One of the best things about teaching literacy in Spanish is its lovely decodable-ness. Okay, so maybe that's not a word but it is nice to work with a language that doesn't cause constant confusion with all of its exceptions.
While we don't have to worry about SIGHT WORDS in Spanish, we can help young learners become fluent readers more quickly by teaching high-frequency words in Spanish.
Here is my list of 100 high frequency words in Spanish based on several research-based lists. You can download it for free here.
Last week, I was in a Kindergarten classroom in Stephenville and saw this teacher's great way of keeping track of the high frequency words that students are learning. Each week, the teacher gives the students a card with the new word(s) of the week and those are kept on a ring. Students can practice reading their words and refer to them during writing.
I snapped the picture below in a first grade classroom in Mesquite. The teacher had made his own version of this game and was using it as one of his center activities. The students would walk around the room to the other students and ask them to read the word they were wearing. They were so quiet and loved it!
Here is another fun and simple activity to practice with students in small groups so they can later play on their own in pairs.
Flashcards Activity-My Pile, Your Pile in Spanish from Mesquite ISD on Vimeo.
While it is important for students to be able to read the words in isolation, the real purpose of studying these words is to be able to read them in context. Even students that don't know all of their letters and sounds can begin to read simple, repetitive texts.
Hubbard's Cupboard has quite a few printable books in Spanish with high frequency words (scroll down and look for "Black and White Student Booklets" in Spanish).
The Rigby Colección PM Básicos readers are perfect for practicing words in context.
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What are your favorite ways for helping your students practice high frequency Spanish words in isolation and in context? I love hearing your ideas!
Good morning,
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend and I run a teaching resources website called Early Learning HQ and we have some high frequency word resources here:
http://www.earlylearninghq.org.uk/literacy/high-frequency-words/.
I hope they are useful to you, maybe you could pop a link on your website to us if they are? Thank you :).
Abby.
Hi, i am not the administrator of this website just another guest. I visited your website Early Learning HQ and it has wonderful resources! Thank you for sharing!
DeletePlease publish a separate list of frequently used Spanish words listed in order of decreasing frequency NOT in alphabetical order. Thanks a million.
ReplyDeleteThat would be really interesting but I don't have the data/research to produce that type of list. Sorry! I wish there were more studies available with information like we have for English.
DeleteI have got a child, we're from Mexico. I would be interested at knowing how i can help him to learn English. I know English, but I feel so strange when I talk to him in English. He's almost 6 years old. Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteGiovanna, I totally understand. I speak Spanish but have trouble speaking it to my own children. This year, I am going to focus on a few areas of our daily routine and start using Spanish in those familiar contexts.
DeleteI've just found your blog and am extremely excited to keep reading. My family moved to the Dominican Republic last year, and we are currently working in the sugarcane villages here. We are starting a bilingual school for the children here, and this is my first year teaching - ever! (I actually went to school for Middle Childhood Education, so this is a brand-new, SCARY, exciting experience for me.) I plan on doing sight words/high frequency words for my kiddos (obviously), and I was curious as to how many words I should introduce weekly. I'm going to be doing a Morning Message with the kiddos, hoping to implement some of those sight words then... I'm going to try themed units (first up is Community Helpers) and try to fit in the Spanish/English words as possible. Looking forward to keeping up with your blog!
ReplyDeleteVery exciting! I would recommend just using 3-5 new words per week per language.
DeleteWhat research based lists are you looking at? I'd be interesting in seeing what you pulled from- I am a dual language teacher and we are working on forming a list for our kids k-5
ReplyDeleteKelly, this list was compiled by a group of teachers working together on my district's curriculum. It was done several years ago so I don't have all of my resources at this time but I know we used "La Lista" that was in El Sabelotodo: The Bilingual Teacher's Best Friend. It says it was culled from all words found in the 1st and 2nd grade readers of the 4 leading Spanish basal reading series at the time. Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteWhat are the yellow dots for in the high frequency word wall?
ReplyDeleteYou are a life saver!!! I teach special education and just received a referral for a bilingual kiddo. We had nothing that allowed me to test their reading and comprehension of Spanish at an easy level. This resource is amazing!!! Thank you so much!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat list and videos. I loved the idea of organizing the words in rings. While I teach3/4 grade in a dual language classroom, many of these strategies are still applicable. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteKelly
http://www.learningintwolanguages.com
Thanks for all these tips because they are really useful for us, congratulations for the post
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for this useful resource!! Could you be kind enough to provide the references of studies where you got this list please? I can't seem to find them. Again, thank you so much!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWhat grade do you use these flash cards? I am thinking to implement them on first grade (FLES program not immersion) do you think this is realistic?
hahaahah
ReplyDeletehahaahah
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