Spanish Readers Theater

La Llorona is the Mexican legend of the "weeping woman," traditionally told to frighten children into obeying. We've altered the story so that La Llorona is not simply a woman who has done something terrible and must eternally face the consequences, but rather a woman who learns from her experiences and makes the best of them. Her animals tragically drown in a storm, and she cries for days. But when she is given magical seeds from a mysterious turkey, her life changes.

Characters- La Llorona, El Guajolote, Narrador 1, Narrador 2

For ages 5-8

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.