BOCA BETH: Bringing Spanish to Life!

Below are the suggested circle time activities for our I Love My Family / Yo quiero mi familia bilingual kids song:

Using visual aides of the family members from this song I choose different children to be each family member. (Again, you can find the entire family in educational stores as a visual aid and simply laminate the English on one side, the Spanish on the other side.) Then we sit on our designated area of the semi-circle, and the child holding the “mommy/mamá” walks around the circle showing us their “mommy/mamá” during the chorus about “mommy/mamá” then that child sits down on their spot. The “daddy/papá” walks around and so on.  On the chorus of the song the children are encouraged to hug themselves as we all sing, “I love my mommy” or “I love my brother”

FREE bilingual langauge cards available 24/7 right here at this link!

Another fun idea I heard about from a fellow early childhood professional is to have the children make popsicle stick family members by decorating them with arts & crafts materials or cutting out magazine pictures of various family members from the song and gluing them on.  Then we use our mini class parachute and during each section of the song singing about one particular family member, we place our popsicle stick family members in the middle of the parachute, and we ’fly’ them into the air!

Here are the lyrics for this fun song that is sung in Spanish and English by children ‘ringers’ who are children brought into the studio to sing on our Boca Beth music CDs for babies, toddlers and preschoolers!

I Love My Family / Yo quiero mi familia
(sung to the melody of “B-I-N-G-O”) 

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

This week it’s all about transitioning the children to a new school year, a new classroom, and a new group of friends and teacher.  It’s been smooth-sailing so far in our home with our 5th grade daughter and college bound son!  How about you?  Hope it’s going well!

Enjoy the video lesson above that will enhance your circle time and classroom fun as the children get to know one another.  Use this song titled Hello, How Are You? / Hola ¿Cómo estás? also off our first bilingual music CD for children titled My First Songs in Spanish/Mis primeras canciones en Inglés (found at this link). 

Did you join in on our Facebook contest fun yesterday to win this Boca Beth CD?  Three lucky winners have that CD being shipped to their home.  

Want to join the fun?  Go here now and “Like” my Boca Beth Program, and it’s easy to be part of our weekly bilingual fun.

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

As the story goes the kindergarten boy had recently arrived to the United States with his family and was scared to begin a new school in a new place with a new language and new smells and new sounds.  He clung to his mom’s leg and pleaded in his native Spanish language not to be left alone with all of these strangers.

Each day the separation from mom was heart-breaking, and his new teacher tried many things to make it easier on this 5-year-old boy.  About one week in, the teacher slipped BOCA the puppet on her hand and began circle time with the Boca Beth song Hola Amigo/Hello Friend (click the link to the left to listen to a sampling of this bilingual kids song!), and the rest, as they say, is HISTORY! 

I encourage you to use puppets and music during these challenging economic times.  Music is a universal language and helps to calm the day for all during troubling times.  Puppets are used during therapy sessions with children for obvious reasons - children will often times respond to a puppet instead of an adult facilitating the therapy or counseling session.

In addition to using our song Hola amigo / Hello Friend from our first CD titled My First Songs in Spanish / Mis primeras canciones en Inglés I suggest visiting this site for some awesome first day, first week, first month introduction activities to use in your preschool or early elementary school classroom.  You will find the OnLineFreeSpanish.com introduces Spanish and English similar to the way we here at Boca Beth present the two languages - in a true bilingual format.

So - enjoy your summer if you are still in it!  If not, and your children are returning to school and/or you are also returning to the classroom as a teacher, I hope you will follow along with my blog as each week we will highlight a different theme.  Contribute to the conversations, and you might even win a Boca Beth regalo/gift!  You just never know.

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

It’s here!  The heat of Summer is upon us in Tampa, Florida, and the kids are getting restless (even the 18-year-old is anxious for college to begin!).

What’s a parent to do?  Below are some fun, free things to keep them busy with FUN stuff (shhhhhh…don’t tell them there is learning involved!).

Download more than 160 free Bilingual Language Cards in Spanish and English from my Boca Beth bilingual resource area.  Click here.

Then go to the media preview page of our Boca Beth web site to sample some of our music right here.  then check out my YouTube channel with lots of free mini lessons that will bring Spanish into your daily routine!  Click here for the YouTube channel of Boca Beth.

How about www.OnLineFreeSpanish.com ???!!!  Have you visited this site yet?  Why not?  It rocks with lots of bilingual learning fun for kids ages 3 - 10 (just like my Boca Beth music CDs and DVDs … they present things in a side-by-side bilingual format).

Now go over to your closest Target store and get a Spanish for Dummies tiny handbook in their dollar section.  My store had a bunch a while back, but I did not buy all of them (I promise!).  And if Target is out of them, ask them to bring in some more PLUS encourage them to take a look at our Boca Beth product line as a new item for them to start carrying.  It’s people like YOU who convince stores like Target to carry certain things you love and believe in.  Thanks / Gracias.

Enjoy this video teaching you and your child 20 body parts in Spanish and English!  Learning a second language CAN BE FUN!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

Many of us realize that if you put the ‘lesson’ to a song, chances are we will remember it for years to come and so will the children we introduce the concept to.  So let’s learn las formas/shapes today!

Get the bilingual fun started right now.  Put in a melody you and the children already know (that’s one of the main ingredients in my Boca Beth Program!).  In this case I wrote I Know My Shapes / Yo sé mis formas (joe say mees for-mahs) to the tune of the song Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Today I will not be providing you the free MP3 download.  I want you to see how easily this can be done acappella (that is, without any music) …..  Get the beat going in your head …… Now see the lyrics below….

Click here to see all of the words/las palabras (lahs pah-lah-brahs) to this fun bilingual song.

Now, go to my FREE resources on our Boca Beth site and download or simply read the suggested activity that will allow you to bring this bilingual children’s song to life.  (Click here to see the FREE resources!)

Want a cute coloring sheet that introduces even more shapes from my third Boca Beth upbeat and easy-to-understand music CD in Spanish and English?  Click here to print it off for FREE now!

The beauty of our Boca Beth Program is we enunciate when we sing so that you can understand each word, the children receive correct pronunciation in both English and Spanish and you as the parent and teacher will feel super comfortable using our music CDs (click here to view all the different songs and concepts we introduce), our DVDs (click here to view our latest bilingual music video - it is adorable so gather your children around the computer first!), and our other fun bilingual products.

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. ( I will be sharing this song and many more during the Bebe Paluzza Baby & Toddler Expo in Chicago later this month.  Click here to learn more about the show.  I will be giving away free prizes, selling our Beginner Baby Bag for a cool low price and singing and dancing with the kids in attendance!)

This week I thought it would be fun to bring back some Fruit Fun lesson ideas from my former Boca Beth Educator’s Club!

This song is off of my More Boca Beth / Mas Boca Beth bilingual music CD for children to learn Spanish while they continue learning English too!

From BOCA BETH

This week let’s get ready for a fun Father’s Day Celebration! (Feliz día del padre =  fay-lees   DEE-ah   dayl   pah-dray)

One of my favorite web site’s has a wonderful way to make YOUR Papá / YOUR Daddy a terrific card today.  Go here now to OnLineFreeSpanish.com.

Then take a moment and share this I Love My Family / Yo quiero mi familia song off our More Boca Beth / Más Boca Beth bilingual music CD for children found right here on our site.  Remember - in celebration of graduates all over our United States of America you can buy this CD for 30% off with code 2010 today - Friday of this week, June 18, 2010.  ENJOY!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (Look for fun teaching tips, a cool Father’s Day Contest and more as the week goes along!  In the meantime remember that code 2010 gets you 30% off any Boca Beth bilingual music CD and any of our DVDs for children.)

I spoke about the differences in how we use capital letters earlier this week - Spanish language vs. English language.

Now let’s talk about just a couple of other nuances when going from English to Spanish:

Sounds of the vowels!  (We have the vowel sound song on this CD - see how to save on it below!)

a = ahhhh, e = long a sound (ay), i = long e sound (eee), o = long o sound (oh), u = ew

Cute video on how to teach vowel sounds to kids: 

Rolling Your Rs!   

This lesson sums it all up!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (I hope you have subscribed to our e-newsletter over at my web site www.BocaBeth.com!  If you have not, I want to let you know that we are celebrating the high school graduation of our son Matthew along with all other students graduating from preschool, high school and college with a BIG savings deal this weekend on our web site!  Save 30% with code 2010 through midnight June 6, 2010 PLUS all friends who order are entered into a drawing to win our $50 Boca Beth Beginner Backpack!  Go now and shop and save!  Or call toll free 1.877.825.2622!)

It’s time!

It’s almost SummerTime!

For many that means Vacation Bible School is around the corner, and at Boca Beth we have the perfect little CD to help out with the musical part of the day!  Listen in to this fun bilingual Christian song today from our Sing Praise for Children / Canta la alabanza para los niños CD !  (click the line below to play the song)

Jesus Always Sees You

We hope you enjoy using that song during upcoming VBS time!  Stay tuned for a chance to win the Boca Beth Sing Praise CD and activities to go hand in hand with the songs off this Limited Edition Release CD (only 28 remain!).

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

Original BOCA puppet prototypes that became BOCA’s mommy/mamá and BOCA’s daddy / papá!  These were made about 7 years ago and have been used in many circle time settings as I shared our Greeting Song / La canción de saludar found on this My First Songs in Spanish Boca Beth CD.

Want to enjoy 50% off this CD?  Enter code BLOG today and tomorrow only - Friday & Saturday, May 21 and 22, 2010 - to enjoy this CD for only $7.50!  No kidding!  Follow this link to the CD and enjoy it for half off!  Use code BLOG when shopping or call us toll free to order now at 1.877.825.2622

Here is the suggested circle time activity fun idea to go hand-in-hand with the song:

Greeting Song/Canción de Saludar  Use sock puppets or any other puppets that could be used as a Mommy and a Daddy. Go around the circle of children, interacting with them and the mommy puppet during the mommy chorus and the daddy puppet during the daddy chorus. Have the children hug themselves when the song says “I love you very much/Te quiero mucho.” Relate this to their own relationship with their family members – the hugs, the words of endearment. Remember that hugs release chemicals within the body that help fight off stress, calm emotions and create a sense of well-being!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (Get this CD for half-price - only $7.50 for more than 100 words and 40 phrases in Spanish and English learning fun for your family!  Go buy it now with code BLOG … Friday and Saturday only!)