Learn Spanish

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.

As both the mom of a bilingual toddler and an observer of how children in a Chicago Mexican immigrant neighborhood learn English, I have more to say about the AP story on how parents raise childre...

With preschoolers, I do this activity with the printable handout with just pictures and no words. It's great for groups or to do at home with a little one! Just listening and circling the picture they learn lots of Spanish. 

If you have ever misplaced your keys, you know how you think of the word “where” as you search for them. Where did I put them? Where could they be? Where did I last see them?

The same experience makes these lift-the-flap books in Spanish excellent language-learning tools. All of them ask ¿Dónde está? (where is…). All of them involve looking for something. This is the perfect way to teach dónde because the action of searching clarifies the meaning and keeps it present until you find the object you are looking for.

Saco una manito (I take out one hand) is one of the first songs that many Spanish-speaking children learn. Even before they can talk, very small children do the hand motions as their parents sing this song. In Mexico and Spain, the diminutive of la mano (hand) is la manita. In those countries, the song uses la manita instead of la manito.

¿Algo más? (Anything else?). Such a common, useful question! When I am choosing picture books to read with preschoolers, I am always happy to find a repeated phrase that we use commonly in conversation. ¿Algo más? is that phrase in the book Siesta, by Ginger Foglesong Guy.

This is a set of four games to teach vocabulary. I think they are great for children learning Spanish because they have really clear audio and great pictures. All of the games involve hearing a word, and then clicking on it – popping balloons for colors, dragging the shapes to the correct silhouette, choosing the correct fruit and clicking on the correct body part.

This guide to teaching preschool Spanish has been updated and is now available.

Recognizing patterns is an important pre-math and pre-reading skill for children. Talking about patterns is also a valuable language activity for Spanish learners of all ages. The word for patterns is secuencias in Spanish.

There are several Spanish versions of London Bridge, the British children’s song. In Spanish it is called Este puente va a caer or Este puente se cayó. The tune of all the versions is the same, and the meaning is similar, with slight variations.

Singing in Spanish as a part of daily routines is a great way for children to learn new Spanish vocabulary, grammar, and correct Spanish pronunciation. Movement is an important part of language learning. With simple songs for everyday activities, children associate the Spanish words they are using with their actions.

Expressions of courtesy are a part of our daily interactions. If a child is learning Spanish, these polite words should be part of her vocabulary. By learning a few basic words and phrases, children can understand and use appropriate Spanish expressions of courtesy in most situations.

At the Pineapple School on Huebner Road, 14 3- to 4-year-old children sit quietly in a circle around a colorful piece of woven cloth to learn about ancient civilizations in Latin America.

I love these P’kolino multi-solution puzzles for teaching body parts and colors in Spanish. There are many ways to do each puzzle, so children will play with them again and again. That means that these toys provide lots of opportunities to speak Spanish with your child, and lots of repetition of important vocabulary.

This is a great video and song for preschoolers from 123 Spanish Together. I love their music for teaching kids Spanish!  This simple song introduces children to the question ¿cuántos/cuántas?, the verb hay and numbers.