Hannah se da vuelta y esta crawling

Hannah empezo a darse vuelta en la cama, en la crib, en donde sea! Esta semana, la semana de Octubre 2, Hannah empezo a tratar de darse vuelta y daba un 90 degree turn, pero le costaba darse vuelta porque el brazo se la atoraba. Pero en un par de dias, Hannah le gano al brazo! Y empezo a darse vuelta, cada vez mas rapido.

La otra cosa que Hannah esta haciendo es esta empezando a crawlear. Esta crawleando con la cola, como si nadara de espaldas. Y tambien es rapida mi nena! Pero tambien esta luchando para crawlear para abajo. Claro esto le cuesta porque requiere mucha coordinacion. Tiene que empujar con la rodilla y la cola, y tiene que estar para abajo. Pero ya me la veo crawleando en un par de dias.

Ahora, Sabado 7 de octubre, Hanni me esta mirando desde el bouncer mientras yo escribo este texto. Esta muerta de risa, porque el vibrador del bouncy le mueve el culito. Asi que de a ratitos, me mira y dice algo y se rie. Le gusta que la cola se le mueva! Y me mira con cara picara y se rie.... Esta tan linda la gordita! Saludos, Kuki

Mama habla dos idiomas!

As you already know, we are speaking two languages to Hannah. However, what I want to describe is how Alan and I communicate with Hannah when we talk to her at the same time. For example, today we had one "conversation" with Hannah, one in which we tried to explain to her that she is teething and this is why she is in pain. So Alan explained the situation to Hannita in English. He used vocabulary that was quite sophisticated. After he said what he said I naturally repeated the same idea in Spanish. Mind you, we were not doing this intentionally, I just started doing things naturally. SO I told Hannah what the problem was. She looked at Alan and looked at me. She did not seem confused. What IS interesting is that when she hears me speak Spanish she communicates with me very naturally, plays, responds by cooing, etc. However, the few times she has heard me speak English, she noticed that I was doing something new, different. So she looked at me with her big eyes, looking surprised. So I think that she does realize that there is a difference between the two languages and she notices when we are speaking one or the other....

Recommended Books

In this entry, I would like to recommend two books on bilingualism. The first book is by Ellen Bialystok, an expert on the topic. The title of the book is "Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition." Here is a review of the article that was published in the Bilingual Research Journal (by NABE). However, I found the review on a site titled Find Articles. The review is excellent because it gives you a summary of the different chapters in the book.

For more information on the book, go to the Amazon site, where you can browse through the book.

The second book that I want to recommend is titled "Childhood Bilingualism: Research on Infancy Through School Age," edited by Peggy McCardle and Erika Hoff. This book is by Multilingual Matters, whose books are quite technical. This is not to say that Bialystok's book is not technical. Not at all. The difference is that the Bialystok book is written by one person, one point of view, and the other book is an edited volume and showcases studies. On the other hand, Bialystok's volume showcases her work over the last twenty years. In any case, I would still recommend Childhood Bilingualism since it looks at issues such as processing two languages, learning two languages, literacy in two languages, etc. Very interesting! Here is a picture of the cover.

For those parents who want something easy to read, I would recommend reading a book titled "Child Language: A Resource Book for Students" By Jean Stilwell Peccei, published by Routledge. Easy to read though the focus is NOT on bilingualism...

Enjoy! Cheers, Kuki

Code-switching y otras yerbas

En casa se hablan dos lenguas: Spanish and English.

Up until Hannah was born, Alan and I used a lot more English than Spanish. When we talked about issues related to work, we used English. When we talked about his family and social things in the US, like the economy, political events, etc we used English. In terms of tv, we usually watch all of the soap operas on Telemundo and Univision. I also watch all the gossip shows in Spanish. Mind you! IT's not that I'm glued to the tv, it's that I work with the TV on as background noise. During the day, if there is a good Court TV trial, then I watch this trial in English. As for TV in English, we watch Law and Order, Desperate Housewives (though not regularly during the second season), and Grey's Anatomy....Also sometimes, we watch Without a Trace. With my family, we only used Spanish, and with Alan's family only English.

When Hannah was born, I naturally started speaking to her only in English. It's not that I made a conscious effort, though we knew that we would be raising her bilingually. But for me it was natural to speak to her only in Spanish. All my vocabulary about children and for children is in Spanish. All the poetry, lullabies, etc that I know are in Spanish. All of the input that is usually given to children I know it in Spanish. Therefore, why would I use English, when my language in English is less rich, less complex, and less interesting?

So at home we do a lot of code-switching, meaning that we alternate between languages. However, I could see that we were shifting toward the use of English more frequently than Spanish. This ivent was to be expected since I have lived here for 16 years and though I have opportunities to use Spanish, they are less frequent than the opportunities I have to use English.

Now we Hannah things have changed. I speak to her all in Spanish and Alan speaks to her mostly in English, with some Spanish language use. However, Alan and I speak Spanish and English when we are with Hannah. And Hannah watches TV in Spanish (children's programs in Spanish on Telemundo, Telefutura, etc) and in English, all the Sprout programs, which is PBS (see September 3 entry).

However, when I talk to Hannah I still code-switch. For example, I will say to her:
Hannitah, te escracheaste toda. (you scratched yourself)
Mami, vamos al co-sleeper (for crib)
Como te gusta que te pampereen eh!

O cuando hablo con Alan, nuestros dialogos son asi:
Alan to Lia: Hi! I am here
Lia to Alan (from the bedroom with Hannah): Hi! We are here! Upstairs
(Hannah looks afraid because she does not understand where the voice is coming from) so Lia to Hannah: Mami mami, no te asustes, es papa! Es papa! Hola papi!!

And she is not confused. SHe knows when we are talking to her in one language or the other and she reacts positively to both....
Cheers, Kuki

On Hannah's Character

Hannah is growing a lot every day! Desde que mi papa se volvio a Argentina, estamos viendo como hacer para que Hannah se acostumbre a que ahora las tareas se dividen entre Alan y yo, y Ana.

Cuales fueron los efectos del abuelo Yaco en el desarrollo de Hannah? Primero, Hannah se acostumbro a salir todas la mañanas? Esta claro que a Hannah le gusta la naturaleza. Le encanta comer mirando el verde del jardin. Y le encanta que la saquen a "caminar" por el cul-de-sac. Y por caminar quiero decir que Hannah quiere que el cochecito no pare! Y que pueda ver el cielo y los arboles. Creo que esta claro que a Hannah le gusta la naturaleza. Cuando esta afuera o cuando esta en el family room y puede ver el jardin. Y a Hannah le gustan los ambientes claros!

Asi que desde que Yaco se fue, Alan saca a caminar a Hannah todas las mañanas. Primero come un poquito, bien temprano. Despues juega un ratito, y ahi ahi Alan la saca a caminar media hora y Hannah vuelve, come otro ratito y esta chocha!

Para mitigar la falta de mi papa, que se la pasaba hablandole a Hannah en castellano, hacemos que Hannah hable con mi viejo todos los dias. Que quiere decir esto? Que mi papa le dice algunas de las frases que le decia todos los dias a Hannah: Que ruido hace el gatito? miau miau miau... Y el perrito? Guau guau guau... y asi repite los nombres de algunos animales y Hannah se mata de risa cuando lo escucha por telefono. Y se rie y trata de agarrar el telefono y hace como que se lo va a comer de la emocion que le agarra. De esta manera hacemos que Hannah reciba input en castellano y mantenga el contacto con mi papa...

Esto es todo por hoy! Saludos, Kuki

El Libro Preferido de Hannah

Todos tenemos un libro preferido, o un genero que nos gusta leer. Desde que le empezamos a leer a Hannah, tratamos de "exponerla" a distintos autores, distintos generos, y distintos tipos de libros. Esto lo hacemos porque queremos que pueda desarrollar un lenguaje rico. Mi preocupacion en este sentido es que con todo el motherese que le estoy dando, mi lenguaje cuando me comunico con ella es bastante limitado. Entonces uso los libros para exponerla a mucho mas vocabulario del que uso normalmente con ella.

Sin embargo, a pesar de esforzarme en leerle varios autores y distintos libros, todos los dias vuelvo al mismo libro: Nanas para Soñar. Cuales son los motivos por los que creo que a Hannah le gusta tanto este libro?

1. Nanas no es un cuento, Nanas tiene rimas y poesias cortitas, muy cortitas, y todas riman. Cuando leo las rimas, suenan como canciones muy cortitas, y como la entonacion que uso es muy sonora, creo que tiene un efecto notable en Hannah. Cada vez que Hannah escucha una rima o poema, me mira con los ojos bien abiertos y hace sonidos, y los sonidos son bien notorios.

2. El vocabulario es limitado y se repite. El vocabulario de Nanas se repite constantemente. Habla de flores, miembros de la familia, angelitos, animalitos (sobre todo pajaros). Y esto ayuda a exponer a Hannah a un vocabulario mas extenso al que esta expuesta habitualmente, pero al mismo tiempo, mas limitado que el de los libros.

3. Finalmente, Nanas, como libro es mucho mas lindo, divertido, creativo, que los otros libros que tengo para Hannah. Los cuentos no tienen coherencia. Los autores de los libros no le prestaron atencion a la coherencia de los libros. Es que creen que los chicos no se dan cuenta si los libros no tienen sentido? Una lastima....

Ahora mi challenge es encontrar otros libros como Nanas para que Hannah no se aburra.... Saludos, Kuki

Hannah is growing and growing!

Hace 15 dias que no posteo nada. Lo que paso es que mi papa vino a conocer a Hannah, y me dedique a el y a Hannita. Por esto este post va a ser, mas que nada, un resumen de las cosas que pasaron entre el 14 de agosto y hoy.

La semana del 14 de agosto, el 17 mas especificamente, Hannah descubrio la tele. Claro, como para que no... Nosotros prendemos la tele, mas que nada las noticias, en cuanto nos despertamos. Entonces, que hacia Hannah? Movia la cabeza, 180 grados, para quedarse frente a la tele y asi mirar lo que fuera, noticias, futbol, basket, etc.

Al principio, dijimos "Que cute... Hannah descubrio la tele." Entonces decidimos poner Sprout TV. http://www.sproutletsgrow.com/ Este canal, que es de PBS, esta disenado especialmente para chiquititos. El programa que no dejamos que Hannah vea es Teletubbies, no nos gusta. Los que mas nos gustan para Hannah son Barney, a quien Hannah ya reconoce, Pingu , que tiene un diseno muy lindo, es educativo y el pacing es excelente para chiquititos. El otro cartoon que nos gusta es Caillou, un nene de cuatro anyos que esta en el proceso de sociabilizacion. En general, el pacing de todos los programas de Sprout es adecuado para los bebes y toddlers. Tambien las voces no son altisonantes y son muy soothing. Asi que todo esto calma a Hannah. Y para rematarla, los cartoons son educativos, aunque por ahora, esto no tiene importancia desde Hannita's point of view.

Despues de un par de dias de Sprout, decidimos que tenemos que empezara a dosificar la tele para Hannah. Asi que ahora ponemos la tele SOLO cuando queremos que Hannah vea a uno de los cartoons apropriados para ella. Pero no hay mas comer con cartoons or poner la tele enseguida, claro salvo si habia algun partido del mundial de basket, pero esa es otra historia... Que bajon! Hannah espero que dentro de cuatro anyos no perdamos por un punto. Pero igual estamos orgullosas del equipo argentino. Hasta la proxima, Kuki

About the RIE Method

When Hannah was born, Alan started talking to her as if she were an adult. I have already explained this in another blog. However, what I want to focus on today is the fact that since that time, Alan has been verbalizing his thought patterns with Hannah. So for example, when he goes to change her diapers, he will explain to her what he will do as he does it. In the field, this is the think-aloud method. I thought that it was a little to early for Hannah to be exposed to explanations of what was happening. However, now, I can see the value of it since it may well be the case that Hannah will be able to recognize what we are doing "with her" and "to her."

Alan told me that what he was doing was part of a method that he had heard about: The Rie Method. To which I responded: This is a simple think-aloud technique. A couple of days ago, when we met with our social worker she told us about the Rie Method. And Alan said: I told you about it. So I decided to do a small search on the method.

According to an LA TImes article, RIE stands for the Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) and is opposed to touchy-feely methodologies of child rearing. The LA Times explains the following:"RIE teaches parents to "do less" because, as the idea goes, autonomy must start in infancy if a child is to grow into a self-assured adult. Parents who "do" RIE (pronounced "rye") give their babies steady feedback — a play-by-play account of diaper changes is key, for example — and there's a whole litany of "don'ts." No rattles (overstimulating), no shushing (baby needs to express his feelings), no mirrors or rocking chairs (distorted reality), no praise (they might get hooked on it). Baby needs indoor-outdoor play areas and private time and lots of focused attention — but not too much" (Piccalo, 2006).

Of course, we do several of the things that RIE says that you should not do: We praise, we shush, we overstimulate.... But at the same time, we are using the "think-aloud technique" which deconstructs the steps that we are taking. So for example, when we are going to change Hannah's diapers we explain to her exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it. The think-aloud methods works well with the teaching of reading and writing. We are not sure whether or not Hannah can understand what we are telling her, but it certainly has given us the idea that by explaining things to her, they don't come as a surprise to her....

Source: Gina Piccalo, Times Staff WriterJune 18, 2006 It takes a guru, a pricey pram and a village.

Hannah is growing and growing...

It's wonderful to see Hannah grow every day, healthy, happy, and strong! She is a joy and we are lucky to be her parents... She has been very active so we are already using the gym she got at the baby shower. She kicks her feet and smiles and laughs when she plays with it.

Today, she discovered her reflection on the mirror. WHen I put her in front of the mirror, she looked at herself very seriously, then she looked at me, and looked at herself one more time. So I called Alan and when he came she looked at his reflection in the mirror! It was wonderful!

Aguuuu o Agoooh

Hannah has begun to "say a few words." Most notably, the most common word she uses is Aguuuu. When I talk to her, and I smile at her, and she is happy, she says: Aguuuu

When I caress her, on the neck, on the cheeks, on the feet, and she is happy, she says: Aguuuuu

When I play with her little legs and we dance to the tune of "Las Olas y el Viento, sucundum sucundum..." she says Aguuuuu...

When I sing Manuelita la Tortuga to her, and she recognizes the song, she says Aguuuuu....

And the Aguuu is accompanied by her closing of the eyes in a demonstration of satisfaction....

It's incredible how much she can communicate with the Aguuuuu.... And it's all good!
Cheers, Kuki

On Extensive Reading

Since I have been writing about reading in two languages, it's only to be expected that I write about "free voluntary reading" (though there are other terms that are often used instead of FVR. These are "extensive reading").

This Website: Extensive Reading http://www.extensivereading.net/ provides an excellent list of resources for parents and teachers who are interested in helping their children read in their L1 or L2. This is a reputable Website that I highly recommend.

What is extensive reading? Here is the definition in the Extensive Reading page:
"Extensive Reading usually means reading a lot of self-selected easy, interesting texts, and doing few or no exercises afterwards.
Extensive Reading is a way to teach a foreign language (in general) and a way to teach reading (in particular)."

What are the benefits of extensive reading? Below you will find 10 explanations, supported by research, why extensive reading works. To read more about the 10 explanations, please go to this source: Bell, T. (1998). Extensive reading: Why and how? The Internet TESL Journal,4(12). Available at http://iteslj.org/
1. It can provide 'comprehensible input'
2. It can enhance learners' general language competence
3. It increases the students' exposure to the language
4. It can increase knowledge of vocabulary
5. It can lead to improvement in writing
6. It can motivate learners to read
7. It can consolidate previously learned language
8. It helps to build confidence with extended texts
9. It encourages the exploitation of textual redundancy
10. It facilitates the development of prediction skills

Here are guidelines on how to implement extensive reading. These ideas come from an article by Prowse published in Reading in a Foreign Language.
1 - Choice All the research into extensive reading points towards what Stephen Krashen calls 'free voluntary reading' as the source of the benefits that extensive reading can bestow (Krashen 1993).
2 - Ease When reading is easy and pleasurable much more of it is done and the language learning benefits grow with the amount read. I.S.P. Nation states 'A density of one unknown word in fifty is more suitable for pleasurable extensive reading.' (Nation 2001 p. 165).
3 - Texts to engage with and react to Ease of reading does not preclude engagement and I would prioritise books which make the reader keep turning the pages!
4 - No comprehension questions The natural response to a book is emotional or intellectual, and comprehension questions are neither of these. Henry Widdowson's famous dismissal of them is worth quoting: 'Comprehension questions...commonly require the learner to rummage round in the text for information in a totally indiscriminate way, without regard to what purpose might be served in doing so...Reading is thus represented as an end in itself, an activity that has no relevance to real knowledge and experience and therefore no real meaning.' (Widdowson 1979 p. 180).
5 - Individual silent reading Reading at the learner's own pace while they turn the text into a theatre in their mind is vastly preferable to reading aloud, or 'barking at print.'
6 - No dictionaries Well-written language learner literature contextualises, glosses and repeats any new lexis. The use of a dictionary (essential for intensive reading) prevents the extensive reader from developing valuable guessing skills.
7 - Range of genres Make a wide range of genres available to the learner -- the choice of reading material is very personal.
8 - Use recordings Reading and listening at the same time conveys great benefits in pronunciation (sound-symbol correspondence) and in increasing reading speed.
9 - No tests Testing gets in the way of reading. The true test of reading is when a learner starts another book.
10 - Teacher participation The teacher must read the same books as the learners so as to be able to discuss them with them.

Source: Prowse, P. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading: A response. Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2). Available at http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/RFL/October2002/

This link takes you directly to the article.

Hace una semana...

No entro al blog desde el lunes pasado. Hannah tuvo una semana movidita, no sabiamos si era la formula, el pyloric muscle, o que, que no la dejaban "digerir" la formula (la comida). Fuimos a la doctora el lunes, el miercoles, y el viernes... No, no eran lecciones de piano o guitarra... Era ir para ver que tenia mi gordita. El lunes le pusieron un cateteter.. Ay como grito y lloro! Pero descartamos una infeccion urinaria...

Cambiamos la formula y venia bien hasta que otra vez nos fuimos barranca abajo. Asi que el viernes le hicieron un upper GI con follow up... Estuvo sin comer desde las 8:30 de la manyana hasta las 2:30 de la tarde. Ay pobre mi gordita! Me comia a mi si podia....Pero lo bueno es que esta perfecta. Lo unico que tiene es un poquito de acidez estomacal... Pero eso no es nada....Asi que ahora hemos vuelto a la normalidad.....Cheers, Kuki

The Last Batch of Books

Today I want to talk about the last batch of books that Hannah got when she was born. These books are in English and they are excellent. So I think that they will be helpful to those of you who may be interested in selecting instructional materials or reading to their children.

Books Given to Hannah by Catherine and Maria
The books below were given to Hannah by Catherine and Maria. Catherine is a librarian and the books she selected are books that her daughter used to read when she was a child. So there was a personal connection to the books that Catherine and Maria bought for Hannah.

The first book that I want to describe is Spot's Little Book at the Farm. This book is small, meaning that the child can handle it. It contains pictures of farm animals with the text at the top of the page. The font size is pretty big so it's going to help the child as he/she learns how to read.

The second book that I want to describe is Goodnight Moon. This is another small book, made with like carton. The book has beautiful, colorful drawings and limited text. What is great about the book is that the pictures allow for flexible stories, centered around a bedroon. For those of you interested in using the book in the classroom, here is a link to a page that has excellent lesson plans that promote pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities. http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/goodnight_moon.html


The third book that Hannah received from Catherina and Maria is Little Bear's Visit. I have to admit that I had never seen this book before. The drawing do look familiar, but I did not know who the artist was. Well, today I found out that Maurice Sendak, the artist, is considered to be the "Picasso of children's books. This book is for an older child, it has a lot of text. However, the drawings are so beautiful that I would use it when Hannah can't yet read. For those of you interested in reading about the author of the book Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak, here is an interesting article published in the Deccan Herald. http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jun112004/os4.asp

The last book that I want to describe is the "The Big Burger Book." This is another touch-and-feel book. It has no text but the colors are beautiful. Imagine a hamburger with tomato, lettuce, cheese, and the burger itself. It's big and noisy. So Hannah already liked it today, when she almost grabbed it (it's still difficult to grab for Hannah! a little to big for her tiny tiny hands).

Sandy's Book
Sandy is a former bilingual teacher, who is a grandmother (who happens to be the incoming Prez of a big association). She sent us a wonderful book title "Where the Wild Things Are", by Maurice Sendak. The book received the Caldecott Medal for the "Most Distinguished Picture Book of the Year" (1964). I learned that the book was the very unique because it dealt with the topic of dark emotions. Again, the drawing are beautiful, though some of them might be a little scary for a child. But the story is excellent. Here is a link to a page that has information on the story. http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/picturebooks/fr/wildthings.htm

OK. This is it for today! More tomorrow....

Otros Libros en Castellano

Hoy quiero comentar sobre los otros libros en castellano que recibio Hannah. Carmen le regalo otros libro de la misma serie que A La Nana Nanita.

El libro se llama Nanas para Sonar. Las ilustraciones son muy lindas, las hojas son de carton duro, y hay muy poco texto. Los colores son vivos, y muy variados. Muy recomendable!

Hildebrando y su esposa Mary le regalaron dos libros que usaron sus hijos para aprender castellano. Son muy lindos porque son textos de vocabularios.

Uno de los libros se llama Es Divertido Descubrir Gentes y Lugares y el otro es The First Thousand Words in Spanish. Aca estan las fotos.

Lo lindo que tienen estos dos libros es que la mama o el papa pueden crear muchas historias alrededor del vocabulario que se introduce y asi se puede reciclar el vocabulario y provide exposure to the new words, que es lo que se necesita.

The First Thousand Words tiene dibujos de La casa, En la Cocina, En el Jardin, El Taller.... Los dibujos son grandes y atractivos. El texto en castellano podria ser mas grande asi es mas facil para ver. Ademas, tendria que estar agrupado por categorias, o collocations. Por ejemplo, en el dibujo de la cocina, "la pala de basura" viene despues de "la lavadora (de platos)" y antes de "los platos" Desde el punto de vista de aprendizaje seria mucho mas facil poner la pala, con la escoba, el plumero, el cepillo, etc....

De todos modos, los libros me gustan mucho ya que son muy llamativos y practicos.
Krashen would be thrilled to read what I am saying about reading and materials selection!

On Caretaker Speech

Today, Alan and I were talking about how we communicate with Hannah. As I said in a previous posting, I use caretaker speech: simple vocabulary, short sentences, slow speech, high pitch, very exaggerated intonation.

While Alan talks a lot with Hannah, he does not use caretaker speech. I asked him why, and he said that he feels that he wants Hannah to know the facts of life. That with one parent doing caretaker speech is enough and that he wants to "talk with" her and he wants her to learn the facts of life. He also says that he's read that while Hannah does not understand what he says she does get the idea that he loves her.

So I did some research on caretaker speech and gender differences. And I did find that men use a wider range of vocabulary and tend to use imperatives (while women don't). Also, men tend to interact more actively with the babies (could this be translated in the fact that I am treating Hannah like a little doll and he is less afraid?). The issue of the wider range is very clear to me. Alan's vocabulary is, from my point of view, quite sophisticated. He talks to her almost like he talks to me. His tone is low, his speech rate is neither fast nor slow; however, combined with the normal speech rate, his speech is not easy to understand to a second language (L2) speaker; therefore, one only wonders how difficult or easy it is for someone like Hannah.

However, what is interesting is that Hannah is immersed in what he says to her. She listens to him attentively and follows him with her eyes. She is very much focused on what he says. With me, she is focused but because of my high level of interaction with her, she "responds" with noises, smiles, the closing of her eyes....

Again, I would like to recommend the PSB series on The Human Brain. The page that I am linking this page to focuses on caretaker speech. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, men, according to a summary of research tend to understand baby talk less (and this seems to be attributed to the father's more limited contact with the baby (which is not Alan's case).

For those of you who want to read about the language development process, you may want to go to this page since it has a good summary of three excellent books. Cheers, Kuki
Saludos,

Hannah and her Books

Hannah has received many wonderful books, many in English and several in Spanish. I would like to share the books that she has gotten since they are part of Hannah's first library. Given that her dad is a librarian, the fact that she has her own library only a month after she has been born make a lot of sense.

The first set of books I want to describe were given to Hannah by Carrie. Carrie is a wonderful girl who bought the books with her own money. So we really appreciate Carrie's gift. When Hannah can understand, we will explain to her what Carrie did. And I am sure that she will appreciate the gift as much as we do!

Carrie's books are touch-and-feel books. Perfect for a little baby. One focuses on toys, another on sounds, the third one on animals that have spots and stripes, and the final one on animals and shapes with different textures. Since they have very limited text, I can translate the words into Spanish. I can read the text in Spanish and Alan can do the same in English!

Ven como el Bilinguismo no es Problema?

Mi amiga Mary Jo, de San Antonio, me mando este comentario sobre el bilinguismo. MJ tiene un nene y una bebita. Como dice Mary Jo, el que su nene haya aprendido espanol primero no lo afecto en forma negativa cuando fue a la escuela. Good for him and for MJ! I hope to do with Hannah what she has done with Uli!

Segun Mary Jo
Lo de los idiomas ya ni se si voy a confundir a Grecia o no. Tengo precedente con Uli. Uli tmb lo cuido mi mama q solo les habla en español y cuando fue tiempo de entrar a la escuela yo pense q Uli no iba saber nada de ingles pero no fue lo contrario. Uli en realidad no comenzo a hablar hasta muy tarde, los 4 años. Antes solo decia una palabra pero frases enteras hasta los 4. Y cuando entro a la escuela no estuvo en programa de ESL. Yo era la unica q le hablaba en ingles y creo q fue suficiente. Ahora con Grecia quiero hacer lo mismo q los demas le hablan en español y yo en ingles. Como esta en los planes irnos a Mexico en un futuro yo se q Grecia va aprender el español mucho mejor q Uli. Entonces yo quiero hablarle en ingles para q siempre sepa y lo aprenda. Uli habla el español 'mocho' como decimos nosotros. Tiene acento y no usa correctactamente la gramatica. Pero el intenta y creo con el tiempo se le va quitar eso como me paso a mi. Yo si fui diferente, yo aprendi primero el español y estuve en ESL en el kinder. Ya para primero de primaria sabia perfectamente el ingles como mis compañeros. Y luego me paso como Uli q tenia acento y hablaba mocho. En los veranos q iba a Mexico se me fue pegado el acento y gramatica. Leerlo aprendi como a los 8 años y escribirlo fue lo ultimo hasta los 13, 14 en High School xq tome la clase de español. Y eso es lo q hasta la fecha me falta mas trabajo.

Hoy Escuchamos a Shakira

Hoy con el final del Mundial, vimos la ceremonia de cierre con Shakira. Mientras le cambiaba los panales a Hannah, escuchamos a Shakira, que era la atraccion principal del show. Y mientras le cambiaba los panales, le movia las piernita a Hanni en redondito, como haciendo gimnasia, todo al ritmo de Shakira. Y Hannah chocha, se reia, estaba contenta. Le habra gustado como canta Shakira? O le habra gustado el ejercicio? O tal vez le gusto la libertad de no tener los panales puestos.... hahahahh!!!! Saludos, Kuki
Aca esta la cancion

A la Nana Nanita

Bueno, hoy decide escribir sobre "A la Nana Nanita" y Hannah. Mi amiga Carmen, que fue a Espana por trabajo (es espanola ella), le compro a Hannah un libro con CD que se llama "A la Nana Nanita." Enseguida pusimos el CD cuando Hannah iba a comer. Y Hannah chocha! Se reia hasta con holluelos, y se calmo enseguida. No es que es ruidosa, pero es que cuando tiene hambre, atajemonos!

En cambio con la musica de A La Nana Nanita, Hannah se puso mellow enseguida. Creo que (o espero) que Hannah asocio el castellano del CD con todo lo que le hablo yo en castellano y que por eso le, o mejor dicho, que eso fue uno de los motivos por el que le gusto.

Las canciones de A La Nana Nanita son muchas. Las mas divertidas son las que tienen la voz de la tia y el abuelo: Para Cambiar Panales al Estilo del Abuelo, Para Cambiar Panales a la Manera de tu Tia.

Desde el punto de vista linguistico, lo que me gusto es que Hannah esta siendo expuesta a distintas variedades de espanol. Yo le hablo con castellano, bien argentino che, o mejor dicho bien porteno. El espanol que escucha en el CD es castellano de Espana, y claro la pronunciacion es distinta y el vocabulario es distinto. Y todavia le falta exposure al espanol de Mexico. Aunque ya tuvo exposure al del Salvador con Daisy!

El CD es muy recomendable. La cantante tiene voz muy suave, y hay varias voces, la de ella, la mama, el abuelo, el papa, la tia.... La cantante habla bastante, como yo le digo es la Barry White de las cantantes para ninos. Y sobre todo es muyyy soothing, nada de gritos y musica fuerte!!!!

Bue, ahora nos vamos a dar una vuelta por Monrovia... Asi Hannah toma aire y duerme bien a la noche... Hannah y los papis bah.... Cheers, Kuki

Ah, me olvidaba de record que cuando Hannah escucho el cd dijo "ajo" "ajo" mientras movia las piernitas. Me mato la gorda!!!!

Encontre una Bilingual Bookstore!

Hace unos dias me queje de la falta de materiales en castellano. Bueno, antes de ayer, Reading Today, el newspaper de la International Reading Association, tenia un informe sobre la ultima convencion. Uno de los plenaries estuvo dado por Reuben Martinez. Martinez era un barber en la city of Santa Ana a quien le gustaba mucho leer. Entonces tenia una biblioteca en su barber shop y mientras cortaba el pelo, recomendaba libros a sus patrons. Hace un par de anyos, gano la MacArthur Fellowship, que es la fellowship de "los genios." Ahora Martinez tiene una libreria y galeria de arte en la ciudad de Santa Ana y esta libreria tiene una legitimate collection of children's books! Aca esta la foto de la pagina! Y seguramente Hannah va a ser una muy buen patron de la bookstore!!! Hasta la proxima...

Forthcoming tomorrow, Sesame Street en Espanol!

Mi Reina, Mi Diosa, Mi Cosa Preciosa

Encontre una nueva rima para hablarle a la gorda. Almost como un chant, le digo Mi-Rei-na-Mi-Dio-sa-Mi-Cosa-Pre-cio-sa... Y se lo digo con mucha entonacion... Y Hannah ahora se acostumbro a escucharme decirlo, y se rie... Se ve que le gusta... Y cuando se lo digo patea como pidiendome "mas," y hace un ruidito con la boca como riendose.... Y yo me muero de risa y ella se rie conmigo... Lo lindo es que se le nota la diferencia entre la risa risa y la sonrisa. Cuando sonrie lo hace solo con la carita. Cuando se rie en serio, la risa sale del estomago. Y esto lo hace hasta cuando esta profundamente dormida......

4 de julio in LA

Hoy fue el dia de la independencia aca. Hannah tuvo un muy buen dia, busy para mi, pero muy lindo para Hannah. Sigue comiendo mucho, y sigo con el des-pa-ci-to, des-pa-ci-to... Pero ya puede hacer el provechito bien tranquila y despues se queda dormida. Claro se queda dormida despues de luchar contra la tetina de la botella. Tanto la cansa morder la tetina, que se queda frita mi pobre gorda.

Y sigue con la sonrisa cuando le canto Manuelita.... O es que yo creo que le gusta, porque la gorda ya esta torturada con Manuelita vivia en Pehuajo....

Hannah empezo a reconocer juguetes y a sonreirse cuando los ve. Tiene tres juguetitos que son los que siempre le muestro por los colores: el longhorn de Texas (marron), un caballito verde limon con patitas turquesas, y un osito rosa fuerte... Y entonces yo los uso como puppets y le hablo y a la gorda le gustan! Se rie y se hacen hollitos en los cachetes... Asi que bien!.....

Manuelita, La Tortuga y Motherese (Caretaker Speech)

Hannah reconoce mi voz... Claro esto no es tan raro. Pero lo que me gusta es que reconoce mi voz cuando le canto Manuelita, La Tortuga. Pobre mi gorda. Yo pienso que la torturo con la cancion, pero no. Ella se rie y sonrie cuando la escucha. Le canto otras de Maria Elena Walsh. Pero yo creo que la que mas le gusta a ella es Manuelita, porque se queda dormida cuando la escucha. Aca esta la cancion para los que no la conocen

Manuelita la tortuga
Manuelita vivía en Pehuajó
Pero un día se marchó.
Nadie supo bien por qué
a París ella se fue,
un poquito caminando
y otro poquitito a pie.
Manuelita, Manuelita,
Manuelita ¿dónde vas?
con tu traje de malaquita
y tu paso tan audaz.
Manuelita una vez se enamoró
de un tortugo que pasó.
Dijo: - ¿Qué podré yo hacer?
Vieja no me va a querer;
en Europa y con paciencia
me podrán embellecer.
Manuelita, Manuelita,
Manuelita ¿dónde vas?
con tu traje de malaquita
y tu paso tan audaz.


En la tintorería de París
la pintaron con barniz,
la plancharon en francés
del derecho y del revés.
Le pusieron peluquita
y botines en los pies.
Manuelita, Manuelita,
Manuelita ¿dónde vas?
con tu traje de malaquita
y tu paso tan audaz.
Tantos años tardó en cruzar el mar,
que allí se volvió a arrugar,
y por eso regresó
vieja como se marchó,
a buscar a su tortugo
que la espera en Pehuajó.
Manuelita, Manuelita,
Manuelita ¿dónde vas?
con tu traje de malaquita
y tu paso tan audaz.

Eso si, el ritmo es mas rapido que el original porque me parece mas lindo para Hannah. Pero siempre se sonrie cuando se la canto. Y creo que ya la asocia con el dormir.

Otra palabra que Hannah asocia con acciones es "despacito." Cuando empieza a comer rapido, yo le chant "des-pa-ci-to" tres o cuatro veces. Y despues empieza a comer al ritmo del des-pa-ci-to. Eso es behavior modification. Pero anda bien!

En lo que respecta al lenguaje que uso para hablarle a Hannah, esta claro que uso motherese. Cuales son las caracteristicas del motherese? High pitch, short sentences, high frequency words, body language and gestures, repetitions, slow speech, modulated, exaggerated speech and intonation, etc. Here is an excellent video on motherese, also known as caretaker speech. The video is part of a documentary developed by PBS, so it's excellent.

In all of these respects, motherese is very similar to teacher talk. However, there is what I believe to be an important difference. When I talk to Hannah I use what I call an intonation of love. Lots of laughter, lots of cuddling, an extremely exaggerated intonation, which I call the intonation of love. This has no scientific basis but it's an observation. Cheers, Kuki

Hace tiempo que no escribo

Hace dias que no escribo. Sorry! Estuve en Alexandria y habia escrito three entries y los perdi! buaaaahhhhh! Y despues cuando volvi, me dedique enteramente a Hannah....

Esta creciendo mi gordita! Y es tan buena. Vimos el partido de Argentina juntas. Grite de alegria con el primer gol y llore cuando nos quedamos afuera. Y Hannah, imperturbable!

Fuimos a la doctora y todo barbaro con ella! Le dieron las primeras vacunas, dos en una pierna, una en la otra, y unas gotitas... Y la gorda lloro non-stop! Y despues se quedo frita de los nervios. El fin de semana estuvo un poquito caida y cascarrabias, pero era de esperar por las vacunas. Pero ahora esta bien. Claro, mas fuerte y ahora se queja mi gorda cuando queremos controlarle la comida para que no se atraque. Pero ya esta bien y eso es lo que cuenta! Kuki

How can politicians worry about bilingualism in Los Angeles?????

Politicians and media people, those coming from the right, are concerned that minority parents are teaching their children too much Spanish, therefore, children never get to speak English.

Well, I have to say that they are dumb, dumb, dumb! Even if you want your child to be bilingual/biliterate, it's almost impossible to become bilingual unless you, as a parent, try super hard!

I can't find children's books in Spanish!!! All that's available has a deficit perspective, it's designed to teach children how to transfer skills from Spanish into English. Let me tell you my experience about what is supposed to be a state-of-the-art bookstore, Vroman's, in Pasadena. Vroman's has, practically, a full floor dedicated to children's books and instructional materials. I said to myself, WOW, it's going to be easy to find good materials in Spanish for Hannah. In my dreams! I went to the Spanish section and it was embarrasing! Only a bunch of bilingual dictionaries and practically nothing else.

Then I said to myself, let's go and check out the Alfaguara site. Alfaguara is owned by Santiallana so I thought that they would have lots of materials... Well, if you go to the Argentine Alfaguara site, then you can find a lot! You can find Graciela Montes and all of her books, you can find Maria Elena Walsh and all of her books and CDs. But if you go to the Alfaguara site in the US, all you can find is a bunch of books, which though well intentioned, are very limited. And they are mainly designed for school-age children. Of course, the Alfaguara site in Argentina has lots of interesting things. But unless you have your family bring things with them, then it's impossible to have access to those materials.

Finally, I said to myself, How about the Alma Flor Ada publications? So I went to her site and I found lots of things published for bilingual, bicultural children in the US. There is a lot of potential there. So we will keep trying.... BUt I can already see that it's not going to be easy. But we will do it!

Maybe I have to start writing my own children's books???? Why not?

In my next blog: The use of Motherese or teacher talk....



So my question for all the dumb politicians is: How can you be worried about children not knowing English? It's impossible NOT to learn English. If there are no materials in

A ver, Provechito Hannah! or My Spanish Vocabulary

When Hannah was born and my maternal instincts led me to speak Spanish to her, I found myself using words that I had not used in YEARS! My husband did not, and still doesn't, quite understand my vocabulary. The first time that I used the word "provechito," Vamos Hannah, a ver mama, haceme un provechito... Alan looked at me and said "what the hell are you saying?"

Another expression that I commonly use is "Esta haciendo puchero..." When she is making faces and she is about to cry....

Also interesting is the fact that I have incorporated some vocabulary that comes from Central and North American Spanish. For example, when I talk to Hannah I call her "mi reina." This expression is not used in ARgentina. In contrast, it's very common in Mexico where women talk to each other saying "A ver mi reina..." Also, rather than talking about el biberon, I say mamila, o bottle (English)....

Interesting what is happening to me AND to Hannah! More tomorrow....

A Mother's Dream

At home, my husband and I usually do a lot of code-switching. We mainly use English when we talk about professional issues. We use Spanish when we talk about sports like soccer or Hispanic soaps.

Over the last 16 years, since I came to live in the US, I have found myself using more and more English. There is nothing uncommon about this pattern. It's been documented in the literature on language loss and language attrition.

However, when Hannah, our daughter, was born, we had already decided that we would bring her up bilingually. Why? My home languge is Spanish. Although professionally I use English all the time, I associate Spanish with the language of children. I grew up in Argentina where one of the few children's songs I learned in English was Old McDonald's has a farm.... I grew up listening to Maria Elena Walsh, Gabi, Fofo, y Miliki, and watching Piluso y Coquito... Then why would I resort to English, when my reservoire of sources in children's English is soooo limited?

More importantly, why would I speak English to her when everytime that I see a child in LA, regardless of whether the child's home language is English or Spanish, I will communicate with the child in Spanish. The reality is that I can't speak English to a child. So I need to rely on my SPanish resources to help my daughter develop her language skills.

At the same time, my husband speaks English to Hannah. We are very consistent about our roles: I am the source of input in Spanish and Alan is the source of input in English. And we do this naturally, not because we force ourselves to do this.