain number of times daily can expose them to nearly 1.5 million words from books by the time they turn five. Read-alouds are so important because they set kids up for academic success and expose them to far more vocabulary than they hear in everyday life.

In this episode, you'll hear incredible advice on how to expose your child to a robust number of new vocabulary words by kindergarten, teacher-backed tricks you can use to engage them in reading, and the effect it'll have on their academic success. We're chatting with Jessica Logan, lead author of the study and assistant professor of educational studies at The Ohio State University. We're also speaking with Maya Le Espiritu, elementary school teacher and creator of the blog and YouTube channel MaiStoryBook, which provides reading resources for children. 

You can buy Malty the Blue Tiger bilingual children's books (available in English and Spanish or English and French) on Amazon today to give your kids new language skills and confidence in their unique voices. These books are essential tools for both bilingual families and new learners alike!

Get your Spanish version: https://amzn.to/2O0hBXH

Get your French version: https://amzn.to/2K8GLSM

Love what you hear? Give this podcast a little love with a review — it means the WORLD to everyone who works so hard to contribute to and create it! (Plus, we’ll be featuring some of your reviews on the air.) You can also support this podcast with a small monthly donation at anchor.fm/in-plain-language. In doing so, you help to continue these important conversations about language.

Your kids are constantly surrounded by the Internet. Your iPhone? They beg for it constantly. Tik Tok? All their friends have it. Lit so much foji rn? They understand that in a second. 

But what type of effect does this exposure have on kids, from the youngest ones who are just learning the English language to those who have been speaking it for years? In this episode, you’ll hear from two incredible linguists and get intel on the origins of the latest Internet language trends. Get all of your shocked-face emojis ready, because this stuff is mind-blowing! 

You can buy Malty the Blue Tiger bilingual children's books (available in English and Spanish or English and French) on Amazon today to give your kids new language skills and confidence in their unique voices. These books are essential tools for both bilingual families and new learners alike! 

Get your Spanish version: https://amzn.to/2O0hBXH 

Get your French version: https://amzn.to/2K8GLSM 

Love what you hear? Give this podcast a little love with a review — it means the WORLD to everyone who works so hard to contribute to and create it! (Plus, we’ll be featuring some of your reviews on the air.) You can also support this podcast at anchor.fm/in-plain-language. In doing so, you help to continue these important conversations about language.

You want your child to grow a large vocabulary and excel in language. You want them to thrive in their reading ability, school life, and relationships with friends and family — all of which are directly influenced by language skills. Simply speaking around your young child is a great place to start, but there's much more that you can do. Follow these five simple, smart strategies to help your child’s language skills flourish, whether they’re learning their native language or another language.

Today’s experts are Diane Paul, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, the director of clinical issues in speech-language pathology at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and Veronica Davis-Quiroz, a former foreign language teacher.

Malty the Blue Tiger bilingual books easily teach kids language skills and celebrate every unique voice. Pick up your copy on Amazon today (available in English and Spanish or English and French), and consider supporting this podcast so we can continue these important conversations about speech and language!

Real talk: Some parents say they've noticed their children speaking like their favorite cartoon characters — who speak in different accents! But are kids actually developing an accent from watching these shows? Will they only speak like the characters they like? (After all, villains often have accents, too!). And what if English isn't your child's native language? You'll hear from Alicia Whitley, a mom who's been there, plus Liliana Diaz-Vazquez, a bilingual speech-language pathologist based in Chicago, and Roberto Rey Agudo, language program director at Dartmouth College, as we get to the bottom of this fascinating phenomenon.