How to Teach Reading in Spanish

Teaching a child to read in any language may seem to be an overwhelming task. Yet I found in my experience that teaching someone to read in Spanish is actually much easier to do than teaching them to read in English. If the person can speak Spanish, they will be reading in no time.

Things You'll Need

• Simple Spanish books
• Bilingual children's books

Instructions

1. The Spanish language uses the same alphabet as the English language, but with a few additional letters: rr, ch, ll and ñ. The rr, as opposed to the single r, is a rolled r sound. The single r is only rolled if it is the first letter in a word. The ch makes the same sound it does in English but is considered one 'letter' as the c and h separately have their own unique sounds. The ll makes the sound that y does in English. And the ñ says nyuh.

2. The consonants in Spanish with the exceptions discussed above have mostly the same sounds as in English with a few exceptions. The h in Spanish is always silent. The g and c have both a hard sound and a soft sound. The g can make the sound we hear in gorilla but also the sound in gila monster (a, o, u give the g a hard sound and i and e give it a soft sound). The c makes the sound in cat when before an a, o, or u. When before an i or e it makes the s sound.

3. The vowels are the easiest to pronounce in Spanish. They only have one sound each. The o and u make long sounds like in bowl and soup. The a makes the sound it does in the word father. The i makes a long e sound like in beep. And the e makes a short e sound like in bed.

4. Practice reading syllables combining one of these consonants and one vowel. For example, try reading ma, mi, mu, me and mo. Make sure to practice all consonant vowel combinations.

5. Practice reading short words phonetically from books, menus and signs until you become more and more fluent.