It has been super windy here in Florida the past couple of weeks!  Yesterday was no exception when we took our seven/siete puppets outside to film this YouTube mini lesson from our Boca Beth Program!

Enjoy learning about the sounds a dog/perro, cat/gato, duck/pato, cow/vaca, horse/caballo, monkey/mono, and bird/pájaro make!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kIlo0zKY2E

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (Who recognizes the last puppet?  The pájaro? I use that puppet in my workshops, keynotes and concerts every time on the opening song … what is her name?  She is BOCA’s amiga named …….??????  First one to guess correctly wins the CD that this children’s bilingual song is on!  Comment below in our blog comments to be considered for the entry of this puppet’s name!  ¿Cómo se llama?)

Doesn’t matter if I am babysitting a friend’s infant, visiting a toddler room at a local preschool, singing with a bunch of Pre-Kindergarten children or holding a community concert with families whose children are all ages ….every time I bring out my animal puppets and begin our Animal Song from our first Boca Beth bilingual music CD the squeals of excited learning and laughter begin!

Here are the lyrics to our song about animales/animals.  

You know the beat of the song  The Bear Went Over the Mountain. 

You can start singing this today with your little ones! 

Need a little help?  Fear not!  Tomorrow you can come back to this same blog and enjoy the YouTube video where I use those same puppets I just spoke about!  Have fun singing acappella my friends!

The Animal Song/La canción de animales
(sung to the tune of “The Bear Went Over the Mountain”)

Hay un perro afuera,
Hay un perro afuera, 
Hay un perro afuera,
¡El dice woof!

There is a dog outside,
There is a dog outside, 
There is a dog outside, 
He says woof!

Hay un gato afuera,
Hay un gato afuera,
Hay un gato afuera,
¡El dice meow!

There is a cat outside,
There is a cat outside,
There is a cat outside,
He says meow!

(Continue with pato/duck/quack…vaca/cow/moo…caballo/horse/neigh…
mono/monkey/ooh-ooh…pájaro/bird/tweet)

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

It’s so easy to get children excited about learning! 

Take a little RHYTHM, add a little RHYME, throw in REPETITION, and you have REMEMBERING!!!!

I encourage you to use the free audio clips on our web site under the Sample Resource area (which we are thinking of changing that area’s name, and we need your help — read below) to practice the color words in Spanish and English.  Click here to See it! Say it!

Now try using our suggested classroom activity that goes hand-in-hand with our Veo colores/I See Colors song (look for the 4th activity down on the list since the song is #4 on our Boca Beth CD).  These ideas are teacher-created and classroom-tested!  Then, please share your own ideas on other ways in which you would introduce Spanish and English color words below in the comment section.  We all would certainly appreciate learning from YOU!

For example, Mary, a first grade teacher in Pinellas County Schools in Clearwater, Florida has her students stand up when the color of their shirt matches the color being sung about in the Boca Beth bilingual color song!  (Some days she would pick socks, or shorts, or shoes….you get the idea!)

My amigas/amigos at Discount School Supply used to have some cool, oversized felt crayons that feature the Spanish and English words on them on their web site.  As I prepared to write this today, I could not find them.  I did put their site link here because they are truly making the effort to have available bilingual products for children and the teachers that teach them!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (Please take one minute or two to share with us how else you introduce colors in a bilingual format with your child or children!  All of us appreciate the effort made to share your teachable moments!)

                            Children Love Watching Other Children!!!!!!!!!

We filmed this song with lots of visual aid fun in order to introduce seven color words in Spanish and English!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fkpzAO9x1Y

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

P.S. (Share with us how you currently introduce colors with young children – in either Spanish or English or both – simply by commenting below!  Don’t we all learn so much from one another.  Hope you take 2 minutes to share.)

How about some fun birthday party ideas with a bilingual twist?  

Use our bilingual version of the Happy Birthday song while encouraging the cha-cha-chas!  Want the Boca Beth version for free?  Look below!

6-happy-birthday  Click the link to the left now to listen in on the Boca Beth bilingual fun off our second of four bilingual music CDs for children ages birth – ten!  Buy the CD today for a great birthday gift!

Need some more Fiesta Fun Ideas?  Here they are listed below from when I perform at children’s birthday parties. 

Fiesta Time with Boca Beth

·      FOOD

Based on the age of children in attendance Boca Beth recommends the following:

Salsa and chips.

Big Fritos with sour cream, chili & cheese and/or guacamole for dipping.

Make your own taco station complete with meats (chicken or beef), tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, taco sauce and shells.

Flan, dulce de leche ice cream, Tres Leches cake (available in many flaors these days) or galletas/cookies from a local Spanish grocery store.

·      CRAFTS

Have the children make their own Mexican ponchos out of large brown grocery bags with paints, sequins, beads, feathers, foam shapes, etc to decorate.

Maracas can easily be made with two paper plates stapled together (adult supervision required), popsicle stick as the handle and rice, pasta or beans as the noise filler – children decorate the outside of the plates prior to assembly.

MUSIC & GAMES

Guessing Cup Game (PreK – elementary) This can be played with three non-see-through cups placed upside down over three individual objects (a blue, a red and a green plastic fruit from the kids’ play kitchen at home for example).  Play the color song from “My First Songs in Spanish” Boca Beth CD first to have fun playing and learning about Spanish words for colors.  

After the song draw their attention to the cups and have the children sit nicely around the game area so that all children can see the cups as you mix them around for a few seconds quickly asking them to keep their eye on red (or blue or green) – trying to trick the kids.  Then ask for a volunteer to raise their hand to pick where red is. Play again and again!  Award birthday party favors as prizes for correct guesses.

Go to my YouTube channel and see this game played with an interactive feature.  Click below to see how the game is played now.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7qyN3GJg-M

 Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

Today is YOUR lucky day!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDqG8XhNMwc

Not only do you get to watch BOCA (our puppet from the edutaining Boca Beth product line) star in this YouTube clip with Giancarlo Massaro from Any Lucky Day (What?  You don’t follow Any Lucky Day yet?  You should – every day you get a chance to win something super cool from his sponsors!  Go here to sign up!) … you also get a chance to win an $85 Boca Beth Bilingual Backpack set chocked full of our award-winning CDs, DVDs, two BOCA puppets, musical shakers and our 44-page coloring/activity book that is presented in Spanish and English for easy ESOL and ESL learning fun!

So – hurry – join today’s contest to win our Boca Beth Bilingual Backpack now!!!!!!!!!  Hurry!  It ends at 11:59 pm Thursday, March 18, 2010!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

So I get a  little carried away on the alliteration!  I know, I know!  But it keeps the blog fresh & fun!

Here are some very cool teaching tips, additional resources, and just plain great places to go for fun and easy bilingual teaching stuff:

Visit this web site OnLineFreeSpanish.com whenever you want some creative fun with your own child one-on-one or if you are looking to put a lesson together with one of our Boca Beth bilingual songs.  This site is always on the move with fresh new content.

Here is a book site where I shop for used and new bilingual books.  They are usually very fair with their pricing and shipping costs.

How about some great lesson ideas in both languages from an old favorite – Enchanted Learning - remember them?  Free membership!  (A small donation gets you access to even more!)   They have TONS of bilingual learning pages.

Just want to get some reassurance that you are doing the right thing by raising these young children to be bilingual?  Read this terrific book written by two moms who are raising their own children to be bilingual (and even trilingual) PLUS they happen to be Ph.D.s in linguistics.  The book is super easy to read and what they say and report makes good common sense.

Then join the conversation over at my amigas Ana and Roxana’s site SpanglishBaby.com for a lively exchange of what seems to be working for many families as they ‘work’ on being a bilingual and beyond home.

How about some props to bring the learning to life – make it full of visual appeal?  Shop at my amigos, amigas site Discount School Supply where the prices are fair and the selection continues to grow in the bilingual area.

Don’t you LOVE the internet?  How do some of our friends do without it?  Such a wealth of knowledge, experience and friendship available without ever leaving your home…though I love face-to-face time too!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

Here you are amigas, amigos / friends.

The rest of the Spanish alphabet is listed below plus an audio link for you to hear, see, say and write the letters so that your adult brain makes all of the necessary connections to create long term retention!

o, p, q, r, rr, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Repeat the rest of the Spanish alphabet, then write it.   (Click the link to the left to hear the alfabeto Español.)

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

I was training in Minnesota after conducting my morning inspirational keynote, and  a fellow early childhood professional was reminding me that for our adult brain to really process a new concept we need to see it, say it, and write it!

So today’s lesson is thanks to that new amiga from Dakota County Family Child Care  reminding me of the basics of adult learning.  (I will provide the last part of the Spanish alphabet later this weekend!)

Hear The Spanish Alphabet  Click the audio link to the left and listen in on the Spanish alphabet!

I have two different audio links in this blog post:  one is to hear the Spanish alphabet all the way through and one is to hear and repeat after me the letters A – Ñ.  My suggestion would be to then use the last audio link again to write the letters as you hear them (the Spanish alphabet letters used are listed below as the alfabeto Español is just a bit different than the English alphabet).

Repeat Letters A – Ñ   I would suggest you listen and repeat, then listen and write the letters.

a, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

Well, if you already have our More Boca Beth / Mas Boca Beth bilingual music CD, then here are some suggestions of what you can use to introduce the Spanish alphabet to young children:

 There is a cool book on El alfabeto found at this link for only 21 cents used!!!  Get out of town – it’s so cheap!  I have used this book a lot and it ROCKS!!!

Then this book looks cute but I have never seen it in person!  Check this link out.

These flash cards look amazing, but I don’t understand the pricing.  Check them out - they are cute looking.

Tomorrow we will have a See It! Say It! fun lesson where you will be able to see the letters, hear them and then say them after me!

Happy Educating / Sea feliz educando …

Boca Beth