This online story is an unusual version of Los tres cerditos (The Three Little Pigs) meant for native Spanish speakers. It has a simple plot and the common vocabulary is well supported by the animation. Although the sentence structure is more complex than in some stories for beginning Spanish learners, children can easily understand what is happening. They also stay engaged with the story because there are interactive features. It is perfect for children who understand some basic Spanish, and also works well with very beginners if you focus on specific phrases.
If your child understands some basic Spanish, she will easily follow the story. She will also have fun with the interactive features. These feature include finding differences, clicking on something on the screen (the information office, a map), and doing two very simple math problems.
Click on the link to hear the interactive story in Spanish.
Then, click on the circle that says El mundo al revés. Click on the bug in the upper right hand corner of the set of characters. The mouse-over says 1, 2, 3, Cerditos
The animation makes the story clear, but this is vocabulary that may be new for some children, or parents, who are learning Spanish.
Parecerse – to look alike
Siempre se han parecido mucho. They have always looked a lot alike.
Trillizos – triplets
Son trillizos. They are triplets
Único- unique
Paco quiere ser único. Paco wants to be unique.
Estar harto – to be fed up, or sick of something
Paco está harto de ser una simple repetición. Paco is sick of being nothing more than a repeat.
Marcharse – to leave
Paco ha decidido marcharse. Paco has decided to leave.
Ni siquiera – not even.
Ni siquiera sabe a donde. He doesn’t even know where.
Sabio – wise
Esa voz es de Tres el sabio. – That voice belongs to Three the Wise.
Contar – to count, in the sense of being important.
Cada uno cuenta. Todos contamos – Each one counts. All of us count.
It is important for children who are just beginning to learn Spanish to hear natural language. This story is also perfect for them because it has clear native-speaker audio, natural syntax, and animation that makes the storyline easy to understand. With beginners, you can reinforce basic Spanish vocabulary by using simple sentences like these.
1. 1, 2, 3 cerditos. (Count the pigs again.) Son cerditos. Se llaman Pepo, Pipo, Paco.
2. Paco no está contento. Pipo está contento. Pepo está contento. (Point to the happy pigs.)
Paco no está contento. ¿Dónde está Paco?
3. Paco se va. Adios Paco. (Wave good-bye to Paco)
4. Es un pueblo. Hay casas. Hay árboles. (Point to things in the town your child knows in Spanish.)
Paco necesita información. (Click on the i)
5. Es una oficina. Paco necesita un mapa. Es un mapa. (Point to the map.)
6. Son números. 7, 8, 2, 1 (Point to the townspeople and say the numbers)
7. Paco no está contento. (Point to Paco’s sad face.) 3 es un amigo. Van a jugar.
8. 1, 2, 3, cerditos. (Count the pigs as you do the math problems.)
9. Paco está contento. ¡Pipo y Pepo están allí! (Point to Pipo and Pepo.)
