As more and more school and homeschool Spanish classes are moving to online or remote teaching, there is at least one thing to be grateful for. Technology platforms and Spanish curriculums like Risas y Sonrisas Spanish for Kids are adapting to help make teaching online as easy and effective as possible!

At Risas y Sonrisas Spanish for Kids, we’ve been helping schools and homeschools teach Spanish online for nearly a decade! We’ve learned a lot over that time. Here are our top tips for teaching Spanish to kids online.

 

1. Let students use all their senses

The best online Spanish classes get kids using all of their senses! Encourage your students to sing along to the Spanish songs. Use fun visuals during your video lessons to demonstrate the meaning of a word. Ask students to stand up and act out Spanish words or incorporate other kinesthetic movement, like American Sign Language. 

The more your students use all their senses repeat the words and actively take an interest in learning the Spanish language, the better your classes can tap into kids’ natural language-learning ability. 

 

2. Incorporate printed materials

This tip might seem counterintuitive at first. What value do printed materials and manipulatives have when you’re teaching Spanish online? The answer is that they provide crucial face-to-face time with the kids and help vary the structure of your lessons. 

Play memory or word-guessing games using small flashcards. Set up small posters behind you with Spanish words and refer to them during your lessons. Encourage your students to use Spanish words for colors and shapes to describe objects in their house. Try as much as possible to recreate the feeling of your Spanish classroom in the online setting. 

Check out the Risas y Sonrisas Mini Picture/Word Cards and Mini Posters for two examples of printed materials that work great for online Spanish classes.

 

3. Get your setup right

Whether you’re using Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, or some other service, it’s important for your online Spanish classroom to look and sound as good as possible. Get a good camera and microphone so that your students can see and hear you clearly. Look at the camera when you speak, not at your students’ faces. This will give the impression of direct eye contact with each of them. Finally, create a fun background scene that incorporates posters or other Spanish-themed decorations. 

Let your students see your face and your enthusiasm! It shows that you are paying attention to them and helps encourage them to pay attention to you, just like in a real Spanish classroom! The younger your kids, the more important this is.

 

4. Challenge your students to succeed

Just because your classes have moved online, don’t expect less of your students! With a little bit of practice, your online Spanish classes can be just as fun and engaging as in-person classes. 

Let your students take the lead! As your students improve their Spanish abilities, acquire vocabulary, and learn the songs and activities, don’t be afraid to let them take charge. Kids love showing off their knowledge once they’ve acquired it. Give them a chance to lead an activity or a song in front of the whole class! If a kid sees their classmates speaking Spanish in front of the whole class, they’ll want to participate and take on the challenge as well.

When kids are directing their own learning, they take ownership of their Spanish knowledge, accelerating the language-learning process. This leads to happy kids, effective online Spanish classes, and lots of fun for everyone! 

Check out our Risas y Sonrisas Method to learn more about how we do this!

 

Happy online Spanish learning!

Risas y Sonrisas Spanish for Kids