The game I Spy is Veo, veo in Spanish, and it begins with a simple rhyme – a question-answer exchange. This game and its many variations are wonderful activities for children learning Spanish. In addition to the traditional game of guessing an object, there are card games, online activities and books based on I Spy in English. This information is about the original guessing game, but I will write a post later this week about how other I spy materials are easily adapted to use in Spanish.

Using Spanish to talk about information that your child already knows is an effective way of exposing her to the language. If a child is familiar with certain information, she can draw on what she knows to understand Spanish. This is one way of providing comprehensible input, and comprehensible input is essential to language acquisition.

Botas nuevas, by Guido Van Genechten, is the Spanish edition of New Boots. It is the story of a child who gets new boots and discovers all the things he can do when he is wearing them. In addition to being a wonderful book for Spanish language learners, it is a story full of enthusiasm and joy that children identify with and love to hear.