Ready for a new song? A new theme? More teachable moment ideas? Book resources?
Then you are at the right place amiga, amigo / friend! This week we will help you out with the Spanish alphabet. Read what a fellow teacher says about this song I wrote (and the fact that she is a native Spanish-speaker makes me so proud how she raves about it!):
I have found thatBOCABETH’s Alphabet song is the first song I have been able to use with my Spanish class. The song is accurate and presents ALL of the letters in the Spanish alphabet. I have never been able to use a recording of a Spanish alphabet song in class before, because the whole Spanish alphabet was not used in the song. I am so excited that I am finally able to use a Spanish Alphabet song in my classroom! I also love the ¿ Cómo te llamas ? song. My kids love it too. There are large quantities of Spanish instruction materials out there, but I am encouraged that the songs I have chosen to use from the Boca Beth Program are helping me to instruct my students in a correct use of the Spanish language. ThanksBOCABETH!
Anna M. Ortega-Shyne, Spanish Teacher, Florida
Enjoy the song! Then come back as the week goes along for more ideas on how to introduce the Spanish alphabet. Click link to the right for song: Rappin the Spanish Alphabet with Boca Beth
We increased our number of prize winners to four! The following women shared their preschool/early elementary school teaching ideas on how to introduce opposites and then how to bring Spanish and English into the picture at times too!
You know what comes to my mind from learning opposites as a kid? Grover from Sesame Street showing “near” & “far” LOL. He would get right up in the camera & really enunciate the word “near” & then run far away & enunciate the word “far”. He did that a whole bunch of times. It’s been a “million” years since I’ve seen an episode of Sesame Street & I STILL remember that, so it must have made an impact.So, my answer: over-the-top visuals & repetition! from Dawn
With any concept, including opposites, I love hands-on and so do my kids. We would pick out some toys/objects that demonstrate opposites such as, big and small balls, tall and short dolls, boy and girl toys, etc. I think that the concept could be understood with a realatively small number of opposite sets (like 5) so that the kids don’t become overwhelmed. We would talk about what makes something opposites and then go on to each set of objects. It would be fun at this point to introduce the sets using both the English and Spanish words (alto(a)/bajo(a) and tall/short). After going through each set a couple of times, it is always fun to try and put what you are learning to music, it is also easier to recall later. from Katrina
I have used several ways this year. Pictures have worked very well. Seeing the differences over and over. My son does well if he can see thngs. We walk arond our house and try to find things that are opposites. We also do lots of worksheets about opposites. It would be good to put the Spanish words on post it’s and place them on items arond the house. from Carol
I find that a great way to introduce children to any concept in a foreign language is through books and props. I would first read a bilingual book about opposites, such as “mis opuestos” to introduce the topic. Then I would have a set of large and small objects, wide and narrow, tall and short, a door that opens closes, etc… and then incorporate it into a game where each child would pick out a pair and identify the opposites in Spanish. from Vivian
Thank you ladies and thanks to all of you for reading, sharing and using the tips from this blog that I maintain a passion to continue as long as the interest is there!
I have been sharing some very fun and easy-to-make visual aids that bring Spanish and English together for young children with fellow educators around the country and want to share some of these with YOU! (For FREE!!!)
From our I See Colors/Veo coloressong I have seven/siete (7) color visual aids to share with you for preschool classroom fun and learning. You will receive a red apple, a blue ribbon, a green frog, a yellow sun, a white crescent moon, a brown bear and a black car tire plus the color words in English and Spanish!
For our I Know My Shapes / Yo sé mis formasbilingual children’s song I have five/cinco (5) shape visual aids to bring Spanish and English together whether you are a homeschooling family, ESL teacher, stay-at-home mom or preschool professional. You will receive a circle, square, rectangle, triangle and oval plus the words of the shapes in Spanish and English!
How do you get them? Simply comment below which one - colors or shapes - of the visual aids you would like me to mail you! I will reply to EVERY comment, asking you for your mailing address! And, I am going to slip in a fun little Boca Beth item in the mailer!
The melody I wrote our Opposites/Los opuestos song around is One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.
Here are the words to the song:
Sing opposites in Spanish & English
Canta en Español e Inglés
Sing with me! It’s easy, you’ll see!
¡Canta conmigo! ¡Es fácil, verás!
Sí es yes, yes is sí.
No es no, no is no.
SI - NO! YES - NO!
Singing opposites!
Repeat chorus
Arriba es up, up is arriba.
Abajo es down, down is abajo.
ARRIBA - ABAJO! UP - DOWN!
Singing opposites!
Repeat chorus
Día es day, day is día.
Noche es night, night is noche.
DIA - NOCHE! DAY - NIGHT!
Singing opposites!
Repeat chorus
Grande es big, big is grande.
Pequeño es small, small is pequeño.
GRANDE - PEQUEÑO! BIG - SMALL!
Singing opposites!
Here are the suggested circle time/classroom activities to bring the Boca Beth bilingual song to life:
I ask the children if they have enough energy to help me with my opposite song. (I speak in both languages back and forth as much as possible when asking questions like this. I realize if you only have command of one language that part is impossible, but it’s nice to do if you are bilingual.) I have them practice the four sets of opposites ahead of time with me. We practice shaking our heads for yes/sí and no/no, then we go up/arriba and down/abajo, then we make a sun over our head for day/día and pretend we are sleeping on our folded hands for night/noche and the last is the most fun I tell them with big/grande and small/pequeño. I remind them that it is a sway dance song so let’s “baila juntos/dance together.” We sway dance all the way until a set of opposites. I cue them as to which one is next.
Happy Educating!¡Sea feliz educando!
Boca Beth
P.S. (Tomorrow we will ask YOU for your ideas on teaching opposites to young children ages 2-8, and the two ideas chosen to share in our blog Spanish Fun for Everyone will provide the writer of the ideas the CD this Boca Beth song is on - More Boca Beth - plus a pair of children’s mini maracas! Start your creative juices flowing!)
If your personal answer is “yes! / ¡sí!” then we have a fun trilingual presentation of our More Opposites/Más opuestos song from our Sing Along with Boca Beth music CD.
For the past five years a Pinellas County Public School encouraged their first graders to learn our bilingual songs - encouraging communication in the two most widely spoken languages in this county, Spanish and English! Then, last year, they added in American Sign Language due to a student in their class who used ASL for communication!
What you will witness in this YouTube video is their sweet, young voices sharing their knowledge of how to sing the opposites in English and Spanish. Most of the children are Anglo, English-speaking children who have come to embrace the diversity of their community. Do you? As an adult are you showing young children that you respect others’ cultures and their languages? I hope so! Enjoy!
Did you realize the experts are agreeing that it’s just as easy to teach a baby or toddler two words (one in the native language, the other in the target language) for one object?
See the ball.See the pelota. I know it sounds so elementary, but many people think this type of learning will confuse the child. Quite the opposite says the research - it wires the young child’s brain to become a lifetime language learner!
Use this methodology to introduce opposites to young children. After playing our Boca Beth Opposites / Los opuestos song from yesterday’s free download, use these resources to add to the learning fun:
FREE bilingual language cards off our Boca Beth Sample Resource area. Click here!
Really easy to use and affordable opposite language cards on a ring stand to buy from Ingenio are found here at this link.
Another fun book called Los contrarios/Opposites (I know! I know! Way too many ways to say the one word from English to Spanish!) Find the book here with cute teddy bears!
Lastly, allow some true Spanish culture to weave into the lesson with this wonderful resource from Cinco Puntos Press. Click here to find it!
As always amigas, amigos/friends … Happy Educating! ¡Sea feliz educando!
Hola/Hi amigas, amigos/friends!(Feels like I skipped a week but I was in Arkansas training and conducting a children’s concert for the Bentonville community so I was MIA for a couple of days!)
Back to the weekly fun of sharing lesson ideas, book resources, and Boca Beth bilingual beats that introduce Spanish and English to young children ages birth - ten! (Yes! Pregnant moms should be listening to our CDs so that their babies learn in the womb. Read this recent article on just that subject … learning languages in the womb!)
Enjoy our award-winning song about opposites from our second of four bilingual music CDs. This one is written to the melody of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. Then follow us all week for additional resources to teach opposites/los opuestos to young children in the two most widely spoken languages in the United States - English and Spanish/Inglés y Español.
As you may know, we donate $1 for every one of these fun CDs sold towards Mission Efforts around the world.
For two of you lucky readers I want to send you your own Boca Beth bilingual Christian CD for children. Here’s how to win one for your family or your church preschool:
Visit my web site at www.BocaBeth.com and tell me (by commenting below) what city and state I am in tomorrow, Tuesday, February 16, 2010 for a teacher training and concert. First two correct answers win!
I knew when we released our bilingual Christian music CD in 2008 that it would be one of the greatest things I had accomplished during my journey as Boca Beth! With almost 1,000 copies sold or donated to Christians across the world we were thrilled to donate $400+ to the relief efforts assisting the people of Haiti through my home church Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida this week!
Please celebrate life as we embrace the kindness and generosity of walking in the footsteps of Jesus as we share with you one of the many Spanish and English songs for children from our Sing Praise for Children / Canta la alabanza para los niños Boca Beth CD. (Click the link below for the free music download!)
Have you visited our See It! Say It! section of our Boca Beth web site? It’s fairly new and gives you audio clips of vocabulary words and phrases in both English(I list the English words in blue) and Spanish (I list the Spanish words in red). Check it out sometime soonin our Sample Resources area. In the meantime, I brought some directly to you today for Valentine’s Day coming up! Read it, See it, Say it, Learn it!!!!
Really easy to use and affordable opposite language cards on a ring stand to buy from Ingenio 
