Unit One

Teacher’s Guide

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 Los pollitos dicen
Unit 1 Teacher’s Guide

by Elisabeth Alvarado
www.spanishmama.com
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 How to Use These Lessons
Lesson Pacing

I try to make the lessons and suggestions very adaptable to every teaching situation (school, homeschool, private classes, etc). I
created each unit to contain three lessons, with a list of activities, songs, games, and printables for each lesson.

You’ll want to look over the targets and activities to see what pacing is best for your students. I meet with a group of homeschoolers
once a week, and take at least a few weeks for each lesson. If there are more targets, I take more time. The kids are also practicing
regularly at home. I often repeat activities, especially when they go well and everyone enjoys them.

IMPORTANT: Unit 1 is much shorter than the rest of my preschool units. In my other units, you’ll find each “lesson” takes at least
several weeks to cover. The entire Los Pollitos Dicen Curriculum will take most teachers a year to cover.

Teaching Philosophy

Children acquire language through repeated exposure to comprehensible input. They need hear new words spoken again and again, in
context. Though I speak in Spanish for a lot of the class, my goal isn’t just immersion itself: it’s a very targeted way of speaking to the
students so they understand what I’m saying. When I speak Spanish, it shouldn’t be noise. I try to use what they know, and use lots of
exagerrated gestures and visuals to convey meaning.

I don’t push students to speak if they’re not ready. Usually, the songs and games are fun enough that they try to use what they know.
Just remember that input is more important than output at this stage. Make sure to pour on the praise when they do speak, and
especially if they use what they’re learning outside of class!

Many of the activities here are based on the TPRS method. If you would like to read more about it, here are some helpful links:

What is TPRS?

If you are a parent learning Spanish along with your kids, Word Reference is a great online dictionary, and
you can hear audio for words you are unsure of.

© Elisabeth Alvarado 2016

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www.spanishmama.com

Estimated Length (meeting
Unit Name
1x-2x per week, with review)
Los Pollitos Unit 1
Los Pollitos Unit 2
Los Pollitos Unit 3
Los Pollitos Unit 4
Orugas y Mariposas Unit
(Review Unit)
A Mi Burro Unit 1
A Mi Burro Unit 2
Bebé Tiburón Unit
*Essential* Unit Vocabulary From All Spanish Mama Preschool Units
Core Vocabulary for Each Unit (vocabulary from previous lessons is recycled and built into each new unit)
¿Cómo te llamas?, Me llamo,
dice(n), buenos días, los pollitos ¿Qué es?, Es…,
1+ month el caballo, el pato, el perro, el gato, la
levántate, siéntate, manos arriba/abajo corre, salta, camina
vaca, el cerdo, la oveja
tiene hambre, come, toma te gusta, me gusta, no me gusta rojo, anaranjado, amarillo, verde, azul,
2+ months la manzana, la leche, el maíz, el pan, el el queso, la zanahoria, las uvas, los morado, blanco, negro, rosado, café, gris,
agua arándanos, la galleta, el helado pinta
hace frío, hace calor, triste, feliz, grande,
lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, busca, eres, soy, mi, tu, mamá, lombriz, la
3+ months pequeño,
sábado, domingo, rana
ve, busca, amigos
les da, le da, la comida, duerme, se uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete,
3+ months tengo hambre, dame
despierta ocho, nueve, diez
uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, sol, luna,
buenos días, buenas noches, la oruga, la la manzana, la pera, la fresa, la naranja, la
lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes,
3+ months mariposa sandía, la ciruela, el queso, el helado,
sábado, domingo
rojo, verde, anaranjado, amarillo, azul, el pepinillo, el bizcocho, la paleta,
¿Cuántos hay?
la cabeza, la boca, los ojos, las orejas, la los brazos, las piernas, las rodillas, las
me duele, le duele,
3+ months nariz, el pelo/cabello manos, los pies
la garganta, el médico, se cae, va a
ve, huele, escucha, come, habla el corazón, toca
se pone, los shorts, la camisa, el traje de
el suéter, los pantalones, las botas, el
baño,
3+ months abrigo, el gorro, la bufanda, los review song lyrics from ”A Mi Burro”
las sandalias, el vestido, los zapatos,
calcetines, la bufanda, el pijama
las gafas de sol, la gorra
el/la bebé, el amigo, la amiga, el
el tiburón, nada, el agua, el mar,
3+ months hermano, la hermana, el papá, la mamá, review song lyrics from ”Bebé Tiburón”
el pez, huele,
el abuelo, la abuela
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 Los pollitos dicen – Unit One Outline

Week Learning Goals Target Structures Other vocabulary Activities & Games Songs Printables

Pollito puppets
dice, buenos días
I can greet levántate, siéntate, Buenos días
¿Cómo estás?, Puppet Q & A Buenos días cards
others. manos arriba/abajo Los pollitos
bien
¿Cómo estás? Page
Lessons 1-3 Los pollitos dicen, “pío, pío, pío”

¿Cómo te llamas?
Animal printouts
chant & ball pass
I can say my
el caballo, el pato, el
name. ¿Cómo te llamas?, ¿Cómo te llamas? Page
perro, el gato, la TPR animal sounds
I can recognize Me llamo…
vaca, el cerdo
animal names. Los animales de la granja Book
Buenos días, granja
PDF story

Animals cards for Memory/

el caballo, el pato, el
Animals bingo Go Fish
perro, el gato, la
I can say some ¿Qué es? Pato, pato, pollito! La granja
vaca, el cerdo
animal names. Es… ¿Qué hay en la (Calico Spanish ¿Cómo dicen los animales? book
bolsa?
corre, salta
Animals Bingo

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© Elisabeth Alvarado 2016 www.spanishmama.com
 Los pollitos Unit 1, Lesson 1

(Access my blog post on this lesson here, where I write about teaching the lesson and have songs embedded in the post.) Materials

Lesson 1 Goals I can greet my teacher and friends.

Target Structures buenos días, ¿Cómo estás?, Muy bien, gracias, el pollito, and dice

Teach the song Buenos días. Show a picture of the sun coming up, and say, ¡Buenos días! Do • Buenos días cards, activity
Activity 1
motions with each part. pack p. 6

Once you students understand the buenos días part of the greeting song, talk about ¿Cómo estás?
and muy bien, gracias. I usually use a thumbs up motion and make a happy face for this part. • ¿Cómo estás? page, activity
Activity 2
pack p. 11
They can draw themselves on the ¿Cómo estás? drawing page.

Teach the first line to Los pollitos: ”Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, pío.” with the pollito puppets to
• Pollito puppets, activity
teach el pollito, and move the mouth for pío, pío. Circle both pollito and dice. ¿El pollito dice
Activity 3 pack p. 9
<muu>? ¡No! ¿El elefante dice <pío>? ¡No! ¿El pollito dice <pío? ¡Sí! etc. Once the kids feel
• Clothespins
comfortable with that phrase, give them their own little chick, and sing the first line several times.

Explain that you can asnwer bien or mal (the worksheets provide complete phrases, but young kids
usually give one-word answers at this point). I often greet kids or start class asking how they are.
• ¿Cómo estás? coloring page,
Activity 4 activity pack p. 12
They can color the happy and sad faces, or you can color and cut out the faces to glue of both
sides of a paper plate, with a popsicle stick taped to the bottom, to create a puppet/mask.

Teach levántate, siéntate, and manos arriba/abajo. You can model what to do and let the students
Brain break
imitate you.

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© Elisabeth Alvarado 2016 www.spanishmama.com
 Los pollitos Unit 1, Lesson 2

(Access my blog post on this lesson here, where I write about teaching the lesson and have songs embedded in the post.) Materials

Lesson 2 Goals I can say my name. I can recognize some animals by name.

Target Structures ¿Cómo te llamas?, Me llamo, dice (animals are introduced, but only with visuals at this point)

Model how to say your name in Spanish. Use the pollito puppet from lesson 1. Have the puppet “ask”
Activity 1 • Pollito puppets
you your name, and respond with “Me llamo…” Repeat with several students.

Have the students sit in a circle and model how to say your name in Spanish again. Pass a ball
around the circle, and chant, ¿Có-mo te lla-mas, có-mo te lla-mas, có-mo te lla-mas TÚ? Whoever
Activity 2 • Ball or soft toy
has the ball on tú answers: Me llamo ______. If students are shy and don’t want to answer, they can
pass to a neighbor.

Use the Unit 1 Picture Cards to introduce the animals. Don’t worry about the kids knowing all the
animal names yet. By using visuals, the students will understand what you are saying. Use the cards • Picture Cards, activity pack
Activity 3
to circle dice: ¿El pollito dice <muu>? ¡No! ¿El elefante dice <pío, pío>? ¡No! ¿El pollito dice <pío, pío? p. 3
¡Sí! etc. Go as long as you have student interest.

Show and narrate the PDF presentation “Buenos días, granja!” Stop to ask questions or let the
Activity 4 • PDF: Buenos días, granja!”
students guess the next animals as needed.

• Mini-book: Los animales de

Activity 4 Make and read the mini-book Los animales de la granja, as a pop-up mini-book.
la granja

Brain break TPR: levántate, siéntate, camina and manos arriba/abajo

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© Elisabeth Alvarado 2016 www.spanishmama.com
 Los pollitos Unit 1, Lesson 3

(Access my blog post on this lesson here, where I write about teaching the lesson and have songs embedded in the post.) Materials

Lesson 3 Goals I can name some farm animals.

Target Structures dice, el caballo, el perro, el gato, la gallina, el pato

Activity 1 Play Los animales Bingo. You can call out the animals’ names, or say “La vaca dice mu”, etc. • Bingo, activity pack p. 13

Play ¿Qué hay en la bolsa? Have a bag and toy animals ready. Have the students close their eyes and
put an animal in the bag. Choose a student to come up front. They put their hand in the bag, and try
• Bag and toy or stuffed
Activity 2 to guess what animal it is just by feeling it. Each time an animal is guessed, stop and ask questions
animals
about it: - ¿Es un caballo? ¡No! ¿Es un pollito? ¡Sí! ¿El pollito dice <muu>? ¡No! ¿El pollito dice <pío>?
¡Sí!

Activity 3 Play Duck, Duck, Goose as Pato, pato, pollito.

• Mini-book: ¿Cómo dicen los

Activity 4 Make and read the mini-book ¿Cómo dicen los animales?
animales?

Use the animals videos embedded in the blog post for MovieTalks. Show the video and mute the
Activity 5 sound or pause the video here and there. Describe and talk about what is happening using words and
questions the students know. ¿Es una vaca? ¿Cómo se llama? ¿El gato corre o salta?

• Picture cards, activity pack

Activity 6 Use the printable game cards to play Memory or Go Fish.
p. 3

Review levántate, siéntate, camina, and manos arriba/abajo, and add corre y salta. Mix in animal
Brain break
names if desired: Salta como un caballo. Pato, pato, pollito is a great brain break too.

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© Elisabeth Alvarado 2016 www.spanishmama.com