Stories by Gus on the Go: Spanish App for Kids

Gus on the Go: Spanish for Kids hits the right note for pacing, content, and interactivity for kids learning Spanish. It uses short, familiar stories to teach children beginning Spanish words and phrases. This excellent language learning app provides lessons, practice, and stories so children have multiple ways to acquire and practice the new words.

It reminds me of Muzzy but better because Muzzy started out too complex for beginners. (For those of you in the UK who know Muzzy videos.)

I love the language of Spanish, having learned it in Mexico where I attended Universidad de las Américas Puebla. My first teaching jobs were in Spanish — first with migrant pre-kindergarteners and then with a 4/5 bilingual (but mostly not bilingual) class in the inner city of Denver. (Before bilingual was shut-down — another story for another day.) Much of my teaching philosophy and influence came from the research of Stephen Krashen, an incredible language learning researcher.

Apps like Gus on the Go are what I use with my kids to help them learn another language.

Gus on the Go is FREE in the App Store.

This free Spanish language learning app comes with two choice of stories — the Mouse and Lion and the Tortoise and the Hare.

Once you select the story, you have three choices — to learn words from the first teacher owl, to review and practice words from the middle owl with the checkmark, or to hear the story read aloud from the third owl holding a book.

Each section is clean, brightly colored, and easy to follow. The review section is game-like and fun — see below where you must choose which picture shoes the mouse waking up.

The storyteller’s words are highlighted when read out loud. You can also click on the words or the animals to hear more. I love how the words introduced to the children include phrases and sentences so they get to apply their knowledge in context!

Children can make a passport like this one below. Cute, right?

The passport records their progress. As you can see that JJ has completed listening and reading to the Tortoise and Hare story.

More stories are available for purchase which is a great option for more learning. (It’s not easy to get to this screen, you have to be a reader and follow directions.) Story choices are Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Three Little Pigs.