1️⃣ Use gestures and mouth 👅
How to do it:
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Teach your students to imitate lip, tongue, and teeth positions.
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Repeat sounds as a mirror image with you (teacher ↔ student).
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Make it fun: exaggerate gestures at the beginning. (If you're going to make a lot of faces, use this to laugh together!)
Examples of "different" sounds for Spanish speakers:
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/th/ as in: think, this.
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/v/ (van) different from b.
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English /r/ (red) doesn't vibrate as much as in Spanish.
Quick activity:
🪞 “Mirror game”: children repeat your mouth and gestures in front of a mirror.
2️⃣ Practice minimal pairs 👂
What they are:
Words that differ by only one sound → help train the ear.
You say each one so the difference can be heard.
Common examples:
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ship / sheep
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bit / beat
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cat / cut
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pen / pan
Quick activity:
🎲 “Sound Bingo”:
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Write words on cards.
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Say a word → the child picks up the correct card.
3️⃣ Introduce sounds that don't exist in Spanish 🔊
Key sounds (you have the English sounds in the Brillo Bilingüe manual and courses and how to teach them):
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/th/ → think / this
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/ə/ (schwa) → banana, about
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/ɪ/ → sit (different from the Spanish “i”)
Quick activity:
📢 “Find the sound”:
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Give a list of words.
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The child claps when they hear the new sound.
👉 Do you want a step-by-step plan to teach phonics all school year?
Discover the Brillo Bilingüe Manual and Brillo Bilingüe courses designed for Spanish-speaking teachers and moms.