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This week’s Teaching Tips column comes from Sharon Blumberg.

Blumberg is a junior high Spanish teacher and a freelance writer. She has been teaching for 17 years. She currently teaches seventh grade Spanish in Illinois. She has two grown children and resides in Indiana with her husband and dog. She is an active member of The Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club and The Story Circle Network.

As a seventh grade Spanish teacher of eighteen years, I strive to maintain a sense of variety in my class activities. Among these are what I refer to as “Culture Day” on Fridays. At the beginning of class on Fridays, I present a learning activity that deals with Hispanic culture or language.

One way I enhance literacy skills in the Spanish language is by selecting Bilingual Children’s books by Scholastic and I Can Read Spanish…Language Learning Story Books by Barron’s.

The Bilingual Scholastic books display beautiful illustrations of the concepts featured. Research states that when students are learning a foreign language, if phrases in the target language are paired with their native language, the language acquisition process is learned much quicker. As I read each page to my students, I read the paired bilingual phrases in Spanish and English. Even though these books are intended for a younger children’s audience, my junior high students enjoy eyeing the illustrations as the bilingual phrases embrace the pictures. Each book takes about five minutes in duration for me to read and present.

Among these books is Polar Bears, Osos Polares, by Susan Canizares and Daniel Moreton, September 2002, Scholastic Inc. This book displays illustrations of Polar bears frolicking in their native habitat of snow, ice and water. The phrases are brief as they demonstrate taking part in the gerund form of activities such as napping, descansando, and walking, caminando.

Another book from this series is titled Sea Creatures, Criaturas Marinas by Pamela Chanko, September 2002, Scholastic Inc. This bilingual children’s book displays colorful illustrations of sea creatures that inhabit the deep waters of the seven seas.

The Birds, Pajaros book from this series, by Susan Canizares and Pamela Chanko, September 2002, Scholastic Inc., displays colorful aspects of various kinds of birds.

Corral Reef, Arrecife de Coral by Susan Canizares and Mary Reid, December 2002, Scholastic Inc., displays beautiful, vibrant colors of life among the waters of the Coral Reef. This book does a nice job in teaching some basic colors in Spanish and English.

Frogs, Ranas by Susan Canizares and Daniel Moreton, September 2002, Scholastic Inc., portrays the life cycle of a frog while various kinds of photos of frogs are displayed.

For those braver in spirit and heart, you can present Snakes and Lizards, Serpientes y Lagartos by Daniel Moreton and Pamela Chanko, December 2002, Scholastic Inc., where various kinds of reptiles and aspects of their bodies are featured.

Within the I Can Read Spanish…Language Learning Story Books, the bilingual book, I’m Too Big, Soy Demasiaso Grande by Barron’s Educational Series Inc., gives the reader wonderful messages about embracing one’s individuality. Two animals, the giraffe and the elephant are depicted in humerous ways. Each animal takes on characteristics of the other in a silly way. For example, the giraffe gets very long ears and the elephant grows a long neck, like that of the giraffe.

The book concludes by each animal telling the other one that he is great as he is. The back of the book supplies the reader with a pronunciation guide for the Spanish phrases, read throughout the story. What a fantastic and creative way to teach such a wonderful concept! My students eagerly tell me the moral messages that prevale upon experiencing completion of the story.