Saturday, December 12, 2009

Week 13: ¡Saque la lengua!

This week we reinforced the parts of the face and added a few new words, mainly dientes (dee-IN-tehs: teeth) and lengua (LEHN-gwah: tongue). Try saying, "saque la lengua" (SAH-keh lah LEHN-gwah!) and see if your child sticks out his/her tongue! For the children who are still early in their spoken-English production, you might see if they can identify other parts of their face by asking "DOHN-deh eh-STAH...
...lah nah-REES?" (la nariz=nose)
...lah BOH-kah?" (la boca= mouth)
...ehl OH-hoh?" (el ojo= eye)
...lah oh-DEH-hah?" (la oreja= ear)
If your child is especially verbal, point to different parts of his/her face and see if he/she can tell you what the word is in Spanish.

We sang a song today to reinforce the word lengua and to support a lesson you are probably teaching at home: Make sure your tongue doesn't say bad things! This song is based on Psalm 34:13. In Spanish, this verse says "Guarda tu lengua del mal, y tus labios de hablar engaño." We sang the song a couple of times (the second time through we held our tongues.)

This song is on a CD by Steve Green (Click here for more info). It's been out a good while, but it is one of our favorites. Each song on this CD is a scripture in Spanish, sung in very simple language.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Week 12

We continued working on the vocabulary for the parts of the body, focusing specifically on the parts of the face. Your child probably brought home a card with many parts of the face. By now they should be able to identify at least the nose (nariz: nah REES), eyes(ojos: OH hose) and mouth (boca: BOE kah).

In addition to last week's songs, today we sang a Whistlefritz song about the parts of the face:


Week 11: El cuerpo

We started this week by practicing how the children can respond if someone says "Buenos Días" to them. Each week we alternate between three "hello" songs that include how to exchange greetings, so the children should know this in the form of songs, but I want to be sure that they know that the song-language transfers to everyday conversation! We will continue to do conversational greetings in addition to our hello song(s) each week.

Today we worked with the Spanish for some parts of the body (cabeza, hombros, rodillas, pies, ojos, orejas, boca, nariz.) We sang songs:

Cabeza, hombros, rodillas, pies (the Spanish equivalent to Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes)




Recycled the Juanito, Cuando Baila song:




...and read De la cabeza a los pies, a wonderful Eric Carle book that has the children move body parts like different animals. This book held the attention of even the youngest Spanish classes, so this one is a keeper!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Week 10: Arriba, abajo

We started with a new "hello" song today, from Dr. Jean en español. Looks like it is not longer available for purchase or preview through Amazon, but here's a link to the CD:



...and here's a link where you can purchase the CD through Dr. Jean's website.

Here are the words, with corresponding actions in parentheses or via sign language link:

Hola, amigos
¿Cómo está Usted?
Estoy muy feliz (we draw a smile on our faces)
de verlo a Usted. (we point to our eyes, then to a friend)
Salude su vecino (we wave to the friend(s) next to us)
Boogey para abajo (we dance)
Dése un tope (we give a bump)
Y dé la vuelta. (we spin)

Since we sang about the little pollitos last week who get cold (tienen frío) and get hungry (tienen hambre), we sang that song again, then read a fun book today about a rinocerous who gets hungry, prepares a lunch, loses his sandwich, then spends the rest of the book trying to find it. This book is easy to understand because the pictures give a clear context, and most of the vocabulary is familiar to the children. It is called Rino Maní. Looks like this book is also out of print.

We also listened and danced to a song called El baile de las manos by Jorge Anaya:


Betsy at MDO is placing a bulk order for the Whistlefritz: Jorge Anaya CD. Be sure to see her soon if you'd like to be part of that order. It contains lots of songs we have sung--and will sing-- this year, including Los pollitos, Los niños cuando bailan (very similar to Juanito cuando baila), and Vengan a ver mi granja.

You can also purchase that CD here:



Next week we'll practice the parts of the face and continue with the parts of the body. Songs relating to both are also on Whistlefritz CD.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Week 9: Los pollitos

Los pollitos is a traditional song that many Spanish speakers sung as children. We have learned a lot of the words in this song in previous classes, so the children will likely learn this song pretty easily. The song is:

Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, pío
cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frío.
La gallina busca el maíz y el trigo
Les da la comida y les presta abrigo.
Bajo sus dos alas, acurrucaditos,
hasta el otro dia
duermen los pollitos.

Here is one version of the song if you would like to hear it.

There are lots of versions available for download. Even though I usually do not use bilingual materials, we have the Elizabeth Mitchell version at our house. It is a calm, folksy version:


Another fun version is by Juan José Carranza:


The children were given a little chick and a hen to use as we sang the song. You will (hopefully) find this in their bag. You can encourage them to act out the song at home. They will likely be able to tell you what the little chicks (pollitos: poe-YEE-toes) say ("pío, pío, pío.") In class I had a pretend corn cob and any time the children had the chick say pío pío, I let their chick take a "bite" of the corn. You can do this sort of play at home with the stick puppets as well.

In this song, the chicks are hungry (tienen hambre) so we sang the "tengo hambre" song from week 7. The chicks are also cold (tienen frío) and the mother hen gives them a coat (les presta abrigo) so we recycled the weather song and added hace frío (it's cold). Finally, we sang Mami, ¿dónde está mi abrigo? to reinforce the vocabulary for "coat".

It is a joy to work with your children. Today many of them sang along with the songs, and a few even made requests without my prompting. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of their second language development.

Week 8: El tiempo

With the changing of seasons, we have lots of opportunities to experience different types of weather, so today we learned a weather chant that we will do each week to talk about the weather. Your child probably brought home a card with four types of weather on it:

hace sol (AH-seh SOHL): it's sunny [sol is pronounced similarly to the "sole" of your shoe]
está nublado (eh-STAH new-BLAH-doh): it's cloudy
nieva (nee-EH-vah): it's snowing
llueve (yoo-WEH-veh): it's raining

Our chant asks what the weather is like today. Once we have determined what the weather is like, we say the chant again and replace ¿que tiempo hace? with the appropriate weather phrase.

¿Qué tiempo hace afuera, afuera?
¿Qué tiempo hace afuera hoy?

We recycled the Mami, ¿dónde está? song, and today we "looked for" pieces of clothing related to different types of weather:

abrigo (ah-BDEE-goh): coat [pronounce the last syllable similarly to English "go"]
gafas de sol (GAH-fahs deh SOHL): sunglasses
paraguas (pah-DAH-gwas): umbrella

Monday, October 19, 2009

Week 7: La oruga muy hambriente

Continuing with the idea of growth, we read La oruga muy hambriente, by Eric Carle.



We learned two phrases this week that were used repeteadly in this book: "he/she was hungry" (tenía hambre (teh-NEE-uh AHM-breh)), and "he/she ate" (comió (koh mee OH).

We used these same concepts in a song in which the children learned to say these phrases in reference to themselves. We sing, "I am hungry and I eat"... fruits, vegetables, cheese and bread.
Tengo hambre, y como frutas .
Tengo hambre, como verduras.
Tengo hambre, y como queso.
Tengo hambre, y como pan. Pan, pan, pan.

You can reinforce at home by saying "tengo" (TANG oh) while signing "hungry." If you pause, many times the child will respond "hambre." Similarly, you can do the sign for "eat." The child may say "como" or "comió." If he/she doesn't do this yet, be patient! We'll continue to reinforce these words and concepts this year.

Week 6: Calabazas

Most of this week was devoted to resinging all the songs we've learned so far this year.

Also, since we're beginning Fall, we talked about pumpkins. We read Calabaza, calabaza by Jeanne Titherington. As we read, we focused a lot on the word creció (creh-see-OH; to grow) and reinforced big and small: grande (GRAHN-deh) and pequeño (peh-KEHN-yoe).

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Week 5: Mi amigo el perro (1 octubre)

With the beginning of a new month, we learned a new hello song. In this song the children learn how to ask and answer how are you? (¿Cómo estás?). This song is from José Luis Orozco's De Colores CD. It is sung to the tune Frere Jaques/Where is Thumbkin? You may click here for a link to the song. Also, in the lyrics below you will notice certain words highlighted. Those links take you to the signs we use for various words as we sing the song.

Buenos días

Buenos días, buenos días
¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo estás?
Muy bien, gracias. Muy bien, gracias.
¿Y Usted? ¿Y Usted?

(*we use the second version of the sign for cómo (how))

Today we talked about dogs (los perros (lohse PEH-rrows), and with this we learned big (grande (GRAHN-deh)) and small (pequeño (peh-KANE-yo)). We practiced these words quite a bit during the "Simon Says" activities and then colored a card with a big and small dog. You might ask which is the perro grande or perro pequeño.

We sang Mami,¿Dónde está mi zapato? (lyrics listed in Week 4) but we substituted perrito for zapato, and hid a picture of a puppy under the household objects.

In most classes we read a portion of Corre, Perro, Corre. The children are familiar with most of the Spanish vocabulary in the book, and most were familiar with the story. If you are looking for Spanish books to have at home, this would be a good choice.



Today we sang Vengan a ver mi granja and featured el perro:

(again, highlighted words below link to sign we use as we sing)
Vengan a ver mi granja* que es hermosa
Vengan a ver mi granja* que es hermosa
El perrito* hace así: guau, guau
El perrito* hace así: guau, guau
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan

(*we use the second version of the sign for both granja (farm) and perrito (dog))

I gave a few classes the opportunity to choose which song they would like to sing to finish class. They all chose Los elefantes. The lyrics to this song are listed in the post from Week 1.

Note: If you have a child who will attend Kindergarten in the Fall, you may want to consider putting your child's name into the lottery for the Maxwell Elementary Spanish Immersion Program. The district office is accepting applications for the lottery through October 15. If you are interested in learning about the program, you can find more information here.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Week 4: ¿Dónde está? (24 septiembre)

Now that we have a handful of songs in our repertoire, we read a book today and featured a useful phrase in Spanish: Where is ___? (¿Dónde está? (DOAN-deh eh-STAH?). We will continue to recycle this phrase in future classes, so the children will hear it (and begin to use it) in many contexts.

We had lots of "Simon Says" additions this week:
manos... (MAH-nose): hands
...arriba (ah-RREE-bah): up
...abajo (ah-BAH-hoe): down
...adelate (ah-deh-LAHN-teh): in front
...atrás (ah-TRAHS): behind
vuele (VWEH-leh): fly
abra (los ojos, la boca) (AH-brah (lohs OH-hose, lah BO-kah)): open (eyes, mouth)
cierre (los ojos, la boca) (see-EH-rreh): close eyes, mouth

We read ¿Dónde está Spot?, which is apparently out of print now, but a few are still available on line.



We sang a song about a child who loses a shoe and goes to his mommy to ask where it could be. The child asks if it is under (debajo de (deh-BAH-hoe deh) various household objects such as the chair (silla (SEE yah)), table (mesa (MEH-sah)), rug (alfombra (ahl-FOAM-bdah), lamp (lámpara (LAHM-pah-dah)). I hide a shoe (zapato (sah PAH toe) under an object and when we lift each object, the children either respond that it isn't there (no) or that it is ( (SEE)).

Mami, ¿dónde está mi zapato?
Mami, ¿dónde está mi zapato?
Mami, ¿dónde está mi zapato?
¿Debajo de la silla? No, no, no.
¿Debajo de la mesa? No, no, no.
¿Debajo de la alfombra? No, no, no.
¿Debajo de la lámpara? ¡Sí, sí, sí!

Week 3: Friends on the farm (17 septiembre)

New "Simon says" words:
chóquela (CHO keh lah): give me five
aplauda (ah PLAUW dah): clap

The first song is a traditional chant. When we sing the "bate bate" part of the song, we pretend to stir the hot chocolate. This song is included on José Luis Orozco's De Colores CD. You can find the song by clicking here.

Chocolate
uno, dos, tres, CHO
uno, dos, tres, CO
uno, dos, tres, LA
uno, dos, tres, TE

chocolate, chocolate, bate bate el chocolate.

Our featured song this week is about a beautiful farm with lots of animals. You may notice that some of the animals have a slightly different sound in Spanish than in English; for example, instead of "cockadoodledoo," in Spanish the rooster says, "kikiriki". José Luis Orozco includes this song on his De Colores CD. Click here for that version. The version we prefer at our house is from Jorge Anaya's Whistlefritz CD. Click here for that version.

Vengan a ver mi granja
Vengan a ver mi granja que es hermosa
Vengan a ver mi granja que es hermosa
Los pollitos hacen así: pio, pio
Los pollitos hacen así: pio, pio
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan

(We change the animals that we include and the order based on the theme for the week and which animals the students select.) In addition to singing about each animal, the children do the sign (ASL) for each one as well.
La vaquita hace así: muuuuu
Los perritos hacen así: guau, guau
Los gatitos hacen así: miau, miau
Los patitos hacen así: cuac, cuac
Y los puercos hacen así: oinc, oinc
Y el gallo hace así: kikiriki

Week 2: Lots of singing (10 septiembre)

In addition to the songs from week one, this week we added a few new words and songs.

We added a new action to "Simon says":

baile (BAIY-leh): dance

We also added a song about Juanito dancing. First he dances with his pointer finger (el dedito (deh-DEE-toh)), then he dances with his foot (pie (pee-YEH)), etc. The children act out the movement as we sing about each part of the body. José Luis Orozco has a version of this song on his Diez Deditos CD. You can find that song here.

Juanito cuando baila
Juanito, cuando baila,
baila, baila, baila.
Juanito, cuando baila,
baila con el dedito.
Con el dedito, ito, ito.
Así baila Juanito.

Juanito, cuando baila,
baila, baila, baila.
Juanito, cuando baila,
baila con el pie.
Con el pie, pie, pie.
Con el dedito, ito, ito.
Así baila Juanito.

We will sing this song often, adding body parts such as the knee (la rodilla (row-DEE-yah)), head (la cabeza (kah-BEH-zah) that correspond to the theme for the week. You can find a similar version here.

Week 1: Getting to know each other (3 de septiembre)

1. Each day we begin with a hello song. For September, our song is "Buenos días, mis amigos." We sing this one time as it is written, then replace "mis amigos" with each child's name.

Buenos días, mis amigos
Buenos días, mis amigos, buenos días
Buenos días, mis amigos, buenos días
Buenos días, buenos días
Buenos días, mis amigos, buenos días.

2. Each day we do a "simon says" type of activity where I say an action and the children do that action. This week the actions included:

salte (SAL-teh): jump
dese la vuelta (DEH-seh lah VWEL-tah): spin
siéntese (see-EHN-teh-seh): sit down
levántese (leh-VAHN-teh-seh): stand up
toque la nariz (TOE-kay lah nah-REES): touch your nose

3. The children love this elefante song about an elephant who gets on a spiderweb and sees that it holds him up, so he calls another elephant to join him... and then another... and then another. We have a silly spider (araña (ah-RAHN-yah)) that pops out of a flower and we add elephants to a web as we sing the song. José Luis Orozco has a version of this song on his CD De Colores. You can find it here.

Un elefante
Un elefante se balanceaba
sobre la tela de una araña
como veía que resistía
fue a llamar a otro elefante...

(dos elefantes, tres elefantes, cuatro elefantes)

Incidentally, many of the songs we will sing this year, including Los Elefantes, are included on this album. I often just download one or two songs from various artists, but this is one album where most songs are easy to follow and engaging for children.





4. We finish each class with a goodbye song:

Adiós
Voy a decirles adiós a mis amigos
Voy a decirles adiós a mis amigos
Voy a decirles adiós, Voy a decirles adiós
Voy a decirles adiós a mis amigos

As with the hello song, we replace "mis amigos" with each child's name in the second round of the song.