Pre-select and pre-read a bilingual children's book. This means the book should have both words in English and Spanish. Good illustrations improve the book's readability for the child. Choose a book with various pictures throughout. Use your local library or school to find the best selection of free reading materials. Identify any words or concepts that the child may have difficulty understanding, even in English.
Find a comfortable and quiet reading spot and take the child to it. This should be an area free from distractions and other children. A special reading area allows the child to focus on learning to read in Spanish.
Browse the book with the child before reading it. Talk about the illustrations and discuss any English words or concepts that may cause confusion to the child while reading. This allows the child to focus on learning to read in Spanish, rather than struggling to read or understand the concepts in English.
Ask the child to read the book only in English first. This allows the child to read through the book in a language that is familiar to him before reading the book in an unfamiliar one.
Ask the child to reread the book in Spanish. You may need to help her more with pronunciation because the language is less familiar to her. Point out key words in Spanish and show the child the English equivalent. Allow the child to look at the English words while reading because this helps build the association between the two languages.
Browse back through the book and choose vocabulary for flash cards. Let the child choose a few of his favorite words in Spanish. Write the Spanish word on one side of the note card and the English equivalent on the other side.
Review these flash cards with the child frequently. Learning key words helps the child learn to read other books in Spanish because he now recognizes more words in other books.