Bilingo Kidz Spanish learning software is great for teachers also! Captivate your students with stories from Latin America that simulate the full immersion technique of learning that is shown to be the most beneficial for language learning.

In El Salvador the school year is just beginning now in January.  In El Salvador there is usually a week ‘s vacation in the spring during Holy Week, the week before Easter.  There is a week’s vacation the first week of August for las fiestas agostinas.  The national holiday celebrating Salvador del Mundo is August 6th and the country celebrates somewhat like we celebrate the 4th of July in the United States with parades and fireworks.  School then continues in El Salvador until Oct-Nov.

When we lived in El Salvador in 2001 the school year did not end until the end of November because of the earthquakes in El Salvador that year.  In the United States in snow country we sometimes extend the school year for snow days, in earthquake countries they suspend school for a time after an earthquake and then extend the school year.  It takes weeks sometimes for the earth to settle after an earthquake so schools are suspended until the earth settles down a bit.  There is too much danger of school building collapsing.

In Colombia there is a A term and a B term for the school calendar.  In Bolgota many schools follow a similar calendar to the United States but in the city of Cali for example, the school calendar is similar to that of El Salvador.

In Chile school usually begins at the end of summer in March with a two week winter vacation in July.  (Remember that in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are opposite the northern hemisphere.)  Students then continue with the school session until the middle of December.

BiLingo Kidz refers to the school calendar and vacation days in the El Salvador, Colombia and Chile stories.

Many of you are probably wondering what the Epiphany is.  In some Christian churches this day commemorates the arrival of the Three Wisemen, Three Kings, or in Spanish, el Dia de los Reyes Magos coming with gifts to see the Baby Jesus.  In some traditional places in Mexico, gifts are received on January 6^th.    Sometimes children leave out their shoes to be filled with gifts somewhat like many fill stockings at Christmas.

For me it is interesting to see how in the United States, Christmas ends on December 25^th whereas in other countries Christmas begins on December 25^th.  So to all of you who love to enjoy your Christmas decorations for a longer time, leave them up until January 6^th or 7^th.  Also let us also remember that not all peoples celebrate Christmas even though the holiday is overwhelmingly encompassing in most places in the United States.

You may have made a New Year’s resolution  to keep you mind active.  For older folks, learning another language is an excellent way to keep the memory and mind active.  The content of BiLingo Kidz is for young people but the Spanish content is plenty sophisticated for adults.

For children, especially grade school children, the brains are so active that it is a key time for exposure to another language.  BiLingo Kidz was designed specifically for young people teaching not only Spanish but culture as well through the daily lives of peers from Latin America.



Usually each of the nine evenings in which a community reenacts la posada, it is hosted at a different home.  For example, the host family,  and possibly a few other friends, will be in their home.  Other community members then will come as a group to the home. Often times a young woman is dressed as Mary and a young man as Joseph.  Once we even used a live donkey to carry Mary.  As the outsiders knock on the door they begin to sing a song about needing shelter.  The hosts open the door and sing back that there is no room at the inn.  Several stanzas later, the hosts recognize the situation and ask the strangers to enter.

Once all are together in the house, there might be a bible study with the readings leading up to Christmas. At the end, treats are served, and often in Mexico a piñata is broken by the children.

Christmas Eve is the last day of las posadas as Jesus is born.  In Latin America areas where I have celebrated Christmas, Christmas Eve is referred to as “el 24″ and New Year’s Eve is referred to as “el 31.”

BiLingo Kidz, Diego story, tells of las posadas in Spanish as often celebrated in Mexico.

Several years ago I took a Chinese class.  Besides wanting to learn some Chinese, as a foreign language teacher, I felt it important to be able to again understand what it was like in a class and not understand a word!  I did well in the class but I longed to learn more and have more of an immersion type experience.  I needed more repetitions than the class was able to give me.  I longed for a program like BiLingo Kidz in Chinese where a learner can listen and study independently.  For me, as a teacher and as a learner, repetition is the key to learning not only correct pronunciation but correct sentence structure in context.

Several years later I attended a TPRS (Teaching for Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) conference  where I had the opportunity to again learn some Chinese using TPRS techniques. I learned so much in about 20 hours because of the constant repetition and it was so much fun!  Of course having an instructor is more fun than working off a software program but either way one can learn.

Parents often find themselves without a class for their younger children.  Most schools in the United States wait until high school to teach a second language. This practice directly affects correct pronunciation.  Many parents start before or after school programs but they are difficult to maintain with schedules, car pools, and finding teachers.

I am currently lucky to have a Chinese student living with me.  Of course I had to practice my minuscule amount of Chinese with her.  Most of the time she didn’t have a clue as to what I was saying as I had picked up some bad pronunciation habits.  Not my teacher’s fault, just a lack of repetition and reading. At any rate, I practice and get corrected and practice and get corrected again and again.  At this rate I don’t know that I will ever be fluent but hopefully not completely illiterate when I visit China.

The mini-stories in BiLingo Kidz are embedded with culture.  The first stories are of María Esther, a 10 year old Salvadoran.

Post colonial cities in Latin America have a church in the center of the city with a park in front.  The first painting in BiLingo Kidz is of Esther playing at the plaza central, the park in front of the the central cathedral in San Salvador, the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Savior (Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador).

The facade of the cathedral has tiles painted by Fernando Llort and team.  The tiles depict the life of the Salvadoran people.  The following is a quote from Fernando Llort taken from his website:  “The Catholic Church from El Salvador asked me to design the facade for the Cathedral.  This has been one of the most inspiring artistic moments of my life, cause it meant to meant I was putting my art on a very important symbol of my country, with a huge historical value.  It was a work that took us (me and a group of artisans) around 1 year to finish.”

Fernando Llort is a theologian, artist and teacher.  He moved from the city of San Salvador to a small town in northern El Salvador, La Palma. It was here that Fernando began his artistic endeavors in earnest and taught the people of La Palma to adapt his style of art and make a living from their art as in the cross below.

As mentioned above, Llort shared his passion with the people of La Palma.  I would suggest to teachers that you show example of Llort’s artwork passed on to the Salvaoran people through painted crosses they created.  The crosses depict their lives and spirituality.  Students could draw and color their own symbols in the shape of a cross to experience the art form more fully.

My initiation into the Salvadoran culture helped me  to listen and learn from others.  The Salvadoran people changed my life and they continue to teach me about life.  I am grateful for my Salvadoran community.

I was successful at teaching the children to do some sewing and public speaking through demonstrations.  But even sewing was a challenge.  I was an accomplished seamstress having made my clothes throughout high school BUT I sewed on an electric sewing machine and I used a pattern to cut out the fabric.  In El Salvador the seamstresses sew without a pattern and they can make any dress you ask them to make from a picture!!  I was able to buy patterns in the capital and borrow a treadle machine to make my own clothing but I was only able to help the children make a skirt by hand.

So you might ask, did she do anything constructive in the Peace Corps?  I do consider myself a successful Peace Corps Volunteer.  According the  Peace Corps website are:  1)  Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, 2)Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served, and 3)Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

I can proudly say that I accomplished all of the mission to some degree.  As a result of my understanding that culture and customs are different from country to country and sometimes from region to region, I see that teaching culture along with teaching language is an important component to world understanding.  I created BiLingo Kidz, a Spanish software program for ages 7-14, that has culture embedded into the mini stories of children from Latin America.  This software program is unique.  According to HISPANIA, a Journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Sept. 2008, “all narrators are native speakers from the featured countries.  BiLingo Kidz is a fun way to learn not only Spanish, but also Latin American culture in general.  The stories, photos and films, self-pacing features, and recycling exercises make this language learning software a pleasure and will please, instruct, and challenge kids of all ages.”

Golf like language learning is an individual endeavor yet it is very social.  Initially there seems to be too much to remember; what club to use, how to hold the golf club, the stance, swing, head position, etc.  In language acquisition the new Spanish vocabulary seems overwhelming, the sentence structure is different than English, and just having the nerve to try to speak is unique to language.

Many of us just learned to speak English without learning or remembering the parts of speech.  Most of us can remember nouns and verbs but who remembers the difference between an adjective and an adverb, or a direct or indirect object? The good new is;  It does not matter much if we know the parts of speech to begin to learn Spanish.  The fluency and pronunciation is key to beginning.

Once the initial feelings of being overwhelmed pass, one starts to have fun learning.  While playing golf, some drives actually go down the center of the fairway and similarly one begins saying some simple learned phrases in Spanish.  The more one plays golf and repeats the movements, the more consistent one becomes.  Additionally the game becomes more and more fun.  One seeks out friends and tee times to play.  Equally, when one begins practicing their newly acquired Spanish they become more and more excited about learning more.  Once a student begins using their newly acquired Spanish, the more they want to practice and learn.  Speaking  Spanish is very social like playing golf and it is up to an individual to increase their skill level.  One will seek opportunities to listen to, speak, and read Spanish.

BiLingo Kidz teaches Spanish in complete sentences using 5 different native speakers to tone our listening skills.  And since most of us are visual learners, a student can read along in Spanish while listening.  A license agreement for a CD-ROM is for the whole family.  Each family member can track their individual progress.  BiLingo Kidz is a perfect gap program between songs and simple vocabulary and adult programs that are grammar and workbook based.  Click here to order now.  You will be glad you did!!