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Spanish song and game – El teléfono

Greetings, Songs, Toys and Games No Responses »

Mar 152012

In this Spanish song and game, El teléfono, kids sing that the phone is ringing and pretend to answer and talk to each other. It is an activity that works with preschoolers and with older kids too. The children sit in a circle and sing the song. After two short verses, there is a pause in the music and one child calls out the name of another. The second child pretends to answer the phone. They talk for a few seconds, and then the music starts again. When there is another pause, the second child calls out the name of a third and the game continues that way. The video is by Josaphat y su tecla and he has other fun songs for kids on YouTube.

For language learners, this Spanish song is a good way to practice answering the phone and greetings like ¿Cómo estás? You can also give kids some basic guidelines like asking what time the friend is going to visit or for help with something and brainstorm possible conversations before you play. This way, the game can be adapted to practice lots of different vocabulary and structures.

You can also set up the way kids “call” each other in different ways. Calling out a name is fun and everyone can hear what the two children say, but it does add another thing that they have to think about in addition to the language task. To remove this variable, you can establish the order in which kids call each other. You can also play this game in pairs. You can set it up so that after each conversation one child in each pair moves to the next person and has a new conversation.

This is also a great family game for car rides. You can get some very silly conversations and sometimes a whole series that relate to each other.

Rin, rin, rin, / Ring, ring, ring
Suena el teléfono, /rings the telephone
Rin, rin, rin, / Ring, ring, ring
Hay que contestar, / You have to answer.

Rin, rin, rin, / Ring, ring, ring
Ha de ser mi amigo, / It must be my friend.
Rin, rin, rin, / Ring, ring, ring,
Me quiere saludar. / who wants to say hi to me.

Online Spanish Game – Tetris with ca, co, cu, que, qui

Online activities, Reading, Toys and Games, Vocabulary 2 Responses »

Mar 132012

This online game has falling pictures of words that contain the syllables ca, co, cu, que and qui. Using the arrow keys, players center the picture so that it falls onto the syllable contained in the word.

Kids learning Spanish recognize most of the vocabulary used in this game, so it is a good activity for language learners who are starting to read. Players match the sound they know with how the sound is spelled. Because is uses pictures, it reinforces the meaning of words. Also, players can pause the pieces, say what the picture is and think about what syllable they hear. Then they can move the picture above that syllable before they start the game again. This keeps kids from getting frustrated by pictures that fall too quickly. Three of the five syllables are highlighted as they play. The word will contain one of those syllables. At the last level there are words on the screen instead of pictures.

The audio introduction to the game is fast. The text appears too, but the audio does not exactly match the written words. The important information is that players move the pictures using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

Link to online Spanish game

Online Spanish Game – Tetris ca, co, cu, que, qui

Online Spanish game – Vocabulary

These are the words that the pictures in the game represent:
cuchillo – knife
casa – house
coche – car
castillo – castle
cuchara – spoon
collar – necklace
capa – cape
copa – glass (with a stem)
cucaracha – cockroach
saco – sack
caramelo – candy
perro caliente – hotdog
cuernos – horns
cocodrilo – crocodile
banco – bench
barca – small, open boat
cuna – crib
cuaderno – notebook
mosquito – mosquito
queso – cheese
paquete – package
esquimal – Eskimo
casco – helmet
cocina – range/stove
chaqueta – jacket
periquito – parakeet
quiosco – kiosk

With any game based on pictures, there is the chance that the players will not be able to tell what a picture is. Most of the pictures are easy to recognize, but there are two that I cannot identify, a fruit and a stand of some kind. Both of these use the syllable qui. The words they are looking for have not occurred to me, but if they do, I will add them to the list. (Thanks to Anneliese for identifying one of the pictures! See the comments.)

Printable Spanish activities – Listen and draw

Animals, Colors, Food, Language learning, Position words, Printable, Shapes, Uncategorized, Vocabulary No Responses »

Mar 112012

“Y ahora, pon un círculo rojo alrededor del triángulo. Mira, ¡ya llegó tu comida.” (And now put a red circle around the triangle. Look your dinner is here!) I used to entertain my kids waiting in restaurants or before appointments with drawing games where we gave Spanish instructions to each other. All we needed was paper and pencils and the game passed the time quickly and fairly quietly. Below you will find a couple of my printable Spanish activities to do the version of this game that I use in class.

I use these Spanish listening activities with instructions and pictures to re-enter vocabulary. The kids have a sheet with small pictures and crayons or colored pencils. I give them instructions like Haz una X azul en la casa or Dibuja una manzana roja encima de la mesa. These activities are easy to make, do not take long to do and the kids really like them. They can be adapted to any vocabulary and lots of different levels.

Giving instructions for Spanish listen-and-draw activities

The easiest instructions to give, and for the kids to follow, use shapes, colors and prepositions. These are examples of instructions you can give. Take a look at the printable Spanish activities below for more examples.

Pon una X en el gato. / Put an X on the cat.
Haz un cuadrado negro alrededor del árbol. / Make a black square around the tree.
Pinta el reloj con el creyón azul. / Color the clock blue.
Dibuja un triángulo debajo de la mesa. / Draw a triangle under the table.
Pon una línea amarilla encima de la casa. / Put a yellow line over the house.
Pon una línea verde debajo de la casa. / Put a green line under the house.

You can also give instructions for kids to add something to a drawing. This is more fun, and uses more language in context, but keep it simple or the artists will get frustrated when you want to move on to the next instruction. Here are a few examples:

El árbol es un manzano. Dibuja tres manzanas en el árbol. / The tree is an apple tree. Draw tree apples on the tree.
El gato está tomando el sol. Dibuja un sol encima del gato. / The cat is sun bathing. Draw a sun over the cat.
El caballo tiene hambre. Usa el creyón verde para darle pasto para comer. / The horse is hungry. Use the green crayon to give him grass to eat.

Tips for using listen-and-draw activities

- Review the vocabulary by talking about the pictures before you begin. This can be as simple as having kids point as you say ¿Ves el pez? (Do you see the fish?) ¿Dónde está la pelota? (Where is the ball?)

- Review any shapes, colors or prepositions that kids might not be familiar with. You can draw shapes saying Éste es un círculo, éste es un triángulo, éste es un rectángulo, etc. Since the words are cognates, if kids know shapes in English they will understand them right away.

- Even beginning Spanish learners can help give instructions or take turns giving instructions.
At first, you can choose the verb, let’s say pon (put). Let the child choose the shape ¿un círculo o una línea? Una línea. Muy bien., then the color ¿Una línea roja o una línea negra? Una línea roja, excelente. You can finish the instruction with whatever information is necessary. Pon una línea roja arriba del sol. (Put a red line over the sun).

If the kids are ready to give instructions themselves, limit the number of verbs (pon and haz work well), shapes and colors initially.

Links to printable Spanish activities – Listen and draw

These activities are easy to make and you can use the same pictures with different instructions. Here are a couple of my printable Spanish listen-and-draw activities with two sets of instructions for each. Of course, you will have to adapt the instructions for your class or your child, but they will give you an idea of some of the things you can do.

Printable Spanish listen-and-draw activities – Los animales – el pájaro, el gato, la vaca, el perro, el pato, el pez, la gallina, el caballo, el ratón, la oveja, el cerdo, la serpiente.

Printable Spanish listen-and-draw activities – La comida - las manzanas, el plátano, el pan, las zanahorias, la galleta, los huevos, las uvas, la hamburguesa, la leche, la pizza, la pera, el agua.

Spanish song – Tortuga by Koda and the Braveheart

Animals, Songs No Responses »

Mar 082012

Koda and the Braveheart is the new CD by the band of the same name. This album of children’s music has a Spanish song titled Tortuga. There is a story behind this sweet song about a turtle. The turtle was lost in a National Park in California. Kids love a story, and it will make this song and the language more meaningful to them. You can read more about Tortuga, see the lyrics and download the song here: Spanish song – Tortuga

This Spanish song is easy to sing and it has the repetition that makes a good language-learning tool. However, there is a change in verb form, from the formal venga to the informal fuiste, that does not make sense linguistically. This Spanish song is simple enough and pretty enough to include as part of a lesson (especially one about turtles!) but instead of venga, you will want to sing ven and hold it the two beats.

The album Koda and the Braveheart, and the individual songs, are also available on iTunes, Amazon and cdbaby.

Spanish resources for International Women’s Day

Family, Holidays, Printable, Reading, Values, Vocabulary, Websites 1 Response »

Mar 072012

International Women’s Day is celebrated across the globe on March 8th. If you are talking about this day of recognition in your classes, here are a few resources that might be helpful. Much of this information can be used at anytime, not only for International Women’s Day.

This is a set of educational resources from several different organizations: Día Internacional de la Mujer

Across the top of the screen, you’ll see them listed:

Propuestas didácticas EH
Propuestas didácticas Clarión
Unidades Didácticas USTEA
Unidades Didácticas STEE-EILAS

You can also scroll down and see the content of each publication highlighted. There is a huge amount of material in these publications. If you have time to look through the content and lesson plans, you will find a wide range of information and activities. You can also download the poster if you like.

These are two of the publications that I found helpful working with Spanish language learners:

Propuesta didáctica para educación primaria

Mujeres Premio Noble

Aulaintercultural also has a workbook for primary grades called Nosotras creamos mundo. It was published in 2006 and has lots of material and activities that are just as applicable today. There is a board game in the back of the workbook that can be adapted to different levels. – Nosotras creamos mundo

Spanish rhymes with numbers

Language learning, Numbers, Poems, Pronunciation, Toys and Games, Vocabulary No Responses »

Mar 072012

Manzanita del Perú and En un café are traditional counting-out rhymes to start games. For both, kids usually count to ten, but sometimes they stop at three, since tres and diez rhyme. I have also seen Manzanita del Perú used as a jump rope rhyme. It has a great rhythm for jumping!

Spanish rhymes like these are a good way for beginning learners to produce the language. Chanting a rhyme, kids will use vocabulary and structures that they understand, but would not be able to use in conversation. Spanish rhymes also let kids use more language, speaking in full sentences rather than giving one or two word answers. Short answers are perfectly normal in conversation, but they do not give beginning learners much practice.

Chanting these traditional Spanish rhymes kids learn the rhythm of the language. They are great for choosing who will be it or who will start a game. They are also fun to say and good language practice.

Spanish Rhyme – Manzanita del Perú

Listen to an mp3 of Manzanita del Perú

Manzanita del Perú, / Little apple from Perú,
¿cuántos años tienes tú? / how are are you?
Todavía no lo sé, / I still don’t know.
pero pronto lo sabré. / But I will know soon.
¡Y 1, y 2, y 3, y 4, y 5, / and 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and 5,
y 6, y 7, y 8, y 9, y 10! / and 6, and 7, and 8, and 9 and 10!

Spanish Rhyme – En un café

Listen to an mp3 of En un café

En un café / In a café
se rifa un pez / they’re raffling a fish
al que le toque / off to the one who gets
el número diez. / number ten.
Uno, dos, tres / One, two, three
cuatro, cinco, seis, / four, five, six
siete, ocho, nueve / seven, eight, nine
y diez. / and ten.

In another version, a cat (un gato) is being raffled off and in that case, kids count to four (cuatro).

En un café
se rifa un gato,
al que le toque
el número cuatro,
uno, dos, tres y cuatro.

You may also be interested in this post: Spanish rhymes like eeny-meeny-miny-mo teach pronunciation

Printable Spanish Activities – Think Spring!

Days of the week, Months, Poems, Printable, Seasons, Spring, Vocabulary No Responses »

Mar 052012

The days are getting longer and warmer, and I have started to talk about spring in my classes. Here are a few helpful resources if you are thinking about the changing season too.

La asociación mundial de educadores infantiles has a set of ten coloring pages of different flowers. These are common flowers and coloring them is a great way to brighten a room, learn vocabulary and learn to identify flowers. There is also a colorful calender template to use in class or at home. Below the calender template you will find a link to printables for the days, months and seasons to use with the template.

Also, For Día Mundial del Agua (World Water Day) on March 22, the site has suggested content and instructions and templates to make a paper aquarium.

Link to printable Spanish activities:

Printable Spanish activities for spring - La asociación mundial de educadores infantiles

Links to Spanish poems:

La casa del árbol is a site devoted to developing reading skills in children in Perú. They have a selection of spring poems including works of famous poets like José Martí and Antonio Machado.

Spanish poems for spring – La casa del árbol
Spanish poems for spring II – La casa del árbol
Spanish poem and coloring sheet - Spring This is a coloring sheet with a simple Spanish poem about a butterfly. The poem uses vocabulary kids are familiar with like mariposa, le gusta, volar, se cansó, mano, enojada, se escapó.

Coloring sheets:

The website Conmishijos.com has lots of spring coloring sheets. Many of them have Spanish text for children who are learning to read.

Printable Spanish coloring sheets – Spring

You may also be interested in this post: Spanish months, seasons, days of the week, weather – Free printable materials for class

Spanish website has vocabulary, audio and printables for kids – Chillola

Animals, Audio, Body parts, Colors, Food, House, Letters, Months, Numbers, Online activities, Opposites, Position words, Printable, Pronunciation, Shapes, Vocabulary, Websites No Responses »

Mar 042012

Chillola is a website designed to let children explore different languages. The site has lots of basic Spanish vocabulary accompanied by images and native-speaker audio. It also has a variety of printable activities.

The vocabulary is divided into categories including numbers, colors, shapes, school words, animals, fruit, vegetables, food, the calender, weather, time, house, vocabulary, prepositions, and opposites.

The activities for several of the categories show one screen with pictures of all of the vocabulary and the words in Spanish. Kids click on the pictures to hear the word pronounced. For other categories, kids scroll through images and click on the speaker to hear the words pronounced. The pictures make the meaning of the words clear. Some of the categories show the singular and then the plural, and some, like the animals have an impressive number of images and words.

Link to Spanish website

Spanish website – Chillola

Most of the vocabulary on this Spanish website is not used in sentences or given a context other than the category and the picture. The website is designed to provide initial exposure to the language, but you can make the activities more meaningful by using full sentences and talking about the pictures with your child. If you use simple sentences like Es un gato, or Veo la manzana your child will hear more natural language.

Printable activities from Spanish website

Chillola has a set of printable activities that go with the vocabulary. They mostly consist of matching words to pictures and labeling. There is a nice wheel for las estaciones del año (seasons of the year) with the seasons and months that you can print in color or black and white. Just a note, there is an error on a couple of the printable worksheets about opposites. Instead of the Spanish words for long and short, the worksheets have the Italian words.

Printable Spanish Activities - Chillola

Chillola is intended to give kids an introduction to different languages. The pictures, audio and printables make it useful for teachers and parents, especially if they use the words in sentences and create a context for the Spanish children are learning.

Spanish audio – Online counting game with bees

Animals, Audio, Numbers, Online activities, Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Websites No Responses »

Mar 012012

This counting activity with Spanish audio is perfect for little ones. In Cuenta con Manitas children count the bees around a hive. It is part of the Manitas website that has a variety of games and activities for kids. Manitas is a children’s magazine published by the newspaper Prensa Libre of Guatemala.

The Spanish audio in this counting game makes it a good language learning activity. Kids hear a short sentence and instructions in Spanish. Then, they click on the bees to count them and hear the number in Spanish. It is a very simple game, but the more native-speaker Spanish that children hear, the better. Listening to the sounds of Spanish will not only help them understand the language, it will help them pronounce it correctly.

The game begins by saying one short sentence about bees. There are several sentences so they will hear different words if they play a few times. The text is on the screen and there is Spanish audio. Kids will not understand every word they hear, but they can listen for key words that have to do with bees. These are words they can listen for:

la abeja- bee
el miel – honey
vuelan- they fly
la colmena – hive
el zumbido – buzz

Next, kids hear instructions on how to play – Da un click en cada abeja para contarlas (Click on each bee to count them).

Click on español to continue. (The English version is for Spanish speakers to learn their numbers in English.) Click on any hive to start the game and count the bees in Spanish.

What I like most about this game is the clarity and expression of the Spanish audio. The numbers are not just repeated in a monotone. Instead, the expression is enthusiastic, the way you would say numbers if you were playing with a child. Be sure to encourage children to repeat the numbers they hear.

Link to online counting game with Spanish audio

Spanish audio counting game – Cuenta con manitas

You may also be interested in this post: Online games with sound to learn Spanish numbers to 100

March to National Nutrition Month – Nourish Interactive

Family, Food, Websites No Responses »

Feb 282012

You may have seen my posts about Nourish Interactive and their wonderful materials. It is a great bilingual website dedicated to supporting parents by providing them with useful information to help them improve their families health and educating children about the importance of nutrition and exercise.

March is National Nutrition Month and Nourish Interactive has a campaign to help kids eat healthier and be healthier by making one simple pledge each week. This is a pledge to do something, not to give money! Last week the pledge was to help them fill half of their plates with fruits and vegetables, and this week the pledge is help kids eat a healthy breakfast daily.

Each week nourishinteractive.com gives a new pledge, one simple goal to focus on to help children eat healthier and some tips to help you get started. It literally takes less then one minute to show your support! All pledges are entered into a weekly drawing for cool prizes that promote health (valued at $30-50).

It will only take you a a minute of your time so please support this important cause. Our children are counting on you! You can make your weekly pledge to help kids by clicking here. Please join me and make your pledge for healthy children.

Spanish songs for kids – Sing with Señor

Days of the week, Family, Letters, Numbers, Songs, Vocabulary No Responses »

Feb 282012

The album Uno, Dos – Songs for Learning Spanish is part of the educational project Sing with Señor. This music is by Felipe Canete, a Chilean native, and the catchy songs teach lots of basic Spanish. You can listen to of all of the Spanish songs online. These are the whole songs, not just clips. The lyrics of the songs and lesson plans are also available on the Sing with Señor website.

The Spanish songs on this album teach common vocabulary that coordinates with the curriculum used in many classes. The topics include animals, family, sports and the days of the week. The music is great and accessible to kids. They can easily sing along, and later sing these songs on their own.

I really like the level of complexity of these songs. They are not the very simple Spanish that is often used in songs for young children, yet they are not as complex as traditional Spanish language songs. Many are less predictable than other music used for teaching and that makes them more interesting to children. For example, in a counting song, the zero thinks it is an o, but as the song clarifies, the o is a vowel and the zero is a number with no value. The song about fruits is about the many colors and making a rainbow pie. (Just a note, the Spanish word pie, in the song Pie de arco iris, refers to the dessert. The word for this dessert varies from country to country – pay in Mexico, pastel in some countries, pye in Peru.) These songs are perfect for many elementary and middle school programs, as well as for families introducing their children to Spanish at home.

Spanish songs on Uno, Dos – Songs for Learning Spanish

These are a few of my favorite songs:
Los animales – This is one of the simplest songs on the album. It is has the animal sounds in Spanish and then says Los animales hablan español, Los animales dicen hola en español, Los animales hablan español, Los animales dicen chao en español. The idea of the animals saying hi and bye in Spanish is very sweet!

Las vocales – This song introduces the vowels and gives a clear example of one word that begins with each vowel.

Al lado de - I like this song because it lends itself so well to a set of actions that can be done in class. Kids need an object of some kind (a small stuffed animal is perfect). They can move the object relative to a chair or desk, or relative to their own bodies.
They move the object as they sing the song:
Al lado de – beside – Kids put the object on the chair and stand beside it (or hold it beside them)
Al lado de – beside – Kids point to the object, indicating that it is beside them.
Debajo de – under – Kids hold the object under the chair (or put it under their hands or sit on it).
Encima de – on top of – Kids put the object on the desk or chair (or on their heads).
Cerca de – Close to – Kids put the object on the floor and stand as close as possible to it.
Lejos de – Far from – Kids take a big step away from the object (or, if you do not mind chaos, they can toss the object away from themselves.)
Aquí, allá – Here, there – Kids point at themselves (aquí) and then at the object (allá).
¿Dónde estás?, Estoy Aquí - Where are you? Here I am. – Kids point at themselves again.
¿Dónde está? Está allá. – Where is it? There it is. – Kids point at the object again.
¿Dónde estás?, Estoy Aquí - Where are you? Here I am. – Kids point at themselves again.
¿Dónde está? Está allá. – Where is it? There it is. – Kids point at the object again.

Link to Spanish Songs

You can listen to all of the songs online: Uno, Dos – Songs for Learning Spanish

Lyrics and lesson plans: Support materials for Uno, Dos – Songs for Learning Spanish

You can purchase Uno, Dos – Songs for Learning Spanish from iTunes or cdbaby or Amazon.

Printable Spanish Activities for St. Patrick’s Day from Nourish Interactive

Food, Holidays, Printable, Reading, St. Patrick's Day, Vocabulary, Websites No Responses »

Feb 272012

This set of Spanish St Patrick’s Day materials and activities is from the wonderful website Nourish Interactive. The free printable Spanish materials include coloring pages, word search puzzles, scrambled word puzzles, bookmarks, worksheets of words to alphabetize and lunchbox notes. All of these activities teach Spanish food vocabulary if you talk about them with kids learning Spanish, and of course they teach healthy eating habits!
You can find all of these activities and others here: Printable Spanish activities for St. Patrick’s Day or you can use the links below to reach an individual activity.

There will be a box on the right side of the screen that says Descargue esta hoja (Download this worksheet). Click on Archivo en español (File in Spanish) for the Spanish printable. If there is an answer key, it will be labeled Clave de Respuestas en Español. All the activities have instructions in Spanish and some text. The following activities are especially appropriate for using with Spanish language learners.

Página de Colorear de La Pirámide Alimenticia de la Suerte – This coloring page is full of fun Spanish text about the luck of the food pyramid. It uses lots of great Spanish vocabulary about the food groups. For example, La suerte de los vegetales ¡Lucha contra las enfermedades! / Vegetable luck! Fight against disease!, La Suerte de las Escaleras ¡Sé Activo! / Stairs luck. Be active! and La Suerte de la Leche ¡Crece alto con huesos fuertes!/ Milk luck! Grow tall with strong bones.

Alfabetos de palabras de la suerte para San Patricio – This is an activity where kids put words in alphabetical order. There are 11 words including verde (green) suerte (luck) trébol (shamrock), arco iris (rainbow), brócoli (broccoli), nabo (turnip), and duende (leprechaun).
You can add to the language learning value of this activity by asking kids to draw or represent the words visually in some way (it is not easy to draw luck).

Hoja de Trabajo – Poner en Orden Los Vegetales Verdes de la Suerte – There are drawings to represent the words that kids unscramble on this activity sheet. The vocabulary includes trébol (shamrock), arco iris (rainbow), brócoli (broccoli), uvas (grapes), apio (celery), lechuga (lettuce), manzana (apple) and lima (lime).

Hoja de Colorear y de Trabajo De Poner en Orden los Vegetales Verdes Para San Patricio - This is another word scramble. It is in black and white for kids to color.

Rompecabezas Imprimible de Búsqueda de Palabras de Vegetales de la Suerte Para San Patricio – This word search has seven words for common fruits and vegetables. It uses the word palta for avocado, so if your kids have learned aguacate this is a good way to introduce the other common word for this delicious fruit. Yes, an avocado is technically a fruit.

Rompecabezas Imprimible de Búsqueda de Palabras Vegetales Verdes de La Suerte Para San Patricio – This is a bigger word search puzzle with 15 fruits and vegetables.

Chef Solus – Rompecabezas de Palabras del Día de San Patricio - Kids unscramble the words to decode a secret message.

Notitas Para la Lonchera Gratis con Mensajes Saludables Para el Día de San Patricio – This is a great set of lunch box notes.

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