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 [...]
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 [...]
Recognizing patterns is an important pre-math and pre-reading skill for children. Talking about patterns is also a valuable language activity for kids learning Spanish. The word for patterns is secuencias in Spanish. Secuencias are an easy and fun way to practice vocabulary. There is a lot of repetition and even if the patterns are easy, kids have fun with them. There is also enough language involved that children work with common verbs like seguir (to [...]
The Diccionario Multimedia is from the Portal de Educación – Junta de Castillo y León. It has common Spanish vocabulary for kids arranged by categories and represented by pictures. When children click on a picture, they hear the word pronounced in Spanish. There are also two games where they can practice the words that they have learned. Using the Diccionario Multimedia is good pronunciation practice, because children listen and repeat as they learn new Spanish [...]
Help your child learn Spanish by talking about this wonderful photograph. 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 understand what the words mean. When [...]
PBS has launched the web-original series Noah comprende to introduce children to Spanish and also to the process of language learning. Using animated video with embedded games, the series teaches basic Spanish vocabulary and creates a context where children hear Spanish and can begin to understand what is being said. The premise of the series is that Noah is visiting his grandmother in a community where no one speaks English. He is trying to learn [...]
Bilingual Fun Spanish For Children Vol. 1 I was excited to get this DVD in the mail from The Bilingual Fun Company. What great work Jennifer Manriquez and her husband Mark are doing teaching Spanish to children! This DVD, Volume 1 of Spanish for Children, is a wonderful place to start for parents and educators who want to expose children to the language. The DVD is designed as an introduction to Spanish for young children [...]
This game, Pelota de ping pong (Ping pong ball), has a simple song in Spanish, lots of movement, and takes only a few minutes to play. Everyone sings the song the whole time, so there is lots of repetition. I have played this game with preschool and grade school groups and once I even played it with a university Spanish class that convinced me to go outside on a warm spring day. You can play [...]
I always like reading about the experiences of parents who are teaching their children Spanish. The blog at Bilingual Fun has some great articles about the joys and challenges of raising kids speaking two languages and how the process changes as they grow older. There are also recommendations for a variety of language learning products and suggested activities to do with your child. In the blog entry The sights and sounds of Mexico, Bilingual Fun [...]
The website OnlineFreeSpanish.com has lots of entertaining activities and games for Spanish language learners. For children learning the letters in Spanish, the Bouncing Letter Game is an effective and engaging way to master the names of the letters. The object is to maneuver a cart under a falling letter so that it does not hit the ground. Each time a letter bounces off the cart, you will hear the name of the letter pronounced in [...]
This online game teaches children the parts of the face and head in Spanish. It can also teach other common vocabulary if you play the game as it is intended for native Spanish speakers. The activity consists of a picture of a head, and a sidebar with options for the parts of the face and hair. Each part is labeled in Spanish. As you scroll through the options for each feature, the picture changes. If [...]
Many children learn to say thank you in Spanish when they are little even if they are not learning more of the language. Although gracias is the basic and most common way to give thanks in Spanish, there are some simple variations that you can easily teach children. These are a few expressions and some vocabulary that you can use to express your appreciation in Spanish. Gracias – Thank you Gracias por… -Thank you for [...]