Hi Friends!

As you may know, I love languages. I love learning new languages, I love speaking new languages, and I especially love to teach my friends new languages. I get all of my language books from the library and I also use Mango Languages, which is a super-fun language learning database that is FREE with your library card. You should check it out. They have so many fun languages that you can learn. 

Today, I’m going to teach you my two favorite languages – Spanish and Sign Language, and we are going to talk about The Beach. How does that sound? Great! Let’s go…

Beach

It’s that time of the year, again! It’s beach time. I absolutely love going to the beach. Do you like going to the beach? What do you like to do at the beach? Do you like to swim or play in the sand? I love to do all of those things but my favorite thing is to listen to the sounds of the water.

Let’s learn some of my favorite beach words, starting with the word Beach:

la playa

Sounds like – la pli-ahh

Great job! 

In sign language, we are going to put both of our hands up in front of our bodies, palms facing out. With one move, we will take our hands and move them outward, making a wave motion with our hands. It looks like this:

Water

I love the water. I love to listen to the water and the waves that splash on the shore. I love to put my feet into the water. Sometimes I even like to get into the water and swim or surf or boogie board. Have you ever used a boogie board? They are so much fun! What is your favorite thing to do with the water at the beach? Do you like to swim?

agua

Sounds like – ahh-gwa

Fantastic!

In sign language, we are going to make the alphabet sign for “W.” That looks like this:

With our W hand we are going to tap it on the side of our chin once or twice. Here I am doing the sign for water:

Sun

I love to feel the warmth of the sun at the beach and on the sand. It is the most glorious thing. It’s really good to protect your skin and your exposure to the sun (you don’t want to spend too much time in the blazing sunshine) but it is so nice while on the beach to be kissed by the warmth of the sun. 

el sol

Sounds like – el-soul

You are doing amazing!

To make the sun sign in sign language, we are going to point our finger up towards the sky and turn it in a circle, kind of like we are tracing the outline of the sun with our finger. We are then going to take that same hand, pinch all of our fingers together, facing our face, and spread our fingers out as we come closer to our upturned face. It looks like we are imitating the rays of the sun shining on our face. Were you able to replicate the sign? It should look like this:

Seashell

I love looking for seashells, don’t you? There are so many beautiful creatures that live in our oceans and when their shells wash up on shore, it gives us such a great opportunity to learn and explore more about them. What is your favorite seashell and do you know what sea creature used to call that shell ‘home’?

concha

Sounds like – con-cha

Awesome!

In sign language, there are quite a few different ways to say shell and seashell, but this is the one that I like the best – we are going to make fists with both of our hands. With one hand, our fist will be facing downwards and the other will be upwards. We are then going to touch the backs of our hands together (one on top of the other) two or three times. It looks like this:

Super job! You’ve learned four words in two different languages. Wow! Next month we’ll explore more words with Ms. Faith’s Favorites but, until then, you can check out all the fun Spanish and Sign Language resources on these great library databases:

  • Spanish Learning for Kids on Hoopla
  • Sign Language Learning for Kids on Hoopla
  • Spanish Learning for Kids on Overdrive
  • Spanish Learning for Kids on Kanopy Kids
  • Spanish Learning for Kids from the Library
  • Sign Language for Kids from the Library

Also, if you want to join Ms. Faith live every month with her Ms. Faith’s Favorites library program, you can register here. We also have tons of other great library programs that you can check out here