This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Read Conmigo and Latina Bloggers Connect. However, all opinions are my own.
For Adrian and myself, it has always been very important to raise Sammy as bilingual. Three of my 4 oldest only speak English and it's something that has always bothered me, that I did not teach them to speak Spanish when they were little so now they don't know their own language. That is why we decided to go a different route with Sam. Adrian has always talked to her in Spanish and I speak to her English, which is the same with reading. To help us in our mission to raise a fully a bilingual child, she has been taking Spanish classes since she was in kindergarten. These classes have helped to reinforce the Spanish language, especially when her dad is away in Mexico for work.
Nurturing Sammy's love of reading has also been my job from day one. I am an avid reader and if I can raise her to have a love of books like my own, then I will know I did a good job as a mom. That's why you will find us at the library a few days a week. We attend story hour, craft hour and any other reading activity that our community may offer. Our town is really small so there are not a lot of planned activities, but at home we have stacks and stacks of books for her. By the time she leaves home she is going to have enough books to start her own library!
If you have access to the internet there is another place that makes it very easy to nurture our child's love of reading: Read Conmigo. Read Conmigo, sponsored by Infinity Auto Insurance, is a literacy program that promotes English/Spanish bilingualism by providing parents, teachers and students with free access to bilingual books in English and Spanish. Visit the site to see all of the bilingual tools that is has to offer.
Did you know? Less than two percent of children’s books written last year were Latino-themed and only 1.5 percent (or 48 books) of the 3,200 children’s works published in 2013 in the U.S. were written by Latino authors. In an effort to change these startling statistics, one book at a time, the nationally recognized bilingual literacy program Read Conmigo sponsored by Infinity Auto Insurance, is introducing the “Preserving our Culture through Bilingual Literacy” contest for budding Latino children’s book authors based in the Southern California area.
Are you an aspiring Latino author?
Latino authors and aspiring authors should submit their manuscripts to be considered for national publication to the “Preserving our Culture through Bilingual Literacy” contest by October 31, 2014. The story must feature one or more Read Conmigo characters. The winning author(s) will receive $1,000 in prize money.
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My Sammy loves to read so much that she even writes her own little stories and reads them out loud to the family. Who knows, maybe one day she will take her love of books and become an author!
