Things you say a gazillion times a day - switch them to Spanish!

There are so many words I find myself saying over and over all day long: Of course, no, yes, here, there, I don't know, come here, please, thank you, etc.

One easy way to almost trick your childen into learning French, is to drop these reoccuring English words and only say them in French. You just say them and say them and eventually your children will pick them up because you will say them so often in the correct context. You can start out with one or 2 words and see if it works for you (and for your kids).

Here are a few translations to get you started:

Of course - por supuesto
no - no
yes - sí
here - aquí
there - allí
I don't know - No sé
please - por favor
thank you - gracias
you're welcome - de nada

Teaching the Active child Spanish

My youngest son is 3 years old. We adopted him from Taiwan when he was about 6 months old. He's speech delayed in English so I haven't worked too much with him on learning Spanish or French. We've just been concentrating on English. However, now we're in Europe and he really does need to learn some French and Spanish. He's a bit hyper and it's hard to find something to keep his interest. The one thing I did finally find was to use what he was already playing with and add a little Spanish, to it!

He was playing with his little cars from the movie "Cars" and wanted nothing to do with what I wanted him to do. So, I just got down on the floor with him and started to play with some of his cars. I started to line them up and say the numbers in Spanish. Soon he began to follow and repeat what I said. Granted, it didn't last too long as he was off and running to his next activity, but this is a start. So, the moral of the story is to use whatever motivation you can find and take your child's lead as well.

We moved to Europe

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. It's been a busy couple of months. We've moved to France. So, along with my children learning French in school, I'll be teaching them Spanish at home. We plan on taking several long trips to Spain during their school breaks so we can become immersed in the Spanish culture! Now that we are finally settled, I'll be posting more about ways we've taught our children Spanish and maybe it can help you too with your own children!

Worksheets to Help Teach Numbers in Spanish to Children

I found a good site with some worksheets to teach numbers in English, but you can still use the site, print out the worksheets and teach your children the numbers in Spanish. It’s appropriate for preschoolers. It’s been helpful for my 3 year old.

http://www.kidslearningstation.com/preschool/practice-counting.asp

I also found a great little website where you can create your own worksheets in Spanish. You can have your children practice writing the numbers in Spanish. All you have to do is select Spanish when you are creating the worksheet. They have different themes and numbers to 10. This site is good for 5-9 year olds, depending on their ability.

http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/math/numbers/numberis-index.php

Feliz Navidad

I think this is a great song to get your kids grooving and singing in Spanish. The song isn't entirely in Spanish, so it will help them to be more comfortable with learning the few Spanish lines in the song.

There are a ton of videos on Youtube.com where you can sing along with the songs with your kids. Here's one video that my kids enjoyed singing with. Below are the lyrics, in case you need them.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Año y Felicidad.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Año y Felicidad.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart.

We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of our heart.

Worksheet to Learn Colors in Spanish

Here are some simple worksheets for your children to practice their colors in Spanish. If they can't read yet, you can read the colors to them and they can color the word the correct color.

To extend this exercise, you can make a little color book. They can cut out each word and paste it to a page. Then they can cut a picture from a magazine that is that color or they can draw a picture and color it that color. There are many different ways you can expand this activity.

Worksheet to Teach Emotions Words in Spanish

Here's a worksheet for your children to help them learn some emotion words in Spanish! All they have to do is draw little faces according to the emotion listed.

Here's a list of the Spanish emotion vocabulary:
sad - triste
happy - feliz
angry - enojado
crazy - loco

I hope your children are enjoying learning Spanish!