PREFACE EL DESAYUNO - BREAKFAST This is the first of a series of books that thematically develops in the child the ability to communicate in Spanish. The concepts and conversational patterns are presented in a simple, easy- to- follow, step- by- step manner. This book, though it is intended for children of all ages that have limited or no knowledge of the Spanish language, can be very useful for an adult that would like to learn and communicate in everyday conversation within the theme presented in each book. PRESENTATION OF CONCEPTS 1. With each illustration, which is clear and to the point, the child can see what is being taught. 2. The Spanish word is written next to the illustration in CAPITAL, bold, large print letters. 3. The phonetic pronunciation appears in parentheses to facilitate and make it easy for the parent or child to read the word. 4. The translation is also given to avoid any confusion about what the picture represents. 5. The concepts that are not represented with an illustration, image or picture, but that are necessary to develop the patterns of conversation, will appear enclosed in a box and are followed immediately by their application in sentences and phrases, thus developing the patterns of conversation related to the theme. 6. When a box with a new concept appears, it will always be followed by the conversational application of that concept. 7. You will see the same concept appear in a box in subsequent pages where its application with new vocabulary or more complex conversational patterns are being presented. The purpose for this, even though it seems redundant and repetitious, is to help the child or the parent avoid having to go back to previous pages in case they might have forgotten the concept. This gives more flow and continuity to the learning and memorization process. 8. At the end of the book, pictures of breakfast items and the Spanish words will appear with no phonetic sounds, no translations and no boxes with the concepts they have learned. This is to test the child's memory and see if the learning process has been achieved. RECOMMENDATION Once the child has learned a new word and the sentence structure that goes with the new word, parents should encourage the child to use it throughout the day every time the opportunity presents itself.