1. What parents can do to help their children learn a foreign language:
1. Ask your child to teach you what he/she learned in class that day
2.Practice speaking the new language. Encourage your child to speak up in class, whether together with his/her classmates, or alone, as the teacher directs.
3. Take your child to the international foods section of the supermarket and ask him/her to read the labels for you. Consider cooking a typical dish from a Spanish-speaking country.
4. Have your child read aloud the instructions/recipe for a meal in Spanish (most labels now include both). It could get interesting!
5. Subscribe to a Spanish-language magazine like People in Spanish.
6. Take any opportunity to point out places where foreign languages are used: on billboards, in advertisements, on the radio or television. This will help show the importance of learning a new language.
7.Label objects around your child's room or throughout your home with post-it notes in the new language. (This could/should be fun!)
8. If you have any friends who speak the language, invite them over or start corresponding in the language through email or letters.
9. Go to and participate in community events that give exposure to or use the target language. (Baltimore, specifically the area around Fells Point, has several Hispanic festivals typically in June and October)
10. Encourage your child to order in Spanish at Hispanic restaurants or while on vacation speak the target language in order to practice and apply the knowledge they have learned in class. (In the Baltimore Area: Tio Pepe's, El Salto 2, Pollo Fuego, Los Amgios, El Azteca, La Palapa, Arcos, Zapatas, Tapas Teatro, Latin Palace, La Tasca)
11. Borrow children's books in Spanish from the library and read aloud the story. (The Howard County Public Library has a wonderful selection)
12. Watch Telemundo or Univisión with the closed captions. (It helps to both hear it and see it)
13. Listen to 107.9 El Zol on the radio. (Especially in the car on the way to and from school!)
14.Watch an authentic Hispanic movie together (with subtitles in Spanish of course!) or watch a family favorite but this time in SPANISH!