Teach Your Child to Read in Spanish

As you jump into the dual language program in your local school district, the excitement abounds at being able to share the magic of a second language with your child. You’ve made the first step to provide the many benefits that come from learning a second language. Congratulations on giving your child the gift of language! Not only will your child learn to speak in Spanish, but they will read in Spanish too with the help of dual language readers. You’ve made a big decision for your child and family. Now it’s time to get your child ready to succeed in their dual language program.

Throughout our blog, we are exploring a variety of ways to assist your child throughout their dual language journey. Be sure to take a peek around and explore the different resources available. If your child is just beginning, don’t miss our post on Dual Language – Just Beginning. In this specific post we are going to look at reading in Spanish. Especially in regards to how it differs to learning to read in English. For supporting you English reader, be sure to check out our Learning to Read Series.

The Alphabet in Spanish

English and Spanish are a great language to pair together for young learners. Not only are the alphabets very similar, but most letter sounds are similar too. In addition, when readers begin to learn words, there are many cognates to support learning as well. Moreover, both are phonetic languages, with Spanish begin more regular than English. So even when encountering new words in Spanish, most readers can at least pronounce or read the word.

Letters of Caution in Spanish for English Speakers

There are a few letters where English speakers really need to pay attention when learning Spanish. While Spanish is much more regular, most letters have one primary sound, on occasion these sounds differ from English or use one particular English sound for a letter. In contrast, English letters seem to have a variety of different sounds for letters and combinations of letters.

The Vowels – A, E, I, O, U

Young readers and writers need extra emphasis on the vowels. In English we primarily teach short vowel sounds first. For instance, the vowel sounds heard in cat, pet, tin, top, and cup. Second, readers will learn the long vowel sounds in English. These include the vowel sounds heard in cave, seed, time, hope, and cute. In contrast, Spanish vowels mainly have one sound for each vowel, things can get a little tricky when two vowels are together.

The Spanish letter A uses the English short O sound, like in top. The sound also happens to be the name of the letter. Next, the Spanish letter E uses the English long A sound, like in cave. Third, the Spanish letter I uses the English long E sound, like in seed.

These can be especially confusing for young readers as the sound seems to match a different letter in English. However, in Spanish the sound does match the letter name, so definitely pair with learning the sounds and names together in Spanish.

The Spanish letter O uses the English long O sound, like in hope. So this tends to be a little easier for our younger learners. However, sometimes this will generalize to English reading and readers need reminders to try the short sound too. Finally, the Spanish letter U uses the English sound for OO, like in boot. Again, in Spanish the letter sound matches the letter name, so this helps a lot.

Consonants – H, J, Q, V, Z, LL, Ñ, RR

Vowels tend to be the most tricky switches for English and Spanish readers, however some of the consonants do make a different sound. Rejoice in the fact that the list is small besides the extra letters in the Spanish language. With the number of consonants in both languages being identical, this really helps with the reading process in both languages.

Letters in Both English and Spanish – H, J, Q, V, Z

The first Spanish letter that is different than in English is the letter H. In English, the letter H has a voiceless sound but still heard, think hat. In contrast, in Spanish, the letter H is unvoiced and thus makes no sound at all. A few examples include hijo, hermana, and helado. Another letter that possesses some difficulty for early readers is the letter J. In English, the letter J makes the sound in jump. However, in Spanish the letter J makes more of an English letter H sound. For example, some words to practice include jugar (hoo-gar), joven (ho-ven), and julio (hoo-le-o).

Another letter that can be a little tricky is the letter Q. In English, this already is a rather difficult letter because of it’s infrequency and pairing with the letter U. In the English alphabet, Q makes a softer sound like in queen. It’s almost like a KW sound together. In contrast, the Spanish letter Q is a more hard sound. The Spanish letter Q resembles the English letter K. For example, words with the Spanish letter Q include Qué and queso. We still have the QU pair, but the sound is markedly different.

The consonants V and Z can also be a little tricky. These sounds are similar to English sounds in some Spanish dialects, while in others may sound different. In some Spanish dialects, the letter V may sound like the English letter B. While the letter Z in certain Spanish dialects may sound more like the English letter S.

Letters Unique to Spanish – LL, Ñ, RR

The last three letters that cause some difficulty for native English speakers are letters specific to Spanish. Spanish has a LL letter, which makes more of an English Y or English J sound depending on the word. Spanish also includes the Ñ, which is more like an English n and English y sound together.

The final Spanish only letter is RR, where native Spanish speakers roll the r sound almost like a trill. This is also common when R is the first letter in a word. For children who are not yet able to roll the R sound, we suggest using the English R sound here while the tongue develops. This does change the meaning of certain words, so the RR sound is an important sound to eventually master.

Vocabulary and Early Dual Language Readers

Learning to read in the early grades relies heavily on picture support and your child’s vocabulary in the language. First, many of the early readers use a sentence pattern with one or two words changing on each page. Children use the pictures to figure out these words. Another strategy that works together with the pictures is using the first sound or sounds of the word to make a guess.

Early Dual Language Readers in Spanish

Sentence Structure

Children reading in their second language will have unique struggles when using early readers. First, the words in the sentence pattern will be unfamiliar to them. Consequently, reading the basic sentence will not feel natural and may take additional repetitions to recognize the pattern. Children will first need to become familiar with how to pronounce the Spanish words.

For example, “I see” in English (or their native language) will be familiar to them. Children will recognize having heard these words and pick up on the pattern rather quickly. In contrast, “Yo veo” will be much more foreign to a non-Spanish speaker. Therefore, they may struggle to recognize the words are the same on each page, taking long for your child to become comfortable with the sentence structure of the text.

There are a few steps that we can do to help our children with the sentence structure. Most of these words are sight words, or high frequency words. If you child has learned these words, allow them the opportunity to read the words or make an attempt.

If these words are new for your child, begin by listening to the story. Let them hear the words and the repetitive sentence structure. Then take a moment to talk with your child about the repetitive words in the book. Begin by ensuring they understand what these words mean in their primary language. Afterwards, have them repeat the words until they sound more natural in speaking. For example, try the words in simple silly sentences even if you use English to complete the sentence.

Picture Support in Dual Language Readers

Second, early readers rely heavily on picture support paired with sentence structure. Each sentence has one to two words that are unique to the sentence. These words tend to match the picture and children use the picture to determine the word. However, children learning a second language may not know the word for the picture in the language. Consequently, they will struggle to figure out the word in the book and may become frustrated.

We can support our child’s attempts at reading here as well. First, allow your child to listen to the story. This allows them to hear the new vocabulary in Spanish (or their target language). Throughout the story, pause and ask your child to find the picture that matches the new vocabulary. Try to connect the words with the pictures.

After an initial read through, take your child on a picture walk through the book. Point out each picture and use Spanish to label the pictures. This will provide a second exposure to the vocabulary in the target language. During the picture walk, take a moment to emphasize the beginning sound of the word as well. At this stage, children use beginning sounds and pictures to support their reading. You can even take a moment to point out the word in the sentence.

Vocabulary

Once your child has the sentence structure and pattern of the early reader down, we move on to focusing on the new vocabulary. Listening to the story and the picture walk will definitely help your child with first impressions of the new vocabulary words in the book. However, research suggests that children, especially those learning another language, need repeated exposures to new vocabulary and concepts. These exposures need to happen in a variety of contexts and over time.

Picture Support and Initial Sound

As our children use the pictures to support their reading, language may get in the way. For example, readers may have a more difficult time using the picture and first few sounds of a word together to determine a new word. Sometimes, readers may get lucky with a word – think barco and boat (both have the same beginning sound). However, there are many other words where the reader loses the initial sounds such as case and house or girl and niña. When using early readers, we need to plan for this with our children. Take the time to not only focus on the sentence structure, but also to play with the vocabulary words in the story.

Using Early Readers to Build Vocabulary

Children need to play with the new language in multiple occurrences over multiple days. Listening to the book, taking a picture walk, and reading the book will all help your child to grow their vocabulary, but this is not enough. We also need to use these new words with our child in other contexts as well. Print off the book, find pictures on the internet or make your own pictures to support these vocabulary words. Then play with these words by using them in different sentences, matching them to their English equivalent, or naming the words in Spanish. The more exposures your child has the better they will comprehend these words.

Building Vocabulary

To provide for multiple exposures to vocabulary words necessary for developing a second language, we have created a set of products to support families. These products include both bookmarks with questions, vocabulary words, and pictures in both Spanish and English. To further support language development, we added easy readers using the same vocabulary and pictures to support language learning. Finally, we have created beginning letter sound cards in both English and Spanish to support language learning. These products work together to provide multiple exposures to the vocabulary in both languages and they pair well with our winter sensory activities.

Get our discounted Dual Language Kindergarten Bookmark Bundle. We are diligently working to create further bundles for our Dual Language Kindergarten Easy Readers and Beginning Letter Sound Practice as well. Check out our post for more tips on helping your child read in Spanish. We also have some support for learning math in Spanish as well.

Please comment below and let us know if these strategies helped when reading with your child in Spanish. We’d also love to hear about additional strategies you use with your early Spanish readers. Don’t miss our newsletter to learn about new products, practical solutions for the dual language family and a freebie to help parents solve common struggles when raising children.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.