I used to teach (10 tears ago which feels like a lifetime ago!) middle school SPanish 6th, 7th & 8th grade at an independent school in WI and loved it. I haven't spoken Spanish since (pretty much- just no opportunities & we moved to Alabama for dh's job for the last 9 years).
Anyway with the 6th graders I used TPRS publishing Cuentame! Which tells stories & adventures of a cat named Gabi. The kids loved it and it really caught their attention and they retained it sooo long - even in High School they could recall & tell those stories.
In 7th & 8th we used a text/cd rom program which I liked and I incorporated a lot of TPR in daily activities. The last semester of 8th grade we used the Cuentame mas! TPRS book and the students liked that too. Then in 9th grade the students tested into Spanish level II.
I contacted TPRS and they do have a program Hola Ninos for K-3. They sent me a copy of Unit 1 and I need to get in touch with them to find out if there is a character and if it is stories that are linked by a character as this seemed key in the other series, along with an exclamation at the end of each story like - How ridiculous! or What a mess! I like the TPR storytelling since it gives students a better feel for listening in the target language and being able to tell/narrate events that could happen. It is far from just vocabulary or memory work. I try to introduce vocab with either an ASL sign or a made up action. I found a website that shows a clip of a lot of words along with the ASL sign. I made up a song we will sing everytime so that is how I taught "hola" "amigo" I made up an action for "como estas" I did the happy sign for "muy bien" and then did the thank you sign for "gracias"
So for my first Spanish club we did colors...I have extensive notes/lesson plans. If you want me to email you a copy I can. Please promise to email me any notes you may have
I used a website that provides cut outs for you to print out to make into pieces for stories/flannelboard. SO I did Mouse Paint and Brown Bear and then told the story to the children. We sang a few songs to practice the color words. Then I had various activities set up throughout the house like learning centers for more mommy & me type Spanish time.
My next theme is numbers and I will have to look up some stories to use and see if there are any songs or if I'll have to make up one. For activities I will make a hopscotch with the foam mats and number them so children can play hopscotch and call out the numbers while jumping. I will have a dice game where 2 dice will be shaken and the child can count the spots to add up the numbers and count in Spanish. I may have a craft where they make their own dice, not sure yet. I'll have them sort M&Ms and count them (we sorted Skittles by color last time and that was a big hit) Not sure what else yet.
If I can't find anything "prepackaged to help" I am seriously considering making up my prepackaged units. I am hoping to find something and just use my creativity to supplement.
here is the link to the storytelling props:
http://kizclub.com/stories.htm
Obviously it's not for families who don't do computer games.
