Blossom grew out of a father’s desire to read bilingual bedtime stories to his daughter in a fun and authentic way.
Our founder, Bill Tan, found it challenging to find good bilingual book options, only to discover that this is a common frustration for many families. Parents who want to help their kids learn another language either have to translate on the fly while they’re reading or, if the book has side-by-side translations, read the same story twice in both languages. Neither is an effective nor enjoyable option.
Having worked on several children’s education projects with the likes of Sesame Workshop, and having built a successful language e-learning platform for healthcare professionals, Bill set out to develop a better way for parents to bond with their children over bedtime stories—and to embark together on the imaginative journeys those stories inspire.
With funding support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a team of specialists in sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, computational linguistics, and early childhood development came together to design the signature Bi-Lingual Story Switching Method (BLoSSoM). This intuitive language-learning approach involves ‘code switching’: the alternation between two or more languages in a single utterance.
Early language development is the foundation to many important milestones throughout one’s lifespan, including academic success, healthy interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being. With an emphasis on active co-reading and interaction between children, parents, and teachers, Blossom presents a valuable opportunity for supporting early literacy development as well as intergenerational communication.
