In This Issue...

Welcome - Bienvenido

Feature Article:  Helping Children Build Dual Literacy at Home and at School

Spanish Fun Activity: Let's Play with Pocoyo! – ¡Vamos a jugar con Pocoyo!

Spanish Tip of the Month:  How Many? - How Much? - How much is it (the cost)?

¡Saludos a todos - Greetings to you all!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!  When August rolls around, oftentimes gears shift to Back-to-School mode.  My twins are starting pre-k in a school setting for the first time this year, and my oldest is going into first grade.  I'm excited (3 kids in school!) and a little nervous because of this new experience for my twins.  I know they'll all be fine, and we'll still be learning Spanish.

If you want to share Spanish-learning/teaching articles, games or activities with  our Spanish Discovery Time! subscribers, please email me jessica@ourspanishlessonplansonline.com.  I’ll consider publishing them in future issues.

Promoting Language and Cultural Diversity with Dual Language Books

By Anneke Forzani

The number of school children speaking a language other than English at home has
increased dramatically over the last few decades.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau,
the number of speakers of languages other than English among 5-17 year olds in the U.S.
increased from 3.8M to 9.5M, while those classified as “English Language Learners”
increased from 1.3M to 2.9M.  This growth is significantly higher than that of the native
English speaking population.

At the same time, an increasing body of research demonstrates the importance of helping children build literacy in their home language.  Many literacy skills transfer from one
language to the other, and children will learn to read, write and speak a second language better if they have a strong foundation in their first language.

There has also been a growing recognition that parental involvement significantly impacts
children’s language acquisition, especially if the parents provide their children with a
high quality literacy environment from an early age.  This, in turn, leads to the best
practice that encourages parents to read and speak with kids using their strongest
language.

Many educators find it difficult to secure resources that can help their students
maintain their home language and encourage home literacy and parental involvement. 
Bilingual books and CDs are a wonderful resource to help meet the challenge.  Such books have text in two languages (usually English and the student’s home language) on each
page.  The following points outline some of the key benefits of dual-language resources:

°  Bilingual books promote the maintenance of home languages.  They encourage bilingual
children to read in their home language.  Teachers can lend the books to children to take
home, and many schools have built bilingual classroom libraries for this purpose. 
Bilingual staff and parents also can read to children in class or make audiotapes for the
students.  This is a great way to get parents involved in their children’s education. 
Conducting bilingual “read-alouds” is also a wonderful way to incorporate diversity in
the classroom.
 
°  The books make students and families from non-English households feel more welcome.  Bilingual books allow families to see/read familiar texts, which can show a respect for
their culture.  The children will also feel proud to share their culture or see it
reflected in the classroom.  In some cases the stories may relate to their country, while
other books have themes that encourage an acceptance of “being different”.

°  Dual-language books provide an excellent opportunity to expand the minds of all
children.  Bilingual books help teachers introduce the entire class to new languages and
stories.  They also offer a springboard to educate students about different cultures and
traditions.  Dual-language stories that help children appreciate and welcome diversity
are available and can be particularly useful in diverse classroom settings.

While much more needs to be done to maximize the educational experience of language
learners, dual-language materials are excellent resources for supporting the maintenance
of home languages and incorporating diversity in the classroom.

Anneke Forzani is President and Founder of Language Lizard, LLC.  Language Lizard offers bilingual children's books in over 40 languages, multicultural lesson plans, and a complimentary e-newsletter to help parents and teachers expose children to other languages and cultures at www.LanguageLizard.com.

Spanish Fun Activity

Let's Play with Pocoyo! – ¡Vamos a jugar con Pocoyo!

Some evenings after dinner, my girls and I gather around the computer and pay a visit to Karen's blog, www.teachingandlearningspanish.blogspot.com.  There we watch 1 or 2 short episodes (7 minutes each) of a show called Pocoyo.  Pocoyo is a preschooler with a big imagination, and he loves to explore the world around him with his adorable friends.  My girls thoroughly enjoy Pocoyo. For the episodes on her blog, Karen posts up keyword phrases and vocabulary to review with your child.

Amazon.com has dvd's of Pocoyo but they're just in English. Only one title has English and Spanish audio tracks--Pocoyo: Fun and Dance with Pocoyo.

Take a moment for you and your child to play with Pocoyo today!

How Many? - How Much? - How much is it (the cost)?

When I go to the corner store (la tienda), sometimes I need to ask for the price of something or for the total of my purchase - “How much is it (the cost)?" Asking questions would be a great opportunity to practice my Spanish, but I hesitate.  I wonder, “Is it: “Cuántas cuestan?” or Cuántos cuestas?” singular? plural?  I know. I know.  I’m thinking too hard.

Anyway, I think I got it now, and I wanted to share what I learned with you.

If you want to know how much something costs (el costo), simply ask, “¿Cuánto cuesta?” (KWAN-toh KWAY-stah)

If you want to know “how many?” you ask, “¿Cuántos?”

So, if you want to know, “How many toys (los juguetes) are there?” you ask,
¿Cuántos juguetes hay?

If you want to ask your child, “How many balls (las pelotas) are there?” you must ask ¿Cuántas pelotas hay? because las pelotas is feminine.

A response to “How many?” will often begin with “There are….” or "Hay..."  (pronounced like the English long "i" sound).

 

For our examples above,

How many toys are there? - ¿Cuántos juguetes hay?

There are 10 toys. - Hay 10 juguetes.

 

How many balls are there? - ¿Cuántas pelotas hay?

There are 3 balls. – Hay 3 pelotas.

Let me know if this Spanish Tip helped.  Feel free to email me or visit my blog:
www.spanish-lesson-plans-for-children.blogspot.com to offer comments.

¡Hasta la vez próxima! – Until next time!

Jessica

Invest time in your own Spanish learning.  I used the Visual Link Spanish program and encourage you to try out their free lessons.

 

Spanish Discovery Time! e-Newsletter Archive