Latin Dance Lesson

A couple of weeks ago, students got a taste of one of my favorite aspects of Latino culture - dancing! Thanks to a grant from the PTO, I was able to invite Victoria, the owner of Salsalina dance studio in Burlington, to CMS to give each of my Spanish classes a Latin Dance lesson.  Students learned the basics of the merengue and salsa and were exposed to something new and fun! 

 

Conjuntos locos - Crazy outfits!

We wrapped up our Family unit last week and now we're in the midst of our last new unit  of the school year, Clothing and Colors.  Yesterday students played a game called "name it or wear it" where they volunteered to identify an item of clothing in Spanish.  Just like the name of the game sounds, if they couldn't name the item and its color correctly in Spanish they had to put it on - and these were some really interesting items of clothing that I had way too much fun selecting at a local thrift store! 

We also played "conjuntos locos" or crazy outfits, where two students had to race each other to find and put on three items on a list.  As you can see, my students are anything buy shy and volunteered for photos of their conjuntos locos!

The Pulsera Project

We are gearing up for a very exciting event next week - The Pulsera Project!

 Period 3/4 students getting the bracelets ready to display for our sale next week.

8^th Grade Spanish students, along with the Caring Cougars and the Community Service Club, are working together with the nonprofit organization The Pulsera Project to bring an exciting opportunity to CMS.  What is The Pulsera Project all about?  Here’s how the organization describes themselves:

“The Pulsera Project buys hand-woven pulseras [or bracelets in English] from young Nicaraguan artisans and artisan families and sells them mostly through U.S. schools. We provide sustainable, fair-trade employment and dramatically expand economic opportunities for many Nicaraguans. We support youth shelters, fund scholarships, provide loans, and support community development projects run by members of our pulsera makers’ co-op of shelter “graduates”.

Throughout the week of April 14-18 students will have the chance to purchase hand woven pulseras (bracelets) made by Nicaraguan artisans for only $5 during lunch!  Spanish students have a special opportunity to purchase bracelets during our pre-sale today and tomorrow.  What an incredible (and colorful!) way to make a difference in the life of someone else!  Intrigued?  Watch this short video to learn more!

La comida latina

As part of our current Food & Restaurant unit, students recently completed a small research project to learn about authentic Latin American foods.  Students presented foods from Cuba to Argentina and everywhere in between.  Many students chose to prepare a sample of the dish for their classmates to try.  It was a great way for students to be exposed to authentic foods from a wide variety of countries!  Here are some of the foods we tried:

Tostones, from Puerto Rico and the Domincan Republic, are fried plantains that are usually served with a dipping sauce.

Agua de sandía is a refreshing watermelon drink found in many countries in Central America.  These students even served the drink in an authentic way in small plastic bags with straws! 

 As you can see, many students enjoyed the Agua de sandía!

In two different sections of Spanish, we tried a dessert that is very common in many Latin American countries, flan.  Flan is an egg based custard with a light caramel sauce on top.

Pastel de tres leches is another very popular dessert that two groups of students shared with their classes.  This cake is made with three different kinds of milk (regular, evaporated, and sweetened condensed) which is where it gets the name tres leches.  

Another pair of students shared alfajores with their class.  Alfajores are delicious sandwich cookies from Argentina that are filled with dulce de leche, a rich caramel sauce.

 These tasty berlines are a typical Chilean snack and they were served with cola de mono a chilled, sweet coffee flavored drink.  

¡Qué rico!

YUM!

National Foreign Language Week

Hola & Bonjour!

This week is National Foreign Language Week!  To celebrate we've labeled the whole school with signs in French & Spanish, and there will be Mexican and French themed lunches served in the cafeteria this week!  On Friday Spanish students will wear beads and the colors of the Mexican flag - red, white, and green - to show their language learning pride!

Check out this quick video on the importance of learning a second (or third!) language.


Here are some interesting research based facts about language learning: 

• Learning another language improves your understanding of English structure and vocabulary! 
• Students who study a foreign language have increased scores on standardized tests.
• Foreign language learners have better listening skills and sharper memories than their monolingual peers.
• Several studies indicate that individuals who learn a second language are more creative and better at solving complex problems than those who do not.
• Foreign language learners are more tolerant of the differences among people.
• Students of foreign languages may even have better career opportunities!

*Source - "The Benefits of Second Language Study" Regarding World Language Education

NEA Research, December 2007 http://www.ncssfl.org/papers/BenefitsSecondLanguageStudyNEA.pdf

Thanks for your continued support of your student studying a foreign language!

Tortilla Day!

Students did a great job making fresh corn tortillas from scratch yesterday!

 With the help of an authentic tortilla press, it was pretty easy!

Once the tortillas were made, we folded them, added some cheese and made quesadillas!  These are the instructions we followed to make the tortillas.  If you want to make your own tortillas at home, you don't need a tortilla press.  A rolling pin works fine!  Masa harina - the ground corn that is used for corn tortillas - is available in most grocery stores.  Look for it near the prepared tortillas and taco shells.

I surprised students with an authentic Mexican beverage called agua de jamaica.  

This is a refreshing drink that is served cold and is made with hibiscus flowers.  The dried hibiscus flowers are steeped in a mixture of sugar and hot water and then chilled and served with fresh lime juice.  This is the recipe I used to prepare the drink for class today.  Dried hibiscus flowers are commonly used in herb tea blends including the Red Zinger blend by Celestial Seasonings.

I hope everyone has a nice break, and if you make tortillas at home be sure to share some photos with me!

The unit test is done! What's next?

Hola familias,

Students completed a unit on The School Day at the end of last week, and I was impressed with their ability to discuss their school schedules with me en español!  By the end of The School Day unit students were able to:

•  Recognize times when they heard them spoken,
•  Ask and state the time both in writing and verbally,
•  Describe what school supplies they need for their classes, and
• Discuss with their classmates (both in writing and verbally) when they have different classes using the correct conjugation of the verb “to have”, the vocabulary for the classes, and the time.

The theme of our next unit is Food & Restaurants.  This is always a very exciting unit because who doesn't love to talk about food?!  By the end of this unit students will be able to:

• Conjugate verbs that end in  –er and -ir,
• Describe what foods they like and dislike, 
• Create sentences (in writing and verbally) about what they eat and drink at different times of day,
• Identify and order food and drink items in a restaurant setting, and
• Compare and contrast typical Mexican, Spanish, and American food.

This is a pretty impressive list of skills for beginning language learners.  It also means that if you find yourself in a Spanish speaking country, your student will be able order food in restaurants entirely en español!

Students will also have the option to prepare an authentic recipe from a Latin American country as part of a research project during this unit.  It's not a requirement, but lots of students enjoy this aspect of the project. 

Lastly, I'm also very excited to share that we will be preparing homemade tortillas from scratch during this unit!  

Señora Tiernan Fisher