Los esqueletos, The Skeletons, is a great song for kids learning Spanish. It fits in well if you are doing anything related to El día de los muertos or Halloween, but it is also just a fun song to sing and teaches lots of language. When the clock strikes the different hours, skeletons come out of their graves and do all sorts of things. Kids learning Spanish get practice with the structure for telling time, [...]
I am participating once again in http://latinaish.com/ ‘s Spanish Friday. Join us! Hace unas semanas un grupo de amigos hablábamos del poder de los medios de comunicación. Nos preguntábamos qué seríamos capaces de hacer si esos medios tan poderosos intentaran influir a la gente de manera positiva. De allí empezamos a hablar de las campañas de valores que se han hecho, y un amigo mencionó ¿Tienes el valor o te vale? Son comerciales que trasmite [...]
Escucha, hermano, canción, alegre, nuevo, día, ven, canta, sol, vive, estrellas: these words could come from any picture book or a basic vocabulary list, but they are the words in a classic Spanish song. Miguel Ríos recorded Himno a la alegría in 1969. It became popular all over the Spanish-speaking world and has since been recorded by many artists. Choirs of all ages still sing this song at many different events, and it is one [...]
This is a song with pictures, perfect for the very littlest children learning Spanish. Luna has the words luna (moon), sol (sun), caracol (snail), girasol (sunflower), ruiseñor (nightingale) and corazón (heart). The idea of labeling common objects to a familiar tune is one that you can easily adapt and use with your own pictures. The tune here is a variation of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. In general, words used in context are best for language [...]
This song about summer is a good example of authentic language that can be used effectively with Spanish language learners. It is from Músicaeduca and they have lots of other resources to use with children of a variety of ages and language levels. Many thanks to them for permission to embed the video! The simple chorus of Verano y sol (Summer and Sun) can be used as a song in itself and has a lot [...]
What a fun way to review basic vocabulary in Spanish! This video is by a speech and language therapist in Spain. Children see a scene and then hear the sound of something in the picture. They identify what makes that noise. After a moment, a picture of the object and the Spanish word come on the screen. I love how clear these sounds are and the combination of the scene and the sound create a [...]
This song teaches the days of the week in Spanish. It is from Los pimpollos, an educational television program from Peru. There is an official YouTube channel where you can hear lots of educational songs from Los pimpollos. As this song says, the days of the week give our lives order. Learning the days of the week helps children place events in time and understand routines. When they learn the days of the week in [...]
This is fun and effective song for teaching Spanish to children. The tune and the actions make it fun. The actions and the association of related words make it a great learning tool. There is enough repetition that kids quickly learn the chorus and also enough variety to make the song interesting. Arriba, abajo is by Los pimpollos. Los pimpollos is an educational TV program from Peru and the word pimpollo, which is literally the [...]
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 [...]
Matemáticas en todos lados is a free Sesame Street Spanish language video available on Amazon Instant Video. It is Episode 8 of the nine episodes of Aprende con Sesame Season 1 that are available to watch online and download at no cost. These videos provide exposure to authentic language with context and visual support. Spanish language learners will not understand every word, but they will be able capture some of the main ideas and can [...]
Children can draw on information they already know to understand new Spanish vocabulary and structures. When teachers and parents talk about familiar subjects in Spanish, children associate concepts they understand with the new language. This way, children learn Spanish vocabulary in context and applied to content, rather than as lists of vocabulary words which are often memorized and then quickly forgotten. In the early grades, children learn the basic facts of the solar system. When [...]
Movies and television are excellent sources of authentic language for children and teens learning Spanish. Young people all over the world acquire huge amounts of English through American film and television, and kids in the United States can take advantage of media the same way. Although the language in movies is much too difficult for Spanish language learners to use without support, with subtitles they can enjoy films as they hear the rhythm and pace [...]