Books / Libros

Ian loves books. I remember purchasing his first books when he was about 3 months old. Since then, reading is one of our favorite activities. During the day Ian browses his books and says the words that he already knows or he brings me the books for me to read to him. At night, before sleep, the three of us lie down to read books that Ian has chosen, two or three.

A Ian le encantan los libros. Recuerdo haber comprado sus primeros libros cuando tenia alrededor de 3 meses. Desde entonces, la lectura es una de nuestras actividades favoritas. Durante el dia Ian hojea sus libros y pronuncia las palabras que se sabe del texto o, me trae el libro para que se lo lea. Por la noche, antes de dormir, nos acostamos los tres para leer los libros que Ian ha escogido, dos o tres.

At the moment, his most favorite to be read at any time:

En este momento, su gran favorito, en cualquiero momento es:

During the day, he prefers his board books, with only a few lines of text, like:

Durante el dia prefiere libros pequeños, con poco texto, como:

At bed time he often chooses:

Antes de dormir el escoge:

I want to mention two relevant aspects of these and other books that Ian has: first, all are in English, and second, none are based in reality. Why am I concerned about these aspects?

Quiero mencionar dos aspectos relevantes de estos y otros libros que tiene Ian: primero, todos son en ingles y segundo, ninguno es sobre realidad. ¿Por qué me importan estos aspectos?

With regard to the language: my native language is Spanish and John’s is English. Before Ian was born we researched the best way to help Ian learn both languages: the general recommendation from a multitude of sources is “one-person, one-language”. John mostly follows that recommendation, but I do not. I think that as we will live in Latin America for a while Ian will naturally have more opportunities to learn Spanish than English. Then, all of the extra resources to help him speak are in English: books, videos, songs, vocabulary cards, etc. Almost always this material is reviewed together by Ian and me, so it is unavoidable that I speak English. I wonder if this will be a hindrance rather than a help as Ian’s language skills develop.

Con respecto al idioma: mi lengua materna es el español y la de John es el ingles. Antes de que Ian naciera nos informamos sobre la mejor manera de ayudar a Ian a hablar ambos idiomas: la recomendación generalizada es una-persona-un-idioma. John ha seguido esta recomendación siempre; pero yo no. Pienso que viviendo en Latinoamérica Ian tendrá mas oportunidades para aprender español naturalmente. Entonces, todos los recursos extras para ayudarle a hablar están en ingles: libros, videos, canciones, tarjetas de vocabulario, etc. Casi siempre este material lo revisamos juntos (Ian y yo), entonces es casi inevitable no hablarle ingles cuando lo hacemos. Me pregunto si esto en vez de ayudarle, esta retardando su aprendizaje de ambos idiomas.

I remember that the first books we bought for Ian were in Spanish. When we incorporated reading as part of his routine of going to sleep, we bought books in English so that he shares that time with Daddy. Since then, Ian has preferred the English books rather than those in Spanish. Actually I never found a book in Spanish that hook’s his imagination. My search for books in English is easier. I always consider the ratings posted on Amazon and that almost never fails.

Ahora que recuerdo, los primeros libros que compre para Ian son en español. Recien cuando incorporamos la lectura como parte de la rutina de dormir, compramos libros en ingles de tal manera que ese fuese un momento para compartir con daddy. Desde entonces Ian ha preferido sus libros en ingles. En realidad nunca encontré un libro en español que lo cautivara. Mi búsqueda de libros en ingles es mas fácil. Me baso siempre en las calificaciones de Amazon y eso casi nunca ha fallado.

I have only recently become concerned with non-reality subject matter since learning about Montessori Method (about a month ago). I understand that Montessori promotes books based on reality for children 0 to 6 years because they want to learn about the real world and fiction may be confusing at that age. So in the future I will try to incorporate more reality based stories to balance the fiction that Ian loves so much.

El tema de los libros, esto es fantasia en vez de realidad, es una consideración absolutamente nueva para mi desde que supe del Método Montessori (hace un mes aproximadamente). Entiendo que Montessori promueve los libros basados en la realidad para niños de 0 a 6 años considerando que éstos quieren aprender sobre el mundo real y la fantasia es confusa a esa edad.