I need some ideas for Spanish lessons for preschoolers?

Question

I am a preschool teacher and teach my kids Spanish two days a week. I am running out of ideas and there seems to be limited resources online, especially for my age-group (3-5).

For this week I am specifically looking for activities to get them used to using the phrase "Me llamo". (Although feel free to share suggestions on other themes)

Any ideas would be helpful!!

Answer 1

Let them watch

Dora The Expola!

Answer 2

You need to teach something unique that is not easy to find a counterpart in English such that they use it and such that it sticks in their minds.  Here off the top of my head (and because I am such a clever guy) I will make up something.  OK let's see.  I want best answer from you...OK I got it:

Use this wonderful and simple tune:

Another nice rhyme to sing:

http://www.silvitablanco.com.ar/sobreelp...

(listen to this link with the sound on).  This song is catchy and simple for preschoolers.

Many of the Maria Elena Walsh songs are simple enough:

http://www.silvitablanco.com.ar/jacarand...

http://www.silvitablanco.com.ar/mariaele...

More daring for further lessons:  for example a song that rhymes is easy to remember.  Here is a classic nursery rhyme from Argentina (Maria Elena Walsh): http://audio.ya.com/musicarraona/2002/po...

MUSIC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_R1Dg2r0...

WORDS

Manuelita vivía en Peguajó

pero un día se marchó.

Nadie supo bien por qué,

a París ella se fue

un poquito caminando

y otro poquitito a pié.

Manuelita, Manuelita,

Manuelita, ¿dónde vas?

Con tu traje de malaquita

y tu paso tan audaz

Manuelita una vez se enamoró

de un tortugo que pasó

¿Y ahora que podré yo hacer?

Vieja no me va a querer...

En Europa y con paciencia

me podrán embellecer

Manuelita, Manuelita,

Manuelita, ¿dónde vas?

Con tu traje de malaquita

y tu paso tan audaz

En la tintorería de París

la pintaron con barniz,

la plancharon en Francés,

del derecho y del revés...

Le pusieron peluquita

y botines en los pies

Manuelita, Manuelita,

Manuelita, ¿dónde vas?

Con tu traje de malaquita

y tu paso tan audaz

Tantos años tardó en cruzar el mar...

que allí se volvió a arrugar!

Y por eso regresó

vieja como se marchó,

para ver a su tortugo

que la espera en Peguajó!

Maria Elena Walsh

Argentina

The song is very catchy and will help them to remember many words.  You can play the music from UTUBE above.

OK let me think of another one? hmm.  The Papelucho stories from Chile are very good.  Papelucho Misionero by Marcela Paz is very good, I remember that from my childhood.  It may be a bit too advanced but it is a magical book:

http://www.rie.cl/?a=22395

You may get some copies of the book from Chile and use them for older kids.

Answer 3

teach them how to say 1-10 but take each number slowly in the teaching or teach them how to say i or hi or good bye all the basics

Answer 4

Dora is a good one. She teaches spanish to that age group. But I'm not sure what time it comes on TV.

Answer 5

Songs

Answer 6

For this age group, I think u start your lesson with fruits, vegetables, pizza and cakes. That would be juicy!

Answer 7

Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Dora the Explorer! lol.

Answer 8

Maybe teach them the days of the week. I'm sure there's a song out there somewhere about it.

Answer 9

Maybe you should try doing a food idea. Show them meanings of different foods in Spanish and colors. Make a traditional cookie or something =]

Answer 10

Dora the explorer! she teaches spanish to kids

there are loads of Dora the explorer books and vtech toys, it doesn't have to be on a television

Answer 11

I teach English as a foreign language, rather than Spanish, but I teach the same age group so maybe some of these ideas might help.

Stuff that goes down well with my classes are -

Any kind of roleplay involving props - recently we've done shop, restaurant, and doctor, which all worked well. Shop just involved 'toys' flashcards and play money, the kids took turns to be shopkeeper and ask 'what do you want?'. To add interest for the older kids (5yo) we gave them 10 'dollars' each and hid the prices (we priced cards randomly at 1-8 'dollars') - the game was to buy as many things as possible without running out of money.

Restaurant also practiced 'what do you want?' 'I want -------'  and required food flashcards, a bandana for the 'waiter' and a menu with pictures of food. The server has to take an order then fetch the correct card. Older children enjoyed the challenge of trying to remember several orders at once.

'Doctor' involved a plastic stethoscope and a toy syringe - the doctor asks 'What's wrong?, the patient answers 'My ---------- hurts.' and the doctor then has to pretend to give an injection in the correct place.

I'm sure you can think of many others!

'Angry swimming' - reinforces verbs and emotions. A gesture game where they have to act out both the verb and the emotion.

Run and touch - lay out cards for the answers (or have an adult volunteer hold them up), then shout a question (e.g. 'do you like ----?' - answers being 'Yes I do.'/'No I don't'; 'Which do you like' - 'I like apples'/'I like lemons') then the whole class runs and touches an answer, which they then chorus.

Bouhiki (requires 2 adults) - split the class into 2 teams. Lay out a whole lot of flashcards between them. When you say 'go' they have to run and grab a card, then bring it back to their team leader (adult) and either say what the card is or complete a short dialogue before they can get another card. The team with the most cards wins.

Vocab drills-

Snake Janken - put flashcards in a line. split class into 2 teams. On 'go' one player from each team starts down the line (from opposite ends) saying each card as they pass it. When they meet, they play 'rock scissors paper - the loser goes to the back of their team line and a new person starts from the beginning - the winner continues from the place they got to. The aim is to get all the way across to the opposing team's side.

Karuta (slap the card) - for variation (and safety) play with flyswats, squeaky hammers... whatever your kids like. 2 players, call a card, first one to hit it wins (for younger kids I don't keep score, just applaud both kids when they hit the card)

A variation is 'hide and seek karuta' - the cards are face down and the players have to find the correct one by turning them over. My kids love this and it avoids the danger of 2 kids nutting heads as they go for the same card!

Anything that involves them having a go at something fun when they get a question right - for example we have a plastic pack of fries - one is on elastic so when it's pulled out the rest spring out all over - answer a question, pull out a plastic fry, my lot would do that for 40 minutes together if I let them!

I could go on and on - let me know if you want more!