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 children describe a familiar summer destination. At the end, the word appears on the screen. The video is short, about one minute long.

These videos are an excellent Spanish language learning activity. The words in the descriptions are often used together and are associated with the word you are trying to guess. This is an effective way to expand vocabulary.

Adivina la palabra de hoy is also great listening practice. The sentences are short and the children speak directly to the camera. Children will not understand every word of the description, but that is fine. They are practicing listening for the main idea, that is, how the words that they do understand come together to communicate one concept. This is an important skill in language learning. Children need the opportunity to practice in order to develop the ability to distinguish the words they know.

These are some of the most common words used in the video. You can listen for these words with your child, and try to guess what is being described. The mystery word will be shown at the end of the video, but if you want to know before you listen, scroll down. A transcript, translation and the answer follow the video.

Vocabulary for the Spanish Audio

nadan – swim
peces – fish
agua – water
salada -salty
corales – coral
olas – waves
deportes – sports
playa – beach
nadar – swim
bucear – scuba dive

Spanish audio transcript

Donde nadan los peces y el agua es muy salada. / Where fish swim and the water is very salty.
Pueden haber otros tipos de peces / There can be other types of fish
y hay, hay hay corales y hay muchas olas. / and there is, there is, there is coral and there are lots of waves.
Pueden hacer muchos deportes. / You can do a lot of sports.
Está en la playa. / It’s at the beach.
Se puede nadar. / You can swim.
Se puede bucear, mirar peces. / You can scuba dive, see fish.

The word being described is mar – sea.

You may also be interested in this post: Spanish Audio for Kids – Listen and Guess the Word