Spanish in a Basket was such a treat to get in the mail! It is a lovely wicker picnic basket filled with bright, beautiful toys to help introduce children to Spanish. When I opened the basket, I found colorful wooden fruits and vegetables, hand-knit finger puppets, soft animal friends, and a bright table-setting. There were also 4 CDs and a DVD with 20 audio Spanish lessons for kids ages 3 to 8. Beth Manners, creator [...]
It is easy to talk about the calendar and the weather in Spanish with these colorful materials. They are provided by the Asociación mundial de educadores infantiles and they are all PDFs that you can download and print. There are signs with the Spanish months and the days of the week. There are numbers for the date, both day and year. There are also colorful signs for the seasons in Spanish. My favorite part of [...]
Where did the summer go? Lots of us are going to have new Spanish learners in just a few weeks, and some of you have already started classes. Whether you are a teacher with new students or a parent who is teaching Spanish at home, simple songs are one of the easiest ways for children to produce the language. Songs provide lots of repetition and the rhythm helps kids pronounce words correctly. Songs to familiar [...]
Expressions of courtesy are a part of our daily interactions. If a child is learning Spanish, these polite words should be part of her vocabulary. By learning a few basic words and phrases, children can understand and use appropriate Spanish expressions of courtesy in most situations. It is polite to greet others with one of the following phrases: Buenos días – Good morning Buenas tardes – Good afternoon Buenas noches – Good night When asking [...]
This activity is from Manualidades para niños; thanks to them for the permission to embed the video! Make this sun with your child and at the same time provide the opportunity for her to listen to and understand native-speaker Spanish. Your child hears Spanish as she listens to the instructions, and the images make the meaning of the language clear. Follow these simple steps to make the most of the craft as a language-learning activity. [...]
Oso bajo el sol is the bilingual edition of Bear in Sunshine. Like the other Bear books in this series the illustrations are fanciful and full of details that create a world that appeals to children and adults alike. In addition to pictures that support the Spanish words about weather and the seasons, there are stars, flowers and animals to point out and to count. The bilingual edition includes Spanish vocabulary words and a pronunciation [...]
This Spanish song is short, simple and always popular with even my youngest groups. It lends itself to actions that reinforce the words the children are singing including día, noche, sol, luna, pequeña, mayor, frío, and calor. You can see the actions in the video. The kind people at Yo canto y bailo está canción have given me permission to embed this video. The words and a translation follow. La luna es muy pequeña y [...]
Variations of familiar games are an easy way to incorporate Spanish into the day. The game Duck,Duck,Goose is a good example. I play this game in class in Spanish with the phrases buenas noches and buenos días. One child moves around the outside of the circle saying buenas noches as she touches each child on the head. The children in the circle should be “sleeping,” keeping their heads bowed. At some point the child who [...]
The Spanish translation of The Napping House, La casa adormecida, it a great way to reinforce the verb hay (there is/there are). This is a wonderful translation by Alma Flor Ada. The repetition and the rhythm of the lines as something new is added with each page soon have children predicting and repeating the Spanish. Y en esa casa hay una cama… Y en esa cama hay una abuela… Y sobre esa abuela hay un [...]
There are many good morning songs in Spanish. This is a very simple one and it uses usted, the formal form for you. Depending on your situation, this is a form that children may not hear on a regular basis. As they learn Spanish they should be familiar with the word usted and understand it. This song is an easy way to teach it at the earliest stage of learning Spanish. This song is to [...]