Monday, November 23, 2015
Issue 3 - Hablamos Español
Please find the third issue of our Spanish class newsletter, Hablamos Español, here. Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
El Día de los Muertos
Last week students learned about El Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, which is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd in Mexico and other Central American countries. Increasingly El Día de los Muertos is also celebrated in the United States. Contrary to what the name might conjure up for some, El Día de los Muertos is a joyful holiday dedicated to remembering deceased loved ones. One of the traditional symbols of this holiday is the calavera de azúcar, or sugar skull. Spanish students had the opportunity to create authentic calaveras de azúcar last Thursday and Friday. These are some photos of the process.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Issue 2 - Hablamos Español
Please find the second issue of our Spanish class newsletter, Hablamos Español, here. Enjoy!
Friday, September 4, 2015
¡Bienvenidos! Welcome
¡Hola, familias! Hello, families!
We've had a great start to the school year in Spanish class! I'm enjoying getting to know my new 8th grade students and I think it's going to be ¡un año fantástico! a fantastic year! If you haven't done so yet, please take a moment to subscribe to our class blog. Simply enter your email address in the box that says "Follow by Email" in the upper right corner of the page. This is where I will share curriculum updates and photos from special events and activities that we do in class. Any future editions of the newsletter will appear here, as well.
This weekend you may here your Spanish student saying they need to call me on the phone to complete their homework. I've asked students to leave me a message on my Google Voice account that includes a greeting, their name, how they spell their name, and a goodbye - all in Spanish of course! This is a great way for me to check in with how students are progressing without putting them on the spot with a one-on-one speaking assessment (not yet anyway - we'll be doing one of those soon).
This weekend would also be a good time for students who are interested in using a digital device for flashcards to find and download an app. Former students have had success with free apps such as Quizlet, but there are many to choose from. Flashcards+ by Chegg is a new app that might be worth checking out, as it has a pronunciation feature that could be useful for students.
In addition, these are some other great (free) apps that students could use to increase their exposure to Spanish outside the classroom:
¡Espero que disfruten el fin de semana! I hope you enjoy the weekend!
We've had a great start to the school year in Spanish class! I'm enjoying getting to know my new 8th grade students and I think it's going to be ¡un año fantástico! a fantastic year! If you haven't done so yet, please take a moment to subscribe to our class blog. Simply enter your email address in the box that says "Follow by Email" in the upper right corner of the page. This is where I will share curriculum updates and photos from special events and activities that we do in class. Any future editions of the newsletter will appear here, as well.
This weekend you may here your Spanish student saying they need to call me on the phone to complete their homework. I've asked students to leave me a message on my Google Voice account that includes a greeting, their name, how they spell their name, and a goodbye - all in Spanish of course! This is a great way for me to check in with how students are progressing without putting them on the spot with a one-on-one speaking assessment (not yet anyway - we'll be doing one of those soon).
This weekend would also be a good time for students who are interested in using a digital device for flashcards to find and download an app. Former students have had success with free apps such as Quizlet, but there are many to choose from. Flashcards+ by Chegg is a new app that might be worth checking out, as it has a pronunciation feature that could be useful for students.
In addition, these are some other great (free) apps that students could use to increase their exposure to Spanish outside the classroom:
¡Espero que disfruten el fin de semana! I hope you enjoy the weekend!
Friday, June 5, 2015
These kids can move!
Wow! We had a fantástico day of dancing in Spanish class yesterday! Many thanks to our lovely guest instructor, Victoria, from Salsalina in Burlington for generously sharing her time with us, and to the CMS PTO for providing grant funding for this experience! Students learned the basics of merengue and salsa and made me a very proud Spanish teacher with their manners and focus during the lessons! It was also fun to see many students impress Victoria with their knowledge of Latin dances as a result of the research they're doing for their dance projects! Here are some photos and videos from the day.
Monday, June 1, 2015
We survived the final - ¡a bailar!
Last week students completed their final exam for Spanish I! Phew...
Today we began the unit that will wrap up the school year, Latin Dance and Music.
Students are working in small groups on a research project on a typical Latin dance. Examples include salsa, merengue, bachata and cumbia. They will present the history of the dance, a little about its country of origin, and teach us the basic steps. The highlight of this unit will be a visit from E. Victoria Moore, the owner and founder of Salsalina dance studio in Burlington. She will give students a professional salsa dance lesson! Photos to come!
Today we began the unit that will wrap up the school year, Latin Dance and Music.
Students are working in small groups on a research project on a typical Latin dance. Examples include salsa, merengue, bachata and cumbia. They will present the history of the dance, a little about its country of origin, and teach us the basic steps. The highlight of this unit will be a visit from E. Victoria Moore, the owner and founder of Salsalina dance studio in Burlington. She will give students a professional salsa dance lesson! Photos to come!
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Clothing and Colors
We have been having lots of fun learning how to talk about clothing and colors in Spanish class these last few weeks. By the end of this unit students will able to identify and describe clothing and accessories paying special attention to gender and number agreement. As a summative assessment students will present a fashion show with narration.
To practice clothing and colors vocabulary we played a very entertaining game called Conjuntos Locos or Crazy Outfits. Here's how the game works. Two competing students are given a list of three items of clothing and they race each other to find and the clothes in a big pile on the floor and put them on.
The first person in their conjunto loco wins! At the end of each round both students read the descriptions of their outfits in Spanish.
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