Those who follow my Instagram feed many have spotted that the children and I have, in recent weeks, been learning Spanish. I work on the basis of exposing the children to as much as possible and let them see what they might enjoy. We do lots of various things, and at the moment, the highlight of the week in our Friday morning Spanish group. Both the children and I really enjoy the group and the rate we are going Mr H is likely to have a Spanish word as his first word!
The group is very play based and is run by a mum in the area and we are currently working through a short course. I have been amazed at how quickly both Mr D and Miss E have picked up the bits we have learnt, and how enthusiastic they are. It is not a lie to say that they will both only count in Spanish and say their colours in Spanish. Most activities we do at home are now followed with, ‘and mummy, how do we say that in Spanish?’
I was thrilled when b small publishing sent me some of their Spanish language books to use with the children. We were sent five books to look at (affiliate links below):
- Spanish-English (Picture Dictionary Series)
- My Spanish Sticker Atlas
- My Spanish Sticker Dictionary
- Hide and speak Spanish
- Bear’s First Spanish Words
By far the children’s favourite book is bear’s first Spanish words. This is a lovely hardback book that is split into sections such as Los animales (animals), La familia (family) etc and sees the b small bear illustrated in a range of scenarios. What I like about this is that as well as the English and Spanish words it also includes the pronunciation, so when the children present me with the book I can quickly attempt the pronunciation with a reasonable degree of accuracy. They both love sitting leafing through the book to say the words and phrase they already know. A similar style book is theSpanish-English (Picture Dictionary Series)
The illustrations in this book are bright and clear and like the Bear book it is split into sections for ease of reference as well as including a phonetic pronunciation guide too.
The My Spanish Sticker Atlas
The spot where the sticker goes is marked in English and the sticker itself is marked up in Spanish (along with a pronunciation guide). I haven’t used these yet with the children as at the moment Mr D is beginning to show some interest in learning to read and I don’t want to confused his understanding of written English if I introduce written Spanish too! That said there is a lot in these books, particularly the atlas one which also includes stacks on information about the various countries too.
The sticker books are bright and engaging and I look forward to really getting stuck into these with the children in due course.
Finally, the Hide and speak Spanish
We have really been enjoying our Spanish and I’m going to be using these books more and more. We are doing an ‘all about me’ topic in the new year so we will be sure to to be using these books to learn the Spanish for various body parts too.
I am thrilled that the team at b small publishing have provided a bundle of books to give away to one lucky reader so you can set about learning Spanish too! To be in with a chance of winning please complete the Gleam entry below. The giveaway is open to UK residents only.
I learnt French and would have liked to have learned German, thanks.x
I think this a great idea, I find younger children actually find it easier to take these types of things on board, thanks for sharing with #ReadWithMe
I think that it’s fantastic to expose children to a new language when they are young. My daughter would love to learn French and books like these look like a fun way of introducing her to it 🙂
#readwithme
I learnt Gaelic at school
What a great selection! I’m collecting French books for little miss when she is a little older and you’ve given me some great ideas. #readwithme
I would have liked to have learnt to speak Italian as a child.
i speak fluent romanian. as a child i learn french spanish german and russian not fluent in any of them but i can get by
I would have loved to learn spanish as a child
I would love to have learnt Spanish!
Lovely idea! I always feel ashamed when I go abroad that I can’t speak any foreign languages. I was quite good at French at school and could probably still manage with that, but I’ve got no chance with Spanish or Italian or any other language.
I learnt French and German❤❤❤❤
I think learning a language at a young age is essential – great giveaway
thank you – they are certainly enjoying it 🙂
I learned German and Spanish at school! I can speak Spanish but would love my children to learn It as they are half Spanish!
I knew a bit of French and a lot more German but I wish I could have done Spanish as we go there a lot now and I really struggle to get by, but my son and I try!
So fab that they are learning another language at this age. What an amazing skill to have.
Learning a language with your little ones is a brilliant thing to do, these resources look like the perfect accompaniment 🙂 #readwithme
I learnt French at secondary school, I often wish I had taken more notice during lessons
I’d like to of learn spanish instead of french / german
I learned French at school but would have loved to learn Spanish although my son is learning Spanish at Primary School and not French!
I learnt French but was rubbish at it!! I would have liked to have learnt Spanish but it was not on offer then
French….badly
I did french and german at school but bit rusty now
I studied German at Uni. I was fluent but haven’t spoken it for over ten years so would be really rusty now.
I learned some French and German at School
I learnt French and German
I did French and German at school, but would have loved the option of doing Spanish
I learnt French, Spanish and Arabic
Only French.
i did french at school
I learnt english 🙂
I’d love this for my son who is a massive Dora the Explorer fan and for me too as I’d love to learn some Spanish!
I learnt german xx
This is great. I was trying to be as bi-linugal in Welsh as possible with out eldest, who is now four. He managed to count to ten and a few colours. Completely dropped the ball with #2, who was born in March. This might give me a second wind…
ah hope it does inspire you!