Spanish Readers

This site, called Spanish-Kit contains an Elementary Spanish Reader that is very much on level with level 2 classes. It is in the form of a PDF file, so copies may be made and distributed to your students for them to take home and to make notes on. It contains 21 short stories, all adapted to fit the elementary level, and most of the stories are stories that American children would have heard growing up (The Three Bears, Chicken Little). So, even though reading these stories will be a challenge for some students, they will be already have background knowledge of the story, helping them to understand the context better. The language in this reader is adapted to fit the elementary level, and does not contain difficult vocabulary.

One idea for using this in the classroom would be to allow students 5-7 minutes at the beginning of class to skim through the stories you would like to cover for that day and highlight words that they do not know. Then, they can go back (once reading) and try and figure out the meaning from the context, or (before reading) keep a log of these words and their definitions.

I hope that you are able to get some use from this! :)

"Not just another list of websites..."

Hola Amigos!
El recurso del hoy es: iteachspanish2.com. This website claims that they are "not just another list of websites", and after looking around, I would have to say that they are very accurate. The site contains 9 different categories that are typically covered in beginning level Spanish courses, and then gives online games/supplements, ideas on how to teach the material, and additional activities to try in class. The resources and ideas they suggest can easily be added as a warm-up to a lesson, or as a reinforcement when learning new material. The activities are great for all learning styles, having something that relates to each learner, and are a great break for the student from the typical lecture style class they are used to. My personal favorite is the "Alfabeto" link. It's great for pronunciation and is a lot of fun! Overall, I highly suggest that you check out this site. I'm sure you will be able to find something you can use in your own classroom.

As always, feel free to leave comments/suggestions.
adios!

Caracas, Bogota, Quito, Lima, La Paz....

Okay, if you haven't been able to tell by my previous posts, I really enjoy using videos in the classroom. These next two videos are both called Rock the Countries, one being based for Central America, and the other for South America. These videos teach students the capitals for each country in Central and South America. What is funny about this is that I actually remember learning these songs in my kindergarten Spanish class... so hopefully that is an encouragement to show you that these really do stick with students!

These videos are set to a song with a steady beat, and go country by country, repeating the capital and country name multiple times before beginning a new one. Yes, it is repetitive, but trust me, after watching these once, they are hard to forget. They are also very classroom appropriate, and would work perfectly at the beginning of the semester when teaching students general information about the Spanish speaking world. These videos are great for K-12, they are fun, and it would be a great opportunity to get students involved by having them sing along.

As always, feel free to leave questions, comments or concerns!