Learn Spanish While You Cook! Baking Cookies with Your Toddler
“The days are long but the years are short” is an all-too-accurate motto for us parents who have young children in the house. The clock slows to a screeching halt when you need to accomplish a task and the kids are filling up with the urge for activity. Doesn’t it feel like the sheer amount of energy they have in their little bodies could literally blow the roof off? They want to have fun and they want it now, and you want them to learn Spanish!
The good news is, we can harness this explosive desire they have to grab, mold, and manipulate things by opening up real-world skill-building opportunities that teach our children a foreign language while it entertains them.
Play Smarter, Not Harder
By combining multi-disciplinary themes for your kids’ learning pleasure, such as physical activity and linguistic training in Spanish, you’re more likely to teach your child information that sticks. Give the gift of valuable communication skills that your child is sure to acquire through hands-on, instruction-based activities. More simply put—learn Spanish the fun way.
What can you think of that is delicious, universally obsessed over by all children, and is really fun to make? Yes, cookies! I’m talking about a hands-on, cookie-baking, chocolate-loving project with a Spanish language lesson built into it. Learn Spanish while you cook!
Build Skills Into Structured Playtime
Have your cake (or in this case, cookies) and eat it too by following this guide. With this activity, you’ll easily incorporate several technical and language-related skills into your lesson, such as:
- Sequencing (knowing how to do steps in a technical procedure)
- Math skills in counting and measuring (also, numbers in Spanish)
- Sensory skills (taste, hear, touch, smell and see different ingredients)
- Fine motor skills
- Hand-eye coordination
- Organization and cleanliness skills
- Measurement words in Spanish
- Food vocabulary in Spanish
- Action verbs in Spanish used for recipes
- Add your own skill-building ideas (like using letter cookie-cutters for alphabet review)
Pre-Teach Relevant Vocabulary
The goal of pre-teaching is to activate background knowledge that your child already has and to prepare them for new information. It’s an essential step to complete in preparation for a lesson-oriented activity. How do you pre-teach? Before you jump into making cookies, be sure to set aside some time to review a few relevant things you may have already learned, like numbers in Spanish, and introduce new words that your child will need to know (more on that below).
How to Bake Cookies and Learn Spanish
You’re ready to get out the ingredients, measuring cups, and baking sheets! Baking cookies while your little ones learn Spanish is a fun way to use the language, instead of just teaching it. Here’s how to do it:
- Gather all the ingredients and make a list with the vocabulary you want to teach. For this guide, we chose food words, measurement words, and cooking verbs (add these words to your Pre-Teaching lesson mentioned above).
- Write each step of the recipe on numbered index cards. Put them in order and go over it with your child. This helps them see the big picture before you break it down into a step-by-step sequence. Each index card should have a number on it that shows where it goes in the sequence.
- After you explore the whole process together, mix the cards up and ask your child to put them in order. Work with them to identify the numbers and read which step it is. Use this time to point to the different ingredients on the table and name them in Spanish.
- Start with Step 1 and then work each step together. Set up two columns on the table where one side is for which steps are left and another column is for completed steps.
- ¡Coman y disfrútenlo! Eat and enjoy!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Food words: huevo (egg), mantequilla (butter), azúcar (sugar), harina (flour), sal (salt), chispas de chocolate (chocolate chips)
Measuring words: la onza (ounce), la taza (cup), la pizca (pinch), la cucharada (tablespoon)
Cooking verbs: precalentar (preheat), batir (beat), derretir (melt), añadir (add), agregar (add), mezclar (mix), colocar (put), hornear (bake)
Ingredientes
| 1 huevo | 1 egg |
| 4 onzas de mantequilla | 125 ounces of butter |
| 1 taza de azúcar mascabado | 1 cup brown sugar |
| 1 1/2 tazas de harinas leudante | 1 ½ cup self-rising flour |
| 1 pizca de sal | 1 pinch of salt |
| 1 taza de chispa de chocolate de buena calidad | 1 cup good quality chocolate chips |
Preparación
| Precalentar el horno a 180°C. | Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) |
| Batir el huevo y el azúcar juntos hasta lograr una consistencia espumosa y espesa. | Beat the egg and sugar together until it reaches a frothy and thick consistency. |
| Derretir la mantequilla y añadir a la mezcla de huevo. | Melt the butter and add the egg to the mix. |
| Agregar el harina, sal y chispas de chocolate. Mezclar bien. | Add the flour, salt, and chocolate chips. Mix well. |
| Colocar la masa a cucharadas (una cucharada grande para cada galleta) sobre una charola para hornear forrada con papel encerado. | Place the dough in tablespoons (a large tablespoon for each cookie) on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. |
| Hornear durante 10 minutos. Dejar que las galletas se enfríen en la charola. | Bake for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. |
(Want the original recipe?)
Barriga Llena, Corazón Contento
With a full tummy and a happy heart, you and your preschooler will be glad you decided to make cookies in Spanish! We hope you enjoyed this easy tutorial on how to make cookies with your preschool while teaching them your favorite foreign language. Encourage your little one to talk about their cooking activity with a certified Spanish teacher from Guatemala. Sign up for a free class today!
Want more Spanish activities for your preschooler? Check these out!
- Learn Spanish While You Cook! Baking Cookies with Your Toddler
- Spanish Weather Words for Your Preschooler
- Spanish Animals for Preschoolers
- Spanish Winter Words for Preschoolers
- Reading Strategies at Home for Bilingual Kids
- Learn Spanish with Music (Preschool and Elementary): Themes, Songs and Lesson Ideas
- Using Sight Words in Spanish
- Teaching Spanish Colors to Preschoolers
Simple: An Interactive Spanish Book for Preschool!
What’s more interactive than flashcards, more come-to-life than audio, and more fluency-building than regular books?
HSA’s new book Simple: An Interactive Spanish Book for Preschool.
We invite you to teach your preschool child how to speak Spanish through 70 pages of age-appropriate lessons that are directly linked to 136 hours of interactive Spanish videos online. Young learners, ages 3-5, will learn fundamental Spanish themes and grammar while they master important skills like matching, identifying, classifying, and following instructions.
If you want super fun Spanish lessons with instant access to multimedia content and a one-on-one style class with an in-house tutor, then you’ve finally found it.
Motivate, foster, and explore—these words define the power you hold over your child’s foreign language acquisition and the new world that opens along with it. By using the right educational tool, you can motivate Spanish literacy, foster fluency, and explore thematic lessons that inspire your child to learn.
Achieving your goal of enhancing your child’s Spanish lessons has never been closer to home. Here’s what Simple (pronounced in Spanish is seem-play) promises to do:
It Motivates Spanish Literacy Early On
Set your child up for success in Spanish literacy from an early age. Grab a copy today and provide reading, writing, and tracing exercises for your young learner. Access the QR code on each page to open up an animated video-companion for your lessons.
It Fosters Your Child’s Budding Fluency
Watch your toddler blossom into speaking Spanish sentences—not just words and phrases, but creative, conversational Spanish sentences! The interactive book and its joint interactive Spanish video series supply you with a stimulating and inspiring Spanish teacher who is on-demand for when you need it the most.
It Explores Child-Friendly Themes That Inspire
Themes include greetings, colors, fruit, vegetables, family, and more. Get your child talking, and loving to talk about, the fascinating world of Spanish sounds and language by sharing this unique learning experience with them.
Why Is “Simple: An Interactive Spanish Book for Preschool” a Must-Have?
Our video-book enters the scene at a time when ideas about learner engagement are expanding with more research, and parents are asking for a better solution to support Spanish acquisition at home.
Homeschool Spanish Academy jumped right in to combine the need for more effective educational tools for toddlers with the hundreds of parents asking us to release a book inspired by our own Spanish curriculum for preschool, and ¡listo!—The Video-Book was born.
What cutting-edge benefits can your child expect to receive by using this book? They will:
- learn more and remember more
- flourish with higher focus, attention, and problem-solving skills
- improve mental acuity through purposeful play
- follow a popular curriculum that many other students have enjoyed
Interactive Animation Increases Memory
Your child learns more efficiently while they remember more.
According to a new study in 2020, research psychologist Erik Thiessen at Carnegie Mellon University reveals that interactive, animated books significantly increase memory and learning engagement for children ages 3-5. And so, when children actively interact with animated contents of a book, they not only learn more, but they remember more.
Consistent Praise and High-Energy Boost Focus
Your child flourishes with higher focus, attention, and problem-solving skills.
Imagine hearing your little one shout out new Spanish phrases in glee, like “¡Hola mamá! ¿Cómo estás?” while they react excitedly to the regular praise they’ll receive from the videos. The high-energy animation pumps up your child’s spirits and motivates interaction. It also heavily praises their efforts, which not only boosts their confidence but statistically increases focus, attention, and problem-solving abilities by 30%.
Skill-Building Exercises Promote Cognitive Development
Your child improves mental acuity through purposeful play.
Between the ages 3-5, your child will experience a phenomenal surge in growth. They learn to compare, contrast, organize, and analyze information while they begin to problem-solve. While your child enjoys the video-book experience, she is also engaging in structured playtime—also known as purposeful play. Our curriculum is designed to nurture foundational skills for toddlers and preschoolers, such as:
- Observation and pattern recognition
- Early logic and math through matching, sorting, and classifying
- Early reading comprehension through image comparisons
- Pre-writing skills by drawing, writing, tracing, and coloring
- Pre-reading skills by learning letters, sounds, and interacting with the book
High-Quality Content That’s Loved by Young Learners
Your child follows a popular curriculum that many other students have enjoyed.
In response to demands from parents like you, the brainy team of teachers and talented curriculum designers at Homeschool Spanish Academy got together to condense the highest-impact lessons from the HSA Preschool Program into their most potent and useful aspects. In other words, they pulled out the framework of a popular curriculum and built an interactive video-series around it—with you and your child in mind.
Take a Closer Look! Dive Inside The Simple Video-Book
With this simple interactive book, your toddler will be able to:
- Greet others
- Introduce themselves
- Ask and discuss quantities
- Ask and identify who someone is
- Talk about fruits, vegetables, and their colors
- Count to 10
- Use numbers in questions
- Identify family members and talk about them
- Learn vowel sounds
- Write and trace new words
The book is organized into engaging themes with supportive subtopics that teach question words and grammar. Regular check-ups and reviews are strategically placed throughout each unit to encourage a deeper understanding.
The contents of Simple: An Interactive Spanish Book for Preschool are organized into 4 Units:
- Unit 1: Conversation (las conversaciones)
- Greetings (los saludos)
- Check-up
- Introductions (las presentaciones)
- Phonetics: Letter A (las fonéticas: la letra A)
- Unit 2: Colors and Fruit
- Fruit (las frutas)
- Check-up
- Colors (los colores)
- Phonetics: Letter O (las fonéticas: la letra O)
- Unit 3: Vegetables and Numbers
- Vegetables (los vegetales)
- Check-up
- Numbers 1-10 (los números 1-10)
- Phonetics: Letter U (las fonéticas: la letra U)
- Review
- Unit 4: Family
- Members and Pronouns (los miembros y sus pronombres)
- Check-up
- Family and Age (la familia y la edad)
- Phonetics: Letter E (las foneticas: la letra E)
- Review
Order the Book Now!
If you’re ready to teach Spanish to your preschool child in the most effective and engaging way, order the Simple video-book now!
Would you like to learn more about HSA? Check these out!
- Become Fluent in Spanish at a Fraction of the Cost
- The CEFR and How Homeschool Spanish Academy Uses It
- Homework: How Much is Too Much?
- The Perfect Spanish Curriculum for Your Child
- Which Do You Choose: The Middle School or High School Curriculum?
- What to Expect from a Year with Homeschool Spanish Academy
- Learn Spanish Fast: Reshaping the Methods Used to Learn Spanish
- Immersion Style Classes vs. Ordinary Online Classes
- What Makes HSA Spanish Tutoring So Effective?
- HSA Creates the Most Effective Online Homeschool Spanish Program
6 Compelling Reasons Why Your School Should Outsource Spanish Class
The issues educators and schools face today are more challenging than ever before. With major state and local budget cuts to education, many schools find themselves in desperate need of quality teachers and adequate resources.
The lack of available professionals in education is rising as candidates who could be the perfect teacher are instead offering up their skills to other industries that pay higher wages.
What’s more, curricula and resources within most schools are sorely out-of-date, where the use of irrelevant tools, outdated standards, and obsolete information has become the norm.
Despite the fact that it’s more important than ever to be bilingual (thanks to globalization), a shocking 1% or less of American adults are proficient in a foreign language that they studied in school. The sad truth is students who should otherwise be learning to speak a foreign language end up only memorizing trivial sets of vocabulary that never lead to fluency.
The Future of Language Instruction
The old model is breaking down and it’s time to make room for the future: outsourcing virtual foreign language classes from highly qualified, specialized language schools. Outsource Spanish as a way to propel your school forward.
Homeschool Spanish Academy is a pioneer on the frontier of specialized virtual foreign language education, targeting the second-most spoken language in the world, Spanish, and tailoring its selection of curricula to each of its client’s needs.
The Concern for Competition
When you consider your school and its competitors, do you know how you measure up? How does your school stand out? What is your institution known for?
Competition is getting fierce among public schools, charter schools, private schools, and even homeschool, which is currently growing by double digits. What do you have to offer that will convince a parent to choose your school over the competition?
Effective and interactive foreign language classes will make you stand out and give you a competitive advantage. Let’s check out the most impactful reasons to outsource Spanish class that will benefit your school.
6 Reasons to Outsource Spanish Class for Your School’s Benefit
1. It’s More Affordable
Group classes are much more cost-effective than a full-time local Spanish teacher. The ultimate benefit for your school is that you replace cost with value. Major advantages to this include less overhead and labor costs, no additional payouts toward benefits—like social security or insurance—and you only pay for the hours you need. Our prices go as low as $2.50 per student* for 50 minute lessons at high school level and $1.33 per student** for 25 minute lessons at elementary level.
We provide all of the resources, high-quality content, smooth and user-friendly platform, and top-of-the-line teaching instruction.
*for 10 students per group for 60 classes per year for High School (50 min)
**for 10 students per group for 60 classes per year for elementary (25 min)
2. It’s More Attractive to Potential Students
Prove to potential students and their parents that your school is forward-thinking and inclined toward future trends, and you will attract a wider group of families focused on success, relevance, and excellence. Simply by outsourcing your Spanish classes and saving money for your education institution, you will be showing your student body that your school values technical savvy and digital literacy as essential preparatory skills.
A Spanish language program bolstered by native Spanish-speaking instructors demonstrates an international mindset that is hard to compete with. If your school is this unique, it has a higher value proposition to parents, which translates to higher tuition rates. The more you can offer, the more you can charge.
In effect, we’re offering you a way to show students and parents why they should send their kids to you.
3. It’s More Efficient
Instead of wasting precious funds, time, and talent on choosing, organizing, and implementing a Spanish program for your students—that will ultimately lead to students forgetting what they learned after each semester—delegate your Spanish curriculum tasks to experts who live it and breathe it every day.
Let go of the old in-house model of language instruction that’s inefficient and difficult to manage or control. Homeschool Spanish Academy provides all the benefits of outsourcing your Spanish classes to certified, native Spanish-speaking teachers.
4. It Comes with Quality Assurance
You’re still not completely sure you’d like to make the switch from a local teacher to an outsourced Spanish school? We know that these kinds of decisions are not to be taken lightly. That’s why we offer premium quality assurance, or you will receive a full refund. That’s right, if you’re not satisfied with the class package that you buy, you receive a full money-back guarantee within 30 days, or after using 4 classes. Even after your 30-day period ends, you can talk to our Care Team to discuss options for modifying your curriculum or receiving a prorated refund.
5. It’s Globally-Minded
By implementing an outsource Spanish program like we have at Homeschool Spanish Academy, your students gain access to what most schools lack internally—that is, access to native Spanish-speaking professional educators who live in Latin America. Take advantage of your chance to tap into an international knowledge base, where students have consistent and direct contact with a teacher whose culture is diverse and pertinent to the curriculum that they’re exploring.
6. It Mitigates Risk
Our curricula are customizable to meet the needs of your school and those of your students, which reduces the overall risk you take in buying a program elsewhere that may be ineffective. We give you the option of revising and upgrading the course of study based on your students’ needs and the school’s requirements. The difference is in implementing another Spanish curriculum that is rigid and proven to be unproductive long-term versus a dynamic and collaborative, customer-oriented Spanish program. By tailoring our curriculum to match your needs and offering flexible class times to fit your school’s scheduling demands, we reduce the stress and the risk of ineffectuality.
Our customized classroom package includes all homework, quizzes, and exams as well as direct access to our Care Team. The Care Team will go out of their way to help you with registration, payment preferences (group or individual family billing), payment tracking, explanation of software requirements, virtual set-up assistance, grades and student progress as well as any other questions you might have about the program.
What Are Some Unique Ways Your Students Benefit?
When your school profits from the benefits of our virtual Spanish programs, the students will gain a tremendous advantage in multiple ways. Take a look at some of the unique ways that students benefit from having their school outsource Spanish classes to Homeschool Spanish Academy!
With HSA, students will:
- Connect emotionally to Latin America, which allows them to expand their hearts and minds toward countries other than their native one.
- Gain access to a Spanish-speaking certified teacher who lives in Guatemala.
- Learn better and faster Spanish by having conversations with native speakers.
- Earn foreign language credits transferable to university, if they are in high school
- Get personalized attention and instruction within smaller group settings.
- Remember more lesson material through interactive, dynamic classes
- Learn Spanish from someone who is certified to teach Spanish as a 2nd language as per the Ministry of Education in Guatemala
- Participate in a safe learning environment, where all teachers have had double background checks (local and federal level)
- Experience Spanish instruction from the best of the best teachers (less than 1% of applicants to Homeschool Spanish Academy become certified teachers with us)
- Interact with teachers who teach from one centralized location with dedicated infrastructure (teachers are not in their individual homes)
- Enjoy smooth instruction via state of art fiber optic internet with multiple redundancies ensuring a quality internet connection
Register Your School Today
Don’t let another year go by without catapulting your school to the top of the competition. Contact our Care Team today to get more information on our Spanish programs, including price quotes and customizable options. We’re waiting to connect your students to our certified native Spanish-speaking teachers in Guatemala!
Would you like to learn more about HSA? Check these out!
Groovin’ Instrument Words in Spanish
Do you know how to play an instrument? Or is it a new year’s resolution that you’re working hard to keep? Whatever the case may be, we’re here to complement your musical knowledge with new words in Spanish!
To clear up any confusion: while the topic of Spanish instruments—or instruments from Spain—is truly fascinating, it is not the topic of this blog post. Here you will find all the vocabulary you’ll ever need about los instrumentos musicales (musical instruments).
So, let’s get to it! Did you know that playing an instrument actually makes you smarter? Not only does it boost your brain’s power to think faster, but it enhances your memory and provides countless benefits to your mental and physical well-being. Wow, sounds like you need to start playing right now!
To Play or Not to Play?
While you dip your toes into the kaleidoscopic world of dance and music in Spanish, you are very likely to meet both musicians and non-musicians alike who hang out in the same crowds because of their passion for the art of sound. How can you start chatting with your Spanish-speaking, musically-inclined friends? Here are some great conversation starters:
| ¿Tocas algún instrumento? | Do you play an instrument? |
| ¿Te gusta tocar la guitarra? | Do you like to play the guitar? |
| ¿Me podrías enseñar a tocar la batería? | Could you teach me to play the drums? |
| ¿Sabes cómo tocar el bajo? | Do you know how to play bass? |
| Yo no sé tocar el violín. | I don’t know how to play the violin. |
| Yo toco el teclado. | I play the keyboard |
| Me gustaría tocar la flauta. | I’d like to play the flute. |
| Toquemos juntos la guitarra. | Let’s play the guitar together. |
| Vamos a improvisar con tu batería y mi guitarra. | Let’s jam with your drums and my guitar. |
Tipos de instrumentos
While thousands of instruments exist in the world, we’re going to focus on 5 main categories and 5 popular instruments in each one! With a master list of 25 new instrument words in Spanish, you’ll have no problem striking up a conversation. The five main categories of instruments are
- cuerda (string)
- viento (woodwind)
- metales (brass)
- percusión (percussion)
- teclado (keyboard)
Let’s learn some vocabulary!
Los instrumentos de cuerda (String Instruments)
String instruments are timeless musical devices that make sound by vibrating the string against their hollow inside. Interestingly, some of the earliest stringed instruments were found in Ancient Mesopotamian sites with artifacts over three thousand years old! Here are some of the most common of modern times:
| English | Spanish | Pronunciation |
| Classic/Electric Guitar | La guitarra clásica/eléctrica | Gee-tar-rah klah-see-kah / ay-lake-tree-kah |
| Ukulele | El ukelele | oo-kay-lay-lay |
| Violin | El violín | bee-oh-leen |
| Cello | El violonchelo | bee-on-chay-loh |
| Harp | El arpa | ar-pah |
Los instrumentos de viento (Woodwind Instruments)
Woodwind instruments’ sound comes from the friction between exhaled air and a sharp edge inside a hollow tube. They are made of a variety of materials (like brass or silver, for example), not just wood. Do you remember the infamous recorder from high school? Well, the original recorder was surprisingly not made of plastic; in fact—as one of the oldest and most popular woodwind instruments—it was made of high-quality wood and played frequently by eternal talents like Bach, Telemann, and Vivaldi! Get your classical groove on with these woodwind instruments:
| English | Spanish | Pronunciation |
| Bassoon | El fagot | fah-gote |
| Saxophone | El saxofón | sak-soh-fone |
| Flute | La flauta | flah-oo-tah |
| Clarinet | El clarinete | klah-ree-nay-tay |
| Oboe | El oboe | oh-boh-ay |
Los instrumentos de metales (Brass Instruments)
The brass instrument—though not always made of brass—is known more specifically as a labrosone. This name refers to the fact that it is primarily a lip-vibrated instrument. The musician achieves different pitches by using valves, slides, keys, or crooks, depending on which instrument it is. Let’s look at some popular brass instrument words in Spanish:
| English | Spanish | Pronunciation |
| Tuba | La tuba | too-bah |
| Trumpet | La trompeta | trome-pay-tah |
| French horn | El corno francés | Kor-noh frahn-says |
| Trombone | El trombón | trome-bone |
| Baritone | El barítono | bah-ree-toh-noh |
Los instrumentos de percusión (Percussion Instruments)
A percussion instrument is really anything that makes sound when you hit, shake, or scrape it. A controversial member of this family is the piano, whose keys clearly respond to the intensity of pressure from the musician’s fingers beating down on it, while arguably, it also acts as a string instrument would as the keys lift hammers inside it that hit strings. Without percussion, most of our favorite songs just wouldn’t carry that signature beat. Let’s take a look at some instruments to appreciate:
| English | Spanish | Pronunciation |
| Drum kit | La batería | bah-tay-ree-ah |
| Tambourine | La pandereta | pan-day-ray-tah |
| Cymbals | Los platillos | plah-tee-yohs |
| Xylophone | El xilófono | zee-loh-foh-noh |
| Chimes | El carillón | kah-ree-yohn |
Los instrumentos de teclado (Keyboard Instruments)
While the definition of keyboard instrument now refers to a row of levers that are pressed by the fingers, this simple word once acted as a “catch-all” category of musical instruments in the 18th century. At the time, it meant that a musical instrument could not be clearly defined. These days, we have a more specific idea of what a keyboard is, and as you may have already imagined, this category also includes the piano! Take a look at some more:
| English | Spanish | Pronunciation |
| Piano | El piano | pyah-noh |
| synthesizer | El sintetizador | seen-tay-tee-sah-dor |
| organ | El órgano | or-gah-noh |
| Harpsichord | El clavesín | klah-vay-seen |
| Accordion | El acordeón | ah-kor-day-ohn |
Music-Related Content
- Exploring Different Types of Latin Music
- Learn Spanish with Music for Small Children
- Top 10 Children’s Spanish Songs
- Learn Spanish with Music for High School
Music and Words in Spanish
Use your newfound knowledge of musical instruments in Spanish to strike up a conversation with a Spanish-speaking musician. Or, if you’d like more practice, sign up for a free class with one of our certified teachers from Guatemala and ask them about their favorite instruments!
Want more Spanish resources? Check these out!
- Pronunciation in Spanish and How to Master B/V
- Differences between Latin American and Castilian Spanish
- Learn the Top 100 High-Frequency Spanish Words and How to Use Them
- The Ultimate Valentine’s Day Guide in Spanish
- Is Spanish Hard to Learn?
Top 10 Careers of the Future—in Spanish!
What do you want to be when you grow up? Most of us have no idea which career path we want to choose while still in high school, and you may not know either. Take a deep breath and remember: figuring this out always takes time! Your teenage years provide you with ample time to discover which careers are available to you and how well they match your passions and interests.
You probably already know the benefits of learning Spanish, but did you know that bilinguals have a major advantage in the global workplace? As you continue to improve your Spanish skills, stay motivated in knowing that you will have more job prospects and you’re likely to be paid more if you’re bilingual.
So, what kind of jobs exist to choose from? Let’s take a look at the top 10 careers of the future, while we learn Spanish vocabulary about each one. ¿A qué te quieres dedicar?
Top 10 Careers of the Future
1. Ingeniería en robótica (Robotics Engineering)
Robotics Engineers design and build robots and robotic systems to do jobs that humans cannot or no longer want to do. If you like practical, hands-on problem-solving and working with ideas, this is the job for you. Engineers do the following:
- Construir robots (build robots)
- Configurar robots (configure robots)
- Diseñar sistemas de software para controlar los sistemas robóticos (design software to control robotic systems)
2. Diseño industrial (Industrial Design)
In order to be an industrial designer, you must be highly creative with the ability to transmute someone else’s idea into a practical application or creation. An industrial designer develops new manufactured goods, such as:
- Automóviles (cars)
- Barcos (boats)
- Artículos para el hogar (housewares)
- Equipos deportivos (sports equipment)
- Productos electrónicos de consumo (consumer electronics)
- Juguetes (toys)
- Dispositivos medicos (medical devices)
3. Biotecnología (Biotechnology)
For those who like the idea of inventing things, working within big companies, traveling for corporate conferences, and handling the pressure to perform well for million-dollar projects, biotech is the place for you. Biotechnology, defined simply, is the use of living systems and organisms to create products or render services. Some types of biotech careers are:
- Bioquímico (biochemist)
- Ingeniero biomédico (biomedical engineer)
- Ventas farmacéuticas (pharmaceutical sales)
- Técnico de laboratorio (laboratory technician)
- Investigador asociado (associate researcher)
- Técnico de laboratorio criminalístico (crime lab technician)
4. Enfermería (Nursing)
Nurses are people who love to focus on caring for others and making a differences in their lives when they need it the most. Nurses are hands-on health practitioners who provide personalized care for those in poor health. Nurses do the following:
- Promover la salud (promote health)
- Prevenir enfermedades (prevent sickness)
- Ayudar a los pacientes a sobrellevar la enfermedad (help patients cope with illness)
5. Contabilidad (Accounting)
If you’re meticulous and exceptionally good with numbers, accounting may be the profession for you. Accountants help clients grow in prosperity by analyzing, revising, and organizing their financial documents, statements, and accounts. There are many types of accountants:
- Contador financiero (financial accountant)
- Administrador de cuentas (management accountant)
- Contador de impuestos (tax accountant)
- Contador del gobierno (government accountant)
- Contador de proyectos (project accountant)
- Contador forense (forensic accountant)
- Contador social (social accountant)
- Contador Público (public accountant)
6. Veterinario (Veterinarian)
If you’re an animal lover and you have the capacity to make effective decisions in a moment’s notice, you would be a good veterinario. A veterinarian is a medical professional who specializes in animal health and medicine. Veterinarians do the following:
- Diagnosticar problemas de salud animal (diagnose animal health problems)
- Vacunar contra enfermedades (vaccinate against diseases)
- Medicar animales que sufren infecciones o enfermedades (medicate animals that suffer from infections or illnesses)
- Tratar y vestir heridas (treat and bandage wounds)
- Realizar cirugía menor o compleja (perform minor or complex surgery)
7. Marketing (Marketing)
If you like to understand what makes people tick and using that information to create trends, then you’d be an excellent marketer.Marketers are masters of communication who generate demand and promote products or services to potential consumers or clients. Types of marketing include:
- Publicidad (advertising)
- Relaciones públicas (public relations)
- Planificación de medios (media planning)
- Estrategia de ventas (sales strategy)
8. Psicología (Psychology)
If you imagine yourself devoting your time and energy to helping others overcome adversity, then you’ll make the perfect psychologist. Psychologists work with patients who have mental, behavioral or emotional disorders. They perform the following functions for mental health problems:
- Evaluar (assess)
- Diagnosticar (diagnose)
- Tratar (treat)
- Prevenir (prevent)
9. Derecho (Law)
If you’ve got incredible research skills, the stamina and patience to sift through thousands of documents to create a case, and the will to serve the people who need you most, you are meant to be a lawyer. A law professional works within the system of rules that are created and enforced by governmental institutions. There are many ways to work within the legal system, as:
- Abogado (lawyer)
- Paralegal (paralegal)
- secretaria legal (legal secretary)
- juez (judge)
- ayudante legal (law clerk)
- diputado de sala (courtroom deputy)
10. Docencia (Teaching)
A great teacher knows how to engage their students and create an important emotional connection of mutual respect.Teachers share knowledge, skills, and discipline with students in order to prepare them for the future. Teachers do the following:
- educar compartiendo información (educate by sharing information)
- inspirar a los estudiantes a amar el aprendizaje (inspire students to love learning)
- aprender la mejor manera de enseñar a los estudiantes (learn how to best teach students)
- mejorar la calidad de la educación (improve the quality of education)
- afectar el cambio positivo (affect positive change)
Work-Related Vocabulary
While you are learning about the top careers that interest you, you may want to discuss other facets of the workplace using these useful words:
| Spanish | English |
| La carrera | career |
| El empleo / el trabajo | Job |
| La entrevista | Interview |
| La carta de recomendación | Recommendation letter |
| Las habilidades / las destrezas | skills |
| El jefe / La jefa | Boss |
| El director / La directora | Director / executive |
| La empresa | Company |
| El reunión | Meeting |
| Los negocios | business |
| El contrato laboral | Work contract |
| La oficina | office |
| el puesto | Position |
| los anuncios | Job ads |
| de jornada completa | Full-time |
| de media jornada | Part-time |
| el turno de dia | Day shift |
| el turno de noche | Night shift |
| solicitar | Apply for |
| la solicitud | Application |
| El currículo | Resume |
| CV | CV |
| Titulado / titulada | Have a degree |
| El empleador / La empleadora | Employer |
| El empleado / La empleada | Employee |
| El sueldo / El salario | Salary |
| Los beneficios | Benefits |
Work-Related Phrases
Whether you’re looking for a job or just like talking about them, here are some great phrases to use:
¿A que te dedicas? – What do you do for a living? (literal: What do you dedicate yourself to?)
¿En qué trabajas? – What do you work in?
¿Qué haces? – What do you do?
¿Cual es tu trabajo de ensueño? – What is your dream job?
Soy… – I am…
Voy a ser… – I am going to be…
Quiero ser… – I want to be…
Me gustaría ser… – I would like to be…
Estoy buscando trabajo – I am looking for a job
Explore the World of Careers
We hope this list of careers of the future inspires you to learn more about what you would like to do when you get older. If you would like to practice your Spanish work-related vocabulary with a native Spanish speaker from Guatemala, sign up for a free online class. Ask your teacher about his or her experience in their career as a docente!
Interested in More Workplace Spanish? Check these out!
- Top 10 Careers of the Future—in Spanish!
- Top 10 Bilingual Interview Questions to Land Your Dream Job
- Spanish Phrases and Vocabulary for Police Officers
- Open a Bank Account in Guatemala
- Why Bankers Should Learn Spanish
- Spanish Vocabulary in the Workplace
- Top 5 Professions Utilizing Spanish
- Building Rapport with Total Strangers in Spanish
- Tips for Using Your Spanish!
- How To Get a Spanish-Speaking Internship
5 Latin American Best Startups Worth Over $1 Billion Dollars
In recent years, the growing economic landscape within Latin America has spurred a frantic and remarkable uptick in investments from some of the richest financiers and shareholders around the globe. Places like Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia—to name but a few—are drawing in billions of dollars into their local markets through innovations in tech, finance, and saas (software as a service). The best startups in Latin American are gaining ground in the global market.
The Rise in Startup Culture
The money-mania and race to modernization has created a massive breeding ground for solutions-based companies called startups. I’m sure you’ve heard this overused term at some point, but what is the real definition of a startup? Startups have the following traits:
- younger than 10 years
- have received significant investment capital (over $1 million)
- predicted to achieve considerable growth in a short amount of time.
Neil Blumenthal, cofounder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, puts it in simple terms: “a startup is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed.”
Success is a Unicorn
Every startup goes through at least three main stages of development, where the amount of capital they receive at one time or another either makes them or breaks them. Most companies receive millions of dollars in funding, while they all hope to exceed investments to upwards of tens of millions of dollars. But out of nowhere appears the “technological unicorn”—the rare and magical beast; the startup whose worth skyrockets into the billions. Well-known names like Airbnb, Facebook, and Uber are all unicornios tecnológicos. And now Latin America is giving rise to its very own unicornios, whose visionary genius is taking the world by storm. Let’s take a look at 5 Latin American startups that are currently worth over $1 billion dollars!
5 Latin American Best Startups Worth Over $1 Billion Dollars
Auth0
Auth0 is a digital security company that operates in Argentina (as well as the US and UK). It touts itself as the “new way to solve identity” for developers who typically make apps for web, mobile, and IoT (the internet of things). They provide a universal identity platform for businesses that want to integrate the authorization process for multiple unrelated systems.
Ebanx
Ebanx is a fintech company operating in Brazil and Mexico. As a service, it allows online customers to pay with local payment methods on international websites. They have revolutionized the way people shop online in over 8 countries worldwide, including Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. They cater to more than 50 million end-users and their payment solutions are used by giant enterprises like Airbnb, Wish, and Spotify.
Gympass
Gympass chose an adequate name for itself as it provides companies and their employees with access to the largest global network of workout facilities (more than 47,000!) in the world. They hope to positively influence company cultures who use their software to create “more active and productive employees and organizations.” Within Latin America, they currently operate in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, while they continue planning expansion into other countries.
iFood
Now considered to be Brazil’s biggest delivery company, iFood allows users to order their favorite foods from locally-registered restaurants through an innovative and user-friendly interface. With more than 70% of people in Latin America using the internet, a staggering number of people want to order their food online! iFood competes with a well-known North American company you may already know: UberEats.
Quinto Andar
Quinto Andar connects property owners with renters online through technology designed to simplify the experience of renting residential housing. This Brazilian startup created automated processes within their app for scheduling property visits, digitally signing rental contracts, and—most remarkably of all—they replaced co-signers and deposits with their own guarantee for “clients with a good credit score.” They currently operate only in Brazil, with plans to expand into neighboring Latin American countries as well as other parts of the world.
Invest in Yourself
The marketplace in Latin America is quickly transforming into a hub for innovation. It’s growing diversity of new technologies proves that we can always find novel and more efficient ways to accomplish long-standing goals. Do you want to learn more about investments and markets in Latin America? Read our blog post about Investment Opportunities in Latin America and schedule a free class with a certified Spanish teacher in Guatemala to discuss what you learned!
Want more Business Spanish? Check these out!
- Seal the Deal! Win Over Your Meeting in Spanish With 11 Crucial Phrases
- Top 10 Careers of the Future—in Spanish!
- 5 Latin American Best Startups Worth Over $1 Billion Dollars
- Keep Your Eye on Latin American Investment Opportunities
- How to Write a Formal Letter in Spanish
Nouns in Spanish: Everything A Beginner Wants to Know
Oh, the joys of grammar! It looks like you’re ready to dive headfirst into your journey to Spanish fluency—and learning sustantivos (nouns) is the perfect place to start. Just like in every other language, a noun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea. It can function as a subject, object of a verb, or an object of a preposition. Nouns in Spanish are fun and fairly relaxing to learn, but be careful! They have a few tricks hiding up their sleeves.
Spanish Nouns are Gendered
English is gender-neutral, Spanish is not. This means that nouns in Spanish language are accompanied by their very own feminine or masculine article, as in la mesa (the table) and el hombro (the shoulder). If you underestimate the importance of gender, then you may find yourself telling your friend that you have an infectious disease (el cólera) instead of explaining that you feel angry (la cólera). And, believe me, nobody wants that!
Get it right (almost) every time with these general rules and patterns:
Feminine Nouns
Feminine nouns almost always end in -a. The first words that come to mind? Amiga, casa, día… oops! El día is one of Spanish’s long list of exceptions that we will explore more in-depth below. For now, let’s go back to our list of feminine nouns, and gather up a list of clues to look for.
Feminine nouns generally:
- End in -a, as in la aventura (adventure)
- End in -ción or -sión, as in la estación (season) and la diversión (funtimes)
- End in -dad, -tad, -tud, as in la cuidad (city), la libertad (freedom) and la juventud (youth)
- End in -ed, as in la pared (wall)
- End in -itis, as in la conjuntivitis (conjunctivitis/pink-eye)
- End in -iz, as in la matriz (matrix)
- End in -sis, as in la tesis (thesis)
- End in -umbre, as in la costumbre (custom/habit)
- Name a mountain, like la sierra de Gredos
Masculine Nouns
Masculine nouns almost always end in -o. I won’t trick you with another exception since you already know that it’s soon to come! So, let’s move on to see which clues we can look for when trying to decide a noun’s gender:
Masculine Nouns generally :
- End in -o, as in el carro (car)
- End with an accented vowel, as in el hindú (Hindu)
- End in -or, as in el cazador (hunter)
- End in -aje, as in el traje (suit)
- Name a river, lake, or ocean, such as el lago Atitlán, and el océano pacífico
Exceptional Nouns
The dreaded exceptions have finally reared their ugly heads! Luckily, they’re not as bad as they seem. It just requires a set of flashcards and more than 100 hours of pure practice! All joking aside, rather than waste your time memorizing innumerable words, focus on this list of typical patterns to watch out for when deciding the gender of the Spanish sustantivo:
- Some nouns are gender-neutral, like el/la presidente (president), el/la cantante (singer), and el/la elefante (elphant)
- Words that end in -ista can be feminine or masculine, as in el dentista (male dentist) and la dentista (female dentist)
- Words with a Greek origin that end in -a and -ma are masculine, as in el planeta (planet) and el problema (problem)
- Nouns that combine to create compound nouns are masculine, as in el quitaesmalte (nail polish remover)
- Some words are simply exceptions without a pattern
Common Gender Exceptions
If the idea of making flashcards excites you—because it’s actually a highly effective way to study—then try these 16 gender-bending nouns to start with:
| El clima (climate) | El dilema (dilemma) | El diploma (diploma) | El drama (drama) |
| El enigma (enigma) | El idioma (language) | La mano (hand) | El mapa (map) |
| El plasma (plasma) | El poema (poem) | El problema (problem) | El programa (program) |
| El síntoma (symptom) | El sistema (system) | El sofá (sofa) | El tema (theme) |
Nouns Change Meaning
As I mentioned earlier, we don’t want to confuse our Spanish-speaking friends by mixing up the gender on certain nouns. While it’s not essential to master this step right away, it’s always useful to have a general idea of what not to say. Here are a few of the boldest changes in the definitions of the same word with different genders:
- el cólera is cholera, la cólera is anger
- el cura is male priest, la cura is cure
- el guardia is the policeman or male guard, la guardia means vigilance, policewoman or female guard
- el guía is the male guide, la guía is the guidebook or female guide
- el mañana refers to the near future, la mañana means tomorrow or morning
- el papa is the pope and la papa is potato
- la radio means the radio, el radio is radius or radium
Definite and Indefinite articles
All this time, we’ve been using la or el, meaning “the,” to denote the gender of a word. These powerful little words are called definite articles. Like English, Spanish also uses indefinite articles. These little powerhouse noun-definers mean “a,” or “an” and they are un and una. (These article categories also include plural nouns, as we will explore in the following section.)
Definite Article
The definite article acts in Spanish just as it does in English—it defines specificity. Imagine someone asks you if you want the last potato left on the serving plate at dinner, and you say:
- Yes, I want the potato.
- Si, yo quiero la papa.
Indefinite Article
The indefinite article refers to a general, less specific noun. While at a friend’s house, they ask you if you want anything, and you say:
- I want a drink.
- Yo quiero una bebida.
Let’s take a look at the definite and indefinite articles with two other nouns:
| Definite | Definite | Indefinite | Indefinite |
| La bruja (the witch) | El búo (the owl) | Una bruja (a witch) | Un búo (an owl) |
Plural Nouns and Their Articles
I’ve got good news. No more moose, meese, goose, geese nonsense! English is full of random, unexplainable exceptions to singular and plural nouns. Fortunately, Spanish is clear-cut when it comes to making the switch. Along with some basic guidelines for changing the noun itself, you need to know how the articles change.
Plural Articles
- El → los
- La → las
- Un → unos
- Una → unas
Note that the Spanish plural definite articles (los, las) still mean “the,” while the plural indefinite articles (unos, unas) mean “some.”
Plural Noun Endings
- If it ends in a vowel, add s (la amiga, las amigas)
- If it doesn’t end in a vowel, add es (el capitán, los capitanes)
- If it ends in ú or í, add es (el bambu, los bambues)
- If it ends in z, change to -ces (el pez, los peces)
Practice with a Native Speaker
Wow, you’ve learned a ton of new and exciting information about Spanish nouns. Is your head swimming with all the possibilities now? Here at Homeschool Spanish Academy, we want to help you practice all that you’ve learned in this blog post! Sign up for a free class with a certified teacher who is a native Spanish-speaker from Antigua, Guatemala. Work on your pronunciation skills, practice your new “noun knowledge,” and prepare yourself for the next step in your learning journey: having a conversation!
Want more Spanish resources for beginners?
- Pronunciation in Spanish and How to Master B/V
- Differences between Latin American and Castilian Spanish
- Learn the Top 100 High-Frequency Spanish Words and How to Use Them
- The Ultimate Valentine’s Day Guide in Spanish
- Is Spanish Hard to Learn?
How to Support Your Child’s Spanish Class at Home
As parents, we want the best for our children, and that inspires us to help them reach their full potential in every way. If your child is taking a Spanish class online or at school, you are surely interested in supporting them in their studies. But how can you help them learn effectively? This article will give you practical tips that you can use at home to encourage learning, boost language skills, and promote memory retention in order to strengthen your child’s Spanish learning.
Keep a Positive Attitude!
According to leading researchers in pedagogy, the sole factor in children’s educational success is parents and their attitude towards learning. That sounds like a pretty big job for a parent! Your attitude and disposition toward your child’s language learning journey are absolutely crucial. Make sure to create a calming atmosphere, a focused environment, and remember to cultivate a loving sense of communication while engaging in your child’s studies at home. Dr. Idit Katz reports in the educational journal Learning and Individual Differences that “parents can improve a sense of competence by allowing children to structure their own tasks and by giving the child the feeling that [he or she] is loved and admired no matter how successful he or she is in math or language.” Whether or not you are fluent in Spanish is inconsequential when compared to how you feel about studying with your child. Positivity, curiosity, and willingness to dig for answers together is your first step to successfully supporting your child’s Spanish class at home.
Routines and Activities
While a positive, engaging attitude is an essential foundation to support language learning, it’s important to consider which practical methods, routines, and activities will work for you. Check out this list of ideas that you could try out:
- Dedicate a specific amount of time to Spanish learning on a daily basis. Our lives are busy, but even so, it’s important to spend at least 15 minutes a day (or even better, 30!) engaged in Spanish content. Practice vocabulary, review class notes and quiz them on new words and phrases with flashcards. Regular practice is a powerful key to success!
- Ask your child to teach you Spanish. This method is called simply Learning By Teaching, it requires your child to explain the new information to you correctly in a lesson format and have you respond as the student. This boosts the child’s understanding of the material and stimulates their sense of initiative.
- Seek out Hispanic or Spanish cultural events as often as possible. Some ideas include volunteering with a charity, searching for Hispanic- and Spanish-inspired restaurants to try new food, and taking salsa dancing classes together.
- Ask your child’s teacher for resources. Connect to your child’s teacher in person or through email and ask how you can help at home. More often than not, your child’s teacher will be thrilled to assist you with extra resources.
- Provide a Spanish-rich environment at home. Regularly incorporate Spanish videos, books, and songs into your child’s life. The themes can relate to what your child is learning at school or not. Ultimately, the extra exposure will be tremendously beneficial. (Check out our lists of books for teens, books for elementary, books for preschool, songs for teens, and songs for young children)
- Encourage direct Spanish language experience outside of the classroom. If you know a native Spanish speaker, ask them to come over and chat with your child. Sign up for a free trial class at Homeschool Spanish Academy and have them talk with one of our certified Guatemalan teachers. You could also enroll your child in a language camp, a study abroad program, or a foreign exchange program. Nothing is more long-lasting than real-life experience!
- Host a Spanish night at home. Find some delicious Spanish recipes (even better if you read them in Spanish!) to make, set up Spanish learning games (like Mexican bingo, or see more examples below), and invite friends and classmates over.
- Find Spanish apps that your child enjoys. The interactive nature of Spanish apps on any device usually succeeds in holding your child’s attention for longer periods. Look together for apps that you love, or check out our list for ideas!
- Use the internet to your advantage. Find online video games, podcasts, listening comprehension tools, and conjugation trainers to reinforce particular areas of language learning that will benefit your child.
Games
A game is a structured activity or form of play whereby players attempt to reach a specific goal (such as winning or learning). By choosing the right games to reinforce Spanish, you will enhance your child’s communication skills, improve their cognitive development, and promote building social skills. For very busy families, setting aside one night a week to play language-related games is an important aspect of supporting your child’s Spanish class at home. Here is a list of fun and educational Spanish games that you can enjoy!
Spanish Word Snake – (2 or more players) The first player jots down a word in Spanish. The next player must begin their word with the last letter of the previous word. Write it down in the form of a long snake to see how big it grows! If your child knows a great deal of vocabulary, amp up the challenge by starting each word with the last syllable of the previous word.
Spanish Pictionary – (2 or more players) Using a paper, pen, and a timer, each player gets a chance to draw a verb, noun or phrase that they want the other players to guess. You can lower the difficulty by using only nouns, only animals (for example), or you can increase the difficulty by broadening the possible categories.
Spanish Hangman – (2 or more players) Using the rules of the traditional game, simply choose only Spanish words. With each incorrect guess, the hangman’s body parts are drawn until he ‘dies’ and the guessing player loses. Like Pictionary, you can lower or increase the difficulty by changing the available categories to choose a word from.
Veo, Veo – (2 or more players) This is just like “I Spy” but slightly different. Player one says, Veo, veo (I see, see) while the second player (or the group) replies, ¿Qué ves? (What do you see?), and the original player continues, una cosita (a little thing). Each player must guess what it is by trying to identify its features or location, such as ¿Es rojo? (Is it red?), ¿Está abajo del árbol? (Is it under the tree?). You can make the answer easier to guess for beginners by giving a clue: una cosita roja or una cosita pequeña.
The Sweet Support of Family
Encouraging your child to excel in their Spanish studies is one of the best gifts you can give them as a parent. Bring your family together with games and activities that inspire learning and help your child succeed through new studying routines. If you would like to see your child speaking Spanish to a native speaker, sign them up for a free online class at Homeschool Spanish Academy. They will be speaking Spanish by the first class, guaranteed!
Want more tips to support your child’s Spanish? Check these out!
- Learn Spanish While You Cook! Baking Cookies with Your Toddler
- Differences between Latin American and Castilian Spanish
- Why Homeschooling Parents Should Consider University-Model Schools
- Foreign Language Credits 101: How to Earn Spanish Credits for College
- Groovin’ Instrument Words in Spanish
- Nouns in Spanish: Everything A Beginner Wants to Know
- Present Tense Verbs in Spanish Part 1: The Simple Present
- How to Support Your Child’s Spanish Class at Home
- How to Pamper Yourself in Spanish
- Spanish Weather Words for Your Preschooler
Spanish Weather Words for Your Preschooler
How’s the weather today where you live? I bet you have an opinion or two about how much you like or dislike the current climate in your area. In our lesson about Spanish weather words, you will involve your child in talking about the conditions outside. Teaching your little one to describe the weather and make observations about weather patterns is one of their first introductions to science. Combining Spanish with the basics of scientific observation about weather creates plenty of exciting lessons! ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy?
Spanish Weather Words
When discussing the weather in Spanish, there are three main ways to describe it using appropriate verbs:
- What the weather does (hacer)
- What the weather is (estar)
- What weather “there is” (haber/hay)
Download our exclusive Homeschool Spanish Academy Spanish Weather Words flashcards here:
Download Weather Words for Preschool
What the weather does (hacer)…
How the weather is (estar)…
What weather is there?
More Spanish Weather Words
Weather-Related Nouns
The Four Seasons
Weather-Related Activities
There are many fantastic weather activities that you and your child can enjoy during your Spanish lessons! Here are some ideas:
Wind Art: gather up a piece of paper, a straw, some paint, and newspaper or something else to protect your surface from paint spills. Squeeze a pile of paint in the middle of the paper and have your child blow it around using the straw while they pretend to be a light breeze or a strong wind. Words of advice: tell your child not to suck in or to touch the straw to the paint.
Read Lluvia (Haga El Tiempo Que Haga) by Carol Thompson and explore wind, snow, rain, and sunny weather with the five senses.
Read El Día Ventoso by Tracey Stanley and use a portable handheld fan to blow things around like the wind in the book. Things you can set up to let your child blow around: craft feathers, dry leaves, cotton balls, ribbons, thin craft paper, etc.
Make Snow Playdoh: You will need a bowl, spoon, cookie cutters, a rolling pin, and any other playdoh accessories you want to include. The recipe needs 2 cups of cornstarch, 1 ¼ cup unscented white hand lotion, and 2-3 drops of peppermint extract. Let your child measure the ingredients and mix them all together in a bowl. A soft and pliable snowball will begin to form. Use the snowball to extend the lesson with cookie cutters, legos, or other toys for imprinting.
Palo de Lluvia (Rainstick): Create the sound of falling rain with a palo de lluvia! For full instructions on how to design this craft, click here.
Make Weather Mobiles: Get your child’s hands busy with crafts that last throughout your weather lesson. Make individual mobiles of weather conditions and nouns, such as rainbow, clouds with rain, and bright sun. Check out these fun instructions!
Wonderful World of Weather
We hope this guide helps you to bring the weather to life for you and your child in your Spanish preschool lessons. Inspire your little one to talk about the weather with a native Spanish speaker in a free online class. Have them ask the teacher about the weather in Guatemala!
We’ve got more free Spanish lessons for preschool kids!
- Learn Spanish While You Cook! Baking Cookies with Your Toddler
- Spanish Weather Words for Your Preschooler
- Spanish Animals for Preschoolers
- Spanish Winter Words for Preschoolers
- Reading Strategies at Home for Bilingual Kids
- Learn Spanish with Music (Preschool and Elementary): Themes, Songs and Lesson Ideas
- Using Sight Words in Spanish
- Teaching Spanish Colors to Preschoolers
Read More
How to Learn Spanish through Music in Middle and High School
Do you want a guaranteed way to learn Spanish while enjoying yourself completely? It’s through music! Ten long years ago, I started learning Spanish from scratch and my constant companions were clear and catchy Spanish songs. I spent at least an hour daily listening to my favorite songs, hoping to get them to stick in my head (they always did). This method has worked wonders for me in French, as well, where I spent thousands of hours of my teenage years listening to French pop, polishing my accent, and increasing my fluency.
While you’re not here to learn French, you will be happy to know that this trick works for any language! With regular auditory exposure to Spanish music such as the songs I share below, you will build your vocabulary, practice your accent, learn some useful phrases, and pick up a thing or two about the cultures that produced them. So, grab your favorite headphones, curl up in a comfy spot, and let’s get to listening. ¡Escuchemos música!
10 Songs to Study to Learn Spanish
To make the most of out of each song here (and others you may add to your playlist), be sure to study them one by one. Start with one song and listen to it while you read the lyrics. Jot down some words or phrases that are confusing to you. Use a dictionary to translate the meaning and create a picture of what’s happening in the song. And most importantly—sing along! By singing the songs, you get all the benefits of becoming more familiar with Spanish, like an increase in your pace of speech, refined pronunciation, and a boost in fluency.
How does this work? Each song has a Youtube link to follow. Start listening while you come back to this blog post and try to hear the lyrics in bold. The verbs, words, and phrases precede the lyric and give you a chance to use them on your own. Let’s get to it!
Julieta Venegas, from Mexico
Song: “Limón y Sal”
Album: Limón y Sal
Tener que – to have to (tengo que confesar = I have to confess)
Desaparecer – to disappear (tu me desapareces = you disappear on me)
Ponerse – to become/get (te pones de un humor extraño = you get in a weird mood)
Volver a + verb – again (vuelvo a empezar = I start again)
tal y como – just/such as (yo te quiero tal y como estás = I love/want you just as you are)
hacer falta – to lack/to be necessary (no hace falta cambiarte nada = there is no need to change anything about you)
Learn Spanish with music
Los Amigos Invisibles, from Venezuela
Song: “Mentiras”
Album: Commercials
Una mentira – a lie (esas son puras mentiras = those are pure lies)
Andar – to walk/hang around (esa noche yo no andaba allí = that night I wasn’t hanging around there)
Contar – to tell (te cuentan que me vieron paseando en la ciudad = they tell you that they saw me taking a walk in the city)
Portarse – to behave (cuando no estás conmigo, yo me porto bien = when you’re not with me, I behave well)
Contento – happy, distraido – distracted (yo estaba muy contento y como distraido = I was really happy and as distracted)
Learn Spanish with music
Ricardo Arjona featuring Gaby Moreno, both from Guatemala
Song: “Fuiste Tu”
Album: Independiente + demos
Ser – to be (Fuiste tú = it was you)
la melancolía – melancholy (Lo tuyo fue la intermitencia y la melancolía = yours was intermittence and melancholy)
un chantaje – blackmail (Jamás te dije una mentira o te inventé un chantaje = I never told you a lie or blackmailed you)
el motor de arranque – the starter motor (cuando los besos fueron el motor de arranque que encendió la luz = when the kisses were the starter that ignited the light)
disfrazarse – to disguise/dress up (Así se disfraza el amor para su conveniencia = that’s how love is disguised for convenience)
Juanes, from Colombia
Song: “La camisa negra”
Album: Mi Sangre
De luto – in mourning (hoy mi amor está de luto = today my love is in mourning)
Herir – to hurt/wound (Y eso es lo que más me hiere = and that’s what hurts me most)
Quedarse – to stay/to be left (mal parece que solo me quedé = it seems bad that I was left alone)
Con disimulo – surreptitiously/furtively (Te digo con disimulo = I tell you furtively)
Amargo – bitter (Respiré de ese humo amargo de tu adiós = I breathed the bitter smoke of your good-bye)
Mostrar – to show (Ni siquiera muestras señas = you don’t even show signs)
Bomba Estereo, from Colombia
Song: “Somos dos”
Album: Amanecer
Llenar – to fill up (tus ojos me están llenando solo con verlos = your eyes are filling me up just by seeing them)
Abrazarte – to hug you (no necesito si no abrazarte para sentirlo = I need only to hug you to feel it)
Emoción – feeling/excitement (que emoción = how exciting)
Ser parte de – to be a part of (ser parte de tu sonrisa y de tu alegría = to be a part of your smile and your happiness)
Callarse – to hush/be quiet (cuando el silencio se calle la boca y no pide perdón = when silence hushes the mouth and doesn’t ask for forgiveness)
Mientras – while, meanwhile (mientras los mundos se juntan = while the worlds come closer together)
Axel, from Argentina
Song: “Te Voy a Amar”
Album: Un Nuevo Sol
Poco – little/not much (Es poco decir = it’s not enough to say)
Alcanzar – to reach/catch (no me alcanzan las palabras = I can’t find the words)
Volverse – to become (Lo blanco y negro se vuelve color = black and white become color)
Medir – to measure (Porque me das tu amor sin medir = because you give your love without measure)
Junto – (quiero vivir la vida entera junto a ti = I want to live my whole life next to you)
Alex Ubago, from Spain
Song: “Mil Horas”
Album: EP
Preguntarse – to wonder (Yo me pregunto para qué sirven las guerras = I wonder what wars are for)
Alrededor – around (como la nieve a mi alrededor = like the snow all around me)
Hace (impersonal verb) – it has been (hace tiempo que estoy sentado sobre esta piedra = it’s been awhile that I’ve been sitting on this rock)
Esperar – to wait (La otra noche te esperé bajo la lluvia dos horas = the other night I waited for you in the rain for two hours)
Malu Trevejo, from Cuba
Song: “Una Vez Más”
Album: EP
Una vez – one time (una vez más = one more time)
Seguir – to follow (Que si tú te vas al cielo te sigo = if you go to heaven, I’ll follow you)
Alejarse – to go away (Quieres que me aleje = you want me to go away)
Cualquiera – ordinary/any (Sé que no soy cualquiera = I know I’m not ordinary)
Decir – to say (El corazón dirá más = the heart will say more)
Venir – to come (Dime que por mí vendrás = tell me you will come for me)
CNCO, boy band formed from the show La Banda
Song: “De Cero”
Album: Que Quiénes Somos
Sufrir – to suffer (dicen que estás sufriendo = they say you are suffering)
Entregarse – to surrender (Sin mente yo me entregaré = without thinking, I will surrender)
Empezar – to start (de cero empezamos = we start from zero)
Dejar – to leave/abandon/forget (Mejor dejamos la estupidez = we better leave behind the nonsense)
El tuyo – yours (Yo soy lo tuyo y tu eres la mia = I’m yours and you’re mine)
Un regalo – gift (La vida es corta y tu eres un regalo = life is short and you’re a gift)
Jesse y Joy, brother and sister duo from Mexico
Song: “Tanto”
Descifrar – to decipher/to figure out (Tú dices que soy imposible de descifrar = you say that I’m impossible to figure out)
Tanto – so much (Te amo tanto = I love you so much)
Tonta/tonto – silly (Tanto que me siento tonta = so much that I feel silly)
Sumar – to add (Cuenta todas las estrellas y súmale una más = count all the stars and add one more)
Soler – to tend to (me suele incomodar = it tends to make me uncomfortable)
Bulk Up Your Playlist
Seeking out more songs is so much fun. Once you finish absorbing the material from the 10 songs above, you can start adding your own! Here is a set of criteria to use while searching for the most effective songs for you to learn Spanish:
- Clarity – Make sure that endings of words and complete syllables aren’t chopped off, that the pronunciation of words is as accurate as possible and that the speed is understandable.
- Simple – Choose songs with fairly easy lyrics that don’t complicate the message.
- Catchy – Find songs you like! With a nice beat and fun rhythm, the lyrics you’re learning are more likely to stick in your head.
- Repetition – Gravitate toward songs with plenty of repetitive parts that encourage you to practice over and over.
Practice with a Native Speaker
After you spend some time learning new words and phrases, you will feel really motivated to use them in speech. Sign up for a free online class with a native Spanish-speaking teacher from Guatemala, and let them know all about your favorite Spanish songs!
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