I am going to be in Peru for the next few weeks and will not be posting as often on Spanish Playground. This seems like a good time to share some tips for finding for authentic language materials online. These suggestions are for Google searches, but you can apply them to other search engines as well. I know that many of you have more strategies for finding what you need – be sure to sure [...]
Giselle Shardlow is the author of Kids Yoga Stories. Her yoga-inspired children’s books get children moving, learning and having fun. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and daughter. Find her books at www.kidsyogastories.com or on Amazon worldwide. “¡Agua, Agua, Agua!” Your Toddler Speaking Spanish. “Agua, agua, agua,” our daughter says in excitement as she learns to talk. I love Spanish – the romantic language of the community-oriented culture of the picturesque, vibrant and [...]
I play this simple Spanish game for kids with students and they love it. I usually play with preschoolers, but I have also played with students as old as eight and they have fun with it too. It is a guessing game. You have a set of paper cups that you have labeled, put stickers on, or covered with different color paper. One person hides a small object under a paper cup and the other [...]
This printable Spanish organizer is an activity to help children think about a character they will pretend to be. Kids love finger puppets and other kinds of imaginative play and creating a character is a perfect way to practice personal questions. You can find links the organizer and to printable finger puppets at the end of this post. Speaking for a puppet or character is an great language activity, but it is hard to create [...]
This article is by Laura Anaya de Zuchovicki, author and founder of Conversa Books. A Mexican native, she has been teaching Spanish to elementary and middle-school students for over 10 years. As an expert in TPRS, she speaks to the exciting new technique of embedded readings. As a foreign language teacher, my priority has always been to provide my students with the ability to speak fluently. This is the reason why I’m always on the [...]
I often get questions about Spanish programs for adults from parents who want to learn Spanish with their children. I recently had the chance to try Visual Link Spanish, and I thought it might be something Spanish Playground readers would be interested in. I tried Level 1: Sentence Building and Conversation. This Spanish software program is intended for adults, but it could certainly be used by motivated high school students. The Basics of Visual Link [...]
One of my favorite websites is Made by Joel. Joel Henriques is an artist and designer in Portland and he shares art and handmade education projects for children on his site. He has many beautiful free printables that are excellent for language activities. Below you will find links to the paper cities, but take time to explore the whole site. It is full of wonderful art activities for kids and adults. For my classes, I [...]
Whether your kids are beginning to learn Spanish this summer or keeping up on their skills during a break from Spanish class, these interactive websites are a great way to keep them engaged with Spanish text. These are sites that provide kids with lots of opportunity to read. Several of the sites have a variety of activities. I have tried to list the websites roughly in order of increasing difficulty. The first sites have material [...]
Talking about this photo of a little girl playing in the sand is a excellent way to speak Spanish with children. The questions that follow, like all the Learn Spanish with Pictures activities, are ordered to help children master the vocabulary and gain confidence with the language. Start with Describe the photo (1) and be sure to point to the objects in the picture as you talk about them. Use gestures, facial expressions and actions [...]
Talk about this great picture of a woman on her bike to help your child learn Spanish. The questions that follow, like all the Learn Spanish with Pictures activities, are ordered to help children master the vocabulary and gain confidence with the language. Start with Describe the photo (1) and be sure to point to the objects in the picture as you talk about them. Use gestures, facial expressions and actions to help your child [...]
Sube publishes a Spanish curriculum for preschool through 5th grade. I have been working with the Level A materials and I am so impressed! Sube is used by many schools and it has proved very easy to use with smaller groups and in an after-school setting. This is because Sube has great lesson plans and the materials can be used in a variety of ways. The Level A set has games, books, reproducible take-home books [...]
Talking about pictures is a great way to speak Spanish with children. Use this photo of a little girl and her mom playing in the snow to help children learn Spanish. The questions that follow, like the questions in all the Learn Spanish with Pictures activities, are ordered to help children master the vocabulary and gain confidence with the language. Start with Describe the photo (1), and be sure to point to the objects in [...]