Top Posts on Debbie's Spanish Learning

Do you need some new ideas for teaching your kids or students Spanish? Here's a look at the most popular posts on my site...

• 1. For high school students that have been introduced to the preterite and the imperfect here is a file folder game.

• 2. There aren't many books out there for young kids on emotions, but I LOVE this one! It is the best one I have found so far.
• 3. Card Talkers are a great speaking activity for students that have some background in the language.
• 4. These simple faces on ping pong balls are great for reviewing emotions.
• 5. Dice are a supply I always have on hand when teaching. There can be used a variety of ways in a language classroom. Here are some ideas.
• 6. Here is a list of short stories you can use with your more advanced students.
• 7. All teachers love their supplies, right? Here are some that work well in a language classroom.
• 8. This pumpkin unit is the most popular here out of all the unit studies I have posted.
• 9. I love these "spot the differences" cards and use them all the time when we have a few extra moments in class.

• 10. And finally a post on teaching geography in Spanish.

Teaching Spanish in Your Homeschool

Are you a homeschool mom that wants to introduce your kids to Spanish? Are you unsure where to start or how to go about it? For about two decades I have taught my own sons Spanish in our home and other homeschoolers. I started out as a high school Spanish teacher in the early nineties, but came home in 2001 to be with my boys. A few years after that I started an in-home business teaching other homeschool kids the language.

In 2013, I started the blog, Debbie's Spanish Learning, to collect all my resources and ideas for teaching the language to young kids. So if you are looking to teach Spanish in your home I would love to share with you all the resources available to you on my blog. Here is a quick look at some of the ideas you can use as you introduce Spanish to your children...

Join me over at Paradise Praises to see all the resources available to you if you would like to introduce Spanish to your kids.

Spanish Preschool Fun

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I recently purchased two games to use with the youngest of my students (preschool through early elementary). Pengoloo and Snug as a Bug in a Rug are great games to review colors in any language. And Snug as a Bug in a Rug also reviews shapes, some simple numbers, and the words "big" and "little".

Pengoloo  is a wooden game with hollow penguins who "sit" on different colored eggs. Each player gets an "iceberg" with the numbers 1-6. Players roll a die with colors on them (the colors of the rainbow). The goal is then for them to collect penguins that have that colored egg underneath them. To win the game a player has to collect six penguins. While we play I have my students tell me the color they rolled and also the color of the eggs that they choose.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug has three levels of play and is a cooperative game in which the players try to get all the colored bugs "under the rug" (the game board) before the three stink bugs get on the board. As students play I have them identify the items they are looking for on the bug (i.e. rojo, cuadrado, tres, etc.).

Both of these games created a lot of high interest and motivated my students to review the vocabulary. I also like the fact that I can use these games with two of my Spanish units: Polar Animals and Insects.

Do you have any great game suggestions that can be used in Spanish (or another language) to review vocabulary? I would love to hear about them!

Spanish Books for Fall {for Kids}

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If you have been reading here for awhile you know that I have a vast collection of children's Spanish books. I collect books for the unit studies I do with my students. I have series of books {like the Froggy books or Oliver Jeffers' books} because they are favorites for my students. I also collect seasonal books. You can see my other posts for seasonal books with the links below...

Winter books

Spring books

Summer books

Here is a list of books to read during the autumn months to your students/children...

El Otoño -A simple book describing the many aspects of fall. There are a couple of activities in the back to do with kids.

Calabaza, Calabaza- The pumpkin life cycle in story form.

Chumba la Cachumba- I love this book because it is a traditional rhyme/song that introduces the concept of telling time. The illustrations of skeletons are humorous. A favorite!!

Froggy va a la escuela- Froggy goes to school.

Froggy y el Día de Halloween -Froggy's Halloween

Calabazas- A beautiful informational book on pumpkins.

Ana Cultiva Manzanas


La Calabaza Rodante- Let's try to catch the runaway pumpkin!

Murcielagos en la Biblioteca -Bats have storytime at night in the library. {This book is in my cart, ready for me to order soon! Can't wait!}

If you are looking for some fall activities or unit studies, check out these links...

Spanish Pumpkin Unit {Free printable}
Teaching Emotions with Pumpkins {Free printable}

Teaching Synonyms and Antonyms

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I try to create a year-long unit of vocabulary words for my Spanish students to work on. Last year we did rhyming words. This year we will be working with synonyms and antonyms. Here's a look at what we will be doing with these words and a few children's book suggestions...

I have used these three sets of cards for the unit:

Synonyms in Spanish
Antonyms, Part 1
Antonyms, Part 2

There are several things that you can do with these cards:

-Memory

-Go Fish

-Lay the cards out on the floor.  Call out a card.  A student has to find that card and its mate {either synonym or antonym}.

-The Slapping Game (No slapping of each other!!): Lay out the cards on the floor.  Call out a word.  The first student to put their hand on the correct card gets to keep the card.  The goal is to have the most cards at the end.  You can vary this by calling out a word on a card, but they must slap the synonym or antonym for it.

-Lay out the cards and spell a word in Spanish (provided your students already know the letters) and see if they can find the card.  Then can they find the synonym or antonym and spell that for you?

-Use picture dictionaries like Everyday Words in Spanish . Call out a word and see if they can find it in the dictionary.

-For the antonyms: Call out three words in succession. Have your students say the opposites for them. For example, you say, "arriba, blanco, arriba". You students say, "abajo, negro, abajo".  Or you say, "corto mucho, gordo". Your students say "largo, poco, flaco". This activity is challenging so only use it once kids have mastered the words.

Here are some books that relate to opposites:

Opuestos-A simple opposites book for little ones.
Perro grande... Perro pequeño
Arriba y Abajo-The story of a penguin that wants to fly
Donde esta la oveja verde?
Cerdota Grandota-This is one of my favorite opposite books!

Do you have more teaching or book ideas for synonyms and/or antonyms? I would love to hear them!

Art and Speaking Skills in a Foreign Language Classroom {Free Printable}

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As a language teacher, any time you can mix culture with language skills you up the amount of learning in your lessons. Last year with one of my most advanced students I started printing off interesting pictures for us to discuss in Spanish. It then occurred to me that we could do the same activity with the great works from various Spanish/Hispanic artists. Not only will my students get exposed to beautiful artwork, but they will also be able to practice their speaking skills.

In order to set up this activity you need a set of questions you can use with any painting and copies of the art itself.  Below you will find a free printable in Spanish of questions you can ask your students in order to get them talking about different paintings. As far as collecting the art you want to use here are several options:

• Art Postcards can be used in small groups or in private lessons. Here are some collections for Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Diego Velazquez, Picasso, and Salvador Dali . 

• You can also use art books to show pictures. 

• You can print them from the web. Here is my pinterest board on teaching art and Spanish. It contains lots of paintings, and I plan on adding more. 

Here is a list of artists/paintings I am planning on using:

• Diego Velázquez {Las Meninas/Tres Músicos}
• Fernando Botero {La Menina,/Terremoto en Popayan}
• Alejandro Xul Solar {Cuidá y Abismos,/Vuell Villa}
• Joan Miró {La Finca,/Caballo, Pipa y Flor Roja}
• Pablo Picasso {El Guitarrista Viejo/La Sopa}
• Diego Rivera {Cargador de Flores/Zapata}
• Oscar Tintaya {More modern Bolivian artist with typical scenes of that area}
• Salvador Dalí {La Persistencia de la Memoria}
• Raúl Soldi {Sarita}
• Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida 

Here is the free printable with questions you can use to discuss the paintings.

Questions for Artwork

Have fun using art to keep your students speaking in Spanish!

Spanish Books for Summer {for Kids}

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Summer is almost upon us. I am looking forward to the warm days filled with sunshine. If you teach Spanish in any capacity to kids, one of the best ways is through children's literature. I have a huge collection of Spanish children's books that I use all the time with my younger students. Reading is such a great way for them to acquire new vocabulary and to improve their listening skills. Here is a list of books for your summer reading...


Salta y Brinca-Dancing frogs at the end of summer!

Una Isla Bajo el Sol - A boy traveling in a boat spies many objects through his spyglass until he reaches an island.

Plumas para almorzar-Backyard birds outwit a cat who ends up with only feathers for lunch.

Arandanos Para Sal-Sal picks blueberries and runs into a bear!

Vamos Froggy-Froggy books are great fun! In this one Froggy goes on a picnic with his dad.

Froggy Aprende a Nadar  -Frogs are supposed to be great swimmers, but froggy doesn't know how! In this story he learns the steps to great swimming and endures an embarrassing moment.

Hello Ocean/Hola Mar- A day at the beach filled with memories.

Si Quieres Ver Una Ballena- I love this sweet book on how to see a whale! See this post with activity suggestions.

¡Un Día Una Señora se Tragó una Caracola!-There once was a lady who swallowed a shell {and other ocean-y things!}

Looking for other seasonal books?

Winter Books
Spring Books
Fall Books

Also, check out these units that would go well with summer...

Las Plantas
La Selva
Las Piratas