Canciones en Español Will Get Everyone Singing in Class

A review to share with you, and a giveaway (read on to learn more about the giveaway!)


Music with Sara is at it again. Sara´s sweet voice and her music album called “Canciones en Español  is all you need in order to welcome la primavera into your classroom. It’s a collection of 15 songs that will add richness and wonder to any Spanish class. 


My favorite song on this album is called “La Llorona,” a traditional song from Mexico. Sara did a beautiful job keeping this song simple for young children, still preserving the richness of the Mexican music – not an easy feat but oh so important for the use of music in teaching and learning. Another fantastic song is “Mi Cuerpo.” Her version is very lively and catchy and gets everyone up and dancing in class. My students’  favorite is “Patito Patito” which is short and fun – plus there is a nice video that goes along with the song  



Sara also created a video for the song “Te Quiero Mamá” that has some awesome animation.


Canciones en Español” is a music collection that will bring a lot of fun to your classes while you celebrate and welcome the arrival of spring. To learn more about Sara and her music, please visit her website www.musicwithsara.com

The Giveaway

I am  so happy to share this opportunity with you! Two lucky readers will to get this awesome music from Sara to play at home or in their classrooms.


Would you like this set of songs for your own classes? Just enter below for a chance to win. You have until March 30th, 2013!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!
Carolina
Fun For Spanish Teachers

ABC en Español

ABC en Español is a website created by Lauren Peacock,  a Spanish teacher  who writes her own songs and makes her own videos that go along with her songs. She has a great collection of resources for teachers to use with their students. To learn more about her teaching resources, visit www.abcenespanol.net.

Las Frutas
Rosa La Foca
Las Calabazas
El Gusano TuTu
Have fun singing in Spanish!
Carolina

Bilingual Books for Spanish Class!

I always love bringing literature to support my lessons during the middle of a unit or to end a unit. I have found it difficult to find books that are well written in English and Spanish. Sometimes the translations are not very relevant to the original text in Spanish which makes it lose flavor when reading in class. These books are well written in both languages and the author, Adriana Pacheco, wrote both the Spanish and English versions. 
The stories in each book are simple and easy to understand. The colorful illustrations represent accurately what is being expressed in the text and place the readers in the settings of the story. Many of the characters make multiple appearances in various stories, helping readers become more familiar with them, and many of the situations are very relevant to the day to day life of young learners. Each book includes a CD, and these are perfect to support listening skills in Spanish and English. What’s best, the speakers in the CD’s are native with very clear pronunciation! In each CD you will find the stories read in Spanish and English with time for the children to read along with the speaker. Even though these books are bilingual, the languages are not mixed together in sentences, a major bonus that is too often ignored by teachers and curriculum developers who think that a child needs immediate translation, forgetting that a young language learner’s mind is very different than their own! I love the idea of having bilingual books with audio because it is a tool that children who are learning or exploring the language can take home to invite their parents into their process of learning a new language. 
To learn more about this great collection of books, visit Heritage Language at www.HeritageLanguage.com or just like their Facebook page.

OUR GIVEAWAY: Choose your Heritage Language Book For Your Spanish Class!

Last, but not least, here are the “rules of the game” for our giveaway:
1. You need to make sure you LIKE this post on my Facebook page and on the Heritage Language Facebook page to  participate. 
2. Share the love with other friends! Let them know about Fun for Spanish Teachers and Heritage Language Books and encourage them to join as fans of each of our sites.
3. Stay tuned and check back often! The winner will be announced on July 21st, 2012. You will have 24 hours to contact me to claim your prize.
4. The book will be sent as soon as you contact me with delivery details.
5. Enjoy reading and exploring the wonderful world of language learning!

Have fun reading in Spanish!
Carolina

Noyo: The Perfect App for Spanish Class!

Technology has become a great teaching tool that goes hand in hand with language learning. You often hear that language educators are using Skype, interactive boards, Google Earth to take virtual trips, and many more kinds of technology to support their curriculum.


I recently came across Noyo, a very colorful app that has vocabulary to support a variety of themes. It contains 8 units: los viajes (trips), la comida (food), los deportes (sports), la ciudad (the city), la casa (house), los animales (animals), la estaciones (seasons) and la escuela (school). It has over 1200 words and about 200 scenes. The pictures are very clear and get one’s attention while making it very engaging for children. Another great feature is that the voice that goes with every picture was recorded by a native speaker. 

This app can be downloaded in iPads and Android tables, and if you are lucky you can plug your device into an interactive board to screen the game with the whole class. 

How to Use This App

This app can be used to introduce or review vocabulary. Choose one of the units and ask your students to show the vocabulary they already know. This way you are using their previous knowledge of the language. Ask the children to tap the picture after they name it. If they don’t know the word, they can take guesses and tap on the pictures to hear the right answer.

You can put the vocabulary into context by creating sentences. Say a sentence and have the children tap what they hear. For example:
             La manzana es roja.
             Me gusta comer la manzana roja.

Play a guessing game: Ask a volunteer to close his/her eyes. Point at one of the pictures and have the volunteer guess.

Play the “Veo, veo, ¿qué ves?” (see, see, what do you see?) game: Teach the game first.
             Class: Veo, veo   (I see, I see)
             Student: ¿Qué ves? (What do you see?)
             Class: Una cosita    (A little thing)
             Student: ¿Dé que color es? (What color is it?)
             Class: Rojo (Red – or any other color)
             Student: La manzana (apple) – then the student taps the right answer.

Play charades: This is a great opportunity to bring TPR (Total Physical Response) alive! Teach gestures to go along with each picture in one of the units. Invite a volunteer to show the gestures and another volunteer to guess by saying the word and showing it on the app.

This app also has an assessment feature for each unit which can be used at any time. If your students are very young or just learning how to read you can read the sentences aloud for them to choose the right answer. For children who are in older grades, they can take turns reading the sentences and choosing the right answer. It will also show you a score at the end of the assessment. 

If you are looking for a fun application to either bring technology to your class or recommend to the families at your school who are looking for resources to support your curriculum, this is a great app to recommend.

OUR GIVEAWAY: Two Codes to Download Noyo to Your iPad or Android Tablet!

Last, but not least, here is our giveaway:
1.  You need to make sure you LIKE this post on my Facebook page and on Noyo’s Facebook page to  participate. 
2. Share the love with other friends! Let them know about Fun for Spanish Teachers and Noyo!
3. The two winners will be announced on June 15th, 2012. You will have 24 hours to contact me to claim your prize!
4. Once you have contacted me, I will send you (via e-mail) the code and the link to download the app.
5. Enjoy the app!

Carolina

Talento Nuevo! Sara y “Más Canciones en Español!”

I was very excited when I received Sara’s music CD, “Más canciones en español.” My excitement took on a life of its own when I listened to her songs. What a sweet and lovely voice! It’s very nice to discover a new artist with a young voice and music that promote a fun learning environment while also teaching culture. Every day I realize there is so much talent out there 🙂 

Many of the songs on Sara’s CD are traditional and bring alive diverse Mexican rhythms. Even better, this music CD is suitable for children who are just learning Spanish as a second language and children who are growing up in a bilingual environment. What a great teaching tool to have in Spanish class or at home!

One of my favorite songs is “El Dragón” which is very short and provides a lot of repetition that makes it easy to teach. Another one that is a fave – not only in my casa, but also in my classes – is “Los Pollitos.” Sara did a very nice job making this song  enjoyable, inspiring children ask for it in every Spanish class.

I can’t forget to mention that my heart jumped for joy when I heard her version of one of the most beautiful traditional Andean songs in existence, Carnavalito Humauaqueño.” This song is a “must have.” As with many of her songs, this one promotes culture and is perfect to support a unit about the Andes region. Plus, it will really get your students jumping!

This music CD is a treasure. I highly recommend it to parents and educators who are in search of beautiful songs that teach and promote cultural understanding. I am sure you will love it as much as my students and I do!

To learn more about Sara and her music, “like” her Facebook page, and visit her website and online store.

Have fun teaching and learning!
Carolina

Giveaway: Mi Clase de Música: Multiple Intelligences in one music CD!

In a recent summer trip to Colombia, I had the opportunity to meet Freddy Morales, an early childhood educator who teaches music and movement classes to young children.


I had the opportunity to experience a class myself as a parent with my daughter who at that time was three years old. As a teacher of young children myself, I was impressed with how talented Freddy was in his ability to make connections with the children. Since I had a wonderful experience in his classes, I later discovered that he was teaching music and movement classes for babies at a learning center called  Tralalá and happily enrolled my second child in a class just for babies! This time I learned that Freddy had his own music CD’s, and the main focus was to teach “music and movement” through multiple intelligences. My baby not only had a fun and educational time in his classes, but he also get to benefit from his music CD at home, where he dances to it in his high chair on a daily basis!


Freddy’s CD,  Mi Clase de Música”  has 13 tracks, and each track is geared toward exploring one or more intelligences. This music CD also has a lot of repetition, something that is very important for young children. It includes some Colombian rhythms and is full of a lot of fun. I have used some of the songs with my own students and they enjoy this production a lot.  This music CD has been recorded in Colombia and is only in Spanish, a plus if you are looking for authentic materials to bring to your classes or use at home with your children.


The Giveway!

We would like one of our Facebook “likers”  to be the first one to get a copy. We will be giving away the  Mi Clase de Música”  CD so you can sing our songs in your classroom with your students or at home with your child.
Here is how to enter:
1. First, make sure you like “us” and 
Mi Clase de Música”  on Facebook.
2. Once you know you are liking  us on Facebook.
3. Like our link about the giveway on both pages “ours” and 
Mi Clase de Música”.
4. Feel free to comment! We would love to hear from you!

Giveaway ends on January 31st, 2012 10:00 pm Eastern time
Only one entry per person. No anonymous entries are permitted. The winner will be chosen randomly. We will announce the winner on February 1, 2012. Entries submitted after 10:00 pm Eastern time are not valid. We will give the winner 48 hours to claim their prize. United States & Canada ONLY!