Resources for a Non-Native Parent
If you're like me, you probably wish that you spoke both languages you are teaching your children perfectly, and you dream of your children embracing both languages. For me, probably the biggest challenge has been the fact that neither my husband nor I are native speakers of Spanish, the language we speak in the home.
Thankfully, we are surrounded by amazing resources that help us succeed at our goals!
Bilingual Phrase Books and Apps
If you find yourself wondering how to say a large number of phrases to your toddler or baby in Spanish, I'd recommend these books which are like phrase dictionaries. They were written for Spanish speaking parents, but like many bilingual dictionaries, it works for English speakers wanting to learn more Spanish phrases as well.
Some of the Spanish in these books is Spain Spanish.
Baby English by Diana Sampedro You can buy this as a paperback or as an e-book for Kindle.
Mejora tu inglés y haz que tu hijo sea bilingüe by Pilar Vera
The MamaLinuga App
has more Latin American Spanish and is in app format. You can enjoy a limited version for free, and then make a purchase if you think it's something that you'll use.
Bilingual Children's Books
WordReference.com
This is a combination of a high quality bilingual dictionary and a question and answer forum. It's very searchable, and useful for learning word usage,
Facebook Bilingual Parent Groups Here you get to hear different parents' struggles and ask for advice. You learn that you are not alone. Parents share their best advice, encouragement and tips, and you can make friends. At the moment, my favorite two groups are:
WhatsApp.com A group of friends from a Facebook Group made a Whatsapp group that has been amazingly invaluable to me. The group consists of non-native parents teaching Spanish or English to their children. So while I'm asking them for the best way to say something in Spanish, they're asking me how to say something in English. We all go away with more knowledge and a lot of encouragement.
YouTube
My kids are able to watch programs such as Pocoyo, Toys on the Go, Didou (in Spanish) and la Gallinita Pintadita in Spanish. They love screen time, so it's a great way to get some more exposure to native Spanish for my kids. I've recently started making playlists to help curate the content that my kids watch.
DVDs
I'm slowly building a collection of DVDs that have Spanish dubbing. I usually buy them used at sales like the Just Between Friends,an all around amazing consignment sale for children's toys, clothes, books and more.
Humor I collect Spanish jokes. They're great for understanding langauge, and I have found them to be fun learning tools for myself and my students. I look forward to teaching my kids good jokes as they get older. You can see my collection here.
Our Library
If your library has a multilingual children's book section, this can be a huge time and money saver! I get to expose my kids to a wonderful variety of books in Spanish, and then choose which ones to buy for myself after seeing what they're like and how my kids like them.
Google I don't just use Google translate. I also use google to see if an expression is commonly used or not. For example, when I wanted to know whether it was more common to say "cuida al gato" or "cuida el gato", I googled each phrase in qutotation marks, looked at the number of sites using the exact phrase, and then clicked on a few sites to see if any were examples of native speakers using the phrase in their everyday lives.
A notebook
I write down words I'm learning. Sometimes it's just a list of English words that I want to look up and learn in Spanish. Eventually, I look up the words and can use the list to review them.
DVDs I'm always on the lookout for kids' DVDs with a Spanish language track.