Bilingual Together
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The homeschool soft start was a little insider trick I learned from a veteran homeschool mom. It works wonders, and we made it our own by adding a Spanish Immersion twist.
Bilingual Together
Six Resources for Bible Study With Kids – Available in Many Languages
Our goal at Bilingual Together is to encourage and resource families of any faith to pursue raising bilingual children. For this reason, our Morning Time Plans are faith-neutral so families of any faith can use them to increase Spanish exposure in their home.
That said, we love the Bible, and over the years I have found wonderful resources for studying the Bible together as a family. Here, I’ve included six of those resources that are available in many languages!
Six Multilingual Resources for Bible Study with Kids
1) Questions With Answers
Dana Dirksen is the voice of Songs for Saplings - a non profit organization that is providing music that clearly communicates Scripture and its rich truths in clear, memorable and very enjoyable ways. The Questions with Answers project consists of six albums that are available in many languages. Each track makes it fun and easy to memorize the catechism and corresponding scripture verses. We use these songs in our Morning Time.
Who: Dana Dirksen
What: catechism songs
Number of Languages: 11
English, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Chichewa, Swahili, French, Ukrainian, Polish, Swedish, Russian
2) Bible App for Kids
The Bible App for Kids is a free app with 41 Bible stories. Kids can read on their own or use the narrated read-along option. Every story includes touch-activated animations, games, and activities to help kids remember what they're learning. There's free coloring sheets too. Find directions to switch the language here.
Who: YouVersion (the parent company)
What: Bible App for Kids
Number of Languages: 9
Portuguese, Chinese (simplified), Korean, Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Russian
3) The Bible Project
The Bible Project is "a nonprofit animation studio that produces short-form, fully animated Bible videos and other Bible resources to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere". Their videos are now available in 16 languages, with more in translation. To see a complete list of languages available click here.
Who: The Bible Project
What: Bible videos and resources
Available Languages: 16
Bahasa, Portuguese, Cantonese, English, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Telugu, Vietnamese
4) Jesus Storybook Bible
The Jesus Story Book Bible is a work of art. Sally Lloyd-Jones beautifully tells the redemption story from Genesis to Revelation through key Biblical stories. At the end of each story she points the listener to Jesus. Just as beautiful as the language are the captivating illustrations by Jago. This Bible is an excellent first Bible for children, though my older children still enjoy these stories. It is available in 38 languages.
Who: Sally Lloyd-Jones
What: Jesus Storybook Bible
Available Languages: 38
5) The Action Bible
The Action Bible is the Bible in graphic novel form. Illustrated by DC and Marvel Comics artist, Sergio Cariello, the illustrations are mesmerizing. With so many images to support the text, it makes the reading experience more approachable for many beginning readers or children whose minority language reading skills are not as advanced as their majority language. The Action Bible is available in 29 languages.
Who: Sergio Cariello
What: The Action Bible
Languages Available: 29
5) YouVersion
Although this free app is not directed at children, the amazing number of languages available make it necessary to include on this list. The app interface is available in 60 languages, and the Bible itself is available in over 1,300 languages! Many of the languages available on this app also have an audio version available so it is easy to listen to the Bible, read by native speakers, in your minority language. Directions for accessing other languages here.
Who: YouVersion
What: The Bible App
Languages: 1,300+
Disclaimer: Some links on this site may be affiliate links. Should you choose to purchase through these links I receive a minuscule commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
I hope you find these resources useful in your bilingual home!
What other Bible study resources do you use with your kids?
Let us know in the comments!
Top Five Quarantine Resources for Spanish Learners
With hundreds of free resources popping up all over, I wanted to curate a smaller, quality list of the resources we use in our homeschool. These are the things we go back to again and again on these long days of quarantine.
Many of these resources are offered for free or at a discount at this time. If you want to see more resource deals, you can check the "Quarantine" story highlights on our Instagram.
I'm starting off with some non-screen resources, then a science recommendation that is a combination of an online lesson and a hands-on experiment, and lastly...our favorite literature based Spanish app.
Stay sane, stay healthy!
Enjoy!
Five Quarantine Resources for Spanish Learners
#1 How to Teach Nature Journaling
Nature Journaling is a meditative and calming exercise. You can sketch in your backyard, from a living room window, or even houseplants! How to Teach Nature Journaling is the newest book from John Muir Laws - a leading naturalist, artist, and educator. The guide is available for free download. It is in English, but I have found nature journaling to be an easy subject to study in our minority language.
#2 Scribd
My children adore listening to audiobooks while drawing. It is a wonderful activity for quiet time. Scribd is offering free access to their audiobook vault for 30 days, and their Spanish library is impressive. If you have a library card, you can also check to see if your library offers access to audio books through apps like Hoopla. Audible is also currently offering a limited selection of children's books in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Chinese!
#3 Materiales Educativos
This site is in Spanish and can be difficult to navigate. However, it is a wealth of free printables. The best way to find what you're looking for is to search by the categories on the right sidebar. While we rarely use worksheets as seat-work, they do make an excellent springboard for interactive activities.
#4 Mystery Science
These bite-sized science lessons include a multi-media slide show that focuses on answering a single question. For example, "How Do Germs Get Inside Your Body"? There is a simple experiment following each lesson. While the slide shows are in English, the worksheets that accompany the experiments are available in Spanish. We generally watch the lesson in English, and then speak Spanish through the experiment. Mystery Science is offering their most popular lessons for free right now.
#5 FabuLingua
FabuLingua is a Spanish learning app like none other. The app contains beautifully illustrated and interactive books that are first read aloud to the child in English and Spanish, then read in only Spanish, and lastly your child can record their own voice reading the stories in Spanish. Along the way there are interactive games that reinforce vocabulary. There is an option to turn off the bilingual feature (which is what we do) so that stories are read exclusively in Spanish. They are offering their app free during throughout this pandemic.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these companies or websites. These are simply a list of our favorite resources.
What resources have been helpful for you during this stay-at-home time?
Let me know in the comments!
Five YouTube Channels for Spanish Learning
Quantity language exposure is one of the necessary elements for raising bilingual children. One of the easiest ways to get lots of minority words into your kid's brains is to take advantage of screen time!
The visual elements combined with native speaking voices make it a great way to get a lot of minority language words into your little one's brains. If you ask them to tell you about the show afterwards (in Spanish), then the quanitity screen time is paired with quality conversation for excellent minority language exposure!
Most kids today are on a screen at some point during a normal week. Not to mention sick days, snow storms, or even just mama-needs-a-break moments. So let's make those moments count towards minority language exposure!
Enjoy!
Five YouTube Channels for Spanish Learners
#1 Peppa Pig en Español Latino
Peppa is a fun and spunky pig with a gaggle of animal friends and a little brother George. Each episode is 5 minutes long and focuses on themes of family, friendship, compassion, and helping others.
#2 Spanish Playground
Older kids may enjoy these shorts with two live actors who talk about a variety of topics. Watch them with your kids and talk about them afterwards. This turns quantity language exposure into quality language exposure!
#3 Pocoyo en Español Latino
Pocoyo is an adorable toddler dressed in blue with spunky side kick animal friends. Pocoyo barely speaks, but the narrator's clear voice is easy to follow. This is a wonderful show for very little kids, but older kids may enjoy the silly interactions between caracters.
#4 Basho & Friends
Basho wins for cool dude factor, fun, and quality language learning videos. He not only sings in Spanish, but in French and Mandarin as well. So your Spanish learners can try a new language if they're so inclined.
#5 Rockalingua
Rockalingua posts fun and upbeat songs centered around different vocabulary themes. Their catchy tunes and colorful videos are fun for little kids and older language learners. On their website they have printable coloring pages and online games as well.
Disclaimer: Please take care with little ones and YouTube. These links all point towards wonderful language learning channels, but there is no telling where kids may navigate to from there. Be wise.
I hope you enjoy these channels!
Any other YouTube channels for Spanish learning you would add to this list?
Let me know in the comments!
Authentic Author Spotlight Susanna Isern
Our Authentic Author Spotlight Series introduces you to the best authentic Spanish children’s authors out there. Each Spotlight includes a brief bio and Five Fabulous Titles by the author.
Authentic Literature is a term used to describe books that are written in the author’s native, natural language. Reading authentic literature is an important part of your child’s minority language development.
Today’s Spotlight
Susanna Isern
Susanna Isern grew up in the shadow of the Pyrenees mountains, and enjoyed her freedom to run wild in nature as a child. She is now a professor of psychology at the Universidad Europa del Atlántico and a mother of three.
In addition, Isern is an accomplished children's author. She combines her love of literature with her knowledge of psychology to write beautiful stores that lift up compassion, imagination, team-work, and empathy.
It is hard to believe that she only published her first book in 2011. In just a few short years, she has published over thirty children's books and won numerous awards for her stories.
The titles highlighted below are my personal favorites from Susanna Isern. The first two stories are so beautiful, I regularly cry when reading them aloud to my children.
Many of her titles are easily found on Amazon for under $20!
So without further ado, let's look at some of her books!
Five Picture Books by Susanna Isern
1) Cartas En El Bosque
This is my all-time favorite story by Isern. A sweet tale of a lonely postman who is constantly helping others mend relationships. When they community realizes what he's up to, they come together to let him know he is seen.
Author: Susanna Isern
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
ISBN: 978-84-16147-94-6
2) Oso Quiere Volar
When poor bear is determined to fly, the other animals laugh at his silly dream. But after seeing his perseverance and determination, the whole forest community comes together to help him accomplish his dreams.
Author: Susanna Isern
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
ISBN: 978-84-16147-44-1
3) Tren de Invierno
A lovely story of animals migrating south (on a train) when they realize they have accidentally left one friend in the cold north! If they turn around now, they might get stuck in the coming snow. Is rescuing their friend worth the risk?
Author: Susanna Isern
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
ISBN: 978-84-15784-80-7
4) Esto No Es Una Selva
When a little girl refuses to clean up after herself, her mother states in a fit of frustration that her room looks like a jungle. Then her room starts to change for real! Will the realities of jungle life bring about a change of heart?
Author: Susanna Isern
Publisher: Editorial Flamboyant
ISBN: 978-84-946035-2-5
5) La Musica Del Mar
After a terrible storm ravages a small seaside town, all the villagers leave except for one fisherman and his young daughter. As the two of them work to rebuild their lives, the music of the sea soothes their loneliness. This is a story of perseverance and hope.
Author: Susanna Isern
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
ISBN: 978-84-16733-27-9
Disclaimer: Some links on this site may be affiliate links. Should you choose to purchase through these links I receive a minuscule commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Now you know, if you're at the library, a bookstore, or shopping online, anything from Authentic Author Susanna Isern is worth taking home!
Want to learn more?
Click the links below to learn about other authentic Spanish authors we love!
Authentic Author Spotlights
Who is your favorite authentic Spanish Author?
Let us know in the comments!
What Morning Time Looks Like in a Bilingual Homeschool
Balancing Morning Time when juggling two languages takes a little finesse, but it can be done. Let me walk you through how we do it around here, and perhaps you'll get some ideas to use in your own home.
If you're new to the whole concept of Morning Time, you might like to read about what is it and how it transformed our homeschool before jumping into the specifics here.
But if you're ready for the details...Let's go!
What is Morning Time and How it Transformed our Bilingual Homeschool
Everyone who is homeschooling bilingually is swimming up stream. We encourage our kids to swim with us, but many days they would rather float easily into the current of monolingualism. We end up fighting to keep them by our side on the journey, and it's exhausting.
Where do we find rest?
It is so important on this bilingual journey to find spaces of rest. An oasis, a safe harbor, where our minority language is embraced with joy and laughter. For us, in our homeschool, we have found that respite in Morning Time.
Language Journey Interruption: A Cross Country Move
What do you do when you lose your community?
I wrote previously how excited I was when I finally found a community to support me on this journey to raise bilingual kids. It wasn't long, however, before we had to leave those precious families.
My bilingual son was three and a half when a job opportunity moved us across the country. We moved from a diverse urban city to a homogenous town in the Appalachian Mountains.
The first thing I did when we arrived was seek out bilingual opportunities for young kids in our new town. Guess what I found?
Nothing.
Everything I had read and researched about how to raise bilingual kids emphasized the importance of two main factors.
1) You need exposure to the minority language.
2) The child must feel the need to use the minority language.
I was in control of the exposure part - just speak to him in Spanish. But I could not create a need for him to use Spanish in and of myself. I am not a native Spanish speaker, and my son knew that.
It was our Spanish Immersion Coop that had created the need for him to speak Spanish. But we left that behind. I saw the effects of losing the “need” to use Spanish very quickly. How quickly?
One month.
It only took one month for my little guy to realize he didn’t NEED to use Spanish with me. Previously, if I was speaking to him in Spanish he would respond in Spanish. If I was speaking to him in English he would respond in English.
I remember clearly, one month after our move, I asked him a question in Spanish and he began to respond in Spanish, paused, and looked at me. I saw the realization dawn on him. “I don’t need to talk to mom in Spanish...she’s speaks English too!”
And he responded in English.
My heart sank. I felt it was the beginning of the end of all I had worked for.
Our story continues. Major transitions are not the end. But for now...
What about you? Have you found your people?
I'd love to hear your story. Let me know in the comments.