Thinking Outside of the Box to Find Resources

Our family lives in Indiana, which is not exactly a hotbed of bilingual pursuits. I have found many resources online, but when it comes to finding more face to face or interactive opportunities, I have not had as much luck. Is this frustrating? Yes. But I refuse to be discouraged. Standing in front of up to 35 15-17 year olds at a time for whom I am charged with providing engaging and meaningful instruction and practice, I have learned to not allow a lack of enthusiasm deter me :)

That said, here are strategies I have tried for pursuing more interaction with the target language:

1. Contacting the local library and book stores to ask about Spanish or bilingual story times.

• The library responded that they lack anyone on staff qualified to lead such an activity, but that if I knew anyone who was, to refer them and perhaps they could have "guest readers." I'm waiting to hear what they would consider "qualified."  I consider this very positive and am happy knowing there IS hope for story time in the near future. 
• When I contacted them, I learned that the bookstore, Barnes and Noble, was planning to start a Spanish language story time the very next week! They now happen twice a month, which is a great start!

2. Networking with Neighbors

• Many neighborhoods have a web page or Facebook page on which messages can be shared and questions asked. Our neighborhood uses something called Nextdoor, which functions like an online forum for classified ads. You can post an ad or a question and people can respond. I posted a message asking if there was interest in raising bilinguals or holding bilingual play dates. I will be honest, I have not had any responses yet, but you never know who might see it in the future!

3. www.meetup.com : A way to meet up with people near you who share similar interests.

• Several years ago, when I wanted to practice my own Spanish speaking, I joined the Indianapolis Spanish Language Meetup on meetup.com. I had fallen away from being very involved once we had our first child, and hadn't given it much thought since then. When I looked back at their page, they had over 600 members! I thought, surely of 600 people interested in Spanish, some of them would have children and might be interested in play dates! So I sent an email out and received several responses almost right away from interested parents! Some are native Spanish speakers and some are not. We have a play date set to meet at the Children's Museum this month, and I plan to try for more frequent, informal play dates as well. The more exposure, especially in the form of play, the better! The great thing about this site is that if there is not already a meetup for your interest, you can start one. This has great potential for networking with other parents of bilinguals!

4.  For less common languages, in can be even more difficult to find interactive opportunities. Check to see if your city, or a bigger city nearby, hosts international festivals during the summers. These would be great opportunities to ask around about native speakers, cultural events, suggestions for exposure, and more. Here are just a few that happen in Indy each year:

• The International Festival - over 50 ethnic groups represented
• Irish Fest
• Greek Festival
• Fiesta Indianapolis/ Indy Latino Expo
• Italian Street Festival
• Oktoberfest (German)
• French Market Festival