As back to school is here and my son’s private school opted for Latin instead of Spanish, I started looking for alternatives to keep his summer skills sharp and the Spanish fresh in his mind. I searched for ideas and created some new ways to bring a second language to my child who will be basically exposed to just one language in school.

I hope you enjoy!

1) Game Night – Juegos

Choose your favorite game like scrabble, bingo, any game and create a Spanish version. I have a professional bingo wooden set, we get the popcorn out, my son loves it! Once a month is game night in Spanish!

2) Libros –My son loves buying books, I take him to Barnes and Noble or shop online, for each English book, he needs to chose one in Spanish!

3) Cantar – We download karaoke versions of songs in Spanish and he and I try to sing and do a contest! I connect my laptop to the tv and the songs are on youtube.

4) Comida – Off course food is always a great way to bring Spanish to the table through the amazing dishes,if you need inspiration, visit my cooking blog: www.kcocina.com

5) Hablar – Speaking Spanish at home, on a daily basis, using short sentences if you are not fluent, is off course the most effective way to develop your child’s skills and his/her connection with the language.

If you have more ideas, please share them with us! Would love to hear you!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages

Feliz dia das Maes! Feliz Dia de las madres!

This post is dedicated to all the moms who read and support our efforts to bring foreign languages into their homes and enable us to do that!
Being a multilingual mom has been a challenge for me and has proven to also be very rewarding at the same time. I have been walking my son through learning two languages while building up his native language and some of my efforts have being successful, others not so….Mother’s day should be celebrated all year , but I try to bring a special meaning at this time of the year!  I hope you try and enjoy some of my suggestions!!!
My son loves music, so we always hear music in Spanish and Portuguese….I still laugh when I hear him sing, tomo guarana, such de caju, goiabada para sobremesa!!! He blasts this song out on his iPod

speakers!!http://letras.terra.com.br/jorge-ben-jor/594602/

We also read some books, I try to read some of the books I am using in my classes and some in Portuguese as well!

We play his favorite game: mela mela tin, where we rub our noses agains it each other and then bang heads ( softly) sometimes he prefers not so softly, LOL, boys!  I make ovinho ( eggs for breakfast) on Saturday and he and daddy cook on Sunday for me!

He likes rock and fast paced music, so I like showing him some j-lo and Ricky Martin songs and dancing around the house, have not done that this week! And reading is a must!

I read this one last night, Quiero a mi mama porque:

http://astore.amazon.com/easylearn-20/detail/052547248