Kindergarteners Read Books en Español

Kindergarteners in Maria-Fernanda Torres’ Spanish class are learning Spanish through literacy. The students are using the reading app, Kids A-Z, to apply the vocabulary they have learned over several weeks to their reading assignments. Torres said the learning process helps students to thoroughly synthesize their newly acquired knowledge and solidifies their reading comprehension in Spanish and English. “Second language acquisition is based on listening and reading comprehensible input,” said Torres. “The students are reading books about colors and numbers. Even as they read at a slow pace, they are being exposed to more sentences, grammar, and new and richer vocabulary than they would during explicit grammar lessons or lists of vocabulary without context.” Torres said reading in another language offers students a wider range of vocabulary and grammar and essentially supports and feeds the brain with correct language structures.