Vary classroom activities. It activates prior knowledge and helps students connect the new information to their own experience. They understand messages found in very familiar, everyday contexts. Advanced students will still benefit from sentence stems, but the text you use for them should have a wider variety of sentence structures. Make sure novice and intermediate students have access to texts they can easily read. If you read a lot (for pleasure or study), this is commonly known as extensive reading. Here's an excellent way to improve and evaluate your Spanish reading comprehension. It means knowing what a word means and how to pronounce it. If they chose a three, they write a sentence using the word in the Ejemplo column and they write the definition in the Significado column. While doing the Semantic Map, all levels will benefit from sentence stems like: La palabra ____ va en la categoría ____ porque ____. Spanish is a phonetic language, unlike English. This makes the whole reading experience more memorable. Write five to ten true or false statements that are related to the topic of the text. Have children’s books and magazines available for perusal and for students to take home. These readers will rely on their own background knowledge and “clues” such as pictures, cognates or text formatting to help them gain understanding. Hearing the patterns of language from a fluent reader help students imitate those patterns when they read, increasing their comprehension of texts read independently. I have, which is why I need a site like Goodreads to help me narrow down my selection. As they move past the. Implicit means it’s not stated, but the reader can infer meaning and gain understanding by looking at textual clues. And no matter how you use them, they’re sure to take reading comprehension to the next level in your classroom. Perhaps you’re not opposed to reading out loud, but maybe you’re not sure how much students are going to be able to understand. In other words, look inside the phrases and see how the language works. There are numerous ways to teach your kids Spanish, and few of them involve lesson type learning. Intermediate students should be encouraged to deliver their descriptions in Spanish. Try to use authentic materials as often as you can, and if there’s an audio version of the text, even better! How to Teach Reading in Spanish. As a class or in groups, students brainstorm words that go along with that concept. some great resources! Bring Spanish immersion to your classroom! Effective teaching for children who speak Spanish and who are struggling to learn to read can be provided in an intensive individual Spanish-language tutoring experience. Before the class reads, the teacher will read the statements and the students will check whether they agree or disagree. How will this help their reading comprehension? Or if you are simply looking for ways to supplement what they may be learning in their (Spanish immersion) school, stay with me, because this week has got (I hope!) Thanks for subscribing! Want to work from home? It might be natural for you to read a lot in your mother tongue, but this is very different from the kind of reading you might do in a foreign language textbook. Students comprehend more when they’re interested in the topic, and giving peer recommendations is one of the best ways to increase student motivation. Be part of an empowering and collaborative community? The most important component of a successful book talk is having these texts available for students. I observe students as they write, and that lets me know what students already know and what I need to be sure to cover. A novice student has a very limited vocabulary and they’re still learning basic sentence structures. Part of the series: Spanish Language Basics. Early Literacy Instruction in Spanish: Teaching the Beginning Reader Stages of Literacy Development. Let’s take the Spanish letter a for example. Make a positive impact? Reading out loud is so beneficial, but can be so frightening for language learners. When they’re familiar with the subject matter, they should be able to recognize the main argument in an argumentative text. For the Knowledge Grid, I let my advanced students work individually or with partners, but no research is allowed. Students have a chance to listen to a fluent speaker first (you) before they read out loud as a group. Students are asked True/False questions about a text before and after reading it. Expanding Your Teaching Methods 1. Students need to fill in the blank by consulting a word bank at the bottom of the page. Teacher and class read text out loud, then students answer the first question. If you’re determined to boost reading comprehension fast, quite a few of these can be mixed and matched within the same class periods. Let’s start by comprehending comprehension. Increasing variety in your classroom isn’t difficult, but it is essential. For example, let’s say that this is your question: “¿Quién es el personaje principal del cuento y cómo sabes?” (Who is the main character and how do you know?). Choose 10 to 20 sentences from a text and type them up as a Word document. Keep these ideas in mind when you’re planning your next reading assignment. We do it letter by letter and it’s sound. Phonological awareness is the ability to perceive spoken words as a series of sounds. These guidelines describe, more or less, texts a student at each level can understand. You can teach your child to read in Spanish at home. With FluentU’s diverse and growing library of authentic content, students learn and live Spanish in an immersive fashion. Having students reread the passage and go deeper into the text. Due to the syllabic nature of Spanish, the most important difference between beginning to read in Spanish and in English is that students begin to read in syllables. 1. Here’s a quick overview of the components of reading and how comprehension fits in with the rest. Learn Spanish by reading in Spanish with these intermediate Spanish stories from Lingo Mastery. During the Alphabet Game, allow novice and intermediate students to utilize words from their environment by having a print-rich classroom with word walls, labels, anchor charts, poems, songs, etc. can take anywhere. So I'm happy to be able to dedicate this entire week to sharing with you the resources that I have found on teaching children to read in Spanish. As the text is being read or after you’ve finished reading, the students return to the table, reevaluate their responses and then talk about why they did or didn’t change their mind. Select the text ahead of time, and then create one of the following activities as a warm-up before reading in class or at home. Especially if you are teaching students who may one day travel... 3. Select a handful of good books, and assign a group or pair of students to read each one. 5. 4. ". It’s still difficult for them to understand very detailed Spanish texts or those with advanced language structures. (Download). We’re going to start with the basics, the ABCs. Feliz Día de San Patricio, Happy St. Patrick's Day! While fluency ties into comprehension, like the other components of reading noted here, it isn’t exactly comprehension. The Word Splash activity will be difficult for novice learners, so either do it as a class or have them represent their understanding in a non-linguistic way by drawing pictures that represent what they already know about a topic and labeling it when possible. Students benefit from the same idea. It’s important to ensure that the text isn’t overly complex, and that the pattern of presentation is somewhat predictable. Click here to get a copy. © 2021 Enux Education Limited. Here are some ways to get your students reading different things: To conduct a book talk, allow two or three students to give a brief description of a text they’re reading to the class. These discussions should be brief. Boys read out loud and girls follow along, or left side of the classroom reads while other side listens. ! All of this is a lot to think about when planning for a lesson that lasts only about 15 minutes! Here’s how invoking prior knowledge pertaining to a text will increase comprehension: These activities can all be done before reading a text. FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. They should be exposed to texts with plenty of high-frequency vocabulary. Maintain flexible hours? As a native Spanish speaker I wanted to clarify something about rhyming. Why or why not?”. After the book talks, students need to choose their next book to read from the other student presentations. The class then categorizes words, and once the categories are named, a class map is created. I make sure that if I do this activity a lot, I take the opportunity to expose students to all kinds of texts. FluentU brings English to life with real-world videos. 1. If you’re looking for a resource that could cater to all levels, you should check out FluentU. Spanish Reading Comprehension. These readers are most successful with a text that’s simple, predictable and loosely connected in simple sentences, paragraphs and pages. That’s exactly what we’re going to do in Spanish. Phonics is connecting sounds to print: discussing the sound each letter makes, and learning the differences between open and closed syllables. For example, they’re given a/z/u/l and they put it all together to say “azul” (blue). Cloze — Create sentences that contain about ten of the key vocabulary words students will need in reference to the text’s topic. Tell students the topic, then divide the letters of the alphabet among the class. Provide students with sentence starters to answer the questions. You can also kick the difficulty of the questions up a notch. You know, the ones who didn’t know the difference between an A or a B. ), “Me cambié de opinión porque ____.” (I changed my mind because ____.). Look intently at the other "pupils." Every single day you should set aside at least five minutes to read texts in the target language to your kids. Then you can continue to circle around the class, respond to raised hands and give guidance to everyone who needs it. Normally, that will give the other students an idea of how to proceed if they’re stuck. This activity is usually done on a half-sheet of paper with the fill-in-the-blank sentences at the top and the vocabulary words at the bottom, but it can also be set up on a PowerPoint so the class can work together. Bilingual Activities to Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day. You looked at a text and thought, “How many new words are there and how do I pronounce them?” Or worse, “How badly is everyone going to laugh when I butcher this sentence?”. The following descriptions are based on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for reading comprehension when learning Spanish as a foreign language. She or he will want to answer, guaranteed. Resources for Parents of Children Learning to Read... Spanish Reading Programs: Lectura Para Niños {FREE... How to Teach Your Child to Read in Spanish, Why We Can't Hardly Wait for Summer: Cars 2. Powered by, Since starting this blog, I have been absolutely amazed by the number of people who have asked me for advice on teaching their Spanish-speaking children to read. I was working in two bilingual first-grade classrooms as an aide at that time, and in charge of a couple of 'low-scoring' reading groups. Your classroom should drip with literature. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. Reading helps you learn new words and how to use them. Answer the third question. Enhance reading comprehension by teaching students pre-reading strategies. Reading fluently means reading naturally and accurately, at a smooth pace and rhythm. Translate Reading. Of these three approaches, immersion is the most intense because it involves introducing students to … Word Splash — Give students key words related to the text and have them write a few sentences that capture these words based on their background knowledge. See 10 authoritative translations of Reading in Spanish with example sentences, phrases and audio pronunciations. Find out how to use short stories to teach someone to read Spanish with help from the founder of a Spanish language school in this free video on teaching reading in Spanish. If you are looking for a way to teach preschoolers Spanish and get them engaged in the process consider documenting. If you click through and make a purchase, I receive a small commission that helps me purchase books and other materials for my own homeschooling family. In teaching Spanish, this skill is particularly handy when it comes to getting students to hear such differences as habló (he/she spoke) and hablo (I speak) or como (like) and cómo (how). Exposing them to new sentence structures and themes will give them the tools they need to tackle different texts by themselves. Students will then rate how well they know the word from one to three, with one being “I’ve never heard this word before,” two being “I’ve heard and/or seen this word, but I’m not sure what it means” and three being “I’ve heard this word and I can use it in a sentence.”. Check out some new textbooks, websites or language learning apps whenever you feel things are getting a little stale. Knowledge Grid — Create a table with four columns titled Palabra (Word), Nivel de conocimiento (Knowledge Level), Ejemplo (Example) and Significado (Definition). Teachers typically develop this skill with activities such as rhyming or phoneme blending—where students are given the sounds that make up a word and asked to put it all together. Knowing exactly what reading comprehension is (and isn’t) helped me devise strategies to target and improve Spanish reading skills for learners of different ages and skill levels. Part of the series: Spanish Language Basics. For the most effective Spanish teaching, professionals recommend going from “closed” to... 2. Let students know about the selection of Spanish-language books available in the school or public library. But over the past nine months, I have done a lot of digging and research. May 15, 2013 - Explore Brianne Rusk's board "Spanish Lessons for first grade", followed by 277 people on Pinterest. 2. My Escaleras de fluidez are a quick and easy way to give students more practice reading syllables. Students must think of facts, descriptors and names—or anything else they can think of—that’s related to the topic and that corresponds with the letters they were given. It’s best if the topic of a chosen text is of general interest to them, but they’re also able to read new subject matter and compensate for limitations by using context clues. Read my. Students then read silently and answer the remaining questions. Briefly discuss responses to ensure comprehension. I began teaching dd reading in Spanish first when she was 4.5. Bring Spanish or Mexican culture into the classroom. This activity asks students to read out loud, but takes the pressure off. 3. Select a handful of good books, and assign a group or pair of students to read each one. Read articles about teaching Spanish (like this one!) The students that didn’t read in the last step now get a turn. Confirming or rejecting those predictions when they finish reading the text helps them gain a deeper understanding of the text. They’re a perfect complement to any lesson, and it’s becoming more and more popular to add them to foreign language curricula. The student read “the sky is blue” and understands that the sky is blue. Help your students by giving them the sentence stem to answer: “El personaje principal es ____. Their vocabulary is limited, so you should expect to use highly contextual, highly predictable text and lots of pre-teaching activities. When it comes to learning a second language, we develop basic vocabulary first—hola (hello), hace frío (it’s cold), tengo hambre (I’m hungry), etc.—before we move into more advanced language. Although we want our advanced students to eventually delve into classic Spanish novels like “Don Quijote,” let’s start them off with good YA (Young Adult) books that are sure to spark their interest. Highly predictable pattern books, grocery lists, restaurant bills and simplified infographics are examples of texts that are appropriate for this level. Answer the second question, then allow students to discuss in groups and check for understanding. That’s all to be expected—don’t be afraid to challenge them, but do make sure you’re prepared to support them in class. I’ll say something like, “Disculpa las molestias, pero me gustaría compartir lo que hizo ____.” (Pardon the interruption, but I would like to share what ____ did.). After typing the text, create 4 to 5 open-ended questions. The other four components tie into reading comprehension, but comprehension is the most important for students to achieve. Yo lo sé porque ____.” (The main character is ____. Keep your personal classroom library stocked with chapter books and YA novels. Spanish Texts for Beginners. This helps to stimulate interest and asks students to start thinking critically. How much of “Cien años of soledad” can a novice understand? They can understand sequencing, time frames and chronology, but it’s important to avoid texts that are too abstract, since they’re still in the process of building up their Spanish vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Much of early reading instruction in … ... Our learning time fun spanish videos for children will teach your 50 spanish vocab words in a matter of minutes with fun pictures to. Then they’ll answer some questions pertaining to the text. Read to your preschoolers every single day! You might even find adapted classic Spanish literature like “Don Quijote” as a graphic novel. For novice and intermediate levels I might assign a word to a student and they’ll need to do some research and share the word, example and definition with the class by the end of the lesson. What that means is that every letter makes the same sound in the alphabet as it does in a word. We've researched top-notch Poems and songs are perfect at this level because they tend to be short, simple and more repetitive. You read large amounts, and are concerned with enjoying the story or learning from the contents. Not that you won’t expose students to picture books at this level, but you want them to enjoy and discover what reading they can do on their own.