US mum raises her children to be bilingual by only letting them watch TV in Spanish

A mum is raising her children to be bilingual - by only letting them watch TV in Spanish.

Serita Kate Lachesis, who only speaks one language, wants her two daughters to learn both English and Spanish.

But, instead of investing in classes, she is using television as a tool for education - and it seems to be working.

Serita allows her daughters to watch TV in English just one day a week - with them limited to programmes dubbed with Spanish every other day.

And the fifth grade teacher, from Ambler, Pennsylvania, says her youngest, now five, is already becoming fluent in the language.

Serita, 34, said: "Learning another language from a young age is a gift. For my children to be bilingual is a dream.

"It's a challenge because I don't speak very good Spanish myself, but I'm trying to learn too - although my kids are better than me!

"I started off just playing Spanish music but as they grew up, I thought, 'what if I make everything Spanish?'"

Serita allows her daughters to watch TV in English just one day a week - with them limited to programmes dubbed with Spanish every other day.

The mum-of-two is also trying to learn the language by herself and "bumbles through" conversations, she says.

Serita puts post-it notes on the walls around the house to help she and her children pick up extra vocab.

And, while her eldest daughter, seven, is not a fan, she said her youngest has taken to it like a duck to water.

In fact, the youngster has picked up the language to near fluency, Serita says.

And she even has a Spanish friend who she only speaks to in Spanish.

She said: "I'm not the first person to use this technique to help their children learn a language - immigrants have been doing it for a long time.

"But it's worked so well for me - my daughter being bilingual is my life dream coming true."