In this lesson of how to teach yourself Spanish we will cover the most important vocabulary related to the topic of a family.
Let’s begin: Continue reading…
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When you teach yourself Spanish, there are some grammatical rules you need to understand before you can speak Spanish easily and properly.
One of such rules deals with 2 Spanish verbs: ser and estar. Continue reading…
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Learning a new language such as Spanish can open up a door to a whole new world for you, whether your motivation is business, travel or just a hobby. For many people, however, studying is dry and tedious and unless you are in a classroom situation, sticking to it can be a chore.
So what’s the best way to learn anything? By having fun!
Learning Spanish through playing games is a fantastic way to absorb information – often without even realizing it! Learning games build vocabulary and grammar, increase reading comprehension and syntax, and give you the opportunity to practice, practice, practice.
The top five Spanish learning games are:
- Memory Concentration. Lay up to eighteen vocabulary cards on the table, face down. (There will be only nine words, two of each.) Flip over cards two at a time to find matching words. As you continue to flip over cards in search of its match, you will automatically memorize these words. Alternately, play this game online where a voice will read out the Spanish word every time you turn over a card.
- Unscramble. You are presented with scrambled Spanish words, and the goal is to unscramble them to make proper words. This game allows you to learn Spanish words and, if you unscramble short sentences, syntax and grammar, too.
- Word Match. Presented with one list of Spanish words and one list of corresponding pictures for these words, you must match the word to the picture. You will learn new words easily with a picture association.
- Crossword Puzzles. Doing a crossword puzzle in Spanish allows you to learn words, synonyms and simple definitions. Again, a great vocabulary builder.
- Plug-n-Play. Players are given a short paragraph with several missing words and a list of vocabulary with which to fill in the blanks. This helps reading comprehension as well as syntax.
So now there’s no excuse not to learn Spanish! Rest assured that even as you have fun playing Spanish learning games, you are being productive at the same time.
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There are many reasons for your child to learn a second language like Spanish. Children who are bilingual tend to have a greater understanding of the English language (or whatever their native tongue is) and a higher rate of comprehension overall.
They will have a better chance in the job market where knowing more than one language, especially Spanish, English or Chinese, is an asset. And familiarity with a foreign culture is an excellent way to expand their knowledge of the world.
Studies have shown that learning a second language by the age of ten is much easier than later in life.
But learning has to be fun! More so than for adults because kids are not keen about anything that resembles school. So make sure your child is not tired, sick or overworked; if you can make learning Spanish a game, your child will respond much more favorably. Kids learn by repetition in short spurts, so make sure they practice daily, but for no more than half an hour at a time.
Here are some ideas for helping your kid learn Spanish:
- Educational video games. There are many websites that provide video games to help kids learn Spanish. Let’s face it – if a lesson looks like a video game, you will have no trouble convincing your child to play/learn! But even though it’s educational, be sure to limit your child’s time online, as staring at a computer screen too long can harm her eyes.
- Online, software, DVDs. Any lesson that is interactive will help kids learn more efficiently as interaction keeps their attention. These methods include audio to hear pronunciation, visual to match word with picture, and written to cement words and sentences in their brain. These methods also allow the child to learn at her own pace.
- Children’s books in Spanish. Even if your child is older, help them choose some kids’ books in the Spanish language from the library because their Spanish reading comprehension level will be lower at first. They can select a book translated from their own language that they are familiar with, comic books, or just any Spanish language childrens’ book. As their Spanish skills develop, they can move on to entertainment magazines or young adult novels.
- Spanish-speaking pen pals. Making the language personal is helpful for learning it. Reading a dry lesson in a text book is one thing, reading a personal letter from a new friend is a whole other thing. Eagerness to understand what is being written by your pen pal will increase your child’s ability, and discovering actual, used colloquialisms will make the language much more special.
- Learning games. Many of the same Spanish learning games for adults can be used for kids; simply find or make easier versions with children’s themes. Some games include Memory Concentration where you flip over cards to find two matching words, Word Match where you match up a list of words with their corresponding pictures, and Plug-n-Play where you fill in the blanks of a paragraph with a list of the missing words.
Once your child has begun her lessons, the best way you can help her is to use simple Spanish with her in every day situations: count steps in Spanish when climbing stairs, name foods at the dinner table in Spanish, and point out colors in Spanish. Who knows? Maybe even you will start speaking Spanish…
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Rocket Spanish has been chosen by us as one of the top five Spanish language courses, you should look at if you think about learning at least conversational Spanish. This course will teach you daily Spanish by means of various types of lessons, such as audio ones, writing exercises, grammar exercises and more.
It is a great course to start with and to continue learning when you progress in your Spanish knowledge and level of skills. You can try the course out by downloading a 6-day free course, which will give you a very good taste of what it is, the learning speed and type of exercises. It is definitely a great way to try the product before you buy it, especially that during these 6 days if you are consistent and practice every day, you will be able to find out if this method of teaching and learning is something for you.
To give you a great feel of the course before you buy Rocket Spanish, we want to share with you this interesting video.
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