Our Story: How We Grew Up Bilingual

In the last year, both Ana Lilian and I have shared a lot with you about how we’re raising our children bilingual + bicultural—joys and challenges included. Although we’ve shared some details, one thing we have not really done is tell you the how we grew up bilingual ourselves. In honor of SpanglishBaby’s first anniversary, we figured we’d get a bit more personal and allow you to get to know us a little bit better…

Roxana’s Story: A Multicultural Upbringing

The tale of how I grew up bilingual is totally different from that of my children. I am an immigrant who moved to this country from Perú as a teenager. Luckily, I already spoke English when I got here which made the transition a bit smoother.

Before I turned 15, I had already lived in three different continents (South America, Africa and North America) and had been exposed to at least four languages: Spanish, English, French and Afrikaans. I can’t deny it was a bit rough moving every couple of years growing up, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. It was rough because of the friendships we had to leave behind, but this also meant we got to meet people from all kinds of backgrounds.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, both my parents are bilingual (Spanish/English). My father taught himself English as an adult and my mother went to a bilingual British school in Lima, Peru. My sister and I attended the same school while we lived in Peru both before our travels started and when we returned several years later after a stint in Johannesburg, South Africa. Without the education and training I received there, I don’t think I’d be sitting here comfortably writing this in English, my second tongue.

Looking back, I think one of the most difficult moves was from Argentina to South Africa when I was nine years old. At this point in my life, I hadn’t really done much of the bilingual education thing and although I understood some basic English vocabulary, my parents realized it wouldn’t be enough and as soon as the move to Johannesburg was confirmed, they enrolled me in English classes while we waited for everything to be ready for the transfer. I remember nothing of them, but they must have helped because when we finally did move, I was able to survive in school—except for when we had Afrikaans lessons and I was utterly and helplessly lost! (more…)

We all know we are constantly looking for original activities to engage our little one´s in.  Have you ever thought about yoga?  And how about if you can add some Spanish into the mix? That´s exactly what Lina Navía, former telenovela star, turned yoga instructor has so beautifully created with her Ümbral Yoga con Lina Navía DVD.

Lina has set out to educate the Hispanic community about the health and wellness benefits of yoga as an integral part of our lives through classes and now this completely-in-Spanish DVD .  Children as young as three years old can reap many of the benefits of yoga, while having fun at it and never realizing it´s actually good for them.

The DVD includes a 45-minute session for adults at a beginner´s level.  I went immediately for the 25-minute children´s session because I´ve always wanted my girl to learn yoga poses as soon as she was old enough to focus and participate.  Lina manages to captivate you by the first couple of scenes with her charming and, at the same time, calming personality.

She guides the kids through yoga poses (but don´t tell the kids that!) by having them use their imagination and pretend they´re taking a bath and reaching for the soap and shampoo (stretching).  They will together go to the beach, pretend to be a serpent, a dog, a cow, a fly-eating frog, climb up a coconut tree, surf waves, visit a farm, and all while stretching, breathing, gaining balance and using their imagination.  Kids won’t even know they are getting a work out and doing yoga.  To help put your child in the pretend-mood, they´ve added cute and well-placed sound effects.

Plus, children get to practice words for animals, colors and common objects in Spanish!

I wished my yoga classes were this entertaining and imaginative.

The DVD is available for purchase for $14.99 via www.umbralyoga.com.  You can also enter to win one here!

The Giveaway

You can enter to win a copy of the DVD Yoga en Español con Lina Navía by leaving a comment telling us how you believe your child can benefit from practicing yoga in Spanish.  You can watch a preview of the children´s portion of the DVD here.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you´ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to our feed via email or RSS and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Blog about this giveaway making sure to include our link, and you’ll get TWO additional entries.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, March 16 at midnight EST and you must have a valid US address to enter.

Disclosure: A sample product was provided for review purposes; all opinions are 100% ours. Check out our full Disclosure + Privacy Policy.

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