Teaching Your Child Spanish As a Second Language

It is common knowledge that in today's world it is very beneficial to learn a second language. In addition to being able to meet more people, and getting to experience more of the world's diverse cultures, being bilingual opens the door wider to opportunity when it knocks, more so than it would for someone who is monolingual. In the United States, Spanish is the second most spoken language after English. Being able to speak and understand Spanish in the USA welcomes more job opportunities and higher earnings.

There are many ways to go about learning Spanish. I myself learned Spanish in high school and supplemented my education by listening to Spanish language music and using Spanish language chat sites. Other adults have learned by programs such as Rosetta Stone, taking night classes, or by hiring tutors.

Being an adult who has learned Spanish, I know how difficult it can be. Studies have proven that is much easier for children to learn not only a second language, but also numerous languages at once. For that reason, I am now in the process of teaching my 1-year old son Spanish.

There are many tools available for children including toys, books, and educational games. In my home we use all of the above. My son has maracas that count and name the colors of the rainbow and a drum that sings the alphabet in both Spanish and English. We also have a collection of Disney board books that tell entertaining and educational stories in both languages that we read to him every day.

Another tool that we use which is a very beneficial resource for parents trying to help their children learn Spanish is television. There are many bilingual television shows available on public, cable, and satellite television. Some popular examples of such shows include Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go, PBS's Dragon Tales and Maya and Miguel, and Disney's Handy Manny.

There is no doubt that the aforementioned shows are all positive educational programs. They are English Language children's programs that introduce Hispanic cultures and Spanish vocabulary. However, instead of just teaching my son vocabulary words, I would like that he also learn conversational skills. In order to do so, I also expose him to 100% Spanish language programming.

I highly recommend having English speaking children learning Spanish to actually watch the Spanish Language versions of Dora the Explorer or Go Diego, Go on Univision rather than or along with the English versions. It opens their minds to more vocabulary and allows them to take on a higher level of conversation.

Univision has a block of 100% Spanish language programming for children on Saturday mornings called Planeta U. Planeta U shows include both Dora and Diego as well as Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks or as they call it Jakers! Las Aventuras de Piggley Winks, and an Inspector Gadget show about traveling called Los Viajes del de Inspector Gadget.

Although it's the most popular, Univision is not the only Spanish Language Network in the United Sates. There are many other networks, which show Spanish language children's programming. The two favorites in my house are V-me and Cbeebies. V-me has over twenty quality program options available in Spanish for children. It is the home of the Mexican version of Sesame Street Plaza Sesamo, and host to other shows dubbed from English to Spanish such as Lazy Town, Pororo, and 7 pets. There is a new show coming out on V-me that I am looking forward too called Thalia and Eebee Adventures. The host of the show Thalia is a very famous Mexican pop singer.


The network Cbeebies is a Spanish Language channel dedicated to Children broadcast by BBC. In the USA it is only available to Dish Network subscribers. We have only had Dish for a couple weeks so we don't have any favorite Cbeebies shows yet but I can already tell that this channel will be a big competitor to V-me in my home.