Mommie_Jen Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) DS is dying to learn real Spanish. His invisible (NOT imaginary! There is a difference!!:D) friends are Spanish cowboys named Ocho and Dos. All I can remember is how to ask if I can use the restroom, so obviously 4 years of high school Spanish did nothing for me. Online or not, iPad apps or workbook- it doesn't matter. But I need very cheap, preferably free. What's out there that you recommend? I've done a bit of Googling, but am just not sure what to do. ¡Gracias! Edited September 7, 2012 by Mommie_Jen Auto correct is not smarter than me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I recommend Salsa Spanish 100%! I'm using it with my Kindy and my 3rd grader. Best of all it's free. The videos are here. Lesson plans are here (click on the arrow by Salsa Materials). I'm working on adding worksheets for each lesson to add a written component, but I'm not through very many episodes yet. This gives an excellent working Spanish vocabulary IMO. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I just put together a year of Spanish for my kids and posted in on my blog. It uses lots of games and the idea of basic immersion and has lots of downloads to print for things like BINGO and Pictionary. Plans and downloads are free, but there are resources listed that we are using. You could get buy with just buying the Usborne First Thousand Words in Spanish, though I really recommend the Bilingual CD as well. Check out the link in my siggie if you are interested. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) I have made flashcards for Spanish and either the English word or a picture. Some things you can do: 1) Put the cards in order to make sentences. (Please note I am not well versed in Spanish, so mistakes may appear below). Me gusta las manzanas. No me gusta los fideos. (I like apples. I don't like noodles). Necesito ir a casa. (I need to go home). Ella necesita correr a la piscina. (She needs to run to the pool). Quiero caminar al parque. (I want to walk to the park). El quere ir a la tienda. (He wants to go to the store). 2) Play concentration with the cards, but lay them all face up. 3) Use an old game and modify it for the cards. Yesterday, we used an old Chutes and Ladders board with the cards. Dd would pick a card and she got: --3 spaces for reading/identifying the card. "Quiero" --3 spaces for translating the card "I want" --And 3 spaces for creating a sentence in Spanish using the word. "Quiero ir al cine." (I want to go to the movies). ETA: Forgotten rule: Mom plays, too, but only gets 2 spaces for each achievement. 4) Make flashcards of words in a room. Play scavenger hunt to put each card on its item. Examples (bedroom): la cama (bed) el osito de peluche (stuffed bear) la munica (doll) la ventana (window) el libro (book) la alfombra (rug) la lampara (lamp) el peine (comb) 5) Make flashcards for colors in the following way. The Spanish name will be colored. The English name will be black. Match them. rojo/red anaranjado/orange amarillo/yellow azul/blue etc, etc 6) Make flashcards for the colors, but this time write the Spanish name in black. rojo anaranjado amarillo azul etc, etc Use it to play scavenger hunt, but this time the child can find ANYTHING that is green for verde, ANYTHING that is white for blanco, and ANYTHING pink for rosa. 7) Pull out your child's collection of little plastic animals. Name them. la vaca (cow) el caballo (horse) el caracol (snail) You can do the same for the stuffed animals on the bed: el pinguino (penguin) el tiburon (shark) el raton (mouse) 8) If your children receive children's magazines, sometimes they have silly little games in the back. Appropriate them for Spanish practice. Or you can just run to your library with a pocket of quarters to copy the games. In May 2012 High Five magazine, there are cards with parent animals and babies. So we learn: el pato (duck) el patito (duckling) el gato (cat) el gatito (kitten) el perro (dog) el perrito (puppy) la rana (frog) la ranita??? (froglet/tadpole....need to look this up!) September 2012 High Five has a little "going back to school game that matches sets of: backpack (el mochila) scissors (unas tijeras)? crayons (el crayon) pencil (el lapiz) markers (los rotulador)? lunchbox (la lonchera)? 9) High Five magazine also has a bilingual story in each issue. It introduces 4-5 new words/phrases each story. 10) Board games around the house. Play Candyland saying the colors in Spanish. Play UNO saying the numbers and colors in Spanish. Play Sorry, but say Lo Siento! I'm sure that you can use lots of creativity with the games in your game closet. Edited September 8, 2012 by duckens I forgot a rule for the Chutes and Ladders game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverland Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I recommend Salsa Spanish 100%! :iagree: Free, easy, immersion & perfect for a kindergartner. Nothing beats audio/visual immersion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I recommend Salsa Spanish 100%! :iagree: It's been a huge hit at our house this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caedmyn Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 We tried Salsa last year but DD wasn't interested in watching each episode more than once and I don't feel like she got anything out of it. She liked them, but I didn't think they were very effective as a stand-alone (and I just couldn't get into doing the go-along activities). I ended up buying "Teach Them Spanish" for K and we sang all the songs in it and she learned quite a bit of vocabulary that way (she wasn't very interested in doing the workbook pages). For this year I've bought a set of beginning Spanish/English readers with CDs off eBay. It was about $20 for 10 books and we'll listen to one each day in rotation and I think she'll learn quite a lot of vocabulary that way, with some natural grammar usage picked up too. Also Beth Manner's Magic Spanish & Fun Spanish are inexpensive as MP3s from eBay and I think they're really good (at least for her...she needed to hear the English word right after the Spanish to retain anything). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I recommend Salsa Spanish 100%! I'm using it with my Kindy and my 3rd grader. Best of all it's free. The videos are here. Lesson plans are here (click on the arrow by Salsa Materials). I'm working on adding worksheets for each lesson to add a written component, but I'm not through very many episodes yet. This gives an excellent working Spanish vocabulary IMO. :001_smile: ;) Thanks! We just watched one of the videos and loved it! I have a 3 & 5 year old and am trying to teach them Spanish, too. I think we'll be incorporating some these videos and lessons (gotta to take a look at those). The kids liked the video. Cute and engaging. We are using La Clase Divertida Level 1 and are enjoying it. It's not free. It was $85 direct from the site, but includes a dvd, cd, workbook, and craft materials for the culture section. I felt it was a good value and fun for my kids age level. We don't use the workbooks since they are too young, but I think we'll repeat all 3 levels after going through them later on when they're older so that they can do the workbook and catch what was over their head. We also have the Beginner's Book of Spanish for pre-school -2nd grade. Again, some stuff was over there head but can be used later on while some stuff is great for right now. You might also want to check the library. Our library has the whole Muzzy series, and many dvds, cd's, and children's books in Spanish as well as biligual story books for children. They also have a weekly bilingual family story time (Spanish) one day a week that we try to attend regurlarily with a native Spanish speaker, which is nice. Maybe you'll find some things you can use there! Good luck and hope you guys have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommie_Jen Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 Thanks! Lots of fun ideas to explore this weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 One more thing we are doing: I have printed off coloring sheets for dd. The Spanish word or phrase is on each one. (I have modified them on Powerpoint, but really you just need a black crayon to write the word). When we have enough colored, I will staple them together into a "book." Dd colors one every time we do Spanish. And we review the ones she has colored previously. If you are more on the ball than I am, you could do Spanish daily. 180 days of schoolwork = 180 words or phrases of Spanish your Ker would know. You could do sets of animals (farm, jungle, pets), foods, feelings, things in the yard or park (slide, swings, butterfly, flower), toys (blocks, stuffed bear, bike, train, dishes), places to go (library, store, school, church, park, pool), or things in a specific room (bed, rug, dresser, closet, toys, blanket, pillow, pajamas). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Duckens, I really love all your ideas! They are awesome! I'll have to try some of that out at my house! Just wanted to add to OP we spend about 15 min. a day, 4 days a week, on Spanish. That seems to be enough for my kids to have established a good grasp on the language to where they are remembering several words and phrases. We also utilize the cd from La Clase Divertida a lot! If you don't get any sort of curriculum package, just getting a cd in Spanish for kids is nice because you can squeeze in Spanish on the go. When we have to drive somewhere on a school day, we will listen to our cd's for 15 minutes and practice aloud together in the car instead of doing it at home to shave some time off our school time to compensate for having a busy day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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