Hola! Como Estan?! Bilingual Playgroup for Toddlers in Union Square

It's never too early to introduce additional languages. It's best if they can be spoken by a native speaker. For example, if your nanny were Chinese and spoke Mandarin to your daughter, she would get the true pronunciation. The window of opportunity to speak with the authentic accent closes by age 9, before we start teaching a 2nd language in our schools. Some children experience speech delays if they are learning multiple languages, but it all gets sorted out soon enough....don't worry. This is an important ingredient of brain development, and most of us miss the opportunity.

You can look into BilingualBirdies.com, the Children's Aid Society location isn't far from Washington Sq.

Also you can find cool Latin-rhythm music for kids called Bilingual Songs CD English-Spanish, item #2332 at www.toysofdiscovery.com

If you do form a small group, you can host a party and earn free CDs, toys and books. Read about hosting a party at www.toysofdiscovery.com

Good luck!

I too am a Latina professional, and mother to an 11 yr old son. I think now is the time to start teaching your daughter English. Although she will learn English when she goes to school, if she does not know English when she starts, she will be placed in a bilingual program, and my experience with bilingual classes are that they are good for the first year and after that you have to put the child into an all English class,otherwise they get very confused. My son speaks very good Spanish and even reads and writes it, and like your daughter, he learned this at home, but I also spoke English to him. Children have an enormous capacity for learning languages. I have a good friend whose son at the age of 1-1/2 spoke English,Spanish and sign language. (his sister is deaf).She started teaching him sign language when he was 40 days old.Unbelievable, but true.

Hello. What a delight to raise a daughter. If it helps at all, I was a working, SINGLE Mom exposing my 2 sons to many languages via a mixture of house keeper/nannies. They are now 27 and 21 with a master of several languages. I would expose them to as much diversity in languages, food and cultures as you can.
Enjoy.
Gerie

I heard that the best way to teach your young child a second language is for one parent to exclusively speak one language & have the other parent exclusively speak the other. That way the child learns both simultaneously. Since both you & your husband speak both languages it should be pretty easy to do in your home. Good luck!

I have a niece who is deaf mute, she gave birth to a beautiful little girl. This little wonder had a task ahead of her, she needed to learn to speak as well as sign. My sister, spoke to the baby from birth in both languages, English and Spanish and when she was one they began teaching her to sign. When this child entered kindergarten she was fluent in all areas. I believe children can capture much. Maybe your daughter should start learning a little English. Nothing wrong with Spanish and English translation.

Hi, It's never to early to introduce a second language or third. Children are like sponges they absorb information and can differiate the difference in languages. I am bilingual and as a child my mom talk to me in english & spanish and grandparents only spoke to me in the language they only new spanish. There are study on how children development of information are in the early years of their life. I also speak to my own kids in both languages and the are developing their spanish skills every day. Good Luck.

Dear mamacita,
What I have heard and read from a few different sources is the best way to raise a bilingual child is for one parent to speak one language and the other parent to speak the other language. This way the child understands that they are two different languages, two different words that mean the same thing. It sounds like this is something you could start to do with your husband and daughter. This is what my husband and I are trying to do with our daughter (only with french) -- it was hard at first for him to speak only french to her because it's not his instinct, but hopefully it will work!
Hope this helps,
Good luck!

Hola,
I just read your posting (motherhood leaves little time for email!) and I'd love to meet up if you'd like, as we are near Union Square. My son is 14 months, and my husband is a native spanish speaker and I am not, so we are trying to teach our son both languages - though as I am the one home with him it is up to me! My husband had similar experiences to your daughter as a child, and now he speaks 5 languages - hope that puts you at ease a bit.

Also, one of my mommy friends is a language acquisition professor at NYU and she might be an interesting person for you to meet.