You do NOT have to be fluent in Spanish to teach your children the language. You DO, however, have to expose them to the language a little bit every day. Here is how:
My top tips to learning Spanish quickly:
Learn a new phrase each week. Use it as many times as you can remember, until you and your family memorize and understand it. When ready, choose another phrase to ADD in to your daily conversations. Follow me on Instagram or here to learn useful phrases to use with your family.
Read to your child in Spanish everyday. It can be a bilingual book, a Spanglish book. It can be a book in English, where you change any words or phrases into Spanish that you know how. If you are new to Spanish and have trouble with pronunciation, use an app that will say the word for you (Google, ..)
Learn a song or poem together each month. Memorize it. Follow my blog to learn songs and poems.
Learn the vowel sounds. Unlike English, Spanish vowels only make one sound each, so it is easy! Learning and paying attention to them will help you with pronunciation and help insure you teach your children correct pronunciation as well.
4 parts to learning a language
Incorporate these four parts into your week for best language acquisition. Hearing, seeing, and interacting with Spanish in meaningful ways helps build the nueral pathways of understanding.
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at least 15 minutes a day
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Do as often as you can - whenever and wherever.
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At least once a week engage in some activity.
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Do a few times a week.
Listen/ Escuchar
Podcasts
Audio books
Movies
MusicReading out loud (for the listener)
This is where you learn the cadence/rhythm, pronunciation, and train your ear to understand the language.
Choose a method and speed that is comprehensible to you! If too advanced (vocabulary too complicated and/or speak too fast), you are not really learning/growing your Spanish skills, and may become easily disinterested.
General recommendation is at least 15 min/day. Proven more beneficial than 1 hour a week.
Action/ Acciones
Worksheets/Workbooks
Games
Apps
Deciphering/ Translating
Writing
Reading
Incorporating physical activity in learning / acting it out is very beneficial for memorization (jumping when learning the word for jump, etc.). Or if learning about las flores, plant some flowers or take a hike and go on a flower scavenger hunt.
At least once a week engage in some activity.
Speak/ Hablar
Tutors
Singing out loud
Plays (memorizing lines)Talking out loud to yourself
Talking to your family
Practicing with any native speaker
If you want to be able to hold a conversation in Spanish or be able to talk in Spanish, you HAVE TO practice speaking out loud in Spanish. No amount of listening to podcasts or watching movies or reading will accomplish this step for you. You do not have to speak perfectly- making mistakes as you talk helps you learn and realize where you need help/practice.
Great for learning new vocabulary and grammar. Helps solidify what you are learning.
Younger kids will start speaking on their own. You do not need to force them. However, singing songs out loud in Spanish is a great way to get them speaking the language.
Do this step as often as you can - whenever and wherever.
Read/ Leer
Books
Blogs
Instructions
Song lyrics
Transcripts from podcasts
Familiarize yourself with how the language looks. Read out loud to another or to yourself to practice pronunciation. Read along with a podcast or some other recording to further learn how words are pronounced.
This is also a great way to learn new words and the order of sentence structure.
Try to read a little something a few times a week.
