Besides patience and commitment–two very important qualities to possess when raising a bilingual child–I like to recommend the following list of tools when teaching your kids Spanish.
Read more ¿Qué más?: 3 Foolproof ways to raise bilingual children
It's not like you can't do it without them, but they'll surely make the challenge easier and a lot more fun.
Bilingual/Spanish children's books
Books are an excellent tool to help your kids learn Spanish. You can choose from those that are bilingual (with text in both English and Spanish) or those that are totally in Spanish. Most public libraries have a collection of foreign language books for kids of all ages and Amazon's options have grown exponentially since I had my first child eight years ago.
Apps
You may not like for your kids to spend a lot of time with electronic devices, but when raising a bilingual child, you need to use these to your advantage. That's because there's a ton of apps specifically created to teach your child a second language and some of them are really excellent.
Movies with Spanish track
These days, most children's movies offer the option to change the track to either Spanish or French. If you don't know how to do this, you need to learn so you can get your children used to watching movies in Spanish. I did this with my children and it got to the point that my daughter learned how to do it on her own and she would change it without me having to ask her.
Bilingual toys
I highly recommend getting a few bilingual toys for your kids. There's a good variety available for the little ones and for the older ones you can get board games, like the one pictured here. The idea is for them to learn Spanish while having fun because they won't even realize what's going on.
Children's music in Spanish
Although listening to any type of music in Spanish is a great idea when raising bilingual kids, I recommend you get a couple of CD's of children's music. The thing is that the songs included in these tend to be repetitive, short and easy to memorize, which is perfect to teach your kids some basic vocabulary in Spanish.
A Skype account
Having a Skype account is a must if you have family members who speaks Spanish but don't live nearby. Although my kids are exposed to Spanish on a daily basis because that's the language we speak at home, they still Skype with their cousins in Peru, Puerto Rico and Argentina. It's a great way for them to practice their Spanish with those their same age.
Language learning program
Little Pim is only one of several options when it comes to language learning programs, but it's the one I've used at home to teach my daughter a third language and I must say it's excellent. I think these types of programs are particularly valuable when you don't have total mastery of Spanish. You can use them as a way to reinforce what you do know and your kids will learn without even realizing it because of all the fun they'll be having!
