On this episode of Bilingual Avenue, I chat with Diana Limongi who shares all about her language journey including how she prepared for the arrival of her multilingual child.
Diana is a Latina New Yorker with Ecuadorian roots, married to a Frenchman! She has a son who together with her husband she is raising in a multilingual environment! She’s a contributor to BabyCenter, Hispana Global and TriState Ford Voces all while working full time and a part-time graduate student pursuing a Masters degree in Nonprofit Management! You can learn more about Diana and her great insights on her blog ladydeelg.com
Episode #75 Quick Guide
On this episode, Diana discusses with us:
- Her multilingual language journey and her family’s commitment to speaking Spanish in the home;
- The opportunity she had to attend school in Ecuador and how that allowed her to improve her Spanish punctuation;
- How language learning was her number one priority as she prepared for the birth of her son;
- How she went out of her way to visualize how she was would hold herself accountable to speak Spanish exclusively with her son;
- How she even began watching TV in Spanish to increase her own exposure;
- How French, Spanish and English languages are managed in her home;
- How she manages when her son answers in English;
- Some funny anecdotes of how her son is finding patterns in Spanish and adding his own twist to translations;
- Why it was important for Diana and her husband that her son speak their heritage languages;
- How she has stayed discipline to add exposure to Spanish for her son;
- How she is preparing for her son’s academic years and how that may impact his language journey;
- The role that the extended family has played on the language journey;
- How amazing she feels like when her son translates and switches between languages;
- Why she is such a great advocate of bilingual education;
- The value she sees in speaking more than one language;
- Her advice for creating opportunities for language learning in your community with other parents.
Once we hop on the Autobahn at Bilingual Avenue, Diana shares –
- Favorite resources: TV/DVD where she can leveraged the SAP button to switch the programming to Spanish and translated classic books that your child may already know in the community language;
- Best advice received: Staying persistent because language learning is a lifetime journey;
- What has held her back: How her son sometimes tries to engage with Diana and her husband in English but how they have managed to redirect the conversations;
- Great family habit: Story time at night and cooking together;
- Favorite Books :Eres mi Mamá by P.D. Eastman, Siempre te querre by Robert Munsch, Amo a mi Mamá porque by Laurel Porter Gaylord, Amo a mi Papá porque by Laurel Porter Gaylord;
- Best Advice to others: You do not have to do it alone! Find a community that can provide you with support.
HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!
If you found this episode useful, head on over to iTunes and kindly leave us a rating, a review and subscribe!
Ways to subscribe to Bilingual Avenue!
- Click here to subscribe via iTunes
- Click here to subscribe via Stitcher
- Click here to subscribe via RSS