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OK, so you want to raise bilingual kids but you’re unsure how to go about doing it. Here are five steps you can take, suggested by Alison Mackey, co-author of “The Bilingual Edge: Why, When and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language.”

Hire a nanny or au pair who speaks fluent Spanish

This one step alone can go a long way to having a child who grows up very proficient in a second language. Of course, it’s not one that all families can afford, but if you can go this route, make it crystal clear that you expect the nanny to use her native language all the time with the children. The Bilingual Edge recommends taking a direct approach. You can say “The fact that you are a native Spanish speaker is one of the reasons why we wanted to hire you. We hope you’ll use Spanish always around the children.”

Create a playgroup

Playgroups are great for both parents and children, says Prof. Mackey. For the kids, playgroups provide fun interaction in the second language with other children of the same age. For parents, playgroups provide a source of moral support from other like-minded parents hoping to achive the same goal: raising bilingual children. Also, the playgroups can be geared to meet the needs and schedules of different families.

If you create or join such a group, be sure that a good percentage of the participating parents speak Spanish.

Involve Grandma and Grandpa

If you are fortunate to have grandparents who speak the target language fluently, be sure to encourage their involvement in the child’s life, says Prof. Mackey. This can be through frequent visits or via phone, Skype or email. If you have more than one child, try to arrange it so that each child has alone time with the grandparents to provide even more personal contact with the target language, she recommends.

Monolingual Mondays or Spanish Sundays — Set aside one day of the week to speak only one language

This is a step that Penélope Lara took with her two daughters when they were younger. Fridays were established as Spanish Only Fridays.

According to The Bilingual Edge, bilingual parents should use the second language consistently at home. “Given that two languages are never on exactly equal footing outside the home, parents should consider providing extra support for the weaker, minority language inside the home. Protecting the minority language at home by using it more than often, say 80% of the time, than the majority language can give children a better shot at becoming active rather than passive bilinguals.”

Do a family language audit

The book talks about this at length. “What we think is happening in our homes doesn’t always correspond to what is actually happening.” That’s where the language audit comes in.

The family language audit is basically a detailed look at the language activities that your child is engaged in throughout any given day. Prof. Mackey suggests doing an audit for one week. During that time, you would take note of how many of those activites were passive and how many were interactive in both the primary and secondary languages. Based on the results, you can see, at a glance, just how much real interaction your child is getting with the target language.

For example, watching TV in Spanish is a passive language activity, while going shopping with Grandma who speaks Spanish, would be considered interactive.

The Bilingual Edge has more detailed information about how to do an audit correctly so that it yields useful information.

Want to know more? Listen to today’s podcast with Alison Mackey.