Hola, la mesa, el libro. Spanish starts in middle school, and suddenly every word has a gender, its own sound and a few traps. Good news: Spanish vocabulary for kids works with the same tricks as any other subject, plus three habits worth building from day one.
Spanish Vocabulary for Kids: Making It Easier
The article is part of the word. Always. la mesa, el libro. If your kid only learns "table", the article becomes a guess on the quiz, and guesses miss more often than you'd think. So quiz the whole pair: "the table?" "la mesa!"
Out loud, not just in their head. j is a rough h, ñ sounds like "ny". A word said out loud once sticks better.
Little phrases instead of single words. tengo hambre means "I'm hungry", but word for word it's "I have hunger". Learned as one chunk, there's nothing to piece together later.
Hunt for familiar words, eyes open. importante, el restaurante, la música: lots of words look familiar. Fun, until the trap: embarazada means "pregnant", not "embarrassed". More in our article on Spanish cognates and false friends.
And keep the portions small. A unit easily brings 15 to 25 new words. Still: 5 to 10 a day, plus a quick round of the days before. Why words fade otherwise: how to memorize vocabulary.
Article, Word, Meaning at a Glance
Three parts to learn together:
A Spanish Vocabulary App
With VocaScan, an iOS app for the iPhone, your child photographs the vocabulary page from their Spanish textbook and the app turns it into a quiz in both directions. Any textbook, any language. Weak words get their own quiz, and if you enter the quiz date, reminders arrive 7, 3 and 1 day before.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Spanish words a day?
5 to 10 new words, like any other language, with a short daily review.
What is the best way to learn Spanish vocabulary for kids?
With the article, out loud, and quizzed in both directions. More tips: how to study vocabulary words for a test.
Is Spanish harder than other subjects?
Not necessarily. It just lacks the daily habit your kid already has elsewhere. The same method works.
Spanish Too, in One Scan
With VocaScan, your child photographs the Spanish textbook page and practices with quizzes.
Download on the App Store