BOCA BETH: Bringing Spanish to Life!

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 colores song 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 formas bilingual 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!

So…go to our web site and read the lyrics for the I See Colors children’s song and then go to the Boca Beth web site and read the lyrics for the I Know My Shapes song … think about which one you would use more then comment below!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

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!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

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!

This adorable bilingual book from Scholastic Book Company.

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!

Boca Beth

When you turn to the word piggyback in Webster’s New World College Dictionary (something I keep at my desk 24/7 because I am a stickler for misspells!!!!), you will see these words as part of the definition:  so as to be fixed to, connected with or dependent on something else, to place on or upon in piggyback fashion. 

Here at Boca Beth, when I write my songs and speak to fellow educators about this method of songwriting, we talk about how the lyrics are piggybacked on to familiar melodies of songs that you and the children are familiar with.  For instance, when I first started out as Ms. Music in local Bay Area preschools, I used the melody from I’m a Little Teapot and would teach the toddlers and preschoolers these words:

I’m a little sunshine muy amarillo,  Watch me shine, I am brillante …

Experts agree that this method, using familiar melodies & tunes that the teacher, the parent, and the children are all familiar with helps to increase retention, speed up learning, and - for young ones - make it fun for their learning styles as you add in maracas, dance, rhythm, rhyme, smiles, and new languages/new concepts!

Below are the words for this week’s song from our award-winning Boca Beth Program - piggybacked on to the melody of I’ve Been Working on the Railroad :

“Singing The Seasons / Cantando las estaciones”
(sung to “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”)

The Seasons of the year are fun to learn
When I’m singing along.
The Seasons of the year are fun to learn
When I’m singing along.
Can you sing Primavera?
It is Spring when you sing.
Can you sing Primavera?
Spring is what I sing!
Primavera, Primavera,
Primavera is S-P-R-I-N-G!
Primavera, Primavera,
Primavera is Spring!
The Seasons of the year are fun to learn
When I’m singing along.
The Seasons of the year are fun to learn
When I’m singing along.
Can you sing Verano? 
It is Summer when you sing.
Can you sing Verano?
Summer is what I sing!
Verano, Verano,
Verano is S-U-M-M-E-R!
Verano, Verano,
Verano is Summer!
(Repeat chorus)
Can you sing Otoño?
It is Fall when you sing.
Can you sing Otoño?
Fall is what I sing!
Otoño, Otoño,
Otoño is F-A-L-L!
Otoño, Otoño,
Otoño is Fall!
(Repeat Chorus)
Can you sing Invierno?
It is Winter when you sing.
Can you sing Invierno?
Winter is what I sing!
Invierno, Invierno,
Invierno is W-I-N-T-E-R!
Invierno, Invierno,
Invierno is Winter!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

Many of you have heard me mention a FREE resource that I use often with my own daughter - OnLineFreeSpanish.com has a terrific section for introducing the seasons at this link.  Enjoy!

I found the two books below on Amazon.com - used and new from $8.75+                           Then from the Educational Company KAPLAN I found these cute flashcards on Seasons, Months, and more at this link.    It was amazing…no, actually, it was disturbing to me how little there was from Lakeshore Learning, Discount School Supply and KAPLAN in terms of bilingual classroom aids.  How is a teacher supposed to provide instruction in both languages a little bit each day if even the calendar doesn’t come with Spanish and English on the same visual aid?

Don’t worry amigas and amigos - Boca Beth will keep you in the loop!  Here is the link to the CD with the Singing the Seasons / Cantando las estaciones song on it plus 14 other easy-to-follow Boca Beth bilingual songs!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (Not one person has guessed correctly where BOCA is from the most recent Where Is BOCA? Contest.  Go back, study the picture, and win our cool prize pack.  HURRY!  This contest ends Tuesday, 2.9.10, at 8 pm!)

You suggest them, we try to bring them to you!  Recently I asked for some ideas from you all about other themes, ideas to teach with this fun bilingual approach!

My blog’s Music Monday brings to you our Singing the Seasons / Cantando las estaciones song from my More Boca Beth music CD found on our web site for only $14.99.  This music CD introduces more than 140 words and 30 phrases in both Spanish and English!  Lots more fun than a workbook, and we all agree that music is the universal language for learning!

Enjoy this YouTube mini lesson featuring my Boca Beth bilingual song for children:

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

I loved the idea of adding audio links to our web site as an additional free resource provided by the company I started almost 8 years ago.  Eight years…WOW!  Whether you are new to Boca Beth or have been following along our journey for a long while, I am so glad you are here.

Enjoy these two new audios  (located at the very top of the page).  The audios feature the vocabulary from the two greeting songs we have enjoyed so far this week here on Spanish Fun for Everyone.  I truly do want to help you create a bilingual home the fun and easy way!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

Let’s continue exploring many ways to share the various greetings of the day, afternoon and evening with children:

This link provides awesome resources for you as the adult!

These phrases for children you can get an audio on right from this link!

What child doesn’t know DORA or like learning with DORA?  Here are some free printables from Nick Jr.’s site on greetings!

This one I have not tried from one of my favorite free web sites, but it’s on presenting yourself!  It’s worth a try!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

This week it’s all about helping the children connect in circle time, in the start of the day, and incorporating Spanish and English into your daily routine!

Did you know that experts agree the once-a-week-classes are truly not enough to help a child become truly bilingual and biliterate? 

It takes daily interaction with the new language to develop the neural pathway connections for language learning!  In other words, we applaud you for at least trying with once a week Spanish class for your child, but playing our Boca Beth CDs or watching one of our interactive bilingual DVDs with your child every day for just about 10-20 minutes (the time difference is based on the age of the child) will surely be more effective in creating a lifetime language learner.

This Boca Beth bilingual YouTube video for children is another way to get the kids greeting one another each day:

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (Visit us tomorrow for new audio clips that match these songs from our See It!  Say It! Free Resource section of our web site … follow this link to get there!)