Just found pics from our last day Campo de Kiddies, the little camp we had here this summer for pre-school Spanish. We had a fiesta with our wonderful group of 3-5 year olds. The children made all the decorations including the piñata. Pizza , fruit salad and cake made it all the more festive. The kids performed some of the Spanish songs they had learned.
It was really fun to mingle with the parents and meet people who are so passionate about early language learning.
One of the mom’s is French and she speaks French with her daughter Lea but wants her to learn Spanish also. Needless to say it is coming very easily for Lea. Bilingual children learn Spanish and other languages very quickly.
The real fun of the day was hearing that Andrew – who is often quite quiet during Spanish went up to a little boy last week and said Hola , me llamo Andrew. And he was absolutely thrilled when the little boy answered him in Spanish.

Just bumped into two of my daughter Holly’s college friends. Kimmie just got back from six weeks in Peru on a community service trip. She does not speak Spanish but was able to pick up a little and is off to a good start. And Cyndi is going to spend fall semester in Avignon, France. She will live with a family and study French at the university. This is great news for Holly – since she will also spend fall semester in Europe. She will study Spanish and business in Madrid and also live with a family. Holly speaks Spanish but wants to become more proficient. She is hoping to travel within Europe on the weekends so news that Cyndi will be in nearby Avignon is great. Holly also has friends in Paris, London, Jordan and Zurich – all college students studying abroad. Study abroad is so common now – for today’s college students the world is really getting small.

My name Is Beth Manners and for many years my passion has been language learning — early language learning to be specific. Many years ago, I worked for a French company here in the States. The job required lots of travel and we dealt with companies from all over the world. I remember sitting in meetings in Europe and our hosts would speak French, German, Spanish as required — but if Americans were in attendance everything had to be in English because, back then,  most Americans only spoke English.

I thought it made us look quite inadequate and some people did not even make an effort to say hello in the native language – so we appeared arrogant too. I worked on my language skills and immediately noticed how well I was received. It broke down barriers. I always kept my sense of humor so it became so much fun — speaking and trying new phrases.

When I became a mom 19 years ago,  I started to read up on early language learning and decided my kids should get started as toddlers. The results were amazing:  they just picked up French with perfect accents and enjoyed the whole process. When they started Spanish in school, those skills transferred to the new language and they became excellent students.

I started creating products for early learners in both French and Spanish and it has become not only my passion and hobby but also my new career. So, I thought it would be helpful to other passionate parents to blog and share stories, tips and advice — not just on early language learning but also on the results .

My kids are now 14 and 19. Holly leaves tomorrow for Madrid  for a semester abroad and Spencer, who is just started high school today,  is doubling up and taking French and Spanish. I’ll share their adventures along with tips on keeping it fun from the toddler years and on. Hope you will share your stories and tips too!