Spanish Readers Theater

Based on the Mexican folktale, Señor Coyote y el Queso is a play script featuring four characters (El coyote, el conejo, narrador 1, narrador 2). According to legend, the coyote is Mexico's most mischievous animal. In this story, Coyote tries to eat Rabbit, but Rabbit, more clever than he, fools him.

For ages 5-7.

Why Readers Theater?

When children play, they lose themselves in their worlds of pretend. This is why Readers Theater (RT) is so fantastic- kids are given the opportunity to foster their natural creativity while improving their reading skills.

The benefits of incorporating RT into reading instruction are numerous:

1. Research shows that "repetitive reading" is key to developing decoding (making sense of written words) and fluency (the ability to read text accurately and with appropriate expression) skills. Many kids are not inclined to read stories repeatedly, but when presented with a play script (RT), as Jennifer Prescott, author of "The Power of Readers Theater," says, "even the most resistant readers practice their RT scripts as if they were doing a full-time job — and one that they love."

2. RT also builds social and collaborative skills, as well as a space for kids to explore their multiple intelligences, like performance and management.

3. Because our RT series is in Spanish, based on Mexican folktales, kids who are learning Spanish will acquire new vocabulary as well as practice their pronunciation; kids who already speak Spanish will get to show what they know. (And we are always expanding our vocabulary even in our first language anyway, right?)



Readers Theater is currently available in PDF format only. Print front to back and fold.