Spanish Language Resources

This page is curated by the volunteers of the McDonald International PTA. If you have suggestions that would be of use to our elementary school community and would like to add resources to this page, email us at news@mcdonaldpta.org.

Spanish Language/Culture Classes

• Profe Mayra’s After School Classes — La Matatena (K-2)

• Profe Mayra’s After School Classes — La Tertulia (1-3)

• Profe Mayra’s After School Clasess — La Tertulia (3-4)

• Cometa

• La Casita Feliz

• La Escuelita

• Phinney Cooperativa Preescolar en Español

• Seattle Parks and Recreation Musikal Magik Spanish classes

• SPL Spanish-language story times at Greenwood & other branches

• Sponge Schools

• Vámonos Spanish Center (owned and operated by our own McDonald Int'l Spanish sub, Srta Amanda Reichert)

• Zoom Language Center (locations in Wallingford and Ballard)

Travel & Summer Opportunities

Travel & Summer Camps

Gracias Profe Diana and Ana Garcia de Jalon from the Center for Spanish Studies at UW for sharing information on these amazing Spanish opportunities available for the summer!

Spanish immersion summer camps, daily summer activities include singing, dancing, dramatic play, arts and crafts projects, cognitive games, cooking and soccer, group and private Spanish classes for adults and kids, travel for the whole family and more.  These opportunities are not only for your elementary-age students. Click the hyperlinked title above for all the details!

Crooked Trails

Another great travel resource suggested by members of our McDonald Int'l community is Crooked Trails, an educational non-profit organization
 "helping people broaden their understanding of the impact of travel on the world’s cultures and ecosystems 
through educational outreach and sustainable travel programs."

La Cometa

Children will learn Spanish by singing songs, playing games and working on age appropriate projects. Our summer school with weekly themes offers wonderful opportunities for children to learn Spanish inside and outside the classroom. For ages 3-6. Wallingford

Language Link Summer Camps

Students absorb language and culture through art, music, dance and fun in The Language Link summer camps! As we explore languages and cultures of the world we focus on one country per week. Working in our Global Youth Garden is an integral part of each camp. PreK-7 Grade. Queen Anne.

San Pancho Spanish Immersion Camp

Take your child’s Spanish experience out of the classroom and into the cobble stone streets of San Pancho — a quiet, artsy, family friendly beach town just 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Come as a family and explore all that the town has to offer while your child practices their Spanish in a fun, safe, full immersive environment. Daily activities with local teachers will include: yoga, music, circus arts, gardening, visits to local markets and learning about the local culture. For ages 5 - 10 years old. Email for more information.

Seattle Amistad School

Seattle Amistad School offers Summer Camp from 8-3 or 8-5. Children will learn about the culture, arts and creativity from the region with diverse audiences worldwide. Learn about art, Capoeria, sports, theater, and dance. Also, we will be taking field trips! Spanish and English bilingual program, no Spanish experience required. Central District. 

Solecito

Solecito offers Spanish immersion summer camps full of creative projects and fun outdoor activities. Email for full or part-time schedules.

The Spanish Language School

Customized Spanish Summer Camps and tutoring for ages 3–adult.

Sponge

Sponge immersion camps build language skills in a fun, active environment! This year we’ll be exploring exotic destinations, stories, and celebrations in Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin). Our dynamic, native-speaking teachers lead campers in crafts, games, cooking, science, drama, and lots of outdoor play. PreK-2 Grade. Capitol Hill.

Summer Bus Camp with Spanish for the McDonald Community | Week 1- July 11-15 ; Week 2 - August 1-5

Seattle Bus Camp introducing: La Tertulia, "Aprende Español Jugando." We provide safe and exciting opportunities for children to connect with engaging and caring teachers (Profe Mayra and Teacher Alina). Our campers will learn and practice Spanish through games and cultural activities, spark curiosity in our beautiful local ecology, create art, and deepen school friendships. Register at: seattlebuscamp.com

Our dates for Summer 2022: Week 1- July 11-15 ; Week 2 - August 1-5

Vámonos Summer Camp

VSC uses original curriculum to incorporate a balanced mix of culture, grammar, and intrigue in a real-life, immersion setting. In each camp, students will learn about the country through projects inspired by each culture. They will get to experience a little bit of what it would be like to travel to each of these desirable areas, learning about their music, food, entertainment and more! Ages 7-14. Wallingford.

Zoom Summer Camp

Our summer camps are a chance for children of all ages to experience a Spanish immersion environment on a daily basis. Every year we select daily summer activities, that may include singing, dancing, dramatic play, arts and crafts projects, cognitive games, cooking workshops, soccer and a great deal of outdoor activities (note that activity types vary by age group and weeks). As with all of our programs, we have great teachers that make Spanish fun. Ages 2.5-10.  Ballard. 

General Information About Immersion and Language Acquisition

• Center for Applied Linguistics page on bilingualism, has lots of links to national research on language immersion as well.

• Center for Applied Linguistics research digest on the history of foreign language immersion programs in the US.

• Seattle Public Schools page on International Education Resources

• OSPI - international education in the state of Washington

• www.ColorinColorado.org/ Website with resources about Spanish/English bilingualism

Books

• Alma Flor Alda is a writer/translator for lots of great children's books, many bilingual.

• Barefoot books has lots of their titles in Spanish, check out the ones that come with an audio CD

• The Scholastic book club papers that keep being sent home do have a search option for language with a few bilingual books and a few more in Spanish

• Local bookstores (Alphabet Soup in Wallingford, Secret Garden Books in Ballard) all have kids Spanish language. Amazon also has a lot.

• Sandra Boynton/Eric Carle books in Spanish

• Seattle Public library for books, ebooks and videos, The Central Library has the best collection for browsing, but Greenwood and Lake City both also have Spanish collections, including books and videos. There are also lots of digital books and videos available for download for the library. A good beginning reader series is the Read It! Readers en Español: Story Collection, available on the digital books download page at Spl.org. SPL has a list of resources for kids in Spanish available here.

• On-line site with books in Spanish
  

Websites

These links include cultural, language learning, videos, math and science in Spanish.
Spanish for Children

• Spanish for Kids

• A Kid's Guide Learning Spanish

• PBS Parents (Spanish)

• Discovery Familia
  PBS site with links to popular shows and games in Spanish

• Discovery Kids Española
  PBS site with links to popular shows and games in Spanish

• 1-2-3 Teach Me
  Spanish practice for children

• Best Spanish Web Sites

• BJ Pinchbeck's Homework Helper
  On the green menu at the top, go to Students > Foreign languages > Spanish

• Story Place
  Animation (simple) and audio

• Mundolatino
  Books and games

• Animals

• Resources for learning Mexican and Castillian Spanish

• BBC in Spanish

• Games in Spanish, requires reading

• Games and funny articles for kids in an internet newspaper

• Go Fish Spanish Animal Game

• Printable Spanish Flashcards

• Site from Argentina with lessons on a variety of academic topics

• Resources for adults learning Spanish

Reading and Writing

• www.onlinefreespanish.com
  They have a "let's read" section with stories that are semi-animated and are read aloud.

• ABC...en español

• Cuentilandia
  Children's stories and poems in Spanish by Marisa Moreno

• Crossing Boundaries Through Bilingual, Spoken-Word Poetry (older grades)
  Students explore the idea of "crossing boundaries" through bilingual, spoken-word poetry, culminating in a poetry slam at school or in the community.

• El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros (Children's Day/Book Day) - April 30 (Grades 3-8)
  Developed under the leadership of author Pat Mora, El Día de Los Niñolos/El Día de Los Libros focuses on providing children with books in many languages and making reading an integral part of their lives.

• International Children's Digital Library
  Free access to the best of children's literature from around the world in many languages.

• Lang-8
  Submit a piece of writing in Spanish and get feedback from a native speaker, then provide feedback to someone in your native language. Free.

• Latino Poetry Blog: Blogging as a Forum for Open Discussion (Grades 8-12)
  In this lesson, students use blogs to hold discussions about the effect of the factors of culture, history, and environment on Latino poetry.

• Latino Literature for Teens
  Works of Latino literature for teens focus on the experiences of young people from Spanish-speaking countries and cultures.

• Lectoescritura
  Literacy activities for families, from the Government of Spain

• RAZkids (login needed)

• Read-Think-Write
  Some articles have the Spanish option

• Spanish Verb Chart

• Unite for Literacy
  Provides free books in English with audio available in many languages

• My Family Traditions: A Class Book and a Potluck Lunch (Grades 3-5)
  After analyzing Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia by Carmen Lomas Garza, students create a class book with artwork and information about their ancestry, traditions, and recipes, followed by a potluck lunch.

Math

• Super Saber
  Math and science games

• AAA Math
  Interactive arithmetic lessons in Spanish and English

• Disfruta las Matematicas
  Numbers, algebra, geometry, data, measurement, puzzles, games, dictionary and exercises

• Multilingual Math Glossary from McGraw Hill - Glencoe
  Provides definitions in English, Spanish and several other languages

• Khan Academy
  Videos and practice in Spanish

• Primary Math Resources
  Numbers in Spanish

Science

• Solar system

• Cientec
  This site, from Fundación para el Centro Nacional de la Ciencia y la Tecnología, CIENTEC, contains science games and experiments. It is completely in Spanish.

• Education Place - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  Spanish resources for Science (some links are out of date but most are live.)

• Discovery Education
  Age appropriate videos in Spanish and English to support the science curriculum (see your school TIS for password)

• Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales
  National Museum of Natural Sciences of Spain

• University of Illinois Extension
  Web site on science in Spanish from University of Illinois extension, includes games, slide shows with text and voice, companion to an English site that includes teacher/parent extensions. Lessons on the site include:

Bilingual, no voice over (have to be able to read Spanish)
My first garden/ Mi primer jardin
Business of babysitting/ Un guia para el negocio del cuidado de niños
Sports and nutrition/ Deportes y Nutricion
The adventures of Herman/ Las adventuras de Herman (about worms)
The great plant escape/ El gran escape de la planta
Trees are Terrific- Travel with Pierre/ Los arboles son Fantasticos - Viajes con Pedro

Voice over and bilingual: (can read and listen to the Spanish)
Walk in the Woods/ Caminato por el Bosque, 
Let’s talk about Insects/ Hablemos de Insectos, 
Riding with Kalina/ Volando con Kolani  (about the weather)
Exploring the secrets of Trees/ Explorando los secretos de los arboles
Out on a limb: A Guide to Getting Along/ Perdido, Sin saber que hacer: Un Guia para llevarse bien

Music and Videos

• Pio Peep - this CD + book has some of the songs from the book in both English and Spanish. Not all the songs in the book are on the CD.

• Jose Luis Orozco He's a bilingual educator/musician. We have the book/CD Diez Deditos, which is nice because all the songs on the CD are in the book, along with very basic sheet music, so you can read the words to help your understanding and play the music without the CD. He's got a ton of stuff, and the Seattle Public Library has some of his books, CDs and videos (Videos are pretty dorky).

• Tatiana: Mexican kiddy-rock singer. Her CDs are great to dance to.

• Sing with Señor, local Spanish-learning music group. www.singwithsenor.com. Their CD, Uno, Dos contains catchy songs for learning Spanish

• Mom, Dad, & Me--Aprendemos Espanol series for reviewing numbers and letters. This one is more "academic"--numbers to 30, colors, basic verbs, etc. They also sing a slightly different version of the Elephantes song.

• YouTube videos search for Caillou en espanol. These are short (3 minute) cartoons.

• You Tube videos search for Pocoyo en espanol. These are short (7 minute) cartoons.

• Short science videos in Spanish
  

Thanks to the PTA volunteers and other McDonald International community members who helped assemble these materials!