Los tamales de Ana

For today's book, I am sharing something from Se Habla Spanish, another blog that I write for.  I hope you enjoy this bilingual post!

My boys and I rarely get to the library between naptimes and eating times, but last week we made it and I am so excited to share what we found! Taking a two-year-old and a ten-month-old to the library has to be short and sweet, so often times I find myself pushing the stoller through the aisles at a trotting speed, to keep up with my two-year-old, quickly grabbing books off the shelves that catch my eye. Usually that means we are in for a surprise when we get home, because who knows what Mommy snagged!  

Enjoy It

Los tamales de Ana proved to be a great bilingual grab. Our local library does not have a specific section with bilingual books, so anytime I find one I like to check it out. Bilingual books are a great way to learn Spanish and new vocabulary--you can read the English story and become familiar with it, then read the Spanish part using the context to understand and learn new words and phrases.

Read It

In the story, a young girl named Ana, makes tamales for Christmas and dreams of what each new year will bring as she grows older and gets to have more responsibilities making the traditional Mexican dish. Zepeda writes the imaginative text in the future tense, and Ward's vibrant illustrations make those imaginations come to life. So not only do you get to practice your Spanish future tense (or learn it for the first time!), you also get to dream with the character Ana about the wonderful traditions involved with making tamales.

Make It Come to Life

You can watch the video I posted of one of my Spanish classes making tamales with my friend Aida. After that, try this tamale recipe from Rick Bayless--one of my favorite chefs that has as his mission teaching people what authentic Mexican cuisine means. Then go check out Los tamales de Ana, grab your 501 Spanish Verbs book, and talk about what you are going to do in the future! See below for a little guide on the Spanish Future Tense.

Spanish Future Tense

If you want to speak in Spanish about things that will happen in the future, just learn a few verbs and then add these endings depending on the subject. Remember the subject pronouns are:

Subject Pronouns

yo (I)	nosotros (we)
tú (you, informal)	vosotros (y’all)
él, ella (he, she) Usted (you, formal)	ellos, ellas (they) Ustedes (you all)

Future Endings

é	emos
á	éis
ás	án

So, for example if you want to say “I will eat tamales,” you would use the verb comer (to eat) and put it with the yo (I) ending é.

comer + é = comeré

“Yo comeré tamales” = “I will eat tamales”