Books for Spanish Learners: Language Together

Language Together publishes books for Spanish learners. These fun little books come in sets and are excellent for emerging readers. They also work well as read alouds with early learners.

The 10 books for Spanish learners in Set 1 have vocabulary related to themes: animals, clothing, colors, face and body, fruit, family, numbers, shapes, snacks, toys. In addition, Language Together has incorporated support for language learning into the design of the books.

Graphic-Text Correspondence in Books for Spanish Learners

When teachers look for picture books for Spanish learners, we look for high graphic-text correspondence. We want children to be able to understand what the language means by looking at the pictures. The books by Language Together use color to relate a word in the text to an object in the illustration. In other words, they have added a design element to underscore graphic-text correspondence to help children learn language.

Incorporating colored text that matches a colored picture creates comprehensible input by indicating what the word refers to. The color, simple sentences and focused illustrations in these books eliminate guesswork and provide wonderful support for learning language.

Read more about the research behind the books for Spanish learners on the Language Together website. The books are available to purchase from Language Together or from Amazon.

Notable Features of Books by Language Together

• There is native speaker audio for all the stories. You can listen online or scan the QR code in the cover and listen on your phone.
• The books use patterns and repetition. Both of these enhance language learning.
• The active vocabulary are nouns, but the books also teach useful verbs that kids can easily produce: veo, es, mira, me gusta(n), me encantan, me pongo
• The books use either full sentences or common expressions that stand alone and can be used in conversation.
• The stories feature the same characters creating familiarity and a building a larger context.
• The stories are upbeat, fun and positive.
• The books are short. There is enough language, but the reading experience stays enjoyable and is never overwhelming.
• The stories have an appropriately focused range of vocabulary and short sentences.
• The color text to picture link empowers beginning language learners to read independently. It provides the support they would get from someone pointing to the correct picture when they read the word.
• The books are completely in Spanish. There is a translation for adults at the back of the book, but there is no English to interfere with language learning as children read.

Language Together is supporting our Spanish summer reading program. The 5 giveaway prize packages at the end of the program will each include Set 1 of the Language Together books for Spanish learners. Many thanks to Language Together for their support!