Learning language through music

These days I am focusing on teaching more Spanish through music. It's a fun and natural way to learn new vocabulary and pronunciation.

My daughter is quite fond of listening to music, she is almost four, so if she likes a song she'll just get up and start dancing. She is now asking me to play the same song at least three times, because she is three. I think it's so cute.  I have began noticing that each time we play the same song, she catches on new words. Repetition is the main learning strategy used by children.

We are currently learning the song, "Que Cante la Vida" by Alberto Plaza, a Chilean singer. I have known this song since I was a little girl, so it is very special to me. I think my daughter can see that this song has a special meaning to me and might make her like it even more.

Anyways, she likes knowing that Alberto Plaza is Chilean, just like I am.  :-)

The lyrics repeat some of the same words:
manos, sol, camino, voces, vida, etc.

Here is a link to the lyrics to Que Cante la Vida. 





What songs are your children learning these days? What language is it in?

~ Fabiola

Bilingual Play Area {Free} Printable

I made this colorful poster to decorate right above my children's toy storage area.

Hope you can use it at home with your children also!

Download this file in pdf format from scrib, "Bilingual Spanish English Play Area Free Printable."

We are using this poster to talk about the meaning of the words: play, create, laugh, explore in English and Spanish.


Hope you find this poster useful!


~ Fabiola

How to Promote Early Literacy

A few months ago, I guest-posted an article for MommyMaestra called 12 Ways to Promote Early Literacy in the home. The article is geared towards bilingual homes, but certainly each idea can be incorporated in a monolingual home.

I invite you to head on over and read it. :-)

What do you do at home to incorporate literacy? When do you start? What kind of things do you do most often? Do you do them with the intention of teaching or do they come naturally? 

~Fabi 

B is for Button, B es de Boton

Letter B

Materials:

• Print capital and lower case 'B' - I used the ones found at this coloring page site. 
• Buttons
• Glue 

*** I like to cut the letters and glue them on cardstock to create a firm base for our activity first.

Steps:

1. I placed a bunch of buttons in a little plate for her and asked her what these were called. She said 'botones.' That's right, botones or buttons both begin with the same letter, B / b. 

2. I asked 'what is the letter for buttons / botones? She looked and responded [be] when she saw it on the paper. Then she said [bee].

3. [be] in Spanish and [bee] in English both refer to the same letter.

 She told me there was a big [be] and a 'ochito' (chiquitito/small) [be] on the paper.

4. Then she glued buttons on the capital and lowercase b.

We will use this poster as the introduction for our week doing crafts with this letter.


~Fabi