Spanish Lessons: What I'm Doing

So after a few weeks of plugging away at guiding my little ones in their foreign language journey, I realize that I am finally starting to find my groove. Finally. I am adhering, for the most part, to Charlotte Mason's recommendation of short lessons...10 to 15 minutes. I love that I don't have to come up with a 45 minute "show" every day like I did back when I taught in the public school. It is freeing only to be responsible for a quick lesson in the target language. And the kids are actively involved and engaged. 


My general outline:

Day 1 - review previous vocabulary and introduce new words. Play around with the words actively, using puppets or physical activity or just good ol' simple conversation/Q&A in the target language.

Day 2 - 

watch a Salsa episode online (the previous day's introduction to vocabulary is a help). By the way, this is a free online Spanish video program, a PBS production out of Georgia. It is really captivating to young learners! Each episode is about 15 minutes and uses only Spanish.

Day 3 - 

review new words again. Listen to/learn a song or finger rhyme. I am using Jose Luis Orozco's compilations taken from either Diez Deditos or De Colores and Other Latin American Folk Songs for Children. I also bought the CD that goes alongside this book. After watching the Salsa episode, I can usually find a Finger Rhyme or song that reinforces something in the video. If not, I will look up children's songs on YouTube for ideas or teach a Christian praise song or children's song.

Day 4 - review words and song/rhyme. Play a game, which may include Bingo or Find It or Charades, among several other options.

Day 5 - review and read a book that relates to the "theme" of the week. I was fortunate enough to be gifted quite a substantial starter library of Spanish children's books. Granted, many of them are still too advanced regarding the amount of unknown words; however, I feel that my kids can get something out of it by following along with the pictures, the inflections in my voice and the new words we covered during the week. I also believe it is a good opportunity to just hear more of the language in use. This, along with the videos, will help keep their ears attuned to the sounds of the Spanish language.


If interested, here is a sample week's plan I have used recently:

Due to the context of the Salsa episode being about Little Red Riding-Hood (episode 107), I chose to acquaint my children with the original version of this fairy tale. Thus:

Day 1 - The Blue Fairy Book (by Andrew Lang): Little Red Riding-Hood (spoiler alert: the ending is a sad one!) 

Depiction by Gustave Doré

My 6yo son was surprised, but he still enjoyed it... so much so that for his Copywork, I had him write a letter to his daddy about it and use the last bit of the story for a separate Copywork assignment.

Day 2 - Salsa, episode 107

Day 3 - Diez Deditos finger rhyme: Mi familia. Then we proceeded to look at pictures of our family and extended family to identify them in Spanish (such as abuelo, abuela, tío, tía, etc.)

Day 4 - Review rhyme and family members, questioning more. ¿Quién es ella? ¿Quién es él? (helping them to answer in complete sentences: Es mi abuela. Es mi tío.) A fun activity after this is to have small, printed face shots of each family member for them to glue onto a family tree worksheet, then talk about them in Spanish...perhaps to Daddy or another relative or friend?

Day 5 - Read Caperucita Roja. Of course this version is different than the original, but the kids at least knew the basic plot of the tale and thoroughly enjoyed it!