Salsa is an award-winning series of free Spanish videos produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting. The Spanish video lessons are designed for kindergartners through third grade. There are 42 video lessons and all of them are available to watch online. You can also purchase the videos to watch at home.
Free Spanish Videos for Kids
These free Spanish videos combine puppets with live action footage and are very entertaining! They are all in Spanish and tell a story, but also focus on specific vocabulary. Each lesson focuses on two vocabulary words and uses them in very natural situations and structures. For example, the first lesson focuses on grande and pequeño and the vocabulary words for the second lesson are caliente, frío/a. In addition to the focus words, there is lots of Spanish in these videos and plenty of repetition of common phrases.
To make the most of these free Spanish video lessons, it is best to watch them in order. There is a story line that runs from one video to the next, and the vocabulary from earlier videos is re-entered and reinforced.
See our list of resources with Spanish lesson plans and more elementary Spanish curriculum reviews.
Each episode has several related support videos that you can find by scrolling down the page. Two of the related videos are for kids to watch. There is an introduction video that sets the scene and gives children the main idea of what is going to happen in the episode. This is an excellent way to support comprehension of the all-Spanish video. There is also a vocabulary video. It is very short, just a few seconds, and tells children in English what the words they should listen for are. It does not give them the Spanish equivalents, so that kids listen actively for the Spanish words. For example, the video will say “The Spanish words you are listening for in Salsa today are happy and sad.
Salsa also has an instructional video for teachers and parents for each episode. The video gives the written vocabulary words and the Spanish pronunciation. It provides an opportunity for teachers and parents to practice pronouncing the words. Again, scroll down the page for the episode to find the related videos.
The support materials for these free Spanish videos also include pdfs of the transcript and an activity. The activity is a game that incorporates the vocabulary words or suggestions of ways to use the vocabulary with kids. The activities also incorporate vocabulary from earlier lessons. You will find links to the PDFs below the video for each episode.
Salsa Free Spanish Videos
Salsa is a wonderful resource for anyone teaching Spanish to children. It is an excellent way to get children started with the language or to supplement another curriculum. If you are homeschooling, or looking for supplemental material to recommend to parents, these free Spanish videos are an excellent resource.
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