Bilingüitos was founded in 2016 by Kaila Diaz as a way to provide families in Northern Virginia with Spanish language input for their kids through game-based educational programs. It quickly grew and expanded to not only include in-person instruction, but online resources such as a network for bilingual families and the Bilingual Parenting Podcast as well. More importantly, in addition to the programs and resources, an incredible community of families sprung up around the shared passion for language.
Our mission is first and foremost to cultivate and celebrate bilingualism, and to help you do the same in your home for your family. In the classroom, we strive to create a positive multicultural learning environment where our students explore and discover freely, immerse themselves in a new language and culture, and gain the self-confidence they need as they grow into future bilingual leaders. Through our resources, we aim to equip parents with the knowledge and tools they need in order to forge the path to bilingualism for their children. We believe that adding and maintaining a second language is not always easy, but that it is always, A L W A Y S worth it!
Kaila Diaz (M.A., linguistics) is a linguist and language educator specializing in childhood bilingualism and family language planning. Kaila studied early childhood education in her early years of undergrad but ultimately chose to complete her Bachelor’s Degree in English and Linguistics with a concentration in Language Acquisition / Language Education. In 2018, she graduated summa cum laude from George Mason University with a Master’s Degree in Linguistics with a concentration in Childhood Bilingualism and Family Language Policy.
Kaila’s passion for language is multi-faceted and began very early on. As a young child, she herself learned Spanish through immersion starting as a 10 month old and continuing for many years (thanks to opportunities afforded to her through homeschooling and travel). Later in middle school and high school, she academically studied Spanish, Latin, and Greek. In 2013 & 2014 she lived in Nicaragua studying and documenting the indigenous language Mískitu in Puerto Cabezas and surrounding communities and villages, while also teaching preschool to trilingual kids. In 2016, Kaila resided in Perú where she studied with Wycliffe and ILV (Instituto Lingüístico de Verano), going deeper into linguistic fieldwork focusing on indigenous minority languages, literacy work, and community language revitalization/sustainability.
Her mission now is to cultivate and celebrate bilingualism in her immediate area (Northern VA) and beyond, while connecting families from all backgrounds and walks of life, because language does just that – it connects people. Combining her passion for language and early childhood education, Kaila founded Bilingüitos in 2016 and aspires to see it continue to grow. As Kaila and her husband Alfredo are both bilingual (with Spanglish being their language of choice), they are raising their kids to be bilingual and biliterate through speaking Spanish at home, homeschooling, travel around the U.S., and being part of the Bilingüitos community.
From the beginning, we knew the value of having a team of incredible teachers and staff to help fulfill the mission of Bilingüitos. So, in addition to our director, there is a team of passionate and dynamic instructors ready to walk alongside your child through their bilingualism journey, as well as our incredible administrator. Our team members all must go through standard hiring procedures, but beyond that, we look for a specific nature of instructor when we have people join our team. We like to see teachers that are excited about teaching, passionate about language, and overall enthusiasm that will be passed on to the student.
Wondering “what kind of Spanish” you will hear in our classes? We are proud that Bilingüitos celebrates diversity, including linguistic diversity, by employing speakers from all different language backgrounds, countries, regions, and acquisition methods. We value this (1) because all language is beautiful and (2) because here in the United States, and around the globe, you will come into contact with all sorts of speakers, so by hearing Spanish that may be different from your previous experience, you’ll be more equipped to take on the world! At the time of this writing, we have Dominican, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, and Spain Spanish varieties all represented by our teaching team and staff.
Our teachers are also busy parents just like you, so their availability changes session to session. For the most up-to-date information about who is currently teaching with us and their biographies, check out the program guide on our Registration page.
In addition to teaching team and staff, we are also blessed to have so many amazing parent volunteers leading GrupoPLAY Spanish playgroups / bilingual communities in cities around the U.S. Thank you, leaders, for cultivating and celebrating bilingualism in your local area. Your bilingual community thanks you too! For more information about the GrupoPLAY experience, check out the GrupoPLAY page
Let’s connect! Head on over to our contact page to get in touch with us! Or connect with us over on Instagram.
Inclusivity statement: Bilingüitos is a community for bilingual families of all kinds and we celebrate the fact that we all arrive at this bilingualism journey from different backgrounds. Bilingüitos stands for and welcomes all families, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, linguistic background (language variety, acquisition method, ability), bilingual parenting style, etc. Any kind of animosity, divisiveness, bullying, or belittling of one’s bilingualism journey is not tolerated in this community.