Spanish Challenge: My Favorite Apps, Videos, and Games

Introduction

In my last blog, I mentioned the challenge I am giving my daughter and me to incorporate more Spanish into our lives. Here I outline sources I plan to use to help jumpstart the challenge. I do not get any payment or benefit from any of the sources listed below; I found them super helpful and thought others might appreciate them as sources as well!

My Top Resources

1. Spotify: We love listening to music while driving as a family. My oldest and I enjoy Camilo Echeverre, Taylor Swift, Disney Music, and Trolls Music, and my youngest is a big fan of La Vaca Lola.

   1. I created a playlist for us, including Spanish versions of all the songs, minus Taylor Swift. We will play that playlist every morning and afternoon during our daily commute and pickup.

   2. Dance Parties! We love dancing and have dance parties regularly. During this language challenge, I will make them a once-a-week event. Making sure we dance to famous Spanish hits is a bonus way for me to expose them to more culture.

2. Streaming Services: We subscribe to various streaming platforms when we watch TV. I changed the language settings on the platform for the following services: Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Disney+.

3. Kids books: I spontaneously translate books already written in English for my children into Spanish in three different ways.

   1. I retell the story from memory using the Spanish I know.

   2. I directly translated the words from the book as I read them. This is a bit choppier, but not too much.

   3. Make up my version of the story using the images.

4. Mexico in My Kitchen: This blog has been a favorite of mine for at least 12 years. The stories accompanying the recipes are great, the pictures are beautiful, and the recipes I have made from this site are delicious! I enjoy exploring it regularly and making many traditional dishes from it. I know I have recommended this site and its recipes to many friends and always suggest people visit it!