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Dd is going into Kindy next year at a Spanish immersion school. She's reading fairly well in English, but will start over with Spanish reading. Any recommendations for quality spanish early readers? I have a few Dr. Seuss ones and Elephant and Piggie in Spanish. Our library has a large Spanish section of kids books of all levels and E books.

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Has she been taught to read in Spanish yet? I would want to go through the syllabary with her to minimize the habit of English accent on the vowels.

You can have her watch videos from AprenderaLeer.com to learn the correct way to read. Spanish vowels are constant, unlike English.

 

Early Readers don't translate well, in English those books were written to have easy to decode words in them. So "The dog sits on the log", (6 words, 6 syllables) but in Spanish that'd be El perro se sienta en el tronco, (7 words, 11 syllables) and it just doesn't retain it's "easy to readness"

 

If you want to give her a headstart in reading Spanish, teach her the Spanish syllabary from YouTube and get a Nacho reader (or something similiar) off of Amazon. You can go through it quickly (1-2 months for a child who is already reading in English) and then begin reading other books.

 

You might consider a subscription on ReadingAZ.com, as they have many books available in English and Spanish, many of the "easy to read" books in English are "easy to understand" in Spanish. She can get a preview of and begin to pick up on the grammar of Spanish, such as adjectives coming after the nouns.  Eng: A red car. Spn: Un coche rojo

 

 

Edited by mom2bee
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Has she been taught to read in Spanish yet? I would want to go through the syllabary with her to minimize the habit of English accent on the vowels.

You can have her watch videos from AprenderaLeer.com to learn the correct way to read. Spanish vowels are constant, unlike English.

 

Early Readers don't translate well, in English those books were written to have easy to decode words in them. So "The dog sits on the log", (6 words, 6 syllables) but in Spanish that'd be El perro se sienta en el tronco, (7 words, 11 syllables) and it just doesn't retain it's "easy to readness"

 

If you want to give her a headstart in reading Spanish, teach her the Spanish syllabary from YouTube and get a Nacho reader (or something similiar) off of Amazon. You can go through it quickly (1-2 months for a child who is already reading in English) and then begin reading other books.

 

You might consider a subscription on ReadingAZ.com, as they have many books available in English and Spanish, many of the "easy to read" books in English are "easy to understand" in Spanish. She can get a preview of and begin to pick up on the grammar of Spanish, such as adjectives coming after the nouns. Eng: A red car. Spn: Un coche rojo

She hasn't been taught in Spanish. The school is a full immersion and all of her instruction in k will be in Spanish. I was hoping to get some Spanish books to have around the house so she has them for next fall. I'm not sure I want to give her a head start in Spanish.

 

Would a child who knows no Spanish (other than counting and some words) do well starting Spanish phonics? We're still doing English phonics (almost done) so I wouldn't mind starting Spanish this summer if it wouldn't be too tricky for her.

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If you want to get the books for the fall, then that's fine. (Congrats on getting into the Spanish Immersion program!)

Spanish phonics are very simple and yes, a child who can not speak, but can listen to and repeat Spanish can learn to read in Spanish correctly. I'm practically monolingual Anglophone, I have tutored Spanish speaking children in Spanish reading, using native materials and gotten good results. Mom, take the time to learn to pronounce Spanish, then get a mirror. and teach her to form her vowels. The 'a' ALWAYS looks this way in our mouths, it ALWAYS sounds this way, it is ALWAYS this sound. The same for 'e' 'i' 'o' and 'u'. In Spanish there are FIVE vowels and FIVE vowel sounds. That is it.

 

None of that 3+ sounds for 'a' that you have in English "father" "cat" "navy", In Espanol, the letter 'a' sounds like "father" and you hear this in "gato" and every other Spanish word with "a" . Always, always, always.

After you learn a vowel sound, then you go through the syllabary for that sound. 

a

ba, ca, da, ,fa, ga, ha....

e

be, ce, de, fe, ge, he....

The same for i, o, u. Then you begin the reader and follow it through. Spanish phonics are sequenced very typically and logically and I really like the method.

 

Most of the Spanish phonics books I've seen begin with syllables for m, p, n, and d. Children read words and phrases about mama and papa. Because the letters C and G change sound in front of 'e' and 'i', the are sequenced a little later in the book. When we learn Ga, Go, Gu, we learn "gue" and "gui" too because they have the same /G/ sound due to the u "buffering" the G so that it makes its hard sound with the 'e' and 'i'.

 

As watching YouTube videos will show you, the "ll" and "rr" are different than an English speaker/reader would expect. In Spanish "ll" makes a /y/ sound, and "rr" is hard to explain. Say "Betty batters the butter" The "rr" is almost the "tt" sound in those words, but not quite. They will fix her accent in Spanish immersion school, so don't worry about her having an accent in some sounds.

Edited by mom2bee
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I should have clarified. I do speak and read Spanish. I read much better than I speak, but I'm prett familiar with the Spanish phonics as far as letter pronunciation and such. I cannot roll my r though.

 

Her teachers are all native speakers which I am excited about. It will be great for her accent.

 

I may add in some Spanish phonics then this summer. We finish our English phonics program soon and I'm going to order the Nacho text and start going over Spanish phonics. I knew the syllables would be a different aspect since many Spanish words are two syllables at least.

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None of that 3+ sounds for 'a' that you have in English "father" "cat" "navy", In Espanol, the letter 'a' sounds like "father" and you hear this in "gato" and every other Spanish word with "a" . Always, always, always.

After you learn a vowel sound, then you go through the syllabary for that sound. 

a

ba, ca, da, ,fa, ga, ha....

e

be, ce, de, fe, ge, he....

The same for i, o, u. Then you begin the reader and follow it through. Spanish phonics are sequenced very typically and logically and I really like the method.

 

 

This is a little different than how we learned it (I was mentored by native speaking teachers, I am not a native speaker, and still teach Spanish). We were taught the vowels first, then added a consonant at a time with the syllables. So after the vowels, it was ma, me, mi, mo, mu, and simple sentences such as "Mi mama me ama." We added one consonant at a time, making sentences and reading short stories as we went along. Most syllabaries will show it done that way. The order may show slight differences, but the order listed by mom2bee is common, along with /s/ and/or /l/. It just depends on what program is used, just like in English.

 

La Pata Pita and La Pata Pita Vuelve is what I use at home (https://www.amazon.com/Pata-Pita-Spanish-Hilda-Perera/dp/0805601341/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485369496&sr=8-2&keywords=la+pata+pita), as that was what we used at the time I was mentored. Scholastic had a series of emergent readers that presents vowels first then adds a consonant at a time, but it is expensive. I can't seem to find the set now, but here is one of the books https://shop.scholastic.com/shop/en/tso/product/Sami-suma. I wouldn't pay $3 a book; I got the set using points. Ack! I was going to give you the link for textos gratuitas from the Mexico education site, but it looks like they moved it, again!

 

We also played games, putting syllables on cards, turning them over, and choosing two to create a word. It was the "Silly Word" game, since they weren't always real words. I like Spanish in that the syllables could be changed around to make words. :D Mommy Maestra is a good resource for Spanish materials for native speakers. She lists resources, many free, many paid. Here's my board of some Spanish resources; Mommy Maestra is on there as well.

 

Have fun!

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Here's my board of some Spanish resources; Mommy Maestra is on there as well.

 

Have fun!

Renai, not the op, but thanks for all your ideas! Can you add the link to your board?

 

Also, and OT, did you say once that you run a Spanish conversation group online? I can't find the thread where you mentioned who hosted the site, but I am interested in checking it out for my older two.

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Renai, not the op, but thanks for all your ideas! Can you add the link to your board?

 

Also, and OT, did you say once that you run a Spanish conversation group online? I can't find the thread where you mentioned who hosted the site, but I am interested in checking it out for my older two.

 

Here's Mommy Maestra link from the board: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/316589048786235184/

 

I run the group through Virtual Homeschool Group: http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.org/course/index.php?categoryid=10

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is a little different than how we learned it (I was mentored by native speaking teachers, I am not a native speaker, and still teach Spanish). We were taught the vowels first, then added a consonant at a time with the syllables. So after the vowels, it was ma, me, mi, mo, mu, and simple sentences such as "Mi mama me ama." We added one consonant at a time, making sentences and reading short stories as we went along. Most syllabaries will show it done that way. The order may show slight differences, but the order listed by mom2bee is common, along with /s/ and/or /l/. It just depends on what program is used, just like in English.

I should have been more clear. I didn't realize that OP already spoke Spanish but since she and her daughter are doing English phonics, I was recommending that they do that individual vowel exercise, prior to beginning on the Native Spanish Reader, or as a daily warm up until the Spanish vowels become ingrained.

 

The Native Spanish readers that I've seen cover all 5 vowels VERY briefly, then just jumps in to reading syllables with them, and my thinking was that a child who just learned English phonics may struggle with when to make which sound. In my experience, it can take a little intentional work for English reading/speaking students to break the habit of pronouncing English vowels while reading Spanish.

 

Of course, OP being a Spanish speaker already kinda makes it a less-important note, as she can just correct and redirect as necessary.

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  • 3 months later...

Any ideas on a set of easy Spanish readers? I've got the methodolgy materials lined up but now am on the hunt for engaging, authentic readers. The library's got some but I'd like more titles. My daughter's 7 & I delayed Spanish reading instruction until now so any advice on teaching a primary student is appreciated. I assume it'll move faster for an older kid whose English reading skills are solid?

 

Also, I'd like ideas on developing writing skills too. Abuela is a pen-pal option but that'll be only a periodic thing. Tios are also options. We don't really do copywork. What other ways can I get her to write while learning to read? My goal is for her to be fully literate & writing is an obviously important piece of the puzzle. She's resistant to anything non-English (including French), the little stinker, so any incentives or fun activities are welcome.

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