The Value Of Using Spanish Story Books In The Classroom
When you think of teaching, you may tend to focus on the technological innovations that educators are implementing every day. While these innovations are certainly important, more classic teaching methods are as equally essential for a successful classroom. One of the most traditional but most effective classroom tools is the story book.
Even the most basic books have more value than simply telling readers a tale. When you’re teaching students a foreign language, the value of story books grows even further. Discover the importance of using Spanish story books in the classroom and you’ll be on a mission to properly stock your classroom shelves before you know it.
Provide Students With A Child-Centered Universe
As children naturally acquire language skills during their first eight years, there is no better time to incorporate elementary Spanish curriculum lessons into their education. However, any classroom lesson — even one for Spanish — can seem stuffy to children.
A great way to peak interest in young students is by centering the lesson in a child’s universe. This type of universe uses text and images to symbolize abstract concepts, teaching children valuable lessons in a way they understand. You typically see these universes in television shows and picture books. With the right Spanish story books, your students will be able to understand the new language as well as the lessons the books teach.
Story Books Are An Authentic Text
When you use an original text that a translator has not adapted specifically for a foreign learner of the language, the text will have idiomatic language. This natural text takes the student beyond lessons of a conventional curriculum. Even a reader of basic Spanish story book sets will be exposed to several tenses at once, all written in the ways of a natural Spanish speaker.
Too often, students learning Spanish will only know how the language is taught and not how real people actually speak it. When students encounter Spanish outside of a classroom for the first time, the difference in the taught and the authentic language can throw the student for a loop as they try to understand it. If students read authentic Spanish story books alongside their typical lessons, they will be more open-minded about how Spanish should be written and spoken, easing their experiences with real Spanish-speakers.
Story books are as important as every other teaching tool in the classroom. Without them, students can’t make the same connections and reach the same understandings. Contact Sonrisas Spanish today to learn more about how you bring Spanish story book sets into your classroom.