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Storytime Bilingüe featuring “Besos for Baby”

This week’s Storytime Bilingüe features “Besos for Baby,” a little book of kisses, written in English and Spanish by Jen Arena. My dear bilingual friend, Rachel, gave it to Maya and Mateo, and I thought it would be perfect for our bilingual story time because the text seamlessly incorporates both languages, with the purpose of teaching a little Spanish to English readers.



It teaches some specific, high frequency vocabulary in Spanish, with a glossary page in the back of the book.



My sister was the guest videographer, and with her extra set of hands to occupy Maya and Mateo, I had the chance to spend some time editing this video into our best Storytime Bilingüe yet! Editing the video reminded me of when I was a production assistant for Boston City TV at the Mayor’s Cable Office, and we were nominated for an Emmy for the episode of ReadTV we produced featuring The Dot by Peter Reynolds. And Facebook memories tells me that was 12 years ago today!

(Here I am at the New England Emmy Awards dinner, where we were nominated for best children’s program in 2008)


While I never ended up pursuing the career in broadcast journalism I had planned, I still appreciate the skills I learned at Northeastern University, and I’m glad I can use them to promote emerging bilingualism.

Make sure and check back each week for a new episode of Storytime Bilingüe!


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