Teaching the Alphabet in Spanish

Teaching the alphabet can be a whole lot of fun!  There are so many activities out there to reinforce the names and sounds of the letters.  Here are some ideas that I have used when teaching the Spanish alphabet to preschoolers all the way to highschoolers...

If your child or student is young enough you will want to start with letter recognition and formation. After I have introduced the letters through Spanish Alphabet Flash Cards, I will call out letters and have the student create them with playdough or build them with felt or wooden shapes.  Here is a file to help you create the shapes for the felt or wooden letters.

Another idea is to use Paper Letters for various activities.  Here is a list of what can be done with them...

-Hide the letters and then call out a letter that they need to go find.

-Mix up the letters and have them put them in order.  Review their Spanish names once they are in order.

-Spell Spanish words with them and see if your students can create the word you spelled.

-If using different colored letters, call out a color and they collect all the letters that are that color.  The students then have to tell you in Spanish which letters they collected.

-Have them create their names with the letters and then tell you what letters they used.

-Hide the letters.  Give them instructions on where to find each letter.  For example:  La "a" esta debajo de la mesa."  To make this more challenging you might hide two or three different letters in the same spot.  They have to retrieve the correct letter.

Alphabet Shape Stickers can be used in a variety of ways.  I use picture pages like the one you see below from Basic Vocabulary Builder.  I tell my students in Spanish which letter sticker to put on which picture.  This way they are not only reviewing letters, but other vocabulary.

Spanish alphabet books can enhance your unit on letters also.  Here are a few...

Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet In Spanish And English (Spanish Edition)-for older students
Albertina Anda Arriba: El Abecedario / Albertina Goes Up: An Alphabet Book (Bilingual Books)
A is for Airplane/A es para avion
Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book
ABeCedario Nutritivo

Here are a few more activities:

-I also do a fly swatter or "slapping" game.  I make cards with a letter on each card.  I use the complete Spanish alphabet and a few duplicates (like I may have two or three cards each of several of the letters).  I then lay out all the cards on a table.  I call out a letter and the first student to slap the correct card either with his or her hand or a flyswatter gets the card.  The student with the most cards at the end wins.

-Make a set of cards to play "Go Fish"  (Pesca) with the letters. Have the students play in Spanish by asking "Tienes la "c"?"

-Have the students use a Spanish dictionary to find unique words.  They have to spell the words to you in Spanish.  See if they can stump you with a new word you don't know.  My high school students love this activity and I have increased my vocabulary by doing it!

What other ideas do you use to teach the alphabet in Spanish?

Border Search {Vocabulary Game}

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One of the hard parts of language learning is the sheer amount of vocabulary a person needs to memorize.  I use conversation and games to help with the memorization of all the words.  One game that works well is a variation of Memory called Border Search.  I created a board using a file folder.  Around the edge of the folder I created boxes and put a number sticker in each one.  The size of the boxes doesn't matter too much.  You just need to make sure they aren't so small that you can't fit the cards you are using in them.

I then make the playing cards.  The students have to match the word with the picture.  {See below.} So for each vocabulary word I make a card with the word on it and a card with a picture.  I normally cut index cards to fit the size of the boxes (more or less) on the board.  You will need more cards than boxes.  So, for example, my board has 22 boxes.  So I use enough vocabulary to have at least 40 cards (which means 20 vocab words). Square punches are an awesome way to make the small cards.

Here's how you play:  

-Shuffle the cards.

-Place the cards face down, one in each box.  The extra cards go in the center of the board.

-The first player picks up two cards.  If they match they get to keep them.  I give them points for the two cards that they picked up.  They are required in Spanish to give me their total based on the numbers in the boxes they got the cards from.  If they had a card on a "6" and another on a "4".  Then they would get ten points.

-If they don't have a match then just put the cards back where they were.

-Every time a person gets a match you add two more cards to the empty spaces. You continue to do this until you run out of cards.

-The person with the most points (after all the cards have been collected) wins.

As you can see this is a more challenging game of Memory because for awhile the board is constantly changing.  Also, the goal isn't to get the most matches, but to get the most points.  I have found that older students prefer this version to regular Memory.

This game can work for any subject.  For example, you could use it in history, matching dates with events.  Or you could use it to practice definitions in biology, matching vocabulary with a definition. The possibilities are endless!

Increasing Listening Skills in Spanish

 One of the hardest parts of language learning is being able to decipher the spoken word.  It becomes even more difficult in a language like Spanish that has a plethora of dialects.  I have used this site from the University of Texas with my students to introduce them to the difference in the way Spanish is spoken.  What I like about it is that you can pick the level of difficulty, the topic and even where the speaker is from!  As you watch the video you have the option of looking at a Spanish or English script of what is being said.  You can also choose to not look at a script at all which is what I have my students do at first.  For each topic the site also provides a vocabulary list, phrases list, and grammar points.  This is an excellent resource for high school and college level students!

Teaching Animal Names in Spanish

There are a plethora of ways to teach the names of animals in Spanish.  For younger kids they tend to have an interest in animals.  Here are some ideas that I have used...

Books are a great way to introduce vocabulary.  I have used this book for counting animals. And this one to review animal names with an introductory activity and to teach possession.  Here is a list of other books that work well with the animal theme...

De la cabeza a los pies
Sali de paseo
Oso polar, oso polar, ¿qué es ese ruido?
Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿qué ves ahí?
Oso panda, oso panda, ¿qué ves ahí?
Veloz Como El Grillo
Harry, el perrito sucio
Elefante Tiene Hipo
Los animales no se visten /Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing
El loro tico tango
Un Recorrido por la Selva

Spot It Junior Animals is a great game to increase vocabulary!  I have to admit that I was worried that this game wouldn't deliver, but it worked out great!  Even if the student doesn't know all the vocabulary you can help them learn the names by having the list of animals in Spanish in front of them.  The goal of the game is to spot the same animal on two different cards.  If the student can't remember the name of the animal then he can point to it and then look for the word.  I have found that just playing one round of this game helps the kids learn the names very quickly!!  It's amazing!


Este Alce es Mio is a great book to talk about pets and to practice expressing possession.  Here are instructions on how to use this book to further vocabulary learning.

Imperial Toy makes the cute animals you see if the picture above. I can't find a link online where they are sold, but from their website it looks like places like Fred Meyers and Target carry them.  These are great animals.  They are nice a squishy and light up when you bounce them. I use them to teach animal names (I have a dog, dolphin, bear, penguin, bunny, lion, chick, snail, fish, pig, owl, spider, and seal.).  They are also great for teaching prepositions by placing them around the house and talking about where the animals are located.  I have also used them with plastic food.  I place each animal by a certain food and then we talk in Spanish about what each animal likes to eat. 

Hopefully, these ideas will get your creative juices flowing on how to make learning animal names fun!

Oso Books for Vocabulary Building

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The Oso books by "Barefoot en Espanol" are awesome for vocabulary building!  These simple books work well with younger kids to introduce them to a variety of topics like days of the week, places, profession,etc. Here is a list of the books available and the topics they cover.


Bear in Sunshine/Oso Bajo El Sol  (Weather, Seasons, Favorite Activities)
Oso en la Ciudad (Places, Days of the Week)
Oso En Bicicleta (Places, Transportation)
Oso En Un Cuadrado (Shapes, Colors, Counting)
Oso en el Trabajo (Professions, Places)
Bear at Home/Oso En Casa (Rooms and Items in a House)
Bear's Busy Family/ La familia ocupada de Oso (Family, The Five Senses)

Many of the books at the end have a picture review of the vocabulary and/or a list of key words.  Like for example in Oso en Casa there is a floor plan of the house.

Or a review of shapes and colors in Oso en el Cuadrado...

Great little books for language learning!

Este Alce es Mio {Teaching Mio, Tuyo, Suyo, Nuestro}

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 Using children's books is a great way to teach another language. {See my extensive list of children's books for teaching Spanish}  Recently, I came across Este alce es mío, a sweet story of a little boy who has a pet moose named Marcel.  The plot combines humor, drama, and emotion to capture a child's attention. But I also love the book because I can teach the concept of mio, tuyo, suyo, and nuestro with it.  Before reading the book I pass out plastic animals to my students.  We go over the names of the animals.  Here are some ideas for animals to use...

Squishy Farm Critters

Zoo Animal Squeeze Stress Balls

I then go over the words mio, tuyo, suyo, and nuestro by talking about who has which animals.  I start by talking about which animal is mine.  Then the students have to say which one is theirs. From there, we talk about which one is yours, his, and hers.  Finally, we talk about how the animals are ours.  For example,

"El elefante es mio."
"La vaca es tuya."
"El pato es suyo."
"Los animales son nuestros."

This is also a good time to review noun/adjective agreement.  Finally, we read the book.  In the book are a series of rules that the little boy gives to his moose.  The rules are numbered.  When we get to the numbers I have one of the students read the number so that we are reviewing that vocabulary also.

I plan to get more of Oliver Jeffers' books in Spanish in the near future and will share how I use them to teach Spanish.

Monster Stickers {Reviewing Body Parts}

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I love these Monsters Stickers for review body parts and colors!  I use them when reviewing other vocabulary words.  For example, I give my students a picture page {like the one below} from Basic Vocabulary Builder: Blackline Masters.  I then give them instructions in Spanish like "Pon el monstruo azul con dos cabezas en la primavera."  The kids have fun picking out the correct monster to put on the right picture.