Three Reasons We’re Excited for Tumble en Español’s THIRD Season!
Tumble en Español, a Spanish science podcast for kids, is starting its third season this Friday! Tumble en Español is the first-ever English-to-Spanish version of a children’s podcast, designed to be enjoyed by the whole family. It’s hosted by Nuria Net and Alvaro Ramos, native Spanish speakers who bring their own cultural backgrounds and personalities to the show.
Here’s three reasons why we’re excited for this season to launch.
- It brings the stories of scientists who happen to be blind to a wider audience
This season of Tumble en Español is supported by a National Science Foundation grant that focuses on using science podcasts as a tool to engage blind and low vision students in STEM. The grant includes funding to create Spanish adaptations of Tumble episodes featuring scientists who happen to be blind. Hearing the stories of scientists like “molecular detective” Mona Minkara, linguist Robert Englebretson, and oceanographer Amy Bower can shift students and teachers’ attitudes around who can be a scientist. We’re so excited to make these inspiring episodes available to Spanish speakers all over the world.
2. It’s a double dose of accessibility and representation in science
Our primary motivation for Tumble en Español is making high-quality audio science education accessible to Latine youth and their families, a group that is underserved by science media and underrepresented in STEM. We know the importance of representing diverse scientists as role models to influence positive attitudes about science. That’s why Season 2 focused on Latine scientists, using bilingual scientists’ own voices to tell their stories in Spanish. Season 3 expands on this, by highlighting the intersectionality of diverse identities in science — and the power of designing for education and science to create accessibility for everyone.
3. We love working with Shake It Easy Media
Our Spanish partners in Tumble en Español have rebranded from La Coctelera Music to Shake It Easy Media! Headed up by Nuria Net, Shake It Easy has established a reputation for creating high-quality audio productions in both Spanish and English. Most recently, they adapted “Sold a Story,” an award-winning investigative podcast from American Public Media. We are thrilled to be continuing our work on children’s audio with them, on Tumble en Español and beyond. (To hear more about our unique collaboration and history, check out Lindsay’s interview with Nuria about the challenges and rewards of multilingual production for kids.)
Six new episodes of Tumble en Español will premiere beginning on Friday, April 5 — wherever you get your podcasts!
