Stress Free Kids publishes audio and picture books that help children reduce stress and lower anxiety. These stories are available in Spanish and are fabulous language-learning tools. The stories teach relaxation techniques, but their structure and objective also create an excellent Spanish learning experience. As children listen to these stories, they relax, but they are never passive. Children participate, both physically and by actively using their imaginations. The CD Sueños del océano índigo has four [...]

With Christmas coming, I know that lots of us are looking for gifts for Spanish language learners. Parents of my preschool students often ask me to recommend Spanish books to read to their children at home. I always mention this series of board books published by Macmillan Infantil y Juvenil. All of them are available to purchase on Amazon. These are a few reasons I recommend these books to parents and preschool [...]

I am really excited to share this set of six little story books for Spanish language learners. The set is called Childhood Adventures and includes six Spanish stories and an audio CD with native-speaker narration. These are exactly the kind of materials that teachers and parents need: easy to use in any setting and very effective. There is an English translation at the back of each book. The vocabulary and structures in these stories are [...]
No-Work Spanish recently contacted me about sharing their audiobooks with my readers. These books are designed as a language-learning product, so the format is different than that of a typical audiobook. Each chapter is read sentence by sentence in both languages – first a sentence in English and then the same sentence in Spanish. Then the whole chapter is read again in Spanish. I cannot claim to understand what theory of language acquisition No-Work Spanish [...]

Listen to this short Spanish audio description of a common word and try to guess what it is. This is one of a series of videos called Adivina la palabra de hoy (Guess Today’s Word). Most of the Spanish audio in these short videos is excellent. The series is produced by a private non-profit from Spain that promotes the teaching of Spanish, the Fundación de la Lengua Española. In this video, two children describe a [...]
This set of power point presentations with Spanish vocabulary for first grade is from the website Programa de Doble Immersión de Primer Grado. You can find the link at end of this post. Some of the presentations have audio, while others just have text on the screen that you can read to your child. Most of the presentations use the vocabulary in context, with full sentences and pictures. There are a few exceptions, like Espantapájaros [...]
The Noyo Spanish Vocab app for iPad is a supplemental vocabulary builder for beginning Spanish learners. It is available from iTunes and you can read more about the application on the Noyo website. There is also a version with no English text for children in immersion programs. Noyo Spanish Vocab consists of detailed scenes grouped by themes: los viajes, la comida, los deportes, la ciudad, la casa, los animales, las estaciones, la escuela. In the [...]

Stories from BookBox are a wonderful resource for building reading and listening skills in Spanish. BookBox creates animated books with Same Language Subtitling (SLS) to support reading and literacy development around the world. They have a great website with dozens of stories that can be viewed in different languages at no cost. The not-for-profit enterprise PlanetRead is the parent organization of BookBox. Through PlanetRead, BookBox gifts one hour of reading to a beginning reader for [...]

Can you guess this word? Listen to this short Spanish audio description of a word that we often associate with summer and vacation. This is one of a series of videos called Adivina la palabra de hoy (Guess Today’s Word). The Spanish audio in these short videos is excellent. The series is produced by a private non-profit from Spain that promotes the teaching of Spanish, the Fundación de la Lengua Española. In this video, two [...]
Online Spanish Audio – 8 Free Websites to Keep Kids Listening to Spanish This Summer

If you are looking for ways to expose kids to Spanish during the summer, websites with Spanish audio are an excellent resource. There are sites at all levels with a wide variety of activities. I will mention eight of my favorite sources of online Spanish audio, but be sure to check out the online activities category for more ideas. These are sites with a significant quantity of online Spanish audio. They have a variety of [...]

Since the time I wrote this post, Northumberland Grid for Learning has begun to charge users who are not in Northunberland for the materials. You can find the information on a subscription here: Northumberland Grid for Learning. I will leave these descriptions, but remove the links because they no longer take you to the materials. This selection of language activities and materials is a useful resource for anyone teaching children Spanish in a classroom [...]
I have recommended the Caballo alado clásico collection of Spanish stories with audio CDs to parents many times. Last week I used two of the stories in class again, and I was reminded of how much I like them for Spanish language learners. Each of these books has four Spanish stories. The stories include fairy tales like La bella durmiente (Sleeping Beauty) and Cenicienta (Cinderella) and also well-known stories like Caperucita Roja (Little Red Riding [...]