Patti Lozano has written 35 books in five languages, all based on the idea that languages are best learned through the arts, specifically through singing, acting, storytelling, games, and activities. Some of her most popular titles include Mighty Mini-Plays (for the Spanish, French, German, and ESL classrooms), Skinny Skits, and other resource books such as Get Them Talking and Let’s Chat, all of which feature fun, creative activities that emphasize face-to-face communication.
Her songbooks, which include Music That Teaches Spanish! and Spanish Grammar Swings, feature simple, catchy, and often zany pedagogical songs in English, Spanish, French, and German. The delightful Leyendas con Canciones and Latin American Legends combine prose and songs into “mini-musicals” based on legends from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries.
Patti earned degrees in Music Education and Spanish from Rice University and the University of Houston. She taught music and Spanish at all grade levels in Houston and Spring Branch ISDs, earning the title of Houston’s Outstanding Young Educator in the 1980s. Later, she worked as a television teacher/writer for a 5-year, elementary-level Spanish video series. Recorded in Houston, Texas and funded by a federal grant, her 258 episodes were used as the Spanish curriculum in over 25 Texas school districts.
For many years, Patti was a national language consultant for National Textbook Company (now a division of McGraw Hill) and delivered keynote speeches at regional and national foreign language, bilingual, and ESL conventions throughout the United States. With guitar in hand, Patti has conducted teacher workshops and demo lessons in 45 states and around the world, always focusing on the use of music, theater, and storytelling as effective—and fun—instructional tools for the development of communicative language skills.
Patti lives in Houston, Texas. When she is not happily writing songs and skits to teach foreign languages, she can be found in the local ceramic studio making colorful garden art or at a nearby pet shelter fostering cats.
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