Originally Posted by SunflowerMama:
So I'm starting to transition my daycare a bit to be a little more curriculum heavy and preschool oriented. I'm even considering transitioning completely from full-time care to a MDO 8a-2pm program in the Fall of 2014.
My kids are all 2-4 so I'm thinking about incorporating some Spanish a couple of days a week. The only problem is that I don't know a lick of Spanish myself
. The preschool program I use has a Spanish word or 2 each month but I'd love to supplement that quite a bit.
So if you incorporate Spanish lessons into your program do you use any sort of online assistance or DVDs, etc.?
I incorporate it but I am fluent in Spanish (it was my first language) and I don't use DVD's or flashcards so I'm not aware of anything of that sort that you can use. If you decide to try to introduce simple ASL (american Sign Language) as well (which is great for your non-talkers) you can use Signing Time Videos (my daycare kids love it) along with some flashcards to learn a few words in ASL (I like the Baby Signs flashcards) and then also teach the word in Spanish.
This is what I do. I take a word in ASL to introduce beginning with words that are most relative to them at daycare (eat, hungry, drink, water, milk, poop, sleep etc) and we sign them as I say the word in English first and then in Spanish. If you don't know how to pronounce the word in Spanish you can look it up in Google Translate, most words that you type in have a playback button that says the word for you.
I would also try to get audio books that are both in Spanish and in English like Hello Ocean, Hola Mar which you can also just watch on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5BvgikW_zU. You can find audiobooks that are relative to your theme/curriculum and then take particular words to focus on.
Here are our other favorite English/Spanish books:
Before You Were Here, Mi Amor
The Moon is La Luna: Silly Rhymes in English and Spanish
Abuela (English Edition with Spanish Phrases)
The Iguana Brothers, a Tale of Two Lizards
Paco and the Giant Chile Plant (like Jack and the beanstalk)