As back to school is here and my son’s private school opted for Latin instead of Spanish, I started looking for alternatives to keep his summer skills sharp and the Spanish fresh in his mind. I searched for ideas and created some new ways to bring a second language to my child who will be basically exposed to just one language in school.

I hope you enjoy!

1) Game Night – Juegos

Choose your favorite game like scrabble, bingo, any game and create a Spanish version. I have a professional bingo wooden set, we get the popcorn out, my son loves it! Once a month is game night in Spanish!

2) Libros –My son loves buying books, I take him to Barnes and Noble or shop online, for each English book, he needs to chose one in Spanish!

3) Cantar – We download karaoke versions of songs in Spanish and he and I try to sing and do a contest! I connect my laptop to the tv and the songs are on youtube.

4) Comida – Off course food is always a great way to bring Spanish to the table through the amazing dishes,if you need inspiration, visit my cooking blog: www.kcocina.com

5) Hablar – Speaking Spanish at home, on a daily basis, using short sentences if you are not fluent, is off course the most effective way to develop your child’s skills and his/her connection with the language.

If you have more ideas, please share them with us! Would love to hear you!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages

Dear readers,

I’m so excited to start sharing some activities our instructors will be using at our Spanish classes in South Jersey!

First I would like to share a list of words, must have when you are teaching Christmas in Spanish:

Feliz Navidad! -Merry Christmas 

Christmas tree – árbol de Navidad

presents – regalos

sleigh – trineo

chimney – chimenea

the shepherds – los pastores

bells – campanas

peace – paz

ornaments – adornos

wreath – corona

For children who read, they will “decorate” the tree below with the words above ( cut them and have them glue them on the tree, saying the names in Spanish)

http://www.coloring-page.net/pages/xtree027.html Word find for older ones:

http://spanish.about.com/library/weekly/aa121399a.htm Song/video for little and older ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq34OLRM5Mw

I also have a line of bells, children will ring (repicar) and each time I stop in a different number of bells, they need to count them.

I read Santa Claus is coming to town in Spanish, I use the book in English and make 2 line sentences for each page. They know the story, so it becomes easier. I also use the video and turn in the Spanish mode for the dvd, I do that with frost the snowman and Rudolf too. We have a whole class, just with Frosty! I may share that later!

I also print colored balls and color cotton balls with paint and have them do a “snowball fight” and each ball touches another student, they need to tell me the color. Younger and older ones love it!

Google ” cascabel” and you will find the words for jingle bells in Spanish, there are three or four versions.

The one listed here on youtube is a little hard for little ones, so when we sing only, I use

Cascabel, Cascabel musica de amor

Dulces horas, gratas horas

Juventud in flor

Cascabel, Cascabel

Tan sentimental

No ceces o cascabel,

de repiquetear

I hope you enjoyed my ideas! Please share your experiences in using them here!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages© CEO

Ideas and information on this blog are protected by copyright, please contact author to publish or reprint ideas.