Many, many years ago when my teenager was just a tot, I stumbled upon a music cd called Multiplication Unplugged and fell in love.  Music is such an easy way to learn things and this has been the key in our house. Teaching Spanish with music never even occurred to me until I found some great resources by the same company, Sara Jordan Publishing.

Teaching Spanish With Music

Teaching Spanish with music has been a fun way for me to encourage my seven year old who had been begging to learn Spanish.  I was kind of soured from my older child’s experience with another Spanish program and was struggling to find something I could use with my little one given I speak no Spanish and have no drive to learn myself.

One of the ways I started teaching her was with these 3 Helps for Learning the Spanish Alphabet that I found and used together.  The FREE Printable Spanish Alphabet Pronunciation Chart along with the catchy Spanish Alphabet song made it easy for us to learn and practice the Spanish alphabet. Then while scouring the library and internet for resources I discovered that the same company who produced my super favorite Multiplication Unplugged, also has Spanish options!  Lucky for me our local library had a whole Homeschool Kit designated to the Sara Jordan Spanish resources.

Sara Jordan Resources

• Bilingual Preschool: English-Spanish CD/book kit – Jump-start learning for preschoolers as they sing and participate in these bilingual songs and games including I Spy, Follow the Leader, Mind Your Manners, and a rhyming game teaching: names of animals, counting, directions, polite expressions, places in the community, and counting (cardinal and ordinal numbers). Includes lyrics/activity book.
• Bilingual Songs: English – Spanish vol. 1 – Exciting songs in both English and Spanish teach the alphabet, counting to 10, days of the week, months of the year, weather and seasons, colors, food, clothing and family members. Music accompaniment tracks, make it more fun for students to sing along and be “performers”. Includes lyrics filled with activities.
• Bilingual Kids: English-Spanish Vol. 1, Reproducible Resource Book (Spanish Edition) – Time saving lessons for busy teachers. These reproducible thematic bilingual lessons and activities teach alphabetization, salutations, counting, days, months, weather, seasons, colors, food, zoo animals, parts of the body, clothing and family members. Learning is enhanced with cultural references to Hispanic geography, customs, traditional games, food, and holidays. Beginner Level.
• Bilingual Songs: English-Spanish, vol. 2, CD and book (Spanish Edition) – These hip songs in English and Spanish teach counting to 30, counting by 10s, shapes and sizes, emotions, places in the community, opposites, measuring devices, pronunciation of R and RR, conocer and saber, ser and estar. Music accompaniment tracks are included for class performances. Includes lyrics/activities book.
• Bilingual Kids: English-Spanish, vol. 2, Reproducible Resource Book (Spanish Edition) – Reproducible thematic lessons and activities in English and Spanish teach genders, counting to 30, counting by tens, shapes, sizes, emotions, places in the community, opposites and measuring devices. This resource also includes lessons and exercises on ser, estar, conocer and saber. Lessons are enhanced with an introduction to Hispanic landmarks, people, carnivals and more! 64 pages. Beginner Level.

How We Use Music to Teach Spanish

Using these resources for teaching Spanish with music to my daughter has been a fun and easy process.  The music is easy to take on the go.  Whether in the car or on her iPod she can listen we can listen to them together or she can play them through her head set.  Just like with the multiplication songs, these Spanish music discs have become a hit in our house.  The songs are fun and catchy and thus help her to learn and retain the information – even if she has to sing the song to do it!

Along with the music cds are small books that contain both the lyrics to each song and a few small worksheet activities to go along with what is being learned.  Having the little book makes it easy to take along and follow along with the songs. This can both be useful to help learn the lyrics to the songs and for a visual to help learn to recognize and read the written Spanish word.  I find it very helpful to not only see how it is written, but to hear it spoken (or sung) in this case.

When not on the go we use the Bilingual Kids Reproducible Resource Books to help reinforce the words and concepts she has been learning from the music cds.  She loves to be able to show off what she is learning not only by speaking the words but in written form as well.  I love how the books use a variety of written worksheet activities to keep it interesting, and they give lots of help and clues (like word banks, or lines to indicate the number of letters in a word) so that it does not become too overwhelming.

Musical Matching Activity

We created a fun musical matching activity to go along with some of the songs. With the Clothing (La ropa) song we made up cards for each of the article of clothing, then while  playing the song she uses the cards to label the different pieces of clothing in Spanish. With the Colors (Los colores) song we made color cards.  Then we had her label things of a specific color in Spanish when that color came up in the song. You can do this with many of the songs from these Spanish cds.  It makes for a fun, active, learning game.  If you don’t want to make the flashcards on your own, here is a site with FREE Printable Spanish Word Flash Cards that has many of the beginner words already done for you.

Other Things We Have Learned with Music

• Learning The Presidents
• 50 States Song
• The Periodic Table Rap