Posts
Guest column by Jennifer Manriquez, founder of The Bilingual Fun Company...
As a mom of bilingual children and an educator to many, I am passionate about inspiring children to live a multicultural life. Through my Bilingual Fun language classes and with my own young children, I teach Spanish as a second language through music, movement, and fun activities. This summer I plan on taking many opportunities with my own children to stimulate their language development. Of course making activities fun and naturally weaved into their playtime is the best way!
Here are some easy ideas:
Twister: My 7 year old daughter loves this game and the commands are so easy (Pon la mano derecha en azul, etc). After I give commands for awhile, I then have my son and daughter tell me what to do. This is an easy way to promote language production.Play Yo Veo: riding in the car seems to be the time that we most frequently play this game. You can play the traditional I Spy with colors, but we like to be creative and use other vocabulary (el carro, la tienda, la luz verde, el perro, etc).
Outdoor Play:
Play What time is it Mr. Fox? ¿Qué hora es Sr. Zorro? This is a great activity for time reinforcement and counting. If you say ‘medianoche’, Sr. Zorro has to chase everyone.
Jump Rope: this is a great way to practice active learning. For older kids and ones that are proficient with numbers, have them count backwards while jumping, or do math problems while jumping. Younger children practice counting uno a veinte.
Tag: there are lots of variations of tag. You could play number or color tag. Before the child is tagged, they must shout a color or number in Spanish. Do this with any vocabulary you need to reinforce (animal tag, ropa tag, comida tag, etc). Very fun and gets the children talking!
By encouraging children to be actively involved in games and play, makes the learning more relevant and easier to absorb.
Have a great summer!
Jennifer Manriquez
Founder, The Bilingual Fun Company
http://www.bilingualfun.com/
3 comments:
I taught English in Taiwan last year. I thought I was pretty creative, but I never even considered Twister! That would have been a wonderful teaching tool! I may have to buy the game and send it to my old school!
This is a great post. Thanks for the creative tips.
So glad you all enjoyed it! Hopefully, Jennifer will be sending us some more tips during the summer.
Post a Comment