What’s it about?
An introduction to Spanish for ages 6-10, Hola! Let’s Learn Spanish is a simple, easy to understand book with accompanying audio that can be used to start children on the path to learning a second language. Parents can participate, too.
My Review of ¡HOLA! Let’s Learn Spanish by Judy Martialay
My 7-year-old and I read this book together, listening to the accompanying audio that’s found (for free) on www.polyglotkidz.com . I found the book to be perfectly suited for the age range, with simple illustrations that add color to the page without distracting the reader from what they’re reading. The small story about Panchito is written in an easy, flowing way, that help the kids figure out the Spanish words by context and mostly subtle repetitions or hints in English.
The book contains the aforementioned Panchito story, some activities like making masks, vocabulary words, and a skit. My child had an easy time following along, liked going through some of the activities with me, such as responding where she would find certain things (by Spanish name, location), and enjoyed the Panchito story more than I thought she would.
Overall, this was a good read and having the free audio was nice. However, the natural pauses the narrators gave could have been a bit longer. Oftentimes, my child would be in the middle of trying to repeat one of the Spanish words, and the story was already moving on. Even an extra second or two would have been nice. (I got in the habit of pressing pause myself, which isn’t a big deal, but still. Independently, that would have been a pain for my child.) It was interesting, and definitely kept the 7-year-old’s attention.
Kid’s Review:
Well, I really liked it. Panchito was a really funny name. Panchito was a jumping bean. I liked the little jumping bean story and the activities too! We looked around the house for stuff, and pretended we were at the grocery store! The pinata song was fun.
It teaches you about Spanish. If someone, like me, didn’t know how to speak Spanish they should get this book. They would be able to look up how to say words in it. The audio portion mommy played on the computer was pretty cool and I liked that Judy Martialay had us repeating the words, but it went a little fast sometimes.
I do want to visit Mexico one day.
Look for Hola! Let’s Learn Spanish now on Amazon.
Title: ¡HOLA! Let’s Learn Spanish | Author: Judy Martialay (site) | Publisher: Bookbaby | Pub. Date: 2015-11-30 | Pages: 36 | ISBN13: 9780991132409 | Genre: Children’s Non-Fiction (Educational) | Language(s): English & Spanish | Triggers: None | Rating: 4 out of 5 | Date Read: 2016-3-31 | Source: Received a copy from the author free in exchange for an honest review.
