Nursery rhymes and short stories are wonderful for little ones. Listening to your voice helps little ears become attuned to the different sounds and in general develop early literacy skills. Another way to expose them further and help their development more, is to tell stories and nursery rhymes in 2 languages? Helping your little more and you to become bilingual in no time at all.

Why 2 languages?

There has been so many studies promoting the idea of bilingualism for babies.
Having an additional language has been linked to -

• Helping little ones to remember, learn, pay attention and problem solve
• Has been linked to helping to protect the brain later in life, including the offset of dementia
• And… by introducing another language to your little ones at an early age, you’ll be opening up their world to more cultures and experiences!

So you’re probably sold into introducing another language to your little one, but now probably wondering how you can do this if you only speak 1 language?

Well, the great thing with a new language is that you don’t need to speak a 2nd language yourself to expose your little one to one. Latin languages like spanish are phonetic and with this a lot of the words and letters make the same sound, making Spanish much easier in a lot of ways than English!


How to start?

Storytime

One of the easiest ways to start is to start with a bilingual book and simply read along. Try to make sure you know the story in english to make it easier for you to understand the words in the 2nd language.

Singalong

Music is an amazing way, a little easier to introduce a 2nd language. Little ones love repetition and for you hearing the words again and again makes it easier to remember and singalong.

It’s definitely not easy, but it is worth it. Even if they never become fully bilingual, there are still so many benefits to exposing them to another language at such a young age!

So… Allons-y!, Lass uns gehen, vamos! Let’s go!