A Reading Reality

I´ve realized there is a stark difference between raising a bilingual child and a bicultural child. A bilingual child might use the same term in two different languages and keep the same picture in mind. But, for someone like Camilo, saying the word ¨fire engine¨ and its equivalent in the Spanish ¨camión de bomberos¨ bring out two totally different images. The fancy red trucks with a ladder and hoses and contraptions dangling from different compartments that line the pages of story books in English don´t compare with the possibly painted red truck often seen asking for donations on the side of the road throughout this country.

Honestly, it is so much easier to get books and other resources in English than in any other language. Even here in Mexico, if I search for books in Spanish, I am redirected to English materials. It’s really no big deal for us, Camilo and I read and speak English. If he is reading in at least one language, he is improving his habits. Yet, what appears in these books is often not what our life experiences mirror. We read books about families and I explain that these behaviors are common in the United States. Camilo reads about the seasons that he has never experienced and giving cookies to the mailman who is only a fantasy here. We have fun reading. We talk about the book, we learn vocabulary, but when we walk out the door, my words are filled with, ¨That’s what _________ looks like here.¨ And sometimes it feels like we have this fictional book world with little reflection into the real. My fear sometimes when I provide such materials for him is that the fancy items on the pages of an English book may override the same objects he sees in his everyday experience. But, at the same time, I trust his interactions with real life will leave a vivid impact.

There really is no book, even if it is translated, that is culture free.

And so just for fun, I am throwing together a book I have adapted from Camilo´s many books on vehicles, but more fitting to our area.

Cholula Trucks

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Police Car