CC Image courtesy of Jeremy Tarling

1. Describir la foto – Describe the photo
Hay dos personas en esta foto. Una mamá y su hija juegan en la nieve. Están en la acera. Hay nieve en la acera, en la calle y en los carros. La mamá tiene una bola de nieve en la mano. Se la va a tirar a su hija. La niña también tiene una bola de nieve en la mano. Las dos llevan abrigos y botas. El abrigo de la mamá es negro y sus botas son de muchos colores. El abrigo de la niña es rojo y sus botas también son rojas. La niña se está riendo. Ella se está divirtiendo.

[There are two people in this picture. A mom and her daughter are playing in the snow. They are on the sidewalk. There is snow on the sidewalk, on the street and on the cars. The mom has a snowball in her hand. She is going to throw it at her daughter. The little girl also has a snowball in her hand. Both of them are wearing coats and boots. The mom’s coat is black and her boots are many different colors. The little girl’s coat is red and her boots are red too. The little girl is laughing. She is having fun.]

2. Seleccionar la respuesta – Choose the answer
¿La mamá juega con su hijo o con su hija?
¿La mamá y su hija están en la acera o en la calle?
¿La mamá tiene una bola de nieve o dos bolas de nieve?
¿La niña tiene un abrigo negro o un abrigo rojo? ¿Sus botas son negras o rojas?

3. Señalar con el dedo – Pointing and counting
¿Cuántas personas hay en la foto?
¿Dónde está la mamá?
¿Dónde está la niña?
¿Dónde está la bola de nieve que tiene la mamá?
¿Dónde están las botas de la niña?
¿Dónde está la calle?
¿Cuántos carros hay en la foto?

4. Sí o no – Yes or No
¿Hay tres personas en la foto?
¿Hay nieve en la calle?
¿La mamá va a tirar la bola de nieve?
¿La niña tiene una bola de nieve?
¿Las botas de la mamá son rojas?
¿El abrigo de la mamá es negro?
¿La niña se está divirtiendo?

5. Decir un poco más – Say a little more (respuestas/answers)
¿Cuántas personas hay en la foto? (Hay dos. / There are two.)
¿Dónde están las personas? (Están en la acera. / They are on the sidewalk.)
¿Dónde están los carros? (Están en la calle. / They are in the street.)
¿Qué tiene la niña en la mano? (Tiene una bola de nieve. / She has a snowball.)
¿Quién va a tirar una bola de nieve? (La mamá va a tirar una bola de nieve. / The mom is going to throw a snowball.)
¿De qué color es el abrigo de la niña? (El abrigo de la niña es rojo. / The little girl’s coat is red.)
¿Quién se está riendo? (La niña se está riendo. / The little girl is laughing.)

6. ¿Y tú? –  What about you? (verb forms for answers)
¿Hay nieve donde vives? (Hay…)
¿Te gusta jugar en la nieve? (Me gusta… No me gusta…)
¿Tienes botas? ¿De qué color son? (Tengo… Son…)
¿Tienes un abrigo? ¿De qué color es? (Tengo… Es…)
¿Te diviertes jugando afuera? ¿Tiras bolas de nieve? ¿Corres? (Si, me divierto…No, no me divierto…Tiro…Corro…)
¿Con quién juegas? ¿Con tu mamá? ¿Con tu papá? ¿Con tus hermanos? ¿Con tus amigos? (Juego…)

7. Vocabulario – Vocabulary
hay – there are, there is
personas – people
la foto – photograph
una mamá – a mom
su hija – her daughter
juegan – are playing
la nieve – the snow
están – are
la acera – sidewalk
la calle – the street
los carros – the cars
tiene – has
una bola de nieve – a snowball
la mano – hand
Se la va a tirar a su hija. – She is going to throw it at her daughter.
la niña – the little girl
también – also
las dos – both of them
llevan – are wearing
botas – boots
abrigos – coats
negro – black
muchos – many
colores – colors
rojo – red
se está riendo – is laughing
Ella se está divirtiendo. – She is having fun.

You may also be interested in this activity – Kids learn Spanish with pictures – Happy Pigs

This one-minute Spanish video is good listening and language practice for children. You can just watch together, or you can do activities like the ones that follow the video to help children understand more. You will find a transcript and a translation below the video.

This public service announcement was made in Uruguay. Spanish accents vary from region to region. Children are flexible listeners and exposing them to different accents helps them become comfortable with the variation that they will inevitably hear as they interact with Spanish speakers. They will not understand every word of this Spanish video, but you can structure an activity that helps them understand the main idea and also practice listening for specific words. See the activity suggestions below.

Transcript: (The verb form querés, in the first line, is used in parts of South America. It is equivalent to quieres.)
Ya sé Popi, querés (quieres) salir a pasear.
Tener una mascota es muy lindo. Ellas te dan afecto, compañía y son muy divertidas. Pero también son una gran responsabilidad. Popi depende de mí para comer, para bañarse, y hasta para salir a hacer pichí. ¿Saben una cosa? El tiene sus propios juguetes. Cuando llego de la escuela, él siempre me espera con su pelotita para jugar. ¿Verdad, Popi? ¡Popi!

Translation:
I know Popi, you want to go out.
Having a pet is really nice. They give you affection, company, and they are fun. But they are also a big responsibility. Popi depends on me to eat, take a bath, and even to go out to go potty. Do you know something? He has his own toys. When I get home from school he is always waiting with his ball to play. Right, Popi? Popi!

Activities. These are the steps I use with a video like this. The activities are just examples. Modify them to fit your child’s vocabulary.

1. Tell your child that the Spanish video is about having a pet and that the title is Tu responsabilidad. Together, predict what you might hear and see in the video. List some of the words you might hear.

2. Turn down the volume and watch the video with no sound. Pause to name the objects you see and talk about what is happening in simple sentences. You can use simple sentences like these.

Hay un perro. / There is a dog.
El perro tiene una correa. / The dog has a leash.
El perro quiere salir. / The dog wants to go out.
Hay una niña. / There is a girl.
El perro corre. / The dog is running.
La niña le da de comer al perro. / The girl is feeding the dog.
El perro come. / The dog is eating.
La niña sale con el perro. / The girl takes the dog out.
El perro juega con la muñeca. / The dog is playing with a doll.
El perro tiene una pelota. / The dog has ball.

These are some of the objects in the video and in the background of the video that you can point to and name. Use simple verbs like Veo (I see) or Hay (there is).

el perro – dog
la correa – leash
la puerta – door
la cocina – kitchen
la niña – girl
el plato para comida – food dish
comida para perros – dog food
la escoba – broom
el recogedor – dustpan
la esponja – sponge
el agua – water
el árbol – tree
la pelota – ball
la muñeca – doll

3. Turn up the volume. Watch and listen to the Spanish video all the way through together before doing any of the following activities.

4. Listen for specific words.
With children who read in Spanish, give them a list of words in the order they appear in the video. Choose words that are pronounced clearly. Read through the list together first. Then, watch the video. Kids check off the words they can hear. You may want to pause the video and back it up so that children have time to check off a word.

Your list might look like this:
____ mascota
____ lindo
____ compañia
____ divertidas
____ también
____ responsabilidad
____ comer
____ bañarse
____ salir
____ cosa
____ juguetes
____ escuela
____ jugar
____ verdad

For children who do not read, do the activity one word at a time, telling your child what word you are listening for. Say, for example, Vamos a ver si escuchamos la palabra “lindo.” (Let’s listen for the word lindo). Then play the Spanish video until it is past the word by a second or two. Rewind if you need to so your child can listen again. To do the activity this way, choose a few words that are well spaced. For example, you could listen for these words:
lindo
responsabilidad
bañarse
cosa
jugar

5. Comprehension activity. A comprehension activity does not have to be complicated. The real purpose of an activity with a video like this is to repeat the vocabulary and the structures.

Simple questions with choices are one option. With children who do not read, you can do these questions orally.

1. ¿Es la mascota de Catalina un gato o un perro?
2. En el video, ¿Popi quiere salir o quiere dormir?
3. ¿Popi depende de Catalina para comer o para cantar?
4. ¿Catalina usa agua para bañar a Popi o para salir con Popi?
5. ¿Popi tiene sus propios zapatos o sus propios juguetes?
6. ¿Popi tiene una pelota para jugar o una muñeca para jugar?

If you prefer a different format, kids can write the correct word in the blank:

1. La mascota de Catalina es un ____________________.         perro      gato

2. En el video, Popi quiere ____________________.          dormir       salir

3. Popi depende de Catalina para ____________________.         comer     cantar

4. Catalina usa agua para ____________________.          bañar a Popi       salir con Popi

5. Popi tiene sus propios ____________________.          zapatos     juguetes

6. Popi tiene una ____________________ para jugar.      pelota     muñeca

6. Matching. You can make an activity where kids match words to a related object. With children who do not read, you can do this by reading the words aloud.

   comer        jugar       bañarse      salir

7. Personal questions. Ask simple questions related to the Spanish video so that kids can talk about themselves in Spanish. You can ask questions like these.

Questions about pets:
¿Te gustan los perros? / Do you like dogs?
¿Tú tienes una mascota? / Do you have a pet?
¿Cómo se llama tu mascota? / What is your pet’s name?
¿Es grande o es pequeño tu mascota? / Is your pet big or small?
¿Bañas a tu perro ( a tu mascota)? / Do you give your dog (pet) a bath?
¿Sales a pasear con tu perro? / Do you take you dog for walks?
¿Tu mascota come mucho? / Does your pet eat a lot?
¿Tu mascota tiene juguetes? ¿Tiene una pelota? / Does your pet have toys? Does he (she) have a ball?
En tu family, ¿quién cuida a tu mascota? / In your family, who takes care of your pet?

Other questions (not all kids have pets):
Popi come comida para perros. ¿Cuál es tu comida favorita? / Popi eats dog food. What is your favorite food?
¿Te gusta bañarte? / Do you like to take a bath?
¿Tienes juguetes? ¿Tienes una muñeca como Catalina? ¿Tienes una pelota como Popi? / Do you have toys? Do you have a doll like Catalina? Do you have a ball like Popi?
Todos tenemos responsabilidades. En tu casa, ¿ayudas a guardar los juguetes?
¿Ayudas a tu mamá o a tu papá con otras cosas? / We all have responsibilities. At your house, you do help put away toys? Do you help your mom or dad with other things?

You may also be interested in this post about another Spanish video for kids.

Spanish Together has a wonderful free video about a snowman that is perfect for using with beginning Spanish learners this time of year. Un muñeco de nieve begins by asking ¿Qué es? and then adds the parts to the snowman one by one using tiene (he has): tiene dos ojos, tiene una nariz, tiene una boca, etc. When the snowman is complete with buttons, hat, and scarf, kids get the answer ¡es un muñeco de nieve! (It’s a snowman!).

In addition to the video on YouTube, the audio is available to download from the Spanish Together CD We love Spanish on cdbaby or itunes. This CD has lots of fun music that teaches children Spanish, and Un muñeco de nieve makes a great listening activity for beginning learners. You can use it in combination with the video to provide lots of repetition and exposure to native-speaker Spanish.

Just watching the video and listening kids are learning Spanish. If  you want to give engage your child more actively with the language, try the following steps. You do not have to do them all at once. A little at a time is great!  If your child gets tired or is distracted, do more on another day. Just begin by watching the video together each time. The entire video/audio is 30 seconds long.

1. View the video together just listening and watching. Spanish video – Un muñeco de nieve

2. Draw a picture of a snowman with your child. You should each draw one. Use the sentences from the video (like Tiene dos ojos.) and point at the picture you are drawing. Point to your child’s picture too, and use the sentences from the video. It does not matter in what order you draw the snowmen, but include all the parts in the video (dos ojos, una nariz, una boca, dos manos, tres botones, una bufanda, un sombrero). Your child does not have to repeat the words, she is learning by listening.

3. Watch the video again. Point to the parts of the snowman that you drew when you hear them and see them. Pause the video to give your child time to point.

4. Download the audio for Un muñeco de nieve from iTunes or cdbaby. Listen to the audio once through together.

5. Listen again and as you hear each word point to that part on the snowman you made. Pause the audio to give your child time to point.

6. Use construction paper (or other materials) to assemble a snowman as you listen to the audio again. Listen to the first step and then pause it as you put on the eyes. Start the audio over and listen to ¿Qué es? Tiene dos ojos, tiene una nariz. Pause the video again. Each time, start the audio over from the beginning so that your child hears what she has done and can listen for what comes next.

7. Reinforce the sentences from the video in other situations. Use them by:
- building a real snowman.
- pointing to pictures of snowmen in picture books and ornaments and decorations.
- pointing to pictures of people dressed for winter in books and catalogs.
- talking about people you see outside (pointing is not polite)

8. With almost all these steps, you can also point to your child and use the verb tienes (you have): Tienes dos ojos. Tienes una nariz. Do this starting with step 2, when you are drawing the snowmen together.

Learning Spanish takes lots of repetition of natural language in contexts that reinforce the meaning of the words. This video and audio are exactly the kind of materials that you can use to help kids learn. You can find another snowman activity here: Learn Spanish with Pictures – A snowman.

The Brainy Company makes a variety of products for introducing children to Spanish. Last week they sent me the Bilingual Baby DVD, the Brainy Baby Spanish/English:Simple Words and Phrases Book and the Brainy Baby Spanish/English:Simple Words and Phrases Flashcards. These items are available individually or as the Brainy Baby Spanish & English Bundle Collection.

Bilingual Baby DVD
The Bilingual Baby DVD is a wonderful collection of images to support a voice-over narration of basic Spanish words and phrases. There is no story, but this DVD is surprisingly engaging and entertaining. The live-action video of people and animals has wonderful colors and the pacing is just right. It holds a child’s attention and yet it is never too busy or overwhelming.

The DVD is intended for children ages 1-5 and introduces basic words and phrases. For example, the video teaches niño, niña, manzana, cama, libro, comer, dormir and leer. Children hear individual words pronounced and then combined into sentences. The video shows fun images of exactly what they are hearing. The DVD also introduces the numbers one through ten, the question ¿Cuántos hay? (How many are there?), colors and the question ¿De qué color es? (What color is..?). The structure of the video provides for lots of repetition of language with a great variety of images.

The native-speaker narration on this DVD is excellent. One woman does all of the voice-over and she has a warm, expressive voice. The inflection is just what you would use talking to children.

The video shows the Spanish text on the screen, but I do not think children get anything out of seeing the words. I understand that parents may want to know how the words are spelled, but children in this age group who are being introduced to Spanish as a second language are not learning to read in Spanish. They are learning by watching and listening.

At the beginning, the DVD explains that the English words are only on the screen for a moment in order not to distract the kids. The Spanish text could also be distracting for some children at first, but they will quickly ignore it. The pictures are too engaging for them to pay much attention to text in any language.

The DVD is about 40 minutes long. Children certainly do not have to sit through the entire DVD at one time. There is lots of repetition and recycling of language, so you can stop and start at any point. This is a video that children will continue to learn from as they watch it again and again.

Brainy Baby Spanish & English Simple Words and Phrases Book
This is a sturdy board book intended for children ages 1-5. The book is big, a great size for kids, and it has really wonderful photographs. The pictures illustrate common Spanish words and phrases including greetings, body parts, colors and numbers. The vocabulary in the book corresponds to a large extent to the vocabulary in the Bilingual Baby DVD.

To make the most of this book, move the language beyond the pages. With the parts of the body this is easy. After you point to the pictures in the book and say the words, point to your own eyes and nose, or your child’s, and say the Spanish words. With the numbers, count fingers and toes in Spanish. The verbs in the book are in the infinitive (comer – to eat, dormir – to sleep). An easy way to move beyond the book is to say Vamos a comer (Let’s eat) or Vamos a dormir (Let’s sleep) and then act out the action together.

This is a short book with relatively few Spanish words, so I was disappointed to find several misprints in the Spanish. For example, after introducing the words perro (dog) and gato (cat), the book asks “Do you have a dog or a cat?” The Spanish in the book is ¿Tiene un perro o un gato? The verb should be tienes. Tiene can mean “do you have,” but it is not the verb form used with children in most of the Spanish-speaking world. Later in the book the less formal form is used in the phrase te quiero, so tiene without the s is probably a misprint. If you get this book, read the question ¿Tienes un perro o un gato? Also, the word for the number ten, diez, is misspelled. The book spells it with an “s” instead of a “z.”

This is a book that you will read aloud to your child, so the errors will not affect its usefulness. It is just disappointing that more care is not taken in proofreading Spanish language materials for children.

Brainy Baby Spanish & English Simple Words and Phrases Flashcards
I do not use flashcards with children of any age who are learning Spanish. but I think these cards can be useful as activity cards. As activity cards, they serve as a reference or a label as you play with your child using Spanish words.

These cards are big and sturdy, meant to be handled by little fingers. You can use them to do lots of different activities with your child. Here are a few simple ideas:

1. Match objects to the cards. Play with three or four words at a time. Assemble objects shown in the cards and match them up. Say the words on the cards as you put the card with the object.
2. Move around the house placing the cards next to objects. La puerta, el reloj, los zapatos, un huevo (the door, the clock, the shoes, an egg) – label objects where they are and then collect the cards again. Say the Spanish words as you play.
3. Put three or four color cards out on the floor. Collect things of that color around the card. Repeat the Spanish color word as you collect and point to the objects.
4. Put three or four number cards out. Bring objects to make the picture on the card (2 cookies, 3 blocks) or the same number of different objects.
5. Take the cards in the car.  Choose one color to look for. When you find three things, choose another card.
6. The color cards are hand prints. Make your own hand prints in the different colors. Say the color words as you make the pictures.

Again, I was disappointed to find several misprints and vocabulary errors.
- The number diez is misspelled, as it is in the book. It is spelled with an s on the card.
- The number dos is also misspelled. The card shows the pronunciation guide (dohs) as the Spanish spelling.
- The words for basketball and baseball on the cards are not the words for the balls. The cards show a basketball and a baseball. They are labeled with the words baloncesto and béisbol. These words can only be used to refer to the sports. On the other side of the card there is a related word, anaranjado (orange) for basketball and círculo (circle) for baseball. Given these descriptive words, and the fact that all the cards refer to objects, it is unlikely that the cards were intended to refer to the sports and not the balls in the picture. The most common words are balón and pelota.

As with the book, these cards can be useful in spite of the errors. It is just too bad that the same attention to detail that went into the Bilingual Baby DVD was not given to the book and flashcards.

Talking to The Brainy Company
I always send companies a draft of a review before I publish it. When I sent The Brainy Company the draft of this post, I wrote a very nice email (really!) saying that I hoped the representative would forward the review to someone who could see that the errors were corrected if they ever updated the products. I pointed out that the review was positive and said that I thought they would want to know about the mistakes. This situation comes up fairly often, and companies usually appreciate the feedback and free proofread. Last week someone offered me a job.

The representative at The Brainy Company told me that they had consulted with several professionals when they made the products, that there are differences in dialect and usage and that they were never going to make 100% of people happy.

Needless to say, I do not agree. I think that you can make 100% of people happy by spelling diez with a z, and dos without an h.

Getting beyond the misprints, obviously there are differences in dialect and usage, but as professionals we have an obligation to teach a standard, useful vocabulary. I believe that companies selling educational products to teach children Spanish have the same obligation. I am the first to recognize that although I have never heard or seen baloncesto used to refer to the ball, and cannot find it used that way anywhere, someone somewhere may say it. Does it follow that the word be used on cards for children beginning to learn Spanish as a second language? I am not usually one to turn to the Real Academia Española for backup, but if they do not think baloncesto refers to the ball, I would vote for a more standard word choice.

Do you have thoughts on the quality of Spanish language products for kids? How can parents who do not speak much Spanish make good choices when buying language products for their kids? Would you buy a children’s book in English with misprints? I would love to hear your thoughts!

This make-your-own online puppet show is a great way to get kids speaking Spanish or any language. Start by choosing scenery and characters. Then you can move the characters around and have them talk to each other. They automatically turn toward each other, and you can move them below the level of the stage. There are four scenes to choose from and four pairs of characters.

This activity is on UpToTen – one of the best kid sites in English and French (it is completely bilingual). If you have little ones or your kids are learning French, you are probably familiar with UpToTen and the clever stories, games and songs. Lots of the activities can be used with Spanish language learners, too.

Many of the suggestions below appy to playing with any puppets or toy figures. The advantage of the online puppet show is that children do not have to worry about holding and moving the characters, and they can watch the show as they make the figures talk.

Link to Spanish speaking activity: Make your own puppet show

Even a very short, simple conversation in Spanish is great practice for kids. Here are a few suggestions to get beginning learners speaking Spanish with the puppet show:

- Play together. You make one character move and talk, and your child makes the other move and talk.

- Kids learning Spanish have a limited vocabulary, so it is easier to make the characters talk if you establish a situation first. Decide before you start, saying for example, “Claudia just moved into the neighborhood and she is introducing herself to everyone,” or, “Max is looking for his dog.”

- Give the puppet show a name that sums up the situation. For the examples above, Me llamo Claudia and ¿Donde está mi perro? are good titles because they are sentences you will say as you play.

- Base the show on one or two repeated phrases. Use the same pattern for the whole puppet show. For the examples above you could say:

- Hola, me llamo Claudia. ¿Cómo te llamas?
- Hola, Claudia. Mucho gusto. Me llamo Miguel. (Then Claudia moves on to greet another character.)

- No veo mi perro. ¿Dónde está mi perro?
- No sé. Lo siento. (Then Max moves to the next character to ask where his dog is.)

- Use four characters (the maximum the program allows) so that one character can say the same thing to three others.

- Have an ending to your puppet show. It can be very simple. For the examples above, Claudia can say ¡Adios amigos! Max can say ¡Veo mi perro! or just ¡Mi perro!

- Use different voices if you are speaking for more than one character. This makes simple conversations more interesting.

- Use the puppet show as a setting for kids to sing a song (or a line of a song) or count. Try shows like Me gusta contar where a character counts everything or counts all the time or Me gusta cantar where a character says Me gusta cantar and another says Me gusta cantar también and then they sing together. Make funny variations where no one else likes to sing or count, or where a character will not stop singing or counting.

- Sing call and response songs with the characters, like a Spanish greeting song, or Te quiero.

- The scenery in this puppet show is basic, but there are things to talk about. Use simple sentences with verbs like Veo /¿Ves? (I see / Do you see?) and hay (there is, there are). Here are a few suggestions for using the scenery:

In the fall scene, a character can count the leaves: Me gusta contar. ¿Cuántas hojas hay? (I like to count. How many leaves are there?)

In the castle scene, they can count the windows on the castle (there are lots!): Me gusta contar. ¿Cuántas ventanas hay? (I like to count. How many windows are there?)

In the house scene, there are colored flowers on the wall and other colors in the room. A character can say: Me gustan los colores. Veo verde. Veo azul. (I like colors. I see green. I see blue.)

In the beach scene, they can talk about el sol (sun), las nubes (clouds), el velero (sailboat), la sombrilla (umbrella) el vestidor (changing room), la arena (sand), el mar (sea) and las olas (waves) using veo, ¿ves?, allí está(n), and hay.

Practice your puppet show and present it for family and friends. If your child has fun with one show and wants to do it over and over, that is great. Repetition is important. Have fun!

OnlineFreeSpanish has added a section of activities on Spanish syllables and the first one is ready to go! I am excited to use these with students of all ages who are beginning to read in Spanish.

If my students can already read in English, I delay reading in Spanish until they have a good sense of the sound of the language and a range of vocabulary and structures. This is because children who already read in English automatically associate the letters they see with the English sounds and then mispronounce words, even if they know them really well.

When I do introduce the letter sounds, I do it the same way you teach children to read in Spanish as a first language – with syllables formed by the vowels and one consonant at a time.

Children learn, for example, ma, me, mi, mo, mu. Then they read sentences like Mi mamá me mima. Mi mamá me ama. (My mother spoils me. My mother loves me.)

Starting this way, kids cement the vowel sounds and have time to make the same associations between the letters and the Spanish sounds that they made when they were learning to read in English.

The activities that OnlineFreeSpanish has just added to their website are exactly what I described above: combining the vowel sounds with a consonant and then using those syllables in words.

The activities available now use Spanish syllables with B. First, the syllables are pronounced with great native-speaker audio. Then, each syllable is used in words and there is a picture of each word. Then, each of the words is used in sentences which also have pictures to clarify the meaning. There is audio for everything. Use the right-left arrows to move through the vowel sounds: ba, be, bi, bo, bu. Use the up-down arrows to see and hear the words for each syllable used in sentences.

To get the most out of this activity, I will use it for listening first and then encourage kids to repeat, modeling the pronunciation.

The pages can be printed, which gives you lots of options for activities away from the computer.

Try things like this:

- Cut the words apart in syllables. Use only two-syllable words to start. Put the syllables out face up. Cut out the pictures too and mix them up face down. Choose a picture, say it, find the syllables and put the word together.
- Separate the image from the word (or sentence) and let kids match them up. Encourage kids to read the word aloud being careful with the vowel sounds.
- Remove the word with the key syllable from the sentences (There are two sentences for each word. Choose one.) Kids complete the sentences with the correct word. Be sure to keep the pictures with the sentences to reinforce the meaning of the word.

Thanks, OnlineFreeSpanish. We are looking forward to more syllables!

This is a collection of videos to use in the classroom, and many of them are short and appropriate for children learning Spanish. The government of Chile makes these videos available on the education portal Educarchile. You can download the videos to use with children learning Spanish. You can also watch them on the site, but they sometimes load slowly. Downloading them is easy and then they play really well.

You can find the Spanish videos for kids here, at the home page of AulaVisual. There are videos at all levels. (If you teach high school or university students be sure to check out the Postales series.) The easiest way to sort for short, simple videos in this extensive collection is to search by nivel (level).  From the drop down menu choose 1° Ciclo Parvularia,  2°  Ciclo Parvularia NT1, 2°  Ciclo Parvularia NT2, or 1° Básico. There is some overlap in these levels.

I think kids learning Spanish should hear as much natural Spanish as possible. Of course, as teachers we need to choose the material carefully, and provide support to create an effective learning experience. Here are some the videos from this collection that could be used with Spanish language learners. There are other possibilities, too. What is right for you will depend on the language level of the children you are working with. After the list, I have included a few suggestions for using authentic language video with children learning Spanish.

Muévete – Jugando a ser ranas  (1:21)  There is a error in the title on the video. It says “Jugando a hacer ranas.”

Muévete – El robot (1:45)

Diptongo ¿Dónde estaban? (1:51)

Jabón, el chanchito limpio – Siempre tarde (2:29)

Casandra y Casimiro – Señora Biblioteca (2:19)

The collection also includes El orgo y el pollo videos. They are very short and little children love them. However, there is no dialog, only one line of voice over at the end to sum up the point of the video. You might enjoy watching them though, just because they are really cute.

Suggestions for using authentic language video with children learning Spanish.

- Choose short videos with as much repetition as possible. Longer videos work well if they are familiar stories like Goldilocks and the Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood.

- Use videos where the images match the language that the children hear.

- Do pre-listening activities using key vocabulary. Ask questions so that children think about the topic before they watch the video.

- Tell the children what the video is about before you begin. Prepare them as much as possible for what they will hear. Do not worry about spoiling the surprise. They will enjoy it more if what they hear confirms what they expect. This way, they understand the main idea of the video.

- The first time, always let children watch the video all the way through without stopping it, asking them to do a activity, or interrupting. They need to be able to listen and watch.

- Give children a task they can easily be successful at while watching the video a second and third time. The task is actually secondary here. Repetition is important, so ideally children will watch the video several times, but they also need to stay focused on what they are hearing. A simple task helps them do that. Of course, what you do depends on the video, but these are the kinds of activities you can try:

- Kids touch a picture of a key word each time they hear it.
- Watch together and make a list of things you saw. Tell them beforehand that after you watch you will talk about what you see.
- If the video has actions the children can do, pause it so that they can do the actions.
- If the video has a repeated or funny phrase, pause it to repeat in the same voice as the video.
- Ask questions based on the images and watch again looking for the answers. (¿Cuántos? ¿De qué color? ¿Cómo se siente?)
- Ask yes – no questions and watch again listening for the answers.
- Ask a very general question and listen for the answer together.

Remember that children will not understand everything, even when you have finished working with a video. That is the way it should be. The goal is for them to understand key words, the general idea, and to be exposed to language in a context. With time and repeated exposure, they will understand more of what they hear.

Ana Lomba’s guide to teaching preschool Spanish has been updated and is now available. This guide is for anyone teaching children Spanish in a school or private program, and it addresses preschool and school-age children.

Spanish for Preschoolers explains how to create effective lessons based on an understanding of how children learn language. All of us know that it is impossible to find perfect, ready-to-use lesson plans. I am sure you create your own materials and adapt others to fit your students and your situation, just as I do. This is where Ana’s teacher’s guide is a huge help. To teach well, you have to have an understanding of how children learn a second language, a vision of how you will use that understanding to teach and a plan to make it happen. With that base, you can apply your knowledge and strategies to any content. Spanish for Preschoolers helps teachers establish that base.

In this teacher’s guide you will not find lesson plans, other than an example unit. What you will find is concise, practical information to help you teach effectively. This includes information on how children of different ages learn, different approaches to language teaching, how to plan a curriculum, and how to put that plan into practice in your classroom.

For new teachers, this guide has a huge amount of information. In fact, it has too much information to absorb and understand at once. If you are new to teaching, you will take away specific, helpful suggestions and a general sense of how you can approach your class and the task at hand. As you teach longer and have more perspective, you will want to come back to this guide again and again. You will understand more and be able to apply the information in creative and effective ways.

For experienced teachers, this guide is a reminder of how mindfully we have to approach what we do. It will help you maintain perspective on how children learn and give you new ways of thinking about familiar concepts. Experienced teachers will find the guide motivational, but also practical. The different approaches to teaching language, the different types of activities and the lists of resources are useful to anyone teaching Spanish.

Finally, all teachers will find this guide realistic and supportive. Ana acknowledges that all of us make mistakes, we learn and we improve. Within this supportive framework, she is clear about what really works and she gives you the tools to use that knowledge in your class.

Disclosure: The author sent me a copy of the book to write this article. All the ideas and opinions are my own.

The program works with individual words, so to make it an effective tool for children learning Spanish you will need to use related vocabulary and add context. You can add context by making a Wordle to describe a photograph and displaying them together. Another option is to make a poster that describes an object or a room in the house. Hang the Wordle in the room or on the object. You can also make a Wordle related to a picture book or story.

The size of the words in Wordle will be determined by their relative frequency in the text. In other words, the word that appears most often will be the largest. Enter the object or place that you are focusing on more than any other, and then enter related words that you want to appear in your poster. The easiest way to do this is to use a word processor and decide which words you want on your poster. Then copy and paste each of the words several times. If you are making a Wordle for puerta, your text might look something like this:

puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta puerta
tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar tocar
abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir abrir
cerrar cerrar cerrar cerrar cerrar cerrar cerrar cerrar cerrar cerrar
madera madera madera madera madera madera madera madera madera madera madera
timbre timbre timbre timbre timbre timbre timbre timbre timbre timbre
seguridad seguridad seguridad seguridad seguridad seguridad seguridad seguridad
privacidad privacidad privacidad privacidad privacidad privacidad privacidad

Copy and paste the text into Wordle.  It will create a word cloud, and then you have the option to change the font, the layout and the colors. You can choose black and white to save ink, or click on the screen to get the outline of the letters.

The text above produced this Wordle:

Then print your poster and hang it on an object, with a photo or with a picture you have drawn.

This is a good exercise for agreement. If you are using adjectives to describe something, they will have to agree. For example, if you were making a Wordle about this picture of flores,

the text might look something like this:

flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores floresflores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores flores

rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas rojas

amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas amarillas

hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas hermosas

bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas bonitas.

This is a Wordle from that text:

Making a Wordle about a story is another way to establish context and to focus on the key elements of a narration. If you have an online version of the story, it is fun for kids to predict which words are going to be the biggest. Logically, these should be the most important elements in the story. Then, copy and paste the story into Wordle. This is a Wordle made from an online version of Caperucita Roja (Little Red Riding Hood). As you can see, the characters and the setting feature prominently.

Wordle is lots of fun to use. Just playing with the layout and color is very entertaining! Putting in the words of a favorite song, a rhyme or poem, or even a list of vocabulary words is interesting enough to keep children playing with Spanish and engaged with the language.

Here are 15 ways to create a world of Spanish words in your home.

1. Make Wordles of poems, songs, or words your kids are learning to hang on the refrigerator or decorate a door.

2. Use a screen saver in Spanish on your computer. You can have quotes or messages to your kids scroll across your screen. There are also programs for using your photos with captions as a screen saver.

3. Look for refrigerator magnets in Spanish. Cafe Press has lots, from limpo-sucio for the dishwasher, to Que linda manito que tiene el bebé, que linda, que bella que preciosa es. Zazzle has Spanish magnets too, including this not very funny joke. The language is good even if the joke doesn’t make you laugh. You can get this simple birthday magnet from Amazon for $0.99.

4. Change the interface on your home phone to Spanish.

5. Subscribe to Spanish language magazines, or a Spanish language newspaper, if your community has one. Keep them where they are easily accessible to read and discuss. We still keep new issues of magazines in the kitchen, although now that the kids are older the selection has changed.

6. Buy or make Spanish language cards for each other and display them after birthdays and holidays.

7. Buy or make wrapping paper with Spanish words. If you make your own, you can write holiday greetings, label pictures, or decorate the paper with a personal message.

8. Use a Spanish language calendar. There are many different styles.

9. Write notes to your children and put them in different places. The notes can be very simple, comment on anything at all, and they are a chance to say te quiero, again.

10. Make or buy posters with Spanish text. Hang them where your children will see them, in their line of vision if possible, and change them regularly.

11. Make picture frames and decorate them with Spanish words. There are lots of printable picture frames on line. These have text boxes, but you will have to write in the accent marks. They have lots of designs and places to add Spanish words and phrases.

12. Have Spanish language maps or a Spanish language globe where children can see them and you can talk about them.

13. Use paper place mats or blank paper from a paper roll as a table cloth and decorate them with Spanish words and phrases.

14. Make photo albums and write about the pictures in Spanish.

15. Keep a Spanish journal with your child. Write a little bit, even just a line or two, about what you did during the day.

Life can be so busy that it is hard to find time to read for enjoyment, but if at all possible it is important to model literacy in Spanish. If your child sees you choosing to read in Spanish, whether it be magazines, cookbooks, novels or websites, it is much more likely that she will also choose to read in Spanish someday.  Make sure that part of your text-rich space is devoted to Spanish language that you enjoy!