Why I am here:

I need to introduce myself:

I am Ana Fiñana Ruiz, a Teacher from Spain working in a Kindergarten in Cologne, Germany. 

I have worked in Ireland and England, and for this reason, I got different jobs as a teacher of English in Spain. I also worked for a short period as an English teacher in Germany. During the time I have been teaching English as a second language (or  speaking English to children in the most natural way possible) I have been loving to see how children learn languages, how they can they join the little pieces of their mental puzzle to construct and make the connections between the similarities and differences between their mother tongue and the language spoken in the classroom.

But it wasn't until I started working in a trilingualism environment that I realized how children can be able to understand three languages at the same time, even if the pupils reproduce only one of them.

In December 2015, I started working in a Kindergarten in Cologne, Germany, in a classroom (group) where the children receive the input of three languages at the same time (German, English and Spanish). The question everybody asks me when I say I work in Spanish is: "are those children Spanish?". I have to give always the same answer: "No, they are not. A couple of them come from Spanish backgrounds, but they are purely German, however, they are starting to understand me, and that is the most important part of my job".  I am amazed at how they can "translate" my words/sentences to their peers, how they can start following and listening to instructions, even knowing that I use my gestures most of the time.

This is why I decided to make this blog, to share my experiences with other colleagues working in bilingual/trilingual environments, or with parents in the same situation. I hope you enjoy this blog, and we can work together to help our bilingual children.