Bilingual Books For Children

Bilingual books for children are great for so many reasons!

For my family:

It saves us money. We only need to buy 1 book and we can have story time with mommy or daddy.
I can practice my Spanish when reading to my children
I can review vocabulary words in English and Spanish!

For work:

I can bridge new vocabulary word lessons into Spanish easily.
I can make take-home lessons easily with vocabulary words already in front of me.

What are bilingual books?

Bilingual books are books that have the same text translated into 2 different languages.

For my family, we have children's books in both English and Spanish.

Where do I find bilingual books for children?

I have had a DIFFICULT time finding a good selection of Spanish-English bilingual books in stores. Actually...impossible! So, as usual, I turned to the internet and found a pretty decent selection from babies up to about 1st grade.

Check out my favorites so far!

How To Read Bilingual Books

There are a few different ways to read bilingual books.

You can read the book in one language from start to finish. You can read in your first a.d/or second language. I like reading in Spanish to practice my own Spanish and learn new vocabulary words along the way!
You can read in one language and bridge to the other language during vocabulary learning opportunities. I highly suggest this choice!

For general tips on how to read to your child, check out how to read bilingual books for children.

How & Why To Do Vocabulary Bridging

How: When you introduce a new vocabulary word to your child in one language, explain the same vocabulary word in the other language. Make sure to talk about all parts of a vocabulary word (category, function, description, location)!

Why: When a child learns a second language, he or she doesn't have to invent the wheel every time! There is language transfer between the first and second language.

For example, if a child learns about a zebra in English, he or she already knows about the concept of a zebra in Spanish. He or she may know that a zebra is from Africa, has stripes, and can be seen at the zoo. When that child learns about a zebra in English, he or she can connect all that vocabulary information from Spanish to English.

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Bridget is an ASHA certified, practicing speech-language pathologist. She is passionate about providing parents with information on child speech and language development as well as provide functional, easy activities to do at home! Parents have the power to make a real difference. Follow Bridget at Facebook and Pinterest for more fun!