BILINGUAL SMART for Toddlers Helps Build Fluency Through Bilingual Games

Bestselling authors put the powerful interaction between parents and their young children to work in 15-minute Spanish and English bilingual immersion games for toddlers. Nationally known language development experts and moms, Ana Lomba and Karen Nemeth, heard from many families who wanted their children to learn a new language, and they put their expertise together to create the Bilingual Smart© series for toddlers. Just released in April, Mi Habitación/My Room: 12 Bilingual Smart Games to Learn Spanish in Your Child's Room, the first e-book in their series, provides the information parents need to support language development and go beyond memorizing colors and numbers. Language fluency develops best when exploring ideas in real life and having fun together. Brain and development research shows that a child's future success is directly connected to how parents speak to him and how much they engage with him during the first five years of life.

Bilingual Smart© (Inteligencia Bilingüe©), the authors' new series in Spanish and English available on Amazon.com, builds on this science and makes it fun for adults and toddlers. Each book includes 15-minute games, explanations of skills, additional phrases and vocabulary to extend learning, and notes to compare the two languages. Each book also comes with an iTunes download audio companion. "By combining the power of responsive, positive early interactions with the undeniable value of second language learning, we have created a product that is going to change how families learn together... for a lifetime!" said Lomba.

One of the most exciting areas of early childhood research is focused on the bilingual brain. A summary of the latest research, "Why Bilinguals Are Smarter" from the New York Times in March 2012 reported that children who grow up bilingual have many cognitive advantages. The summary also reported on research with adults showing that acquiring a second language is good for the brain at any age. However, young children do not learn like adults.

Dr. Patricia Kuhl and other researchers found that babies and toddlers can learn to identify sounds in a new language when interacting with a caring adult, but they learn almost nothing when watching that adult on a video. "It's about talking with the child. Even babies and toddlers who hardly talk can be engaged in high quality back-and-forth conversations," says Nemeth. "In particular, Moms around the world are the most important early educators, although they may not know it. This is because they spend the most time with their children in those crucial first five years, creating a foundation of learning and language development."

The Bilingual Smart© series begins with activities that focus on naturally occurring interactions that happen in a child's favorite place: their own room. When playing the Smart Games, the adult and the child will learn words they can practice and use naturally every day so the benefits of being bilingual can grow and flourish. With Mi Habitación / My Room: 12 Bilingual Smart Games to Learn Spanish in Your Child's Room anyone can turn everyday routines into fun and meaningful Spanish games.

For moms and dads looking for intellectual stimulation at home, a caregiver or au-pair looking for tools and knowledge to use in their work, or a grandparent with time to spend with their grandchildren, learning Spanish with a toddler can be ideal. Mi Habitación / My Room: 12 Bilingual Smart Games to Learn Spanish in Your Child's Room is available for Kindle and other e-readers on Amazon.com.

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