<p>One of my New Year&#39;s Resolutions is to be more consistent in speaking Spanish to my son.&#0160; After all, we are a multilingual, multicultural family.&#0160; I grew up bilingual in English and Spanish and can understand some French because I studied it as my foreign language in school and I worked in a French company that paid for private lessons.&#0160; (I&#39;ve tried my hand at German because my husband is Austrian, but I&#39;m no good at it.&#0160; In fact, I&#39;m VERY quiet when we&#39;re in Austria.&#0160; I smile, listen, and nod my head a lot.&#0160; Which come to think of it, might be one of the reasons my husband likes going there so much.)&#0160; He&#39;s fluent in five languages - sometimes I forget which ones, so there is no way I can test his skills.&#0160; But I believe him.&#0160; </p>

<p>Anyways...</p>

<p>You would think that raising a child that speaks two/three languages would be easy for a couple like us.&#0160; It is not, and it is highly frustrating.&#0160; We continue to work on it, because we both intellectually understand the advantages of speaking more than one language.&#0160; You know what they are too.&#0160; But I will list a few here anyways:<br /> </p>

<p>1.&#0160; Going to school almost anywhere you want.</p>

<p>2.&#0160; Awesome career opportunities.&#0160; Would you rather get the job that sends you to Paris, Buenos Aires and Rome or stay chained to your desk all year?<br /> </p>

<p>3.&#0160; The ability to see life from different perspectives.&#0160; &#0160;Think about it.&#0160; Syntax, or the way we put words together, defines the way you think.&#0160; The way you think defines the way you live.&#0160; I know that I think and act differently in &quot;Spanish&quot; and in &quot;English&quot; and I personally think that it is a good thing to have that choice.<br /> </p>

<p>4.&#0160; Traveling fearlessly - because you can tell where the public toilets are.&#0160; Being in a strange country is hard enough without having to depend on the kindness of total strangers.<br /> </p>

<p>5.&#0160; Making friends easily, at home and abroad.<br /> </p>

<p>6.&#0160; Fitting in almost anywhere - or nowhere at all, if you don&#39;t want to.</p>

<p>7.&#0160; Knowing when waiters are talking trash about you behind your back.&#0160; (Seriously, if you only speak one language I highly recommend you run out and get yourself some Berlitz tapes - most waitstaff probably hate you and talk bad about you, right in front of you.&#0160; Not to make you paranoid or anything.)&#0160; </p>

<p>In addition, like all parents we want our kids to have the best things we had as children - and if you speak more than one language you get to celebrate more holidays and play more games.&#0160; I have fond memories of discovering the English language as a child, and I know that our children will be grateful if we can at least pass on some of our skills to them.</p>

<p>So why has it been so hard to teach my toddler Spanish?&#0160; It&#39;s <em>only</em> Spanish!&#0160; Let&#39;s face it, it&#39;s everywhere:&#0160; there&#39;s &quot;Diego and Dora&quot; and &quot;Handy Manny&quot; and all these books and tapes PLUS the fact that it&#39;s my mother tongue, and I have to tell you - it&#39;s still hard.&#0160; There are many reasons for that, but I will save those for another post.&#0160; Suffice it to say that people that want to teach their children other languages need all the help they can get.&#0160; So I did some online research and was excited to find so much information out there for people like me.&#0160; People who need help.</p>

<p>Here are some links.&#0160; I will add more sites as I find them.&#0160; Let me know in the comments if you have any sites I should add to this list.</p>

<p><span style="color: #990000;"><strong>ARTICLES &amp; INSPIRATION</strong></span></p>

<p><a href="http://www.biculturalfamily.org/magazine.html">Multilingual Living Magazine</a> (Click to get a free issue of their magazine.&#0160; This month&#39;s issue is packed with 114 pages so it&#39;s a good one to get you started.&#0160; This magazine is entirely run by volunteers, and I have decided to volunteer my time as well.)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hispaniconline.com/lstyles/family/raise.html">Hispanic Online</a> </p>

<p><a href="http://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-children/2006/05/raise-bilingual-21st-century-child.html">WEBMD:&#0160; Raising a Bilingual 21st Century Child</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.multilingualchildren.org/">Multilingual Children&#39;s Association</a></p>

<p><a href="http://brio.typepad.com/brio/2006/11/raising_bilingu.html">Raising Bilingual Children:&#0160; The First Five Steps To Success</a><br /><a href="http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/53/61255.htm?pagenumber=1"><br />WEBMD:&#0160; &#0160;Never Too Early To Learn Second Tongue</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.bilingualfamiliesconnect.com/">Bilingual Families Connect</a><br /><a href="http://www.bilingualbabies.org/modules/news/"><br />Bilingual Babies (Message Board)</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.bilingualfamilynewsletter.com/">Bilingual Family Newsletter</a></p>

<p><span style="color: #990000;"><strong>ACTIVITES</strong></span></p>

<p><a href="http://www.literacycenter.net/play_learn/index.htm">LiteracyCenter.Net - Play and Learn</a>&#0160; (This site is completely free and has simple letter/color/number recognition games in&#0160; English, Spanish, German, and French.)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usborne-quicklinks.com/usa/usa_entity_pages/usa_adobe_reader.asp?lvl=1&amp;menu=s69&amp;id=1739">Spanish Picture Puzzles</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.enchantedlearning.com/languages/Spanish2dictionary.htmlhttp://www.enchantedlearning.com/languages/Spanish2dictionary.html">English-Spanish Picture Dictionary</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.usborne-quicklinks.com/usa/usa_entity_pages/usa_ref_list_select_link.asp?lvl=1&amp;menu=s69&amp;id=1745">Spanish Grammar and Verb Websites</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.funbrain.com/lang/index.html">The Translator Alligator</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.quia.com/shared/spanish/">Flashcards and Matching Games</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryspanish/index.shtml">Simple Spanish For Complete Beginners</a> (children&#39;scourse by the BBC)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/lj/index.shtml">Spanish Steps</a> (another BBC course, for older kids and adults)</p>

<p><span style="color: #990000;"><strong>SHOPPING</strong></span></p>

<p><a href="http://www.languageland.co.uk/shop/index.php">LanguageLand</a><br /><a href="http://www.languageland.co.uk/shop/index.php"></a><br /><a href="http://www.languageland.co.uk/shop/index.php">AudioVideoLatino</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.welovespanish.com/">We Love Spanish</a><br /><a href="http://www.abckinderladen.com/"><br />ABC Kinderladen</a><br /><a href="http://www.multilingualmatters.com/"><br />Multilingual Matters</a></p>

<p><a href="https://www.magellanstoyshop.com/shop/">Magellan Toys</a> <br /></p>
