Canta las Letras is a fantastic new album by 123Andrés that incorporates the importance of learning letter sounds and reinforcing Spanish, with fun, upbeat songs and lyrics. As a teacher and parent, I think this album is just amazing! Whether children are learning Spanish as a second language, or reinforcing their first, the importance of mastering letters sounds is so relevant and beneficial to their language development. The songs are arranged in alphabetical order, but kids and parents may personalize the experience and reinforce language learning by shuffling the songs to reflect their favorite sounds and letters. The cheerful songs and easy to learn lyrics, are perfect for kids of all ages. This album is an excellent musical tool, as it has songs for each letter of the alphabet, and the songs can be used as steppingstones for reading and listening development. Canta las Letras is a perfect supplement for my young students who are learning the letter sounds and are also bilingual learners. Coming soon: there will even be lyrics, translations and a learning guide for the songs here. As with his other resources, Canta las Letras is an engaging tool that allows students, teachers, and parents alike to have fun while learning and teaching!

Do you want to see 123Andrés live this summer? They are performing dozens of concerts this summer, including many library shows. Check it out the events page and catch a fantastic bilingual concert this summer!

Latin Grammy -winning 123 Andrés has released a new album of Spanish lullabies that your kids are going to love! He takes listeners on an imaginary trip to South America with soothing sounds and sweet rhythms. The peaceful sounds of the Andes region are so relaxing! We played La luna during our Bilingual Fun preschool classes , and the children were mesmerized and loved the sounds of these lullabies. We love using music to enhance early language development, and this new album is an perfect enrichment tool. Gracias 123 Andrés, we found our new naptime music!

The album features guest vocalists from Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and the US. I loved all the different lyrics, rhythms, and sounds of these soothing songs!

I am also excited to learn that 123 Andrés is partnering with diaper banks in the United States! Having clean diapers is ital. for a baby to grow healthy and strong. For this reason, $1 from every copy of La luna purchased during the first year of it’s release will go to support the Greater DC Diaper Bank and the National Diaper Bank Network. ¡Fantástico!

Check out his latest album and his other excellent albums at www.123andres.com

I am very excited to share a new video by 123 Andrés! Cosquillas is a fun, upbeat song from 123 Andrés’s new album Arriba Abajo. This song has a fun, upbeat, cumbia rhythm and style, with great vocals and clear singing. Perfect for kids learning Spanish, and it is on sale right now at Amazon, iTunes, and Bandcamp.

123 Andrés is a Latin Grammy nominated artist and entertainer. His music is an interactive celebration of Latin culture for kids and families. the range of rhythms and musical styles on his new album Arriba Abajo will inspire movement and motor skills as well! Exactly what I use to teach our little ones Spanish! I love the interactive nature of the songs and awesome beats and vocals! As a bilingual educator, these songs are exactly what I am looking for when adding interactive lessons to my classes. His songs focus on educational themes, but with fun rhythms and lyrics. I can see why Billboard magazine has hailed him ” A rockstar for little language learners”. It is definitely a great combination to make language learning fun for kids!

123 Andrés presents live concerts for children and families, and facilitates professional development seminars for educators, library professionals, and cultural arts institutions. He has some great concerts planned for the summer, so be sure to visit www.123andres.com for the latest details, and maybe you can catch him live!

Be sure to Like 123 Andrés on Facebook! I would highly recommend adding Arriba Abajo to your music collection , as it is a bilingual learning treasure! I received a copy to review and I could not be more impressed!

I had the pleasure of reading ¡HOLA! Let’s Learn Spanish by Judy Martialay. As a bilingual educator, I am always on the lookout for quality resources that enhance children’s learning and development of Spanish.

This fun, interactive story is a great tool for elementary age children who are being exposed to the Spanish language. Throughout the story, kids will have a variety of language exposures through vocabulary, culture, and song. What I like most about this book is that there is an audio version that can be downloaded so parents and children can follow along with the story. You can hear the audio directly on the website, and it can also be downloaded as a MP3.

The cute story follows Pete the Pilot and the friends he meets as travels to Mexico. Mrs. Martialay is a language educator with many years of experience teaching foreign language, and her background is evident in the way the book is structured. It is full of meaningful activities, reinforcements, and interactive lessons to help kids make connections and absorb the language.

I look forward to using this book with my elementary Spanish students this summer for our Culture and Travel unit to Mexico!

¡HOLA! Let’s Learn Spanish is now available in print; $19.99 and Kindle for $7.99 on Amazon

For more information, please visit Polygotkidz.com

Would you like to win a FREE copy for your family or classroom? Take a peek at www.polyglotkidz.com and comment and tell me why you would like a copy. A random winner will be chose by March 4.

Hot New Bilingual and Spanish Music for Kids!

I have always been a huge proponent of incorporating music into the Bilingual Fun language learning experience. Singing and listening to music is a great way to absorb and retain the language. So, I am always on the lookout for fun, new music to engage my students and for my own enjoyment! Guess what? I am so excited to share these new albums with you and I have 3 CDs to giveaway for FREE! 3 lucky winners will each receive 1 CD ( chosen randomly). These will be great additions to your music library and your kids will LOVE them! To win, please visit each of their sites and check them out. Let me know what you think on the Bilingual Fun Facebook comments and I will choose 3 winners by October 4, 2015.

¡Come Bien! Eat Right! By Jose Luis Orozco

Music, composer and editor Jose Luis Orozco is one of my favorites! I absolutely love his new album ¡Come Bien! Eat Right! This is his sixteenth, and first through Smithsonian Folkways, which is a delightful and engaging bilingual album that offers a fun- filled approach to health eating. I love Orozco’s music, because they are wonderful teaching songs, easy to sing, great for pronunciation and listening comprehension, and always fun and catchy to listen to! The kids love them too! On his new album, Orozco teamed up with friend and Mexican-American music icon the Grammy winning Quetzal Flores. I am looking forward to incorporating these songs into our Spanish classes this fall!

ADELANTE by Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

Wow! This collection of bilingual songs for all ages by Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band will get you up dancing and singing in no time! The Latin Grammy Award winning family band has incredible songs on this new collection. I absolutely love the “Taco Song” and “Guacamole Boy” with their fun, refreshing rhythms, style, and lyrics! The songs have easy alternations between English and Spanish, and are broadly educational, as well as super fun to dance to. I love teaching with movement and music, and ADELANTE is quickly becoming a class favorite with my students of all ages!

PUT OUR HEADS TOGETHER by Hot Peas and Butter

Hot Peas and Butter, s NYC based multicultural family music band, is known for their Latin-influenced, catchy songs for kids. Put Our Heads Together is the 7^th studio album from this impressive band. They come together with Dan Zanes for the single Amistad, which is a fun, bilingual song about friends. Colores is another fantastic song on this album and a great addition for kids learning and practicing color vocabulary. I love the sound and rhythms on this album, as Hot Peas and Butter use a range of hip-hop, world pop, reggeaton, and dance hall to create catchy rhythms for kids and their parents to share together. I was thrilled to be introduced to Hot Peas and Butter, and my students were too!

This giveaway is in no way sponsored by Facebook. I received free samples of all albums for my personal review, and all opinions are my own.

Just as it is important to learn the alphabet in your first language, teaching and learning the Spanish alphabet is very important for children’s bilingual development. Consonant and vowel sounds are so important to learn when children are being exposed to Spanish. Grammar, pronunciation, and fluency are taught and practiced through interactive lessons in our Bilingual Fun classes, but we also feel it is so important to incorporate alphabet activities to help kids connect letter sounds and fluency. Of course, the lessons need to be fun, upbeat, and interactive in order to capture the kids attention and make the learning worthwhile! Some simple and fun ABC activities that we use to teach Spanish to kids are:

1. Beach Ball letters: simply write letters all over the beach ball. Games can include simple letter recognition to a variety of spelling games. The ball is tossed around in a circle, as the teacher calls out letters or words. We also use the ball to play ” Papa Caliente”.

2. Loteria: Letter Bingo is a great way to reinforce letter sounds, listening comprehension, and pronunciation as they must say the letters aloud as they look for them and if they win.

3. Letter Mats: You can use pre-made letter cards, or simply make large letters cards and laminate. Place mats all over the floor and do a variety of kinesthetic activities: freeze dance ( name the letter they are standing on), give actions and kids must jump, march, skip, clap, dance around the letters. Play 4 Corners ( this is a favorite!), change the letters in the corners so kids get a variety of letter reviews. Mix up mats and time the students as they put the letters in ABC order. Place letter mats on floor in a mixed up order, and play “Matamoscas” using the fly swatters.

4. Sing!: You can sing a variety of Spanish alphabet songs and this is a great way to practice pronunciation and fluency. Some of our favorites are: ABC March by Barbara MacArthur, El Alfabeto by Ms. Lily, 5 Vocales by Jose Luis Orozco

This Spring the Bilingual Fun kids have been focusing on the Spanish alphabet and learning various vocabulary pertaining to each letter. This week with letra S, the kids completed many communicative activities using el sol. This is a very simple activity, but provided lots of opportunities for the children to speak Spanish.

1. Los rayos del sol were hidden throughout the room and kids had to quickly find all of them. Getting up and moving is a necessity with our lessons! Kids had to count the number of rayos they found and report back ‘ yo tengo 15 rayos, yo tengo 10 rayos’. etc.

2. The children were asked to decorate el sol depending on which color they had… los rayos amarillos, los rayos rojos, los rayos anaranjados.

3. As a group, we counted the rayos and divided them by color.

4. Then we did a math problem using the large numbers. This enabled the kids to practice both their Spanish vocabulary and math skills.

5. Then we did various TPR action pertaining to el sol y hace sol. What type of things can you do when it is sunny and hot?

TPR examples: nadar en el aqua, comer el helado, usar la crema protectora, llevar los lentes del sol, jugar volibol, hacer un picnic, etc.

I always love finding great resources for teaching Spanish to children, therefore I was very excited to have the chance to read some of the new bilingual stories from Spanish Missy!

Spanish Missy is a fun eBook series designed to teach your kids language the natural way. Currently Spanish Missy has 4 published bilingual books available as an e-series. (C-Colors; D- Days of the week; N- Numbers; V- Veggies). These are in English/Spanish and allow a child that is learning English or Spanish as a second language to be exposed to the language. These books have cute illustrations and storylines, in a bilingual format, along with interactive questions to help reinforce the learning!

These would be a great asset for families and teachers that are helping their children to learn Spanish or English as a second language! Go over and visit Spanish Missy’s website and sign up to receive a FREE copy of an eBook for your family!

Join Bilingual Fun for an exciting summer of Spanish learning opportunities! This summer we will be offering our popular day camp with the theme of Under the Sea / Bajo del Mar! Kids will have a blast learning about sea life and sand creatures on the beaches of Latin America, as they learn Spanish through music, movement, games, crafts, and more!

In addition to day camp, we are offering several different options for parent/child classes, as well as preschool and elementary drop off classes. Keep the Spanish learning alive this summer with fun, educational and interactive Spanish classes!

Be sure to visit our Facebook page and Classes page for more info! To register, please contact info@bilingualfun.com.

Valentine’s Day is a great holiday for practicing Spanish vocabulary and encouraging communication. Here are 3 very simple ( hardly any prep), quick Valentine activities to use with children learning Spanish. They can easily be modified for different ages and ability levels.

¡ Feliz Día de San Valentín!

1. Hunt for Los Corazones

Simply cut out hearts in different sizes and colors ( paper or felt) and hide them around the room. Give kids clues or a time limit to find todos los corazones. Bring them together as a group and sort by color and size. Illicit conversation by asking

¿Cúantos tienes en total? ¿Cúantos corazones son grandes, medianos, pequeños?, etc.

2. Loteria- Bingo

Give children blank bingo sheets and have them fill in all of the squares with los corazones de colores diferentes. Use candy hearts as the coverings and call out colors. When a child gets a bingo, encourage kids to communicate using phrases such as ‘ yo tengo un corazón rojo, un corazón verde, etc”. With older students, you can have them also fill numbers in the hearts and give math problems the questions ” Cinco por nueve son ?”.

3. Una Estimación- How many hearts will fit?

Draw a large heart and have small candy hearts on hand ( heart stickers or small pom poms work well too). Ask children to estimate how many hearts it will take to fill up el corazón. Kids really enjoy guessing the numbers and then count as a group as the heart is filled. This is a great practice for larger numbers diez- cien.