Árbol

This is the first of several books I bought on my recent visit to Santander with ClaroGB  thanks to Erasmus + funding. I am feeling much more confident about my Spanish now and am looking forward to sharing the books with you over the next few months! This one is from the same series recommended by Clare Seccombe in her brilliant Changing Phase blog which you can check out here.

Language of text: Spanish
Type of text: Picture book / poem
Author or source: Antonio Rubio y Óscar Villán
Intended age of students: Key Stage 1/2
Source reference: 9788492608812
Approaches:
This story / poem is very simple and lovely to share with children and potentially to sing too. As soon as the 1st reading, the pupils can join in with the 1st line when it gets repeated later on in the story. On second reading, they can join in with the objects after repeating them. On third reading, you may want to focus on the 3 prepositions.
Rationale:
There is a lot of repetition of phrases and structures throughout the story, which makes it easily accessible. The illustations are beautiful and clear. The story is fun as it is a little silly with some objects which you would not normally find in or near a tree. Even though the story is very simple, you can choose to practise so many items through it, in terms of vocabulary and/or grammar. You may for instance use it to introduce the plural form of “ser”, “son”, or to introduce simple prepostitions of positions.
Outcomes:
Flashcards of the tree and the objects can easily be made to help practise the words for them but also to help memorise the rhyme which can be performed.
Once they know the poem well, the children could adapt it: they may want to keep the trees but try to find other (potentially rhyming) objects to put in and under them, or they may want to change it totally, depending on the age and ability. The new versions can also be performed!
Topics or themes:
prepostitions; “o” sound in Spanish
Grammar:
encima/debajo de un/del; “son”
How much time required:
1-2 lessons