If you didn't hear a word from their mouths, then Pequenos Latinos, or Little Latins, would look like any other coffee group.
Children with boundless energy and wide smiles climb over sofas and over their chatting mothers. They climb a plastic slide, laughing as only small children can.
Turn the sound back
on and there is a steady flow of Spanish coming out of these children.
This is no ordinary coffee group and they are asking for money from the Eastern Bays Community Board to help maintain their unique character.
Gabriela Castellanos is one of the three friends that began the gathering in her home 18 months ago.
``The children will pick English up fast enough at school,' says the Guatemalan native.
``The Pequenos Latinos has a focus on Spanish to maintain the culture and heritage. English is prohibited here.'
Every Wednesday morning, mothers from Spain and Latin America - and others who speak Spanish - take their children to the Auckland Latin American Community building in Onehunga. About 20 families regularly attend.
The children sing songs, the mothers catch up and new migrants find a support network to tap into. ``I look forward to Wednesdays so that I can speak Spanish and be with friends,' says Mrs Castellanos.
Everything the group has - from the plastic slide to the blue playdough - has been borrowed or bought with donations from the parents.
The group has asked the board for $500 to help pay for materials that would help increase language skills, such as Spanish children's books and to buy educational toys.
Dorota Montenegro is a Polish native married to a Venezuelan. Her children - Isabella, 1, and Alicia, 2 - are regular members of the group.
``I like that the kids are exposed to Spanish, that they have Spanish-speaking friends,' she says.
``The kids play and the mothers talk as much as is possible in a room of children.'
The 2006 census data shows 1645 people in New Zealand can hold a conversation in Spanish. Migration from Latin America is on the rise, with 6500 long-term residents in New Zealand that year.
Pequinos Latinos, Wednesdays 10am, Auckland Latin America Community, 37 Selwyn St, Onehunga
