children’s books

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What are bilingual books?

The world is getting smaller, the number of bilingual families is growing and with this, there is a need and a desire to teach both languages to children.  There are a few strategies to raise bilingual children, one of the most popular one is OPOL (One Parent One Language) in which each parent (or carer) speaks to the child exclusively in one language.  For example, a bilingual family where dad speaks to the child only in English and mum speaks only in Spanish.

Bilingual books can be a good resource for parents, teachers or carers to teach a target language.  But, what are bilingual books? As you can imagine, bilingual books are books that have the same story in two different languages.  The text is generally split in each language as the objective for children is to read without mixing languages.  This way, for example, the carer that always talks to the child in English, will read the story in English, and the carer that talks in Spanish, will read the story in Spanish.  Nowadays, there is more demand for bilingual books in different languages, and while I focus on bilingual books for children in English and Spanish, there are bilingual books in many different combinations.  In fact, my local library has books in English-Greek, English-Mandarin, English-Italian and many more.  This is because those are the books that the international communities in my city are looking for.

Now that I told you about bilingual books, I also need to tell you what bilingual books are NOT.  Bilingual books are NOT books to learn languages or grammar, Bilingual books are NOT books that mix language and they are NOT books that are translated too literally.

 

How do I read a bilingual children’s book?

It’s very important to be aware that if you are the parent or carer that always speaks in English, your role will be to always read the story in English.  On the other hand, if you are the carer that always speaks Spanish, then you will read in Spanish.  It’s also useful to point at the illustrations, objects and characters.  Ask your child questions about what will happen next.  Bilingual books are not a magic pill that will make your child speak another language overnight, however, they are a powerful tool, that combined with daily conversation, music and lots of patience, will help you raise bilingual children.

What do you think?  I hope I piqued your interest to learn more about bilingual books and that you can find books that can entertain your kids while you give them the gift of speaking another language.

Happy Reading!

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How to get the most out of your kids alphabet books

Sometimes our kids ask to read the same book again and again, so much so, that we end up learning it by heart.  In the case of alphabet books, you don’t only have to read from A to Z in that order.  Here I share some tips so your trip through the letters of the alphabet is more fun.

  1. Focus on the drawing and the sound of the letter.

Ask your child what the illustration is, what is it for, what colour it is.  When your child says the word emphasize the sound of that word.  If it is an armadillo you can say “AAAAArmadillo”.  If it is a dinosaur you can say “DDDDDinosaur” and so on.  The idea is that your child can relate that sound to the letter he is seeing.

 

  1. Make a mistake.

This works very well with kids older than 3.  You can pretend to say the wrong letter or the wrong word for the illustration.  If your kid already knows that letter, they will be very happy to tell you the right letter.  If they don’t realise you have it wrong, maybe you need to wait a little bit to use this tip.

  1. Describe the illustrations.

You can talk about something special about the illustration, either the colours, the shapes or the characters expressions.  Don’t forget to be expressive with your voice.  For example “Poor Little fishy, the crocodile is going to eat it!”

 

  1. Name different words with the same letter.

Don’t limit yourself only to the word in the picture. Ask your kid what other words start with that letter.

  1. Ask your child to trace the letter with their finger.

You can show them how to do it and they can copy you.  This is great if the letters in the book have textures, are embossed or a are hidden within the picture.

So there you have it, these are my tips to get the most out of your alphabet books.  If you have different tips to the ones I included, feel free to share in the comments.

Happy Reading!

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5 ways to improve your child’s reading experience

We all know that there are a lot of beautiful children’s books out there.  But let’s face it, you can only read the Hungry Caterpillar so many times!

Even I have noticed that my little one has started to get bored with the same stories, but I have come up with ways to make things a little bit more interesting.

1. Be an actor.  If you are not already doing this…. Make voices and intonations, different accents help too.  Surprise your little one by getting out your inner actor.  For example, if I read the Millie book to my baby I pretend the Rabbit on the Moon is Spanish and that Kliff and Kloff are ‘chilangos’.  When I read ‘Wombat stew’ I lisp as the lizard talks and I pretend to be a posh lady when Emu is telling Dingo how to improve his stew.  You might feel silly at the beginning but hey, your baby won’t judge you for your non Oscar performance!

2. Ask them to tell you the story.  If they are old enough and they are talking, you can ask them to tell you the story based on the pictures. Relax and enjoy!  If they are younger though, you may be able to point and ask ‘what is this?’ so they can tell you.  Another option is to ask ‘where is the elephant?’ Or ‘where is the house?’.  You will be surprised at how much they know!

3. Don’t read the story.  Focus on other things in the pictures, name the items and relate them to your life.  For example, if the caterpillar ate one apple, say how much your little one loves apples or if they are older, what is their favourite colour of apple?

4. Join your local library.  We are spoilt in Australia on this one.  However, if you live elsewhere Google will tell you if there are any libraries near you.  Nowadays, local libraries have a lot of programs for kids and you and your family will enjoy more variety without going through the expense of buying new books.  Alternatively, you can swap books with friends or buy them second hand at a local market or on Amazon.

5. Use books in a different way.  This one is not so much about reading but about playing with books.  You can stack them, sort them, build a ‘bridge’ for your baby to walk over them as an obstacle course. The idea here is to let your kids know books can be fun.

book bridge
I hope these tips help you in making your and your toddler’s reading experience a little better.  Do you have any other tips you would like to share? Leave us your comments below! 🙂

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Ten books to read to your toddler

A lot has been said about the benefits of reading to your child, how it improves their vocabulary and literacy, makes them keen readers and also how it is a nice way to spend time together.

There are so many children’s books out there and as a parent it can be overwhelming to pick one up especially if you are buying one for your own child or as a gift.

Here are my 10 favourite children’s books so far.  I have to say that this list is totally based on my toddler’s preferences and excitement when reading each book, as well as the fact that they are the ones that I don’t mind reading over and over.  Even though all of these are English speaking books I usually translate them into Spanish as I read them aloud.

1. Where is the green sheep? – Mem Fox / Judy Horacek

Find the green sheep searching through beautifully illustrated pages whilst showing your little one about colours, places and opposites.  We love reading this story just before bedtime and my daughter loves pointing out at the different words she is learning.where is the green sheep

2. There is a hippopotamus on the roof eating cake – Hazel Edwards

I find this book so charming.  This story is told by a little girl who is telling us all about her friend, the hippopotamus, who is on her roof eating cake.  He also does a lot of many things like watching TV, riding his bike and going to work.  The copy we have at home was signed by Hazel Edwards herself!

hippopotamus on the roof

3. Bedtime for chickies – Janee Trasler

Any book that encourages a toddler to go to sleep has my seal of approval.  It is time for those chickies to go to bed, but not before they drink their water, go potty and read a story.  The illustrations are very cute and when I read aloud I also say that it is bedtime for my little one.  It is a short and sweet story that hopefully helps ease your little one into bedtime.

4. Ten little fingers ten little toes – Mem Fox / Helen Oxenbury

This is also a very cute book with lots of babies from different places.  It is a great way for your child to learn about their hands and feet.  It rhymes beautifully in English and easy to translate on the go into Spanish (without the rhyme of course).  My daughter’s favourite pages are the ones with the little hands and feet, as you can see it is a bit wrinkly as she just loves comparing her own hands with the ones in the book.

ten little fingers

5. Say please, Little bear – Peter Bently / Robert McPhillips

Little bear is a bit rough and he tends to forget his manners, but Daddy Bear comes up with a plan.  This book is a good size if your little one is a bit older as the story line is a bit more complicated.  If you can’t read all of the story at once do not worry about it, you can still point at all the cute animals and toys in the story.

say please little bear

6. The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle

Before even having kids I always wondered why did I see this book being sold everywhere?  But really, how can you go wrong when you have a beautiful story about a butterfly’s life cycle that combines, food, numbers and the days of the week?  No wonder it is a classic to have in every child’s bookshelf.

hungry caterpillar

7. Tickles – Leslie Patricelli

This is part of a book series about a baby’s life moments.  In this particular book, the cute baby is being chased by the Tickle monster!  It is relatable for toddlers and it is a great way for your little one to learn the name of body parts while you tickle them!  Good fun for you and your little one!  WARNING: Do not read before bedtime.

8. Wombat stew – Marcela K. Vaughan / Pamela Lofts

A very clever dingo caught a wombat and he is going to make a stew with it! Oh no! Can his friends save him?  Australia has an awesome fauna and what better way to show your kid about it than with a great story.  It probably is a bit long for little little ones and you will enjoy reading a story with a bit more words.  For this particular book I never translate it as for some reason I find it very difficult and I think I enjoy having a go at my best Aussie accent!

9. Pelican – Brian Wildsmith

This book was actually given to my husband when he was a child.  It is about a little boy, Paul, who finds a very large egg that turns out to be a pelican.  Paul now has to teach it to help at the farm.  This book is also a longer story for tiny toddlers, however, we like this book because there are half pages that uncover a different picture.  The story is very clever and my baby enjoys pointing at all the water and animals in the book.  I am not sure if this one is still on sale as new but I have seen it for sale used on Amazon.

pelican

10. Any book that shows kids how to countone woolly wombat

I have been reading recently that exposing children to numbers from an early age can help them with math at a later stage.  A little familiarity with numbers won’t hurt them and you will also have fun if you find a book with cute illustrations.  I really like One Woolly Wombat by Kerry Argent or I love my 1 2 3 (Ollie) by Anna Walker.

I hope you enjoyed this list and that it makes you excited about reading to your little one.   How about you? What are your favourite book for little toddlers? Leave us a comment here or on Facebook.

Happy reading!

Erika

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