One of the main reasons my husband and I obsess over raising my daughter to speak Spanish es porque queremos que tenga un pedacito de nosotros siempre. We want her to not only speak Spanish, but to live our Latino culture and love it as much as we do, or at least to want to love it as much as we do.
Living in Los Angeles, we have so many opportunities to immerse her in the culture, but nothing better than to have that reference point also come from within the classroom and from teachers she adores. I count my blessings (y mi terquedad!) that Camila’s in her second year at Franklin Language Magnet, one of the schools part of the Foreign Language Academies of Glendale. Her school has immersion programs in French, Italian, German and Spanish, so you can imagine how diverse and unique the environment is!
The not-so-bright side is that, like most public schools these days, there’s no formal instruction in arts, music or even physical education. Pero menos mal, the parents are super involved. One of those parents happens to be Sara Horlick of Music with Sara.
I admire Sara in so many ways and Camila absolutely adores her. It’s thanks to her that the kids in the Spanish immersion classes get one hour of música en español every week. And it’s not just any tunes. She goes out of her way to find both traditional and popular songs from all over Latin América. She also gives of her time to put together special performances for the kids to show off their singing en español.
Just this Saturday, Sara led a group of students, including Camila, in a performance as part of Glendale’s “Big Day of Music” and they sang their heart out to this fabulously eclectic playlist that got both kids and parents very excited:
- Como la Flor by Selena
- Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
- La Paloma
- Vivir mi Vida by Marc Anthony
Check out this video to see just how much fun they’re having. We’re not going for a perfect rendition or a timed choreography (my girl is learning to carry the beat!), but for a love of all types of music, rhythms and languages.
I’m just SO happy that I can blast out Marc Anthony and Selena now and my girl won’t tell me to switch it out to her latest princess soundtrack!
Check out Music With Sara’s website to listen to her songs, watch the fun videos and more. This is really kids music that parents love as well because it sings to our corazón.
Lloré! Sabe… Pero se me hizo HERMOSO! Anytime I see kids sing I can´t help myself, it´s just so beautiful! Y pensar que es en este contexto de enseñarles a amar sus raíces… MÁS!
Jaja! Para nada pensé que haría llorar a nadie. Pero, lo entiendo perfectamente.
Absolutely beautiful . The kids are precious.