Books that are bilingual are excellent resources for Spanish speaking parents and their children. By including and honoring two languages, these books welcome and invite native Spanish speaking adults to develop their English literacy alongside their children. Here are three ways that bilingual books can serve Spanish speaking parents:

• Parents Will Learn Vocabulary Along With Their Children: Spanish speaking parents are undergoing a journey of language acquisition alongside their children. The same books that are designed to make reading accessible to early young readers are accessible to adult beginning readers in English as well. Reading aloud to or along with children in appropriately leveled bilingual books builds parents’ vocabulary and confidence. Families can discuss the book together in both languages.
• Parents Will Show Support For Their Children’s Literacy: Reading can become an honored and fun part of the family’s daily schedule. When children see that their parents value and also participate in reading time, they learn that reading is important. Learning alongside children and making reading a priority in the home makes a big impact on children’s attitude towards language acquisition. During reading time, parents can ask children questions about what they are learning in school and select books that tie into those topics. Even in the summer, it’s a good idea for families to read every day. As Dr. James Ma, Senior Lecturer at the Canterbury School of Childhood and Education Sciences, explains, a mother who is not a native English speaker can use a bilingual or dual language book to “scaffold her child’s learning in ways that enhance both the child’s understanding of the English text and her knowledge of their heritage language.”
• Reading Will Connect Families To The Community: Stories are bridges to the world. When parents read with their children, numerous opportunities for further learning, topic expansion, and community integration occur, and this can be especially beneficial to Spanish speaking parents. A story about a day at the park can inspire a weekend outing wherein new vocabulary is tried out. A story about the supermarket can tie into an evening grocery trip, in which parents and children identify product labels and words that match a story. Or, a love of reading can encourage a visit to the library, which can benefit the entire family’s bi-literacy and connection to the local community.

As the Foundation for Child Development shares, “becoming bilingual has long-term cognitive, academic, social, cultural, and economic benefits” for children. Spanish speaking parents can experience these benefits as well and incorporating bilingual books into home reading sessions is a powerful step in this process.

Lectura Books has bilingual Spanish and English books, and staff development for teachers to work with dual language families.