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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Story Time in Spanish. "El Cuento."

Do you want your kids to learn Spanish, but you don't speak it? Would you like your kids to experience a new language from time to time? 

I teach Nesta Spanish at home, and I read to him in Spanish. However, I wanted him to experience Story Time in Spanish. I remember back in Denver I would take the kids I took care of to story time at the library. Some libraries offered story time in Spanish, but it was always for older children (3-5 years-old). So , I was beyond excited when I saw that Multilingual Chicago offered story time in Spanish or "El Cuento." The age range at Multilingual Chicago is 11months to 3 years. I took Nesta right away.

Story time in Spanish at Multilingual Chicago is 3o minutes long, which is just long enough for little guys like Nesta. The class starts with toys on the ground for the kids to play with. Then we sing "adios juguetes" and the toys are put away. The instructor then plays with her hands and feet by clapping and stomping. There is some movement of the hands to the front and to the back. Sometimes if the class is large a big circle is made and then a little circle. The kids love the little circle. Then the instructor asks for each kid to say his/her name. She'll say "me llamo _____" and then when the kid says his/her name we'll sing it a couple of times like "me llamo Nesta, me llamo Nesta." By we I mean the moms because the kids don't say much. The parents are encouraged to participate as much as the kids. Some older kids do respond after a lot of repetition, but some kids like Nesta walk around trying to check out all the furniture in the room. More singing takes place, then a puppet comes out and says hi to the kids. The book finally comes out and the kids are encouraged to sing "abre el libro" which means open the book. The last two times we've gone the book has been a pop-out book which means I have to keep Nesta on my lap so he doesn't jump up and tear it! The instructor doesn't read a story from the book, rather points out the characters and makes the animal noises. In one case the story was La Oruga Muy Hambrienta, and the instructor had each fruit(fake)  that the caterpillar eats. She handed each kid a "ciruela" or "manzana" or "naranja." After looking at the book, each kid was asked to feed the very hungry caterpillar the fruit they had been given. This was my favorite story time. Maybe because I love La Oruga Muy Hambrienta, or maybe because of all the props the instructor had. Either way, story time in Spanish is a great tool for kids to learn Spanish. There is a lot of singing and repetition. The best, I think it's that the parents or caregivers have to participate. So, if your kid is shy, he or she may do what you are doing. I do have to say that I felt a bit foolish jumping around and dancing around to all the commands the instructor was giving, while Nesta was off somewhere else trying to find toys or the door. These are the things we go through as parents, and at the end of the day they do a little something that helps you realize that they were listening and they learned something new. I knew this when I praised Nesta for using his signs, I started singing a song I learned at Spanish story time which went like this "Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravisimo, bravo lo hiciste muy bien," as I clapped for him. He started clapping and humming the song. It's funny because Nesta never claps when others are clapping, he usually claps for himself on his own time. This time he clapped with me as I sang the song.
It's the little things. Oh, it's the little things.

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