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How to Teach Beginning Spanish to Elementary School Students

Help elementary school students get excited about learning Spanish. Everyday young children are exposed to new concepts, new ideas and new ways of thinking and doing. Their brains are ready to learn. Children can learn languages just as fast as adults and older students. Exposing students to a second language is also beneficial for the brain. According to Linda Halgunseth, Diversity in Education Content Contributor for Education.com, young children who are exposed to more than one language have greater brain activity and denser neural tissues in those areas of the brain that are used for memory, attention and language.

Things You'll Need

  • Spanish language worksheets
  • Spanish language songs
  • Spanish language textbook
  • Flash cards
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Instructions

    • 1

      Use Spanish word lists, with picture references, to begin teaching the Spanish language to students. Introduce word lists that focus on a particular subject, such as days of the week, numbers, fruits, vegetables, colors, body parts (hands, feet, head, legs) and animals. Challenge students to learn many Spanish words quickly by completing worksheets that list the Spanish word and a picture representation of the word. Have students draw a line matching the Spanish word with the picture representation. As students improve, provide worksheets with short Spanish phrases that are commonly used in every speech in the students' native language. You may also present phrases such as "good morning" and "thank you."

    • 2

      Design a schedule that provides for progressive Spanish language instruction that builds on and expands the previous lessons. Reviewing previous lessons reinforces the students' knowledge of the language. Introduce new words and phrases that compliment and expand on previous lessons. For example, adjectives that describe nouns would be introduced after the students are familiar with the Spanish words for a noun word list. You might introduce words like "juicy, sweet, delicious and crunchy" as adjectives to describe fruit and vegetable words. Instruct the students to complete worksheets or participate in oral games by adding a Spanish adjective to a noun to describe the object in Spanish. Use flash cards with Spanish on one side and the students' native language for the word on the other side. Play games using flash cards.

    • 3

      Play games and sing songs in Spanish. Teach students a song in their native language and then teach the same song in Spanish. Students should already know the meaning of the Spanish words, since they know the song in their native tongue. Replace the words on native language board games with the Spanish word for the action. For example, if a native language board game instruction is "draw a card," replace the instruction with the Spanish phrase for "draw a card." Next, write or print the phrase on a piece of paper and tape it over the native language on the game board. Print familiar songs in both the students' native language and in Spanish. Tell the students to take the songs home and learn the Spanish version to sing in class the next day.

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