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!

Infant/Toddler Spanish at BABS

We're off to a great start with infant/toddler Spanish at BABS! It's such a pleasure to work with so many families.

Here is a run down of what we've worked on so far:

Greetings
We'll be starting all of our classes by singing the hola song, followed by

Aquí estamos juntos which is a song to learn everyone's name.

To see the lyrics to these two songs & their translations, see the post for Week 1 BDLC.

Fall
Diez calabazas is a rhyme about ten pumpkins, a fall favorite! See the post for Week 5 BDLC.

Body Parts
I like to make sure that we get plenty of active time in class for our wiggly wee ones. In this series, one of the topics that we'll be focusing on is body parts. One of my favorites to get the kids moving is: Mi cuerpo hace música. See the post for Week 1 BDLC.

Another body parts classic is: 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

And another one of my personal favorites: Calipso

Vamos a mover, vamos a mover la cabeza

Si el calipso no suena más, yo me congelo en mi lugar

Si el calipso no suena más, yo me congelo en mi lugar

Let's move, let's move the head

If the calipso doesn't sound anymore, I will freeze in my place

If the calipso doesn't sound anymore, I will freeze in my place.

Each time, we change the body part:

los bracitos (little arms)

los piecitos (little feet)

la colita (little behind)

todo el cuerpo (the whole body)

Quiet Time
After a lot of activity, it's helpful to create a quieter atmosphere for our children. To do this, we sing La lechuza (The Owl)-- sung to the tune of Frere Jacques-- see the post for Week 3 BDLC.

Counting
Another important topic we'll be looking at is counting 1-10.

We did Diez deditos which is sung to the tune of the 10 Little Indians-- see the post for Week 3 BDLC.

And another old familiar one was Cinco monitos (Five Little Monkeys)-- see the post for Week 5 BDLC.

Fingerplays
This is one that I enjoy doing with my 6 mo. old daughter: Este niño halló un huevo or This Little Child Found an Egg.

Este niño halló un huevo

Éste lo coció

Éste lo peló

Éste le echó sal

Y este gordito chaparrito se lo comió

Le dio sed y fue a buscar agua

This little child found an egg

This one cooked it

This one peeled it

This one put on salt

And this fat, short one ate it,

Got thirsty and went to look for water

La pequeñita araña

We did this perennial favorite to close out the class: The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

La pequeñita araña

subió, subió, subió

Vino la lluvia y se la llevó

Salió el sol y la lluvia se secó

Y la pequeñita araña subió, subió, subió

We like to do this song a second time with the GRANDOTA araña, the HUGE spider...

Goodbye!

And to conclude our class each week, we'll be singing the Goodbye song, a call & response ditty to the tune of Frere Jacques:

Adiós amigos, adíos amigos

Ya me voy, ya me voy

Me dio mucho gusto, me dio mucho gusto

Estar con ustedes, estar con ustedes

Adíos, adíos, adíos, adíos

Goodbye friends, goodbye friends

I'm going, I'm going

It was a pleasure, it was a pleasure

To be with you, to be with you

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye