Un Elefante Se Balanceaba
One Elephant Was Swinging
In this episode, you will listen to a traditional Spanish nursery rhyme called “Un Elefante Se Balanceaba” (One Elephant Was Swinging).
The episode focuses on:
- Numbers and counting in Spanish
- Repetition and rhythm in nursery rhymes
- The imperfect past tense (ongoing or repeated actions in the past)
- Basic vocabulary and verbs (A1–A2 level)
- Animals and simple storytelling patterns
- Understanding meaning through repetition and context
Nursery rhymes are extremely useful for language learners because they repeat the same structures many times. This helps learners naturally absorb vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar.
Before you listen, think about this question:
- ¿Qué animales conoces en español? Escribe cuatro.
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| 🧩 Vocabulary: Animals & Actions (A1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Español | English | Español | English |
| 🐘 elefante | elephant | 📣 llamar | to call |
| 🕷️ araña | spider | 🪢 resistir | to resist / to hold |
| 🕸️ tela | web | 🎢 balancearse | to swing |
| ⬆️ sobre | on / over | 👀 ver | to see |
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| 🧩 Vocabulary: Numbers (A1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Español | English | Español | English |
| 1️⃣ un / uno | one | 4️⃣ cuatro | four |
| 2️⃣ dos | two | 5️⃣ cinco | five |
| 3️⃣ tres | three | ➕ otro | another |
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| 🧠 Grammar Focus (A1) | |
|---|---|
| Español | English |
| Enfoque gramatical | Grammar focus |
| El pretérito imperfecto | The imperfect past tense |
| ¿Qué es el imperfecto? El pretérito imperfecto se usa para describir acciones en progreso, repetidas o habituales en el pasado. |
What is the imperfect? The imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing, repeated, or habitual actions in the past. |
| Usos principales del imperfecto | |
| Describir acciones que estaban ocurriendo en el pasado | To describe actions that were happening in the past |
| Hablar de acciones habituales en el pasado | To talk about habitual past actions |
| Describir situaciones o contextos en historias | To describe background situations in stories |
| Ejemplo del verso: ‘Un elefante se balanceaba.’ La acción no es un evento puntual, sino una acción continua o repetida en el pasado. |
Example from the rhyme: ‘One elephant was swinging.’ The action is not a single completed event, but a continuous or repeated action in the past. |
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| 🧠 Formación del imperfecto (A1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pronombre | -AR (Hablar) | -ER / -IR (Comer / Vivir) |
| yo | hablaba | comía / vivía |
| tú | hablabas | comías / vivías |
| él / ella | hablaba | comía / vivía |
| nosotros | hablábamos | comíamos / vivíamos |
| vosotros | hablabais | comíais / vivíais |
| ellos / ellas | hablaban | comían / vivían |
| 🎵 Ejemplo en la canción | |
|---|---|
| Español | English |
| ‘se balanceaba (reflexive verb)’ | ‘was swinging’ |
| ‘se balanceaban’ | ‘were swinging’ |
| ‘veía’ | ‘saw / was seeing’ |
| ‘veían’ | ‘saw / were seeing’ |
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8. Credits
- Narration: Jonathan Chávez
- Story script: Jonathan Chávez
- Music: “The Carnival of the Animals – Fossiles” by Camille Saint-Saëns, trimmed for use. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike 2.0 (CC BY-SA 2.0). Source: Wikimedia Commons.
- Sound effects: sourced from Mixkit
- Video production: Rafeal B – shared via Vimeo
- Audio editing: Jonathan Chávez
- Transcription: Jonathan Chávez
- Study guide writer: Gabriel Chávez
- Images: ChatGPT Plus
