At Sonrisas Spanish Schoolwe talk a lot about creating rich, fun, and engaging contexts for children learning language. It is one of the reasons we are advocates for using authentic children’s Spanish literature which so naturally does the job of giving students a rich and engaging language-learning experience. It is also why we have always […]
The Importance of Early Language Education This is an excellent article by Kathleen M. Marcos from The ERIC Review, 6(1), 2-5. It reaffirms the importance of the work we are doing teaching preschool and elementary Spanish to young children. Second Language Learning: Everyone Can Benefit Kathleen M. Marcos* The 1990s have been a decade of […]
We continue with our series on engaging the imagination through the senses. In this post: SEE, SMELL AND TASTE. To engage the visual imaginations of your preschool and elementary Spanish students, you can use books, photographs, puppets, maps, globes, and artwork. When teaching the seasons, for example, you can bring in pieces of colorful construction paper, […]
In this series we will discuss the importance of engaging the imagination for preschool and elementary Spanish, and we will look at different ways to do this. Engaging the imagination through the senses is a methodology that can make teaching and learning preschool and elementary Spanish almost effortless. At Sonrisas Spanish School, we value the depth […]
What is shared reading? At Sonrisas Spanish School, when we read stories during our preschool and elementary Spanish classes, we use a form of storytelling that is commonly called “shared reading” in the educational world. In her book Invitations, Regie Routman defines shared reading as “any rewarding reading situation in which a learner—or group of […]
At Sonrisas Spanish School, we have been saying for years that the best way to teach Spanish is to have a talented teacher using an effective and fun curriculum. We call that the fundamentals of foreign language learning. So it is with much distress that we have been hearing many stories of foreign language teachers […]
A third methodology that has informed the Sonrisas curriculum has perhaps made the strongest impact on us as teachers and on our students who are acquiring language. Unlike TPR or NA, the Waldorf foreign language approach is not an ESL technique. It is a carefully designed approach to foreign language instruction and acquisition. Rudolf Steiner […]
The Natural Approach (NA), the second ESL methodology we adopted and modified for our Sonrisas Spanish School curricula, was developed by a pair of applied linguists, Dr. Stephen Krashen and Spanish teacher Tracy Terrell. NA is based on the premise that the study of foreign language can be taught and learned in two distinct ways: […]
Illustrating the Importance and Benefits of Learning a Second Language at an Early Age. The following is an excerpt from the introduction to the Sonrisas Spanish School curriculum. It illustrates the importance and benefits of learning a second language at an early age. Development of the Cortex In November of 1965, the respected Canadian neurologist […]
