The other day, I sat in my mom’s backyard listening to my daughters and their little cousin switch rapidly from Spanish to English, English to Spanish as they played.
To help our children’s Spanish stay strong, we try to stick to just one language at home. But their reality (like mine) is that when they’re with other bilingual people, they constantly switch between the two as they talk and play. I know we aren’t alone in this! Spanglish life forever!
Of course this isn’t to say that it’s not important to be able to speak only in Spanish or only in English when the occasion warrants. But, thinking of all of my daughter’s little friends in Spanish immersion preschool that are still learning Spanish and aren’t quite there yet, I had an idea.
I decided to record a few of our favorite children’s books and make some bilingual stories!
These are good for kids (like many we know) who are still learning Spanish and can follow the story better if there’s some English. Though if you’re fully bilingual, they’re still fun to listen to since they keep you code-switching!
Each bilingual stories audio track features one of our favorite children’s books, read in easy-to-follow Spanish with narration in English throughout. These 6 stories (that I love so much!) help little learners improve their Spanish listening comprehension, while still sharing part of the story in English until they master Spanish vocabulary. You can find them here in case you’re interested!
I hope these stories can keep your kids practicing Spanish and help you connect at home with them (or give you a little break while they listen and color!).