Gazpacho for My Muchacho

I'm always on the look out for books that use both English and Spanish. As a non-Spanish speaker, books  written in English with sporadic Spanish words  are a great, natural, non-intimidating way to introduce new words into our (Z-man and my) vocabulary. Some of our favorites are Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos, Rubia and the Three Osos, and, now, Gazpacho for Nacho.

Gazpacho for Nacho is a  book about a boy who only eats gazpacho. Frustrated by Nacho's limited palate, his Mami takes him shopping to buy the legumbres needed and then teaches Nacho how to make the soup. 

First, Z-man and I read the book several times over a week or so. Actually, first I pre-read the book by myself. I've noticed that if I struggle through pronunciation, Z often looses interest in the book. 

After he knew the book well, we decided to act it out. Z-man picked a costume (but didn't want to wear it) and then pretended to buy the pepino and other veggies. He made food out of play dough and we practiced following the recipe. While doing these activities, I was very intentional about using the Spanish words in the book as a way to reinforce their meaning. 

Then, we headed to the grocery store to buy tomates, one pepino, one pimiento. I called him "Nacho" and he called me "Mami" as we did this. So fun!

At home, we gathered the rest of the ingredients, put on our aprons and chef hats and began el trabajo. He cut and measured and poured and stirred. We put it in the fridge to chill. 

I'm not sure my guy will be demanding "Mas gazpacho!" like Nacho does, but he did ask for pepinos instead of cucumbers and that makes this a success for me and my muchacho!