Category: Spanish Language

Categories
Art Educational Foreign Language Spanish Language Teacher's Tool Tips

Beginner Spanish Activities: Game Time! How to Learn “Hermano” and “Hermana”

Try out our Sticker Activity to help beginners learn Spanish! Teach your students hermano (brother) and hermana (sister) the fun and easy way!
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Fun and quick 5-10 minute games that will teach your students to speak Spanish!

We’re back with our Game Time series and the next level of our Sticker Activity to help beginners learn Spanish! This week, your students will be learning the words “hermano” (brother), “hermana” (sister), “hermanos” (brothers), and “hermanas” (sisters), with the help of some fun stickers! This activity is very simple and can be used for large groups or for a single student. 

If you haven’t played the first round, you’ll want to check that out first. If you’re ready to learn this next group of vocabulary words then let’s start!

Sticker Activity 

Part 2
Learning objective
Students will learn and use two new Spanish words:  “hermano” (brother), “hermana” (sister), “hermanos” (brothers), “hermanas” (sisters), and “tengo” (I have).
⏲ Time needed

 < 10 minutes

✏️✂️ Materials needed
  • Printed photos or drawings of the students’ siblings. If there are students who do not have any siblings, that’s okay! We will be gathering the students photos all together for the activity.
  • For students who do not have siblings, have them bring a photo or drawing of just themselves for Step 4.
  • Stickers or labels if you have them, or scotch tape and a pen 
👩‍👧‍👦 Ages

For anyone who is game to play! Learning in a playful and different way helps everyone remember the Spanish vocabulary long-term. Ideally, your students will already know how to count to a few numbers in Spanish (only needed for the amount of siblings the student has).

Step 1

First, have your students gather their favorite photos (or drawings!) of their siblings. Make sure that there is a variety of photos of individual and group photos. As well as boys only, girls only, and a mix of both – as much of a variety as possible with the amount of siblings the students have. This is how we will practice each of the four vocabulary words.

Step 2

Create labels with a pen and some scotch tape, or use stickers if you have them. Create enough labels for each of the four vocabulary words: hermano, hermana, hermanos, hermanas.

Step 3

Have your students label each of their photos with the correct stickers or labels and say the word aloud, pointing to the photo as they do so.

Step 4

Have the students gather their own photos. The teacher will go around and ask each student how many siblings they have. The student will then hold up their photo or photos and reply with the correct answer below:

  • “Tengo un hermano/una hermana” (I have one brother/sister)
  • “Tengo tres hermanos y dos hermanas” (I have three brothers and two sisters) adjust to apply to a student who has multiple siblings.
  • “No tengo hermanos/hermanas” (I don’t have any brothers/sisters) 

The teacher can ask in English or Spanish. If you want to say it in Spanish, the question is “¿Cuantos hermanos tienes?”

Challenge: Try to say these vocabulary words and phrases 3 times today.

Let us know what you think of this challenge and if your students had fun playing it!

What other games or activities have your tried and are your favorites? Let us know by reaching out to info@fl4k.com!

 

Categories
Educational Spanish Language

Beginner Spanish Games: Pronoun Game Pt. 5

Learn how to teach adentro and afuera to beginner Spanish learners with this fun game to play both in a group or with one child.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Game Time! 

Fun and quick 5-10 minute games that will teach your students to speak Spanish

Welcome back to the bonus level of our Pronoun Game! You may be wondering, “but I think we’ve covered all the pronouns?” And, you’d be right. Today, we’re using the same fun game to learn two new words – “adentro” (inside) and “afuera” (outside) – and practice all the pronouns we learned this far! This is why taking the time to master each level and build on the next is so important.

If you missed the previous parts of this game, or want to revisit your pronouns, you can find all of them on our blog page. Start with Part 1 if you want to learn all of the rules and steps of the game in more detail.

Pronoun Game 

Part 5

Learning objective

Students will learn and use two new Spanish words: “adentro” (inside) and “afuera” (outside)

⏲ Time needed

 < 5 minutes

✏️✂️ Materials needed

Hula hoop, non-stick tape, or a leveled doorway going from an interior room to a hall or the outside.

👩‍👧‍👦 Ages

For anyone who is game to play! Learning in a playful and different way helps everyone remember the Spanish vocabulary long-term. 

Variation for older students

If you only have a few students, students can take turns stepping across the threshold of a doorway to a hall or to the outside. 

If you have many students, each student makes their own square with tape.

Step 1

First, next to each student, put a hoop or make a square on the floor from non-stick tape (or have each student make their square). Alternatively, have your students stand in a circle.

If you only have a few students, you can also use a doorway that has a clear and level area for kids to move back and forth over the door threshold.

Step 2

If you are using one hoop, square, or door threshold: Each student begins by standing inside the hoop (or square) or behind a door threshold leading to a hall or outdoors. Each student starts inside and says, “adentro!” 

Then, the student jumps outside the hoop (or square) or to the other side of the door threshold and says, “afuera!”

The rest of the students form a line and move quickly until each child has done this three times. 

If every student has their own hoop or square: Each student begins by standing inside their hoop (or square) or behind a door threshold leading to a hall or outdoors. Each student says, “adentro!” and then jumps outside the hoop (or square) or to the other side of the door threshold and says, “afuera!”

Step 3

Next, students will be in pairs again like in Part 1, one pair inside and one pair outside. The pair on the inside will start saying, “¡Nosotros adentro, ustedes afuera!” (“We are inside, you are outside!”). 

The first pair will then jump out so that both pairs are standing outside. The pair who has not jumped yet will say, “¡Nosotros afuera!” (we are outside!), then they will jump in and repeat the initial phrase, “¡Nosotros adentro, ustedes afuera!”

Repeat 3 times for each pair.

Feel free to add the other pronouns we learned into this game and mix it up as you like! Let us know your variations or results by emailing info@fl4k.com. We love to see and hear about how students learn and progress with these activities!

Well, that’s the end of the Pronoun Game, but not the end of our Game Time series! Stay tuned for our next activities and games for beginner Spanish learners – there is a lot more to come!

Categories
Spanish Language Spotlight

Melissa Mashura, Teaching Spanish and ASL Together

Spotlight: Melissa Mashura, Teaching Spanish and ASL Together in One Classroom
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Melissa Mashura, K-8th grade teacher at Estell Manor School in Estell Manor, New Jersey, uses her background in Spanish and her love for American Sign Language (ASL) to incorporate both languages into her teaching. Teaching two languages at once may sound daunting, but her ingenuity doesn’t stop there; she has also found a unique way to mix older and more recent technologies to benefit her students. 

About Melissa

Melissa first started learning ASL as a child through her cousin, who is deaf. While spending time together, her cousin would teach ASL to Melissa and her twin sister. Melissa was always eager to learn and practice back at home with her sister, taking the phrase, “if you don’t use it, you lose it,” to heart. 

As an adult and mother of five, Melissa has incorporated signs and Spanish words into her children’s daily lives. Two of her daughters, in particular, developed a love for ASL and joined the theater group “Hands Up Silent Theater,” which performs in ASL for deaf audiences. Two of the performances their group will be doing this year are Beauty and the Beast and Little Shop of Horrors. 

Teaching Spanish and ASL Together in One Classroom

Estell Manor School first hired Melissa to teach 2nd grade upon receiving her teaching certification. This was a heartwarming experience for her as she was a student at the school from kindergarten through 8th grade. After five years, she resigned from teaching to raise her children but was back again once her youngest started kindergarten at Estell Manor School. 

This time, she’s teaching in the world language department, teaching ASL and Spanish together. She finds it incredibly rewarding to hear her students repeat a word that she spoke to them in English back to her in both Spanish and ASL; it’s just as rewarding to her students as she tells them they are becoming trilingual!

Melissa’s trilingual classroom techniques

Some of Melissa’s methods of teaching both languages is to utilize a combination of new and old technology to work together with her students to find the answer when stumped on a translation. Online translator tools are an obvious method, but Melissa also likes to use a good old-fashioned Spanish-English dictionary to show her students that these methods still work even in a high-technology age. 

However, sometimes more advanced methods can be more effective, such as when trying to find the translation of a word in ASL. For this, Melissa will use an online video-based tool called Hand Speak which will demonstrate the sign back to them.

Teaching Spanish and ASL Together in One Classroom

Melissa also loves to use FL4K’s Spanish program in her classroom due to its full-immersion language component and fun videos that her students love. She will pause the videos frequently to go over vocabulary and discuss what is happening in the scene. Melissa will also take it one step further by working in ASL translations! 

The world language classroom does not have to be an intimidating place full of grammar rules and hard memorization. Just as Melissa shows in her own classroom, it can be fun and exciting to learn a new language – or two! Her creativity and letting her passions shine through her teaching truly make all the difference.

Categories
Educational Spanish Language Teacher's Tool Tips

The Best Spanish Programs for Kids

The Best Spanish Programs for Kids
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Trouble Finding Spanish for Kids Programs

Through my extensive career of teaching Spanish in a traditional school setting, I have been approached by many parents who are interested in a Spanish for kids program. Sadly, most schools don’t have the resources to finance an elementary school world language program and many children miss out on the extraordinary experience of learning a second language from a young age.

I started my career developing a pilot Spanish for kids program without having had any formal training in how to do it. Since then, I have learned a lot more about language acquisition from both professional development and experience and have continued to build my repertoire of ideas for the best ways to help kids develop proficiency in Spanish. Even though there are no magical Spanish for kids programs, I have discovered some practical solutions to getting young children started.

A Spanish tutor

First, you can hire a Spanish tutor online or in person. During the pandemic, I was approached by some friends to teach their granddaughter Spanish online. At the time, she was 10 years old and I wasn’t sure how I would captivate her through a computer. During the entire first year, I used Rockalingua with her, a very cleverly written song-based Spanish for kids program online.

Every week we would start a thematically-based lesson with a song followed by games and worksheet activities to reinforce the vocabulary. It was fun and successful enough that my young student made steady progress in building proficiency and enjoyed the experience. As she built vocabulary, I was even able to extend our lessons to include interpersonal conversations.

EntreCulturas, a proficiency-based textbook

The second year we progressed to using a proficiency-based textbook, EntreCulturas, published by Wayside Publishing, Inc. While the book is not specifically designed for a Spanish for kids program, it is designed according to proficiency levels and I thought it had some possibilities for this young language learner.

Every page is full of reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities that promote proficiency. The lessons are also culturally rich including authentic materials, videos of conversations with native speakers, and spectacular images. I actually use this book with adults, too. 

FL4K’s Spanish for Kids Program

In the last six months, since retiring, I have been part of a teacher-team updating and creating an innovative and interactive state-of-the-art Spanish for kids program designed especially for Gen Z, FL4K (Foreign Languages for Kids).

It includes unique games that promote proficiency in Spanish as well as a built-in language lab where students can participate in entertaining dialogues and record themselves. The program is complete with a 9-country culture program presented in a social media format with built-in polling, reflection questions that teach students to make cultural comparisons, and information about global challenges.

The format is so user-friendly and includes a complete curriculum guide, hands-on activities, and a sitcom video series that scaffolds language for building proficiency and reinforces it throughout the culture program.

It can serve as a complete curriculum for homeschoolers, in schools, or online tutors.

Spanish for Kids programs for today’s young learners need to be relevant to their world and in a format that motivates and engages them. Check out our website at FL4K.com to learn more and to sign up for early access. This is a program you will not want to miss, it’s taking language learning to a whole new place!

Categories
Educational Foreign Language Spanish Language

Women’s History Month – a message from the CEO

Reading Time: 2 minutesWomen’s History Month is a time to ponder on all the accomplishments we’ve had as women. I use this month to reflect on what truly motivated me to start the program Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®. After years of searching for a quality foreign language program for my children, I decided to take the initiative and develop my vision – one that incorporated fun as children take on the goal of learning a second language. It took me years to perfect this program, but with tenacity, hard work, and motivation, I developed a program that children from all levels of learning would find enjoyable.

As a mother of three boys, I started language education early on so that my children can experience the benefits of bilingualism. Building on what I learned by observing my sons’ education and coupling that with a preference for fun activities, I put together a curriculum to teach Spanish and Mandarin that uses humor as a key component. Kids have the benefit of time to learn, so it is critical they enjoy learning a second language or they will tune out or quit. My goal has always been for children to be excited about knowing a foreign language and was relentless in my efforts to develop this particular program. As a result, Foreign Language for Kids by Kids® has been recognized by experts as an effective program for foreign language learning and has won more than 15 top education awards in the company’s first two years for its Spanish videos and Spanish board game, including Game and Media of the Year Awards.

During this Women’s History Month, it is important to remember that women must pursue their passions and explore new possibilities. There are many obstacles that stand in the way of pursuing dreams so it is incredibly important to remember to keep moving ahead if you truly believe in your vision. It is not always easy, but with the right combination of determination, positivity, and passion, anything is possible. For me, it was the idea of coming up with a foreign language program that my kids and others would truly find amusing while making language learning fun!

As always, our team takes your viewpoints and suggestions very seriously, and we look forward to hearing from you again. Please be sure to leave a comment below. We want to hear from you!

Don’t forget you can Have Our Newsletter Delivered Directly to Your Inbox click here to subscribe

See you next time!

Warmly,

Kit
Founder, Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®
www.foreignlanguagesforkids.com

Categories
Educational Foreign Language Spanish Language

Five Reasons to Teach your Children Spanish

Reading Time: 2 minutesDid you know that Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese? Over 400 million people throughout North, Central and South America, Europe, and Africa speak the Spanish language. In the United States, Spanish is the most widely spoken language with over 37 million speakers. There are many advantages to learning Spanish, including expanding your curiosity about the cultures, increased educational and career opportunities, and another perspective on how others see the world. Here are five reasons to teach children Spanish:

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT SKILLS: Learning a language like Spanish is a significant step in anyone’s life. It offers the opportunity for children to gain exposure to the language and enhance their capacity to pronounce unfamiliar words and sounds. Children also demonstrate heightened creativity and better problem solving and thinking skills.

EXPANDS CULTURAL HORIZONS: Knowing Spanish will help your child understand and appreciate Hispanic culture, such as Spanish films, music, and literature.

PROVIDES A FOUNDATION FOR OTHER LANGUAGES: Children who learn to speak Spanish can better grasp the ability to learn other languages with Latin roots.

LONG-TERM BENEFITS: In our increasingly globalized society, children who grow up with Spanish as a second language will acquire long-term benefits. Increased opportunities for employment and travel are two such benefits. Being bilingual can broaden career options and make it easier to be eligible for a variety of jobs. International travel can also expand children’s perspectives and allow for deeper connections and understanding while traveling.

IT’S FUN! Your child can learn Spanish and feel a sense of achievement from taking on a new language. Kids will have so much with Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®: SPANISH, that they won’t even realize they’re learning!

As parents, we only want the best for our children. That is why Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids aims to provide an innovative teaching approach and a variety of materials to aid in the study of foreign languages.

Have Our Newsletter Delivered Directly to Your Inbox
click here to subscribe

As always, our team takes your viewpoints and suggestions very seriously and we look forward to hearing from you. Please be sure to leave us your comments below! We want to hear from you!