Living in 2 Culturas, A Bicultural Story by René Colato Laínez

For the 3rd year in a row, Latinas for Latino Lit (L4LL) is hosting their Día Blog Hop in honor of Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros (Children’s Day/Book Day)! This year, the blog hop has paired up 12 Latino authors and illustrators with 12 Latina bloggers to promote Latino children’s literacy. The event kicked off yesterday, April 27th, with a guest post by Pat Mora, author and founder of Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros on the Latinas for Latino Lit site. To see the full list of participating blogs and authors/illustrators, check out the 2015 L4LL Día Blog Hop schedule! Be sure to visit each blogger that has already published a guest piece on their site and check back each day this week, as the list will be updated with live links through Thursday, April 30th when the blog hop ends.

Read on below for a guest article written by René Colato Laínez, children’s book author, who shares his personal experience of living a bicultural life. I personally related to much of his story and am sure many of you will too. I encourage you to support diversity in children’s books through your purchases and by seeking diverse content in libraries and in our children’s schools. Our children certainly deserve it.

Living in 2 Culturas by René Colato Laínez

“Now I know why René means to be reborn, be born again. First, I was born in El Salvador where I learned to write my name and speak my favorite language Spanish. Now, I was born again in the United States, where I learned to speak English. I am so lucky that after I was born again, I can speak, read and write in English and Spanish.”

This passage is from my second published book, “I Am René, the Boy/ Soy René, el niño” (Piñata Books, 2005) and it clearly shows the importance of being bilingual and the amazing experience of being immersed in two cultures.

I still remember my first days at my new school in the United States when I was 14 years old. It was so hard for me to adapt to a new culture and learn a second language. At school, I found that the same alphabet in books and class works just like it does in El Salvador, but those new letters did not mean or sound the same way they did in Spanish. I was confused when I discovered that “once” did not mean eleven in English. It meant only one time! It did not look right to see that in the lunch menu they were offering “pie.” Who would like to eat a foot for lunch? During the school holidays it was strange to have celebrations for rabbits and turkeys. And why was Labor Day in September instead of on May first?

As I learned more about the new culture, I appreciated the United States more. I was eager to learn all those vowels sounds that did not exist in Spanish and to have fun during Halloween wearing funny costumes. While I was adapting to my new life, I never forgot my culture and language. Español and my cultura were always in my mind and heart. I saw many of my classmates trying to choose one culture. For many of them, English was better. They asked me, “which one do you like the best?” I always answered, “I like them both! I like to have double the fun in English and Español.”

It was during an English class about the meaning of names that I discovered that my first name René meant to be reborn, to be born again. This instilled in me the importance of living in two cultures, and later on inspired me to write, “I Am René, the Boy.”

I went to college and became a teacher. I have taught for more than 20 years in bilingual classrooms in the San Fernando Valley in California. I love to see my first students, now in their twenties, speaking two languages. I am also the author of many multicultural and bilingual children’s books. One of my messages to children is that living in two cultures is great.

For example, a little mouse can collect children’s teeth too, just like the tooth fairy does. Sometimes the mouse and fairy even work together to rescue a tooth, as children can read about in my book “The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez.”

We can play and dance together even if we do not speak the same language just like the farm animals in “Señor Pancho Had a Rancho,” cha cha cha cha cha!

Can we play two sports that sound almost the same, football and fútbol? Of course, we can! Read how in “Let’s Play Fútbol and Football!”

We can immerse in two or more cultures when we play new games, taste different yummy foods, and dance new rhythms. We can even learn how to say hello in different languages. It is great to go to a bookstore or a library to read books about the cultures of the world.

As a teacher and author, I encourage children and adults to open a book and discover new places, languages, and friends. My goal as a writer is to produce great multicultural children’s literature; stories where minority children are portrayed in a positive way, where they can see themselves as heroes, and where they can dream and have hopes for the future. I want to write authentic stories of Latin American children living in the United States.

I want to finish with this acrostic poem I wrote in two languages:

In this moment
Meet new friends
Move to new music steps
Explore new
Rhythms
Soar the sky with
Ideas for changes, all
Over the world and join
Neighborhoods of love

Inmediatamente
Nuevos amigo conoces
Moviéndote con nueva música
Explorando nuevos
Ritmos
Subiendo al cielo y volando con
Ideas nuevas y haciendo cambios
Orando por el mundo y uniendo
Naciones de amor

Photos used with permission from René Colato Laínez and Latinas for Latino Lit