Time for some BIG NEWS! We are over the moon excited to announce that we are officially launching a brand new GrupoPLAY in a brand new location: Katy, TX! That’s right, a Bilingüitos Spanish language playgroup is coming for you, Houston area! We’re thrilled about this because it is the first ever satellite play group to launch from Bilingüitos, and hopefully the first of many. It has been our vision since the beginning of forming GrupoPLAY, our community-centered playgroup serving bilingual families throughout Northern VA, that one day we’d be able to see GruposPLAY pop up all over the country. One of the biggest ways to help your children grasp the importance of bilingualism and the value of their home language is through being part of a bilingual speech community. Our dream has always been for GrupoPLAY to be bigger than just Northern Virginia. We want bilingual families all over to have the support system of other like-minded language enthusiasts with whom they can share the trials and triumphs of bilingual parenting.
With all of this on our mind, but unsure of where to start, we were thrilled to recently connect with the fantastic Miss Nydia. Nydia is a bilingual, bicultural mamá of two young kiddos as well as an activist for hispanic language and culture in her area. She reached out to us after seeing several of our GrupoPLAY posts and stories, wondering how she too could get a group like that started in her area to unify the bilingual community of the Houston suburb Katy. It felt like the stars were aligning ✨1) because of our heart to grow the Bilingüitos community and our mission to cultivate and celebrate bilingualism, but also 2) because one of our dear preschool families just happened to be moving to the same area THE VERY NEXT DAY! We knew it was meant to be. So we chatted with Nydia for a long time, drew up a game plan for GrupoPLAY Katy, and in no time we were set to launch! GrupoPLAY Katy will be kicking off their PLAYOtoño play dates in September, and after that the sky’s the limit! 💫
So you may be wondering, “what is GrupoPLAY exactly?” GrupoPLAY is a bilingual playgroup that hosts regular playdates for Spanish-speaking / bilingual families in different areas around the country. We use these playdates as a way to show our children Spanish in a wider context; outside the home and outside the classroom. Children are able to see that Spanish isn’t just “mom and dad’s language” or something they learn at school, but rather it is a beautiful communication system that is used by entire communities of speakers, including other kids their age! During these playdates, adults model peer-to-peer Spanish conversation, children bond over finding language commonalities, and overall, bilingualism is normalized and ultimately celebrated. Kids’ perspectives will shift as they begin to see the incredible value of being bilingual — when they see it as a superpower. At the end of the day, the true mission of GrupoPLAY is to unify the bilingual community and to equip families to cultivate and celebrate bilingualism in their own circles of influence.
Houston area, we’re so excited for you have your own tight-knit language-loving bilingual family playgroup. If you’re interested in starting a GrupoPLAY in your own area, send us an email and we can chat! See www.bilinguitos.com/grupoplay for more details!
PS – Anyone notice all the space-themed language in this post??? 😜🚀🌖 If your clever self picked up on that theme, comment a space emoji below!
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