Fall is Right Around the Corner!

İHola Familias!  With this change in weather, I can see that fall is right around the corner!  We'll be starting a new year of Spanish lessons and I'm looking forward to having a new crop of students excited about learning español this year.  Classes will be on Mondays and Wednesdays,  from 4:00 to 4:30 pm (note the new time this year) at the Bloomington Developmental Learning Center (BDLC), located at 1807 S. Highland Ave, down the street from the YMCA.  The first fall session will be from September 5 to October 22.  This class is open to everyone, both beginners and children with prior exposure to Spanish.  You need not be a student at the BDLC to attend.

I offer a 9-month curriculum and this will be the first installment.  In this session your child will build Spanish vocabulary through storytelling, games, movement, music and sign language.  I am a professional foreign language educator who nurtures creativity and active learning.  The curriculum follows a natural progression and includes numbers, colors, alphabet & family. 

Please contact me for a registration form. 

Week 2 BDLC

Greetings Parents!

This week we continued our work on body parts, but also introduced a few new topics.

One of the kids' favorite songs that we've been working on for the past two weeks is Perro Sancho (Bingo).

Un perro grande tengo yo y el se llama SANCHO.
Ese-Ahh-Ene-Che-O, Ese-Ahh-Ene-Che-O, Ese-Ahh-Ene-Che-O y el se llama SANCHO.

Un perro grande tengo yo y el se llama SANCHO.
Clap-Ahh-Ene-Che-O, Clap-Ahh-Ene-Che-O, Clap-Ahh-Ene-Che-O y el se llama SANCHO.

Just like the Bingo version, after each round of the song, I remove a letter from our feltboard. With each repetition, a new letter is replaced with a hand clap through the six verses of the song. By the sixth verse, all the letters are replaced by hand claps.

Stories/Cuentos:

This week we introduced a new story: Los Tres Gatitos

Los tres gatitos (The Three Little Kittens) is a story adapted from the nursery rhyme. It tells the story of three little kittens who lose and then find their mittens. After they find their mittens, they are rewarded with pie, causing their mittens to get dirty. They are scolded again by their mother. This time they wash their mittens and are rewarded with a mouse.

This story allows us to reinforce some of the vocabulary that we have learned previously, including colors: the kittens are gris (grey), cafe (brown) and blanco (white) and the mittens are rojo (red), azul (blue) and verde (green). We also practice our numbers uno-seis as we count up the mittens. Finally we reinforce a few emotion vocabulary words: enojado/a (angry), triste (sad) and feliz (happy).

Welcome to a New Semester!

Welcome to a new semester! I have four new students this semester and five returning students, including two who are in their third year! It is so great to have such a mix of ages, experiences and ability levels. I am working hard to present new material at a pace that is manageable for the new students while also challenging the more advanced students to use the vocabulary that they have previously acquired.

We are starting off the year with a new unit on body parts.



We begin with one of our favorite classics: Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies (Head, shoulders, knees & toes). You all know the tune, but here are the words in Spanish:

Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies, rodillas y pies
Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies, rodillas y pies
Ojos, orejas, boca y nariz
Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies, rodillas y pies

Another classic is: El Hokey Pokey which goes like this:

Mete una mano
Saca una mano
Mete una mano
Sacúdela

Baila el Hokey Pokey y date una vuelta
Así se bailará

Other body parts that we like to do:
el pie = foot
la cadera = hips
la cabeza = head
todo el cuerpo = whole body
and of course, many others that students suggest....

This means:

Put in your hand
Take out your hand
Put in your hand
Shake it all about

Dance the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself around
This is how we dance


Greetings/Opening Class:
We begin every class with the hola song (see the post for Week 1 BDLC). This semester, we're also incorporating a new song that introduces students to the phrase, me llamo...

Me llamo, me llamo _________.
¿cómo te llamas tú?

My name, my name is __________.
What is, what is your name?

During this song, each child takes turns saying, "Me llamo__________" and then rolling the rag ball to the next child, asking him/her, "¿cómo te llamas tú?"

We also start each class off with a discussion of the weather. For more info, see blog post:

Stories:
At the close of each class, we do a feltboard story. So far, our stories have included:
La chica de nieve and El hombre de jengibre.

La chica de nieve (The Snow Girl) is a wonderful wintertime folktale about an old man & old woman (el viejo and la vieja) who are sad (triste) because they do not have children. One day, the old woman decides to make a snowman in the shape of a little girl. La chica de nieve comes to life. Ask your child to tell you the rest! In addition to teaching the vocabulary above, this story reinforces the seasons vocabulary: el invierno (winter) and la primavera (spring).

El hombre de jengibre is one of my favorite stories for teaching body parts. This story also features an old man & old woman (el viejo and la vieja) who are sad (triste) because they do not have children. This time, a gingerbread man (hombre de jengibre) comes to life and outruns all who try to catch him. The body parts-- back (la espalda), head (la cabeza), nose (la nariz) and mouth (la boca) come into play when the wily fox (el zorro) tries to outwit him. We also use this story to reinforce the farm animals that the gingerbread encounters on his journey: la vaca (cow), el caballo (horse), and tres agricultores (three farmers).

Holiday Songs

Happy Holidays, everyone!!

First, I apologize for slacking off on my posts. I'd at least like to leave you all with a few holiday favorites that we've been working on during the last few weeks. Perhaps you'll be able to practice them with your children during the break.

Ocho candelikas (8 Little Candles)
This is a Ladino song for Hanukkah. Ladino is also known as Judeo-Spanish, the language of the Sephardic Jews. I have taken the liberty to translate the song into standard Spanish (although candelika is a Ladino term; the Spanish word for candle is vela.)

8 candelas para mí Hanukkah linda está aquí (x2)
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
1 candelika
2 candelikas
3 candelikas
4 candelikas
5 candelikas
6 candelikas
7 candelikas
8 candelas para mí
Los pastelitos van a comer
Con almendritas y miel
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
1 candelika, etc.
Muchas fiestas para dar
Con alegría y placer
1 candelika, etc.

This means:

Beautiful Hanukkah is here
8 little candles for me
I'm going to eat little cakes with almonds & honey
Lots of parties to give with happiness & pleasure

Mi hombre de nieve (Frosty the Snowman)
x2:
Mi hombre de nieve
Está feliz y es muy gordo Con la boca, la nariz, dos ojos Y en la cabeza un sombrero La, la, la, la, la, la, etc.
Mi hombre de nieve
Está feliz y es muy gordo Con la boca, la nariz, dos ojos Y en la cabeza un sombrero
x2:
Tonc-a-tonc, tonc, tonc Tonc-a-tonc, tonc, tonc Mi hombre de nieve This old favorite means:

My snowman
Is happy and fat
With a mouth, a nose, two eyes,
And on his head a hat

Cascabel (Jingle Bells)
For this song we like to take turns ringing the bells & stopping at certain points when I give the cue. We also learned some sign language for this song as well as Mi hombre de nieve.

Cascabel, cascabel,
Lindo cascabel
Que alegría todo el día y felicidad

Cascabel, cascabel, lindo cascabel
Tan sentimental
No ceces, oh cascabel de repiquetear

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Beautiful jingle bells
What joy everyday and happiness

Jingle bells, jingle bells
How sentimental
Don't stop, oh jingle bells, from ringing


Next Session:
Our next session will begin on January 9.

The class will be a continuation of what we've been working on thus far, but as always, it is open to new students. During the new session, our main units will be body parts & food. We also will do lots of songs & rhymes that incorporate numbers 1-10-- this is a theme that we will be continuing to work on. In addition, we'll continue our feltboard stories that incorporate the new vocabulary as well as review lots of the words that we've been working on so far.

Save 5% by registering by January 3, 2012. Contact me to register!