For little one’s at-home Spanish lessons this week, we started practicing the alphabet in Spanish. We used animal flashcards that I found here, and I printed a set.  (Note: The set doesn’t have all of the animals so I had to create additional cards for the missing animals in the alphabet). To make it easy and fun for him, I traced a table (4 columns x 4 rows) with the alphabet in Spanish on two large sheets of construction paper. He helped by cutting out some of the sheets.

Matching the animal flashcards to the alphabet.

I read the words in Spanish, and he repeated the words. He also traced a circle around the first letter of the animal flashcards. He matched them with the letters on the construction paper. We had fun, and he was excited that he was able to identify some of the animals in Spanish!

After our lesson, he insisted on making a train out of the alphabet. We made it out of empty toilet paper rolls (boy did I have plenty stashed away!)

His super long, long Spanish alphabet train!
We reused the Spanish alphabet sheets to make the train.

This was a fun learning activity to reinforce little one’s Spanish.  This can also be used for learning numbers, or even the alphabet in English.

Thoughts, and anecdotes:
I am truly amazed of how much he’s advanced with his Spanish. He’s putting sentences together, and pointing at everything and saying it in Spanish.  We were at a Mexican restaurant having dinner, and he started saying, “Plato rojo, plato azul, plato amarillo, tenedor, cuchara y cuchillo.” He was so proud!
At one point, I asked the waiter for a spoon in Spanish. Little one’s reaction was, “Mommy, they know Spanish, too!” I said, “Yes, they do!” He questions, “Mommy, but don’t they speak Mexican?” LOL Too sweet!
His confusion was because we had been to a Chinese restaurant for lunch, and he heard the waiters talking to each other. He asks, “Mommy, what are they speaking? It’s not Spanish!” I told him, “No, it’s Chinese.”  Can you see the correlation Chinese restaurant employees speak Chinese, Mexican restaurant employees should speak Mexican! Hahaha! I told him, that Mexicans, and Puerto  Ricans as well as other Latin American countries speak Spanish, too.

We continue going to his weekly Spanish immersion classes, and I’ve purchased quite a few books in both English/Spanish; and musical CD’s (can’t wait to share them with you in a future post!)

What methods do you use at home to teach your children Spanish?  Please do comment, like, pin or share!

¡Hasta luego!

This post was shared at: 1,2,3 Homeschool 4 Me TGIF Linky Party, Crafty Moms Sharing Saturday, Vanessa’s Tot School Tuesday, In Lieu of Preschool Tuesday Tots, and Say it Two Ways Thursdays, World Wide Culture Swapper.

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8 Comments

  1. What a fun lesson! Love the train made of the toilet paper rolls. I got a lot them at home, too.:) It is always exciting to see the kid's progress. I remember that my daughter told me to hold a "real" Chinese book with Chinese words instead of holding an English book and reading (translating) it in Chinese when she was in preschool. I love how your little one noticed the different languages around him. My kids find that it is interesting to hear different languages when we are out. I think that it gives them the opportunity to learn about the world. I am teaching my kids Chinese at home and I read a Chinese story to them almost every night.

  2. Great idea! I really need to get back to learning Spanish with my son. I studied Japanese for years, but everyone in my husband's family speaks Spanish, so it seems more practical for the two of us to join them.

  3. I love your alphabet train and that game is so great to practice Spanish words and hearing beginning letter sounds. You are so creative! I'm still struggling to add more Spanish to our days but it is fun seeing the small advancements my girls are making so I can only imagine how exciting it is to see your son soaring. Well done Mama!

  4. Thank you Amanda! How exciting it must have been to have your daughter ask for a "real" Chinese book! Wow! I've been reading to my son in both English and Spanish, and of course, the Spanish I have been translating to him. 🙂 He's been picking up on some words, here and there; so hopefully one day I will read to him fully in Spanish and he will understand. 🙂

  5. Awe thanks Jody!!! Girl, you have no idea how thrilled I am with my son's progress; so I know the feeling about your girls' small advancements. Just keep at it, and you will see! Especially now that they are that age that their little brains are like sponges. 🙂

  6. Thank you Jessica! I highly encourage you to start Spanish. Having your husband's family will be a great support system for both of you! You could also teach your son Japanese! Ahhh how exciting! Though a lot of work, in the end the satisfaction of seeing your son speak another language will be so rewarding! 🙂 Give it a try!

  8. I love all of your Spanish activities, especially his train! Nice to have toilet paper rolls stashed away lol! And so exciting to see how his Spanish is developing. That is great that he's recognizing other people speaking Spanish – must be exciting for him!

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