Juego del Jueves: Puppets

I'm posting my juego idea of the week even if it is late.I wrote it up on Thursday night and then things got busy. Here it is! I have decided to give my kids nicknames to keep them straight. My oldest daughter who is 4 1/2 will be Princesa (since she always wants to be a princess), my almost 3 year old will be Súper Niña (since she loves running and acting like she is superman) and my 11 month old will be Angelita.


Lately I have been wondering how to motivate my Súper Niña to speak more in Spanish. My Princesa only speaks to me in Spanish (occasionally I have to remind her). Sometimes I wonder how Princesa knows so much! She uses phrases that I never use (maybe she gets it from Diego?). Anyway, Princesa always starts to play with Súper Niña in Spanish, but ends up speaking in English because Súper Niña always responds to her in English. Princesa says that Súper Niña doesn't speak Spanish. I tell her that if she played with Súper Niña in Spanish she would be able to speak more Spanish! Anyway, I was feeling a little down tonight during dinner as Princesa and I were only speaking in Spanish, but Súper Niña kept on speaking in English. Finally, near the end of dinner, Súper Niña exclaimed, "I comer a huevo!" I guess I should be happy that she is at least trying to put in a little Spanish.

Juego del Jueves: Puppets

My latest activity can really be incorporated with any game. I was inspired by my interview with Sue Young to try using títeres to get Súper Niña to speak more in Spanish. I had a little fish puppet so I called her Pati la pez. Súper Niña is a sensitive little girl and gets scared easily. She is terrified of El Mapa in Dora. Everytime Mapa comes out on the show she has to run and hide until his little song and part is over for the Dora episode. When I started making voices with the pez she was scared because I used a deep voice and he was Pedro el Pez. I changed and made a higher pitched voice with Pati la Pez and she liked it. She believes the puppet is real and really thinks it only speaks Spanish.

Keys to using Puppets:

-The puppet needs to say that she only understands Spanish and does not understand English.

-The puppet has to act confused and really not understand when they speak in English. Pretend like you are hearing a language you don't understand.

-The puppet has to insist that they explain it in Spanish.

We actually played Voy de Viaje again, but this time the Pez wanted to know everything we were taking and Súper Niña had to tell her. She really enjoyed it and it really stretched her, having to say everything in Spanish. I plan to use the puppet frequently.