There are so many different (and incredible) types of houses around the world. Your kids can learn Spanish house vocabulary to describe both your home and other amazing houses with these fun activities!
Click to see the suggested schedule, what is taught, and a list of the activities:
You can buy the bundle with the activities and parent instructions here.
How I Taught My Kids Spanish House Vocabulary
Conversation and Our Mini-Story
We started the lesson using the ASL signs for digo and puedo. For busco, we just put our hand above our eyes like we’re searching for something. I felt that fit the meaning of busco better than the ASL sign. I’ve had students use their hands as binoculars too.
When I was asking the boys questions with the Conversation Script, I made sure to use their friends in the questions instead of just saying amigo.
That also gave more repetitions of the vocabulary because I could ask the same question, “¿Qué le dices a Fred? ¿Qué le dices a Bob? ¿Qué le dices a John?” instead of just asking the question once using amigo.
The little story we came up with was for a wolf named Kavik based on Aidan’s favorite book right now, Kavik the Wolf Dog by Walt Morey. We were all pretty tired that day, so I said the story one line at a time (using the script in the parent guide) and just had them translate into English to show understanding instead of acting.
Here is the short story:
Hay un lobo que se llama Kavik. Kavik puede correr (run) muy rápido. Un día, Kavik está en un bosque (a forest). Kavik no está contento y dice «Quiero comer.» Kavik busca un conejo (a rabbit) en el bosque. Hay un conejo en el bosque. Kavik dice «Quiero comer el conejo.» Kavik va al conejo y el conejo está nervioso.
Here is a video with the questions:
Movie Talk
After finishing conversation and our mini-story, we did the Movie Talk for this lesson. You can read more about Movie Talks in this post.
The Movie Talk I made for this lesson is about a wildebeest and his friend arguing if something they see in the water is a crocodile or a log. It’s a great way for kids to learn dice because they can hear dice and see the speech bubbles of the wildebeest and his friend while you’re describing the story. It also has a funny ending!
Game
We then did the game for this lesson which is a picture scavenger hunt. There is a listening or a reading option. This is a great game to practice Spanish house vocabulary – especially for active kids!
We did the reading option which has instructions for kids doing the hunt at the same time, but the boys did the scavenger hunt separately. I used the stopwatch on my phone and whoever could find all of the items on the list in the least amount of time won.
I wasn’t sure how fun they would think it is, but both boys were excited about it and quite competitive. After they finished, we went through the list with me asking one question at a time and then they had to show me the picture of the item. Just to make sure they knew the words and weren’t just taking random pictures of things!
We played Peces (Go Fish), and it wasn’t so bad this time. I made flashcards too, so we played Peces with three of a kind. Way better than pairs since it was more challenging to get three cards instead of just two.
It was also great practice for tengo and tienes. Alex just spoke in English which is fine since I was speaking Spanish the whole game. Aidan played the game speaking Spanish for the most part. It was great to listen to him!
I just finished listening to episode 17 of season 2 on Bill Vanpatten’s podcast TalkinL2 with BVP, and he talked about how students in novice levels will talk in English. And it’s okay!
They have things they want to say and don’t have the language yet, so as long as teachers stay in Spanish (or whatever language they teach) it’s fine and we, as teachers, shouldn’t worry about it. Loved affirmation that the kids responding in English is fine!
More Reading Activities
The boys read the story about Al, the alligator and completed the reading activities.
I wrote the story based on a picture I saw in a news article I read a few years ago about a “polite” alligator who tried to ring the doorbell of a house to get in. It’s crazy where alligators end up. 🐊
My grandparents lived in Florida, and my family visited a few times. It was really weird walking around the golf course or going to the local park and seeing alligators sunning themselves right next to the paths and sidewalks where we were walking.
¡No gracias to living there! I am really freaked out being around animals that can eat me. Makes hiking challenging sometimes if I think too much about bears and cougars. 🐻😨
We also completed booklets to talk about what we can do to practice puedo. Here is the video with an example and the pronunciation:
I was able to use Spanish on Easter when they had an Easter egg hunt. Alex is really too old for it, but being cooped up at home is difficult. It was a gorgeous day, so we filled plastic eggs with candy, and they hid eggs for each other outside.
I went out with them to watch them find the eggs and was able to use Spanish like “¿Dónde está un huevo? Hay un huevo rosado.” The kid who hid the eggs got mad when I helped the kid looking. But I loved being able to use Spanish with them in a real-life situation!
Here is a set on Quizlet to practice the house in Spanish.
Do you know anyone who wants to teach their kids Spanish house vocabulary or high-frequency verbs to be able to speak Spanish? Please share with the buttons on the left!
P.S. Are you looking for a quick and fun way to help your kids start learning Spanish? If so, check out my free Spanish for Kids Starter Guide! You can immediately use any of the 9 simple tips to introduce your kids to Spanish. Know what the best part is? You don’t have to know Spanish to use it!
