SpanglishBaby» Week of Mamás Blogueras

Celebrating Christmas with Hispanic Flavor

Guest — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:01:10 +0000

The following is a guest post by Marcela Hede and is part of the Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions series.

Photo Courtesy of Marcela Hede

We love Las Navidades! Typically we celebrate the best of both worlds-the American and the Hispanic one. I try to introduce our Colombian traditions in a fun way for our son Ian to have great memories of them.

At home we place a lot of emphasis on three things that help us celebrate Hispanic style.

1. Building the pesebre or nativity scene.

2. Going to at least one Novena de Aguinaldo, which is a Colombian-style novena we pray from December 16th to December 24th.

3. Having a small celebration- “Latino style”- on the 24th of December.

We don’t waste time. Believe it or not, on the last Saturday of November we have our box of decorations out, and I make a traditional simple chocolate parviao-a hot chocolate served with arepas and buñuelos-for us to enjoy during the process of armando la navidad.

There are always three things I make sure we have: Villancicos to play during the crazy process of decorating our place and throughout Christmas, traditional Hispanic Christmas food, and a special book for reading the story of baby Jesus while Ian arranges the pesebre.

We put out the Christmas tree and on the skirt underneath it our son puts together the pesebre. It all happens while playing villancicos in the background and having hot chocolate.

Getting together with Colombian friends to pray the Novena de Aguinaldos is a pleasure. This is a tradition I grew up with. The families sit around the pesebre reading prayers from a small book where we have the novena for each of the nine days. Our children love this tradition because there is a portion of the novena where they sing and play instruments, such as maracas, small drums, triangles and lids of pots and pans to accompany the famous chorus. Of course, more Hispanic-style eating follows…

I admit we may get carried away by having both baby Jesus and Santa bringing presents but…this is the only way I found I could teach our son to differentiate the two dates we have for celebrating Christmas- the 24th the Hispanic style and the 25th the American way.

On the 24th we serve something simple, opposite to what I grew up experiencing in Colombia. No big feast on the 24th, but we do eat: natilla, hot chocolate, empanadas, sabajón or eggnog (Colombian recipe), and tamales. Yes, I cheat… I buy the tamales the same day at a nearby place that makes them fresh and Colombian style!

I explain to our son that baby Jesus comes that night, and if he stays up late he may get the presents on the 24th. He never stays up that late anyway, and baby Jesus brings the presents close to his bed. Instead, for Santa to come he has to go to bed and wake up to open his presents under the tree and in the stocking.

My “gringo” and my son love celebrating on the 24th because our close by family comes over including his cousin Hayley, his “favorite girl in the whole wide world.” We play Christmas carols and villancicos, and the kids enjoy while we eat, chat and play games.

The most wonderful part is that my son and I are the only Hispanics because the rest of the family I celebrate with is American, but they love it! It is by no means a Latin style bash with music until 5 am and a full cena de Navidad, but I take what I can to keep Hispanic traditions going.

I encourage you to do the same. Navidad is one of the best opportunities to get close to our roots and to teach Latin traditions to our little ones. Feliz Navidad and keep on celebrating!

Marcela Hede is a stay home mom and an entrepreneur who after several years in marketing created Hispanic Culture Online– a Latino lifestyle site to connect Hispanic culture lovers and Hispanic-Americans to their roots.

What are some of the traditional meals served on your holiday table?

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions was a great success thanks to these amazing seven mamás blogueras who lovingly let us have a peek at their family life during the holidays and thanks to you for visiting us and spreading the word. We´ll be taking a small break for the holidays, but we´ll be re-posting some of our more popular articles to date. We wish you a beautiful holiday season with your loved ones. Peace.
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The Feast of Los Reyes Magos

Guest — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:01:49 +0000

The following is a guest post by Silvia and is part of the Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions series.

Photo by martius

In a perfect world we would spend every year in Mexico during the Christmas Season. I have wonderful memories of getting together each year at my abuelita’s house, of playing with my cousins, enjoying the posadas, drinking the ponche, smacking the piñatas, praying, rocking baby Jesus, hugging everybody, eating after midnight, and coming back the next day for leftovers.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to keep this Christmas tradition here in the States, because each year we have been in different places. But traditions are very important to me and Reyes Magos is one we have been able to keep in our home.

The Feast of Los Reyes Magos, for me, captures the true meaning of giving and receiving at Christmastime. It’s a day of comfort, joy, family, and prayer, but also of excitement while waiting for the gifts Los Reyes bring to Baby Jesus and to our children.

I love that in my bilingual and bicultural family we get to share celebrations: My kids have both Santa Claus, to whom they write in English, and Los 3 Reyes Magos, to whom they write in Spanish.

Every January 5th, I go to the Mexican market and buy the biggest “Rosca de Reyes” I can find and gather my family and as many of my dearest friends as possible.

When our guests arrive, and before we eat a dinner of tamales with refried beans and drink horchata, my husband reads the story of the Three Wise Men from the Bible. Then we leave the kids to run and play for a little bit, while the adults enjoy some conversation.

Photo by A3_Tsitika

Finally we gather round the table and cut the Rosca de Reyes. It is very exciting to see the kids looking for the baby Jesus hidden inside their piece!! We always have Mexican-style hot chocolate in which to dip our bread, yum!

At the end of the day, my kids take their shoes and put them under the Christmas Tree along with their wish lists. They follow mamá and papá dutifully to their normal bedtime routine which always goes smoothly because they know they need to be asleep in order to allow the Reyes Magos to come to our home.

The next morning the boys will get up and run to the living room to see what has been left next to their shoes! There is nothing sweeter than the smiles on those faces. I can’t wait!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Silvia is the creator of Mama Latina Tips a bilingual blog for Latina moms. In Mama Latina Tips you will find topics of interest to all moms, as on anything that appeals to a multi-faceted Latina women. You can also find Silvia and her tips on Twitter.

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions continues tomorrow with a story from Marcela Hede, Hispanic Culture Online, about how she introduces her Colombian traditions in a fun way for her son. Make sure you’re subscribed to our feed either by RSS or email so you don’t miss a beat.

Blending Traditions

Guest — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:01:30 +0000

The following is a guest post by Dariela and is part of the Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions series.

Photo courtesy of Dariela

This year I have a list of traditions and activities I want to make that will help bring together the two cultures we have in our family: Venezuelan and American.

Since our son is 3 years old and we have a girl on the way, it is already proving to be fun to start these traditions through the holidays:

Christmas Books in Spanish and English

We have one that we read in both languages and has a small explanation of what happened in Christmas and why we celebrate it and how different cultures celebrate it. My son’s immersion in books is amazing and he wants it read 100 times, so this helps a lot! We plan to add many more to our library through the years.

Also, having conversations about what happens in Christmas and telling stories about what we used to do when we where young is priceless for our son; he loves this and the stories created are very special.

Nativity Scene

In Venezuela this is very big. It not only includes the main characters but also lots of little towns with cute houses, people, animals, little blinking lights, moss and real mountain backgrounds, too. Sometimes families dedicate a whole room for it at their homes.

We are not making a big scene but we have a little collection of several ones that I put out as decoration and Adrian knows that on Christmas Day baby Jesus will be born and he will be placed there.

Christmas Decorating

We had a special day to decorate the house and this included decorating the tree, setting up the nativity scenes and some other ornaments around the house. He LOOVED this, of course.

Singing to Baby Jesus

Oh, music is sooo important as a holiday traditions! We sing Aguinaldos (as we call our folkloric Christmas carols) to Baby Jesus in front of the Nativity scene. I’m sure Adrian will love to learn some of these. And why not include some traditional Christmas Carols in English too? It will be fun!

Christmas Eve celebration

Celebrating Christmas Eve with a Venezuelan dinner and our best outfits will be one of our traditions. Luckily, we live in LA and there are some places where we can buy some Hallacas and the Pan de Jamón (Ham Bread) which is a big part of the traditional holiday meal and is hard to make, so with some other additions it will be great!

We will open our gifts that night-maybe not at midnight like we used to in Venezuela- but after dinner. A good fiesta and dancing to some Gaitas (Venezuelan Christmas music similar to Salsa) if we have guests would be in order as well!

Christmas Day celebration

We’ll also have a Christmas Day dinner celebration. WOW! We will get two parties! My in-laws live close by, which means we can celebrate with them too. We all pitch in for an American traditional dinner, listen to lots of Christmas carols, play some board games, watch a Christmas movie and open gifts from Santa. Which brings me to the last tradition:

Santa brings presents and Baby Jesus, too!

In Venezuela Baby Jesus brings presents to the kids on Christmas, usually he leaves them by the bed. Adrian will have some presents by his bed from Baby Jesus and some presents by the tree from Santa! I’m not sure if this will be confusing, but we’ll try and see how it goes.

New Year’s Eve celebration

The Holidays wouldn’t be complete without the proper New Year’s celebration. We would like to make it a tradition to have a big family party where all the family is invited, this means, not just an adult party but kids too, please. Kids can have fun together and adults can party as well. We’ll have plenty to eat too and maybe do all those fun traditions likr eating 12 grapes right when midnight strikes, kissing somebody, watching the ball drop on TV, going out the door with some luggage if you want to travel next year and many more that I can’t think of right now!

And this is really just the beginning of my list but it is the most important part of it. I realize that having two cultures in our family is so different than just doing one regular tradition and it’s fun! I hope our kids think the same thing!

Dariela is a designer and latin Mami living in Los Angeles. She loves to blog about her bicultural family at Nuestra Vida con Adrián. You can see her designs at Folklore Eye.

What’s on your list of important holiday traditions?

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions continues on Monday with a story from Silvia, Mamá Latina Tips, how she manages to capture the true meaning of giving and receiving at Christmastime. Make sure you’re subscribed to our feed either by RSS or email so you don’t miss a beat.

Feeling at Home Within Two Cultures

Guest — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:01:52 +0000

The following is a guest post by Adriana Villalobos and is part of the Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions series.

Photo by Adriana Villalobos

We are a bilingual and bicultural family. I am a “gringa” born and raised in the mid-west to English-speaking parents. I fell in love with the Spanish language and Hispanic culture while studying in Mexico and Spain during college. Years later I even became a high school Spanish teacher. Five years ago I married my wonderful Mexican-American husband. He was the first child born in to his family in the United States after they moved to Texas from Mexico. Together we have two beautiful niños, Diego who is almost four and Mateo who is 20 months. When we were expecting our first child, we decided that we did not want them to lose touch with their Mexican heritage. We have tried to accomplish this in the following two ways:

Bilingual

My husband’s parents and many other relatives do not speak English. It is, therefore, imperative that our children learn Spanish to create and maintain a bond with this side of their family. We have chosen to use the ML@H (minority language at home) method and have only spoken Spanish to the boys since they were born. We have also hired Spanish-speaking babysitters and recently enrolled our oldest son in a Spanish Immersion Preschool. We also plan as many trips as possible to visit my husband’s side of the family and the boys talk to their abuelos on the phone every week.

Bicultural

Since we live in the U.S., our children are surrounded by and heavily influenced by the American culture. It is also very important to my husband and I that the boys experience and learn to appreciate the Mexican culture and traditions, as well. That is why we celebrate both the 4th of July and el 16 de septiembre, both Halloween and el Día de los Muertos, and both Christmas and el Día de los Reyes Magos. While our children are very young, we are working on how to honor both cultures and celebrate both traditions. I would like to share some of the ways that we will integrate the Mexican traditions into our holiday celebrations this year.

Libros, libros y más libros- Both of my boys love books and we are happy to read to them (en español) several times a day. An effective way to introduce new vocabulary and teach about a certain tradition is to read a book about it to your child. We are lucky enough to have a public library full of books in Spanish.

El Nacimiento- One of my husband’s first Christmas memories is helping his abuela set up her nativity scene. She collected so many pieces that it took up most of the living room during the holidays. We only have a small set (so far) but my husband enjoys putting it up with our sons and telling stories about his beloved grandmother.

Villancicos- In addition to the English classics like Rudolf and Frosty the Snowman, we sing traditional Christmas songs in Spanish, as well. Diego’s favorite is “Los peces en el río.”

Tamales- Every year the entire family gets together to make un montón de tamales. I remember being overwhelmed the first year that I participated by the amount of tamales that we were making. This is one of my favorite traditions because it allows us time (several hours) to spend together catching up and because tamales are deliciosos.

Posadas- We are fortunate to live in a very culturally diverse area. Every year we participate in the Posadas that are hosted by the local Latino Cultural Center.

Día de los Reyes Magos- Our children leave out stockings for Santa, but they also set out their zapatos for the Three Kings on January 6th. This year I hope to have Diego help me make a Rosca de Reyes cake also.

It is a challenge to teach our children about their Mexican heritage while living in the United States. It is our hope that the boys will grow up appreciating and feeling at home within both cultures.

Adriana Villalobos is a highschool Spanish teacher in Texas who is raising her two young sons bilingually with her Mexican-American husband. She writes about her family’s adventures on her blog My Bilingual Boys.

How do you keep in touch with your holiday traditions?

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions continues tomorrow with a story from Dariela, Nuestra Vida con Adrián, who gives us a peek into her Venezuelan-American holiday fiesta. Make sure you’re subscribed to our feed either by RSS or email so you don’t miss a beat.

Alegre Vengo de la Montaña or How Abuela´s Traditions are Still Alive

Guest — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:01:00 +0000

The following is a guest post from Melissa and is part of Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions series.

Orocovis, Puerto Rico

Alegre vengo de la montaña
de mi cabaña que alegre está
y a mis amigos les traigo flores
de las mejores de mi rosal.
Y a mis amigos les traigo flores
de las mejores de mi rosal.

This song plays in loop in my head all Christmas season long. I learned it in third grade and it takes me back to a very small apartment, in a very Italian neighborhood, where I was a little girl very attached to her Abuela. She lived with us and was then, as she still remains now even long after her passing, an incredible influence in my life. She came from a small town in Puerto Rico called Orocovis. If you ever wanted to visit, pick the center most spot on the Puerto Rican map and there amongst the gorgeous verdant mountains, full of lush vegetation, banana trees thick with fruit, and sugar cane ready to chop and eat, is this little town. The nights are pitch dark and the stars are clear in view. And of course the chorus of coquís fills your ears and lulls you to sleep in such a glorious manner.

As the season would draw near, the anticipation for the foods she would prepare became greater. Even as I aged out of the excitement over Santa’s coming visit, I never lost my fever for my Abuela’s arroz con dulce. When I saw that she had bought the coconut, there was nothing else I could think of. And when she brought out the hammer to get into it, I was right there to witness it. She always drained the coconut water into a cup first and gave it to me. And with delight I would drink it up as she watched and laughed with love. Then I would watch her strong hands break the coconut open and tear the flesh out. Next she would take out the good ol’ standing hand grater and grate the coconut by hand. Soon she’d go into the kitchen and by then it was my bed time. The next morning I would see the plate of perfectly milk white arroz con dulce dotted with raisins and always whine that she didn’t make enough.

Her hand grater spent a good amount of time in use during the Christmas season, for she hand grated all the vegetable for the pasteles as well. If you have ever handled a raw yucca or yautía, you can probably appreciate what a feat that was. She would let mix the masa, pour the milk and salt it to taste. And then when it came time, I would help in the wrapping of the actual pasteles. Being in the pasteles production line with my mother and Abuela was such a special thing to me. It was what made the season not only important, but real to me. I don’t remember what I got every year for Christmas, but I remember the sights, sounds, smells and joys of the Christmas foods and traditions my Abuela passed down to me.

My Christmas traditions come directly from my beloved Abuela. And while I have updated the equipment, trading in the hand grater for a cuisine art, the foods and traditions are the same. I still buy a coconut to break open and divide the water amongst my children, but instead of making one plate full of arroz con dulce, I make two trays. My children are now getting to be old enough to learn to make pasteles, and so perhaps this year they will join the assembly process. The pernil will be in the oven, the arroz con gandules on the stove top and for my daughter, I will make the sancocho she has been asking for since early November. My children never met my Abuela, but through the foods and traditions I pass down to them from her, they remain strongly linked to her, as I have always been.

Si me dan pasteles,
dénmelos calientes,
que pasteles fríos empachan la gente Si me dan arroz
no me den cuchara,
que mamá me dijo
que se lo llevara.

Melissa is a mother of four children. In the tradition of many Hispanic families, her maternal grandmother lived with them. Melissa´s drive to raise her children in as many of the traditions as she was raised in, is the best way she could come up with to keep her Abuela close to her. You can get close to Melissa through her blog, Mis Hijos También.

Is there a place or person that binds you to your heritage and traditions?

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions continues tomorrow with a story from Adriana, My Bilingual Boys, who shares with us how she´s keeping in touch with her Mexican heritage through the holiday traditions. Make sure you’re subscribed to our feed either by RSS or email so you don’t miss a beat.

Christmas Time: A complex dance between two cultures

Guest — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:01:44 +0000

The following is a guest post by Señora López and is part of the Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions series.

López boys watching the snow fall

Keeping traditions alive in the Familia López poses a unique challenge. I am an Anglo-American, born and raised in the United States with both my father’s Jewish traditions and my mother’s Protestant ones. My husband is Latino, raised in a muy Católico household in El Salvador.

As a result, our niños play dreidel on Hanukkah, sing Las Mañanitas to the Virgin of Guadalupe accompanied by Mariachi, and always make sure to leave cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

But even with a mutual respect and love for each others culture, language, and traditions, there are still times when we find ourselves in a pickle when deciding which traditions to pass onto our children. Christmas time is a particularly complex dance between worlds.

Do we attend midnight Spanish language Catholic mass on Christmas Eve or English language Christmas Day sunrise service at a Protestant church? (Or both while consuming mass quantities of caffeine to stay awake?) For Christmas dinner do we eat ham or tamales? (Maybe tamales de puerco?)

Over the years we have had to learn to compromise, appreciate, love, (and yes, sometimes laugh at), each others traditions as we share them with our children.

For example, last year we participated in the uniquely Latin American tradition of Las Posadas with the local Latino community. The kids had fun escorting a statue of Maria and José door-to-door asking for lodging but it reminded me of the fairy tale of the Three Little Pigs, except Mary and Joseph didn’t threaten to “huff and puff and blow your house down” like the Big Bad Wolf. (Sacrilegious, I know.)

And my Salvadoran husband has always been baffled by the carrots the children leave out on the patio for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve. (As if that weren’t bad enough, he has to then watch his peculiar gringa wife run outside into the snow in her bare feet after putting the children to bed, to nibble the carrots and make them look half-eaten.)

Many traditions can seem strange if they aren’t the ones you grew up with. The blessing of this lifestyle is that trying to give your children the best of both worlds teaches them to be adventurous, curious, and eager to try new things. These are great qualities! (Until they’re teenagers, then perhaps you’ll feel differently.)

For others finding themselves trying to straddle two different cultures, here are a few tips to guarantee your familia is in a harmonious holiday spirit.

#1. Sit down with your spouse and make a list of traditions that are important to each of you.

#2. If any of the traditions directly conflicts with another, talk it out to find a compromise or agree to alternate each year.

#3. Don’t forget the specialness that can be found in making new traditions! Some ideas: Build a snowman as a family, volunteer at a soup kitchen, go sledding, decorate the tree together, drive around and look at the lights in the neighborhood, do a puzzle on Christmas Eve, have cinnamon rolls or another special breakfast on Christmas morning, buy a family ornament to add to the tree, and/or try a new cookie recipe each year along with the traditional favorites.

And here is one tradition my husband and I definitely agree on: Kissing under the mistletoe.

iBesos!
Señora López

Señora López is an (as of yet unpublished), American writer of multicultural fiction. When she’s not writing, she’s reading or getting into some sort of I Love Lucy-esque trouble. Her other passions include human rights, travel, and Hawaiian pizza with curry powder. She and her husband are both bilingual and proud to be bringing up two Spanglish speaking boys. Feel free to visit her at Latina-ish.

Now it’s your turn. How do you merge two or more cultures into your holiday traditions? Any tips?

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions continues tomorrow with a story from Melissa, Mis Hijos También, who reminisces about Christmas time spent visiting her abuela in Puerto Rico, and how she’s keeping her alive through the foods and traditions she lovingly passed down. Make sure you’re subscribed to our feed either by RSS or email so you don’t miss a beat.

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions

Guest — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:01:35 +0000

One of the most exciting parts of keeping up with SpanglishBaby is “meeting” so many other parents and educators who share our passion of raising bilingual and bicultural children. In the 10 months since we launched, we’ve felt part of a constantly growing community of bloggers who are lovingly sharing their bicultural families’ life stories. We’ve reached out to seven of these mamás blogueras (we DO promise to find papás for the next one!) to leave a piece of their holiday traditions here for all of us.

Starting today, and for the next 6 business days, you’ll get to peek into the bicultural holiday traditions of these wonderful ladies and their familias. Some you’ve probably already met through their blogs, others might be a total discovery for you. They’re all gems in our book! We hope you enjoy this series as much as we did putting it together.

Embracing Puerto Rican Christmas Traditions

Melanie Edwards is a Modern Mami™. As a Latina working mother, she provides an honest depiction of the everyday humor and drama in the life of today’s wife, mother and woman from a Latina perspective. She often blogs about the special concerns working mothers have in attempting to achieve a work-life balance. Melanie has been married nearly seven years and has a 4-year-old daughter.

Growing up, we always knew Navidad had arrived in our house when our father began playing his música navideña. He would break out his tapes (yes, I said tapes not CDs) and play endless Puerto Rican folkloric music. It was also typical of him to use this as an educational moment to teach us about the different types of music, instruments, and even the history behind the lyrics.

Additionally, there was also that special day early in December when we got together as a family to make pasteles. Pasteles are a Puerto Rican delicacy traditionally served in the Christmas season and made out of (mostly) a green banana mass with a pork filling. They are not hard to make, but do require a lot of work and team effort.

So, every year we would pick a Saturday or Sunday to spend making our pasteles. The whole family was usually involved and everyone had their part. While we cooked and made anywhere from 100-150 pasteles, we also listened to music, talked about Puerto Rican traditions, and just laughed as we enjoyed our day together.

Photo by Melanie Edwards: Our family in El Morro, Puerto Rico. Of course, there's no guarantee your kids will ever look at the camera, is there?

Now that I’m married and have a family of my own, I try to make my way over to my parents’ house along with my husband and daughter to participate in this yearly tradition. I want very much for my bi-cultural daughter to learn about both cultures and those important traditions that make up who she is. The day is still spent in very much the same way with music playing, conversations of Puerto Rico, and lots of pasteles being made.

In our own home, though, I also incorporate some basic traditions during the holidays to be sure they continue to live. They may have been modified over the years and as a result of the merged cultures in our family, but they are still our traditions.

Coquito

It is common for me to make a batch (or two or three) of coquito during the Christmas season. My husband has come to love coquito and now requests that I make it before I even think about it. Coquito is sometimes referred to as Puerto Rican eggnog and is traditionally served at holiday parties.

Nativity under the Tree

I am not sure if this is strictly a Latino tradition, but I know that I mostly see it being done in Latino households. Our nativity set is placed under the Christmas tree and always has been for as long as I can remember. I do the same and it has made the concept of “baby Jesus” a very real one for my daughter.

Noche Buena Dinner

As opposed to American families, we have our family dinner and get-together on Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena, instead of Christmas Day. This is when we have our traditional Christmas dinner of pasteles, arroz con gandules, and pernil.

Tres Reyes

It is typical to celebrate Los Tres Reyes Magos (Three King’s Day) in Puerto Rico. When I was little, I used to make baskets for collecting grass to feed the camels and would receive a gift from Los Reyes under my bed. Sadly, this tradition has been somewhat overlooked over the years for various reasons. However, I am determined to introduce my baby girl to this holiday and its special meaning come January.

All of these traditions help define who we are as a family. I’m thrilled that I get to share these customs with my husband and daughter and that we now get to make them our own traditions.

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions continue tomorrow with a story told by the Latina-ish Señora López in her unique style. She’ll put a smile on your face. Make sure you’re subscribed to our feed either by RSS or email so you don’t miss a beat.

Are You a Mamá Bloguera?

Ana Lilian — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:01:13 +0000

Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

We’re glad to let you know that our first installation of Week of Mamás Blogueras was a huge hit, thanks to the beautifully inspiring posts written by Tati, Jen, Violeta, Mónica and Carrie and to the comments you all took the time to make.

A light bulb went off in our heads enlightening us to the fact that there are many parents in the blogosphere writing about their challenges and victories, as well as sharing how-to’s and advice on their journey of raising bicultural and bilingual (or multilingual) kids.

We’ve always envisioned SpanglishBaby as an online community where parents can come to ask, explore and share advice. But the words of Roxana, our amazing panel of experts and mine aren’t the only ones we want to be read. We believe that we need to join as a community of like-minded parents that have a same goal: raising bilingual and bicultural children to be open, diverse and compassionate towards an ever-evolving world.

Join Us!

So, we want to hear more from you. If you have a blog, and you are raising bilingual kids, please let us know by sending us a message here. We will list your blog, along with a description, under the Mamás Blogueras tab in our main navigation menu.
Of course, there’s no way we would leave out Papás…never! Just fill out the same form and we’ll list you as a Papá Bloguero.

Feel free to send us article submissions to appear as a guest post on any topic regarding culture, language, education and children.

If you like what we’re talking about sign up for free SpanglishBaby updates via email or via RSS. You’ll like it.

The Gift of Language from the Abuelos

Filling my Tennessee-Born Daughter’s Head and Heart with Español

Guest — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:01:30 +0000

Photo by Flux=Rad

Our first Week of Mamás Blogueras comes to an end with this entertaining and endearing post by Carrie Weir, Cuban-American blogger, entrepreneur and mamá to a precious girl. Stop by Carrie’s blog-Bilingual in the Boonies-for a good dose of her unique sense of humor and a peek into this Latina’s bilingual life.

There are Spanish-English dictionaries on my desk, on a pantry shelf, and on the bookshelf in my daughter’s room.

I need them to stay within reach because despite the fact Spanish is my first language, the words often escape me. And, much to my delight and slight shock, my 5-year-old can give me the right answers when I get bilingual brain-lock.

-”Maria, como se dice ‘cubby’ en español?
-”Casillero,” she answers.
-”And, how do you say lunch box?”
-”Maletín,” she tells me.

I grew up in a Cuban-American family in Miami. My parents and relatives primarily spoke Spanish at home and I attended a bilingual private school. So, the foundation in the language of my people is strong. But, after nearly 25 years on my own --nearly 20 of those living in Tennessee — far away from my family and culture, I realized raising a bilingual child would take some creativity and all the help I could get.

When Maria was an infant, it was simple to teach her Spanish. Leche, agua, pelota, perro. I sang her lullabies like Señora Santa Ana and Los Pollitos Dicen and I kept the salsa music on the CD player. While I was at work a wonderful woman from Nicaragua filled Maria’s ears with beautiful Spanish. By the time she was a toddler, most of her words were in Spanish.

But, when I left my job and she started hanging out with me full-time, almost overnight her wants were communicated mostly in English. I lapsed into English a lot and even when I spoke to her in Spanish, she answered me in English.

I panicked a little and made a game plan: If I could not speak to Maria 100% in Spanish, then I would fill in the gaps with books, music, games, some TV and the most powerful weapon in the arsenal — Abuelitos.

And while I lapse often, it has worked. My daughter is as bilingual as she can be and while it takes constant monitoring, adapting and creative thinking to keep a little person like mine interested in engaging in a second language, it can be done.

Here’s a lot of what we do to keep Spanish alive in our home:

We have read ABC books and picture dictionaries in Spanish since Maria could hold her head up. She learned the sounds of the letters, the names of simple objects and I got a great reminder on words I rarely use like “alce” and “bellota.”

If I forget a word while we are talking, I go look in the dictionary, or tell her I will have to look it up later. I want her to understand that learning a language is a constant.

Until she was about 2, I only read her bedtime books in Spanish. Her father read the books in English. Now, I do a mix of both.

My iTunes library is filled with bilingual children’s songs (I love Dan Zanes for this), traditional Spanish children’s songs and plenty of pop songs by Latin artists. We sing a lot and she has no idea she’s learning. (Here’s one bilingual iMix and a bilingual holiday iMix)

Simple and free Spanish podcasts like Voices en Español and Notes in Spanish, also available from iTunes, play in my kitchen during the summer and on weekends while Maria eats or does a craft. A favorite is Cody’s Cuentos, traditional children’s stories in Spanish.

I play CDs from artists like Boca Beth and Professor Pocket and DVDs like Global Wonders that are specifically focused on teaching children Spanish. The songs are great and engaging. Maria has had the Boca Beth CD for more than 2 years and still loves it.

Dora and Diego and Maya and Miguel have been stars here because when she was 3 and resisting el habla, I pointed out that Dora and Diego were bilingual just like her. “Isn’t that great?” I would say. She did think that was cool.

We play word games like “Veo, Veo” (I Spy) and we made up a silly one that mixes up body parts, like: “¿Qué pasaría si tu nariz estuviera atrás de tu cabeza?”

Maria is enrolled in a Spanish immersion preschool. The fact she spends 6-hours a day bathed in español has boosted her language. She reads just as well in English as she does in Spanish. It also has improved my Spanish because her wonderful teacher corrects me often.

My husband is not fluent in Spanish, but because he truly wants his daughter to be a Spanish-speaker, he makes the effort to speak to her in Spanish. Though he can mess it up, it’s a learning opportunity for them both when I correct him. It also shows Maria her father thinks it is important to try.

We eat Cuban picadillo, arroz con pollo and flan at home and when we eat at Mexican restaurants she is encouraged to order her own quesadilla, por favor.

I spray Maria’s hair every day with Agua de Violetas, a delicious and traditional Cuban children’s scent. It provides a link to the past and has provided opportunities to talk about my own Violetas-scented childhood in Miami.

I actively spend time, and search for, local Latina friends and Latina friends with children so that Maria will grow up exposed to people like herself — people who can easily float between two languages and two cultures and feel right at home in each.

My parents, who live in Miami, speak to Maria in Spanish. They teach her poems and silly songs. My father teaches her cubanisms and dichos and makes her duro frios — frozen smoothie cubes made of tropical papaya, mango and other fruit. Spending more than a few days with my parents switches her brain and she more often initiates conversations in Spanish when they are here, and just after we’ve been together.

My grandmother, Evelina, used to kick my cousins and me out of the house if we spoke English. She was fierce and unrelenting. I credit her with much of the reason I speak pretty darned good Spanish. While my Mama would be shocked I cannot remember simple Spanish words, I know that the vieja would be pretty proud of how far we’ve gone to make her Tennessee-born, great-granddaughter the tremenda cubanita that she is.

And reader, if you’re struggling with the habla in your own home, remember this: If I can do it in the Boonies of Tennessee, you can too.

Mucha suerte to you.

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Want to meet María, Carrie´s daughter, and see her in full Spanish action for your self? Check out this adorable home video of María at age two. She’s too much!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inm7ZhM_oR0

And so this brings us to the end of an awesome week of sharing! Thanks to all these amazing ladies for inspiring us in so many ways with their stories in this first Week of Mamás Blogueras: Tati, Jen, Violeta, Monica and Carrie. Hopefully, this will be the first of many!

Use Bilingual and Bicultural Literature to Enhance Language Learning

Guest — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:01:11 +0000

Photo by Myrrien

Week of Mamás Blogueras has turned out to be much more enriching and inspiring than we ever imagined. We count ourselves lucky to have grouped such an amazing and talented group of blogueras.

Today’s post by Mónica is no exception. She´s done a great job introducing herself, so I’ll let you read it from her own words. I do want to add that the Latin Baby Book Club was one of the first blogs we found while doing our research on sites targeting bilingual children. It´s still on the top of our list for a great read and special finds.

First, I’d like to thank Roxana and Ana for inviting me to write this week. SpanglishBaby has been a great resource for me and I appreciate the opportunity to contribute.

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Monica Olivera Hazelton and I am the owner of Latin Baby, an on-line boutique for Spanish-speaking American families. I also created and manage two blogs, Mi Cielito Lindo and the Latin Baby Book Club, both of which are a result of running the boutique.

My background:

On my mother’s side, I am a third generation Mexican American. On my father’s side, I am a first generation Spanish American. I grew up attending private, English-only schools, but managed to hang on to my cultural identity through the efforts of my family. We lived with my great-grandmother who spoke only Spanish and with whom I was very close. In addition, my grandmother was extremely active in the community, helping to organize cultural events such as fiestas for Cinco de Mayo, posadas, and more. My mami worked hard to instill pride for my culture and the language. And though my parents divorced when I was very small, I spent several summers in Spain visiting my father and his very large family.

However, my entire education and subsequent career were predominantly English-only environments. I married a non-Latino who doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish and had my first child four years later. Shortly after her birth I began looking for baby apparel that reflected our Latino heritage, and in 2005 I started Latin Baby when I couldn’t find any.

While I am constantly looking for ways to pass on my Latino heritage to my children, teaching them Spanish is a tremendous struggle for me. Though I understand it perfectly, I rarely have the opportunity to speak it and often forget verb tenses which makes me terribly self-conscious. It is hard for me to remember to use Spanish with the kids but am trying my best and hope that my occasionally incorrect verbs don’t mess things up for them!

We’ll be homeschooling our daughter next year, so I finally decided the best way for me to teach them Spanish will be with a formal Spanish course because I can integrate it into our curriculum. I’m investigating Spanish programs now, and welcome any suggestions.

However, one method I am happily using to pass on our culture and the language has been to incorporate bilingual and bicultural children’s literature into our routine. I prefer books with embedded Spanish text, but am careful to include those with full text in Spanish, because I feel that even if the kids don’t understand it all, hearing the rhythm and inflection is important for their future comprehension.

I started the Latin Baby Book Club as a resource for parents trying to raise bilingual children. The goal has been to review/recommend books and music that help children to learn the language or to develop an appreciation for Latino cultural traditions. Both my kids absorb these books like a sponge. I do think my daughter finds it easier to relate to stories about little girls who look like her (ie., Adelita, and Trencitas of Jerry Tello’s Abuelo y Los Tres Osos) than to those centered around the blonde princesses of traditional Anglo folktales (though she likes most of these, too.) But I want her to grow up with a healthy self-image and proud to be a Latina.

Many of the books describe cultural traditions that I was able to experience as a child (ie., Una, Dos, Tres, Posada!, and The Best Mariachi in the World) but that my kids can’t – at least not at the moment, and probably never to the same extent that I did. I use these stories to talk more in depth with my kids about the traditions and ask them questions about how they would celebrate certain holidays or how they would end the story. Oftentimes, I use the books as an opportunity to describe my own childhood experiences to them, which they love to hear about and I can just see their imaginations taking flight. One of my favorites, Mamá Goose, is great for teaching them some of the nursery rhymes I learned as a child, which in turn leads to stories of my own childhood and my relationship with my abuelita and nanita.

I am also especially fond of biographies, such as Diego and Me llamo Gabriela. These books are a way for me to introduce Latino historical figures that they probably wouldn’t learn about through regular education channels. When it’s possible, I try to add art/craft projects that are related in some way to these figures for reinforcement. I’m a little limited still by my kids’ ages, but I think it will be easier to do as they get older.

Abecedarios also play an important role as teaching tools. I have successfully used books like F is for Fiesta to teach the alphabet and Just A Minute! or Marcos Counts to teach numbers to both of my kids. There are a ton of books out there with fantastic stories centered around el alfabeto or números, you just have to choose the ones your children will like best!

I can’t stress enough how incorporating bilingual and bicultural children’s literature in your child’s life can positively enhance their learning experience. Not only does it help them learn the language, but the storylines also help them to develop tolerance, appreciation and even affection for cultural mores and traditions that may reflect their own heritage and that of others. The inner strength and confidence that children develop as a result are some of the most precious gifts their parents can impart.

We have a talented and diverse group of contributing bloggers at the LBBC and we hope you will join us.

Tomorrow’s final Mamás Blogueras post is by Carrie Weir from Bilingual in the Boonies. She lets us in her daily joy of filling her Tennessee-born daughter’s head and heart with español.