DAC Beginner's Spanish, Week 1 and 2

Hola a todos! Bienvenidos a español de principiantes! Hello to everyone! Welcome to beginner's Spanish! 

We are excited to have started T.A.L.K. and ready for the children to efficiently learn another language.

These few weeks have been very progressive, as you will later see how much your children have learned!

Week 1 and Week 2: introductions, commands, and numbers

So for these two weeks, our focus was to get to know each and every student, and to become a support group to learn Spanish.

We thought basic introductions were boring and decided to spice things up. So instead we passed a teddy bear, Patches, around like a hot potato, and did tutti fruity, the name chain. Things got heated as students picked up each other's names quickly. In order to see how old students were, we played games such as four corners and scavenger hunt where children learned numbers from 1-15. Some basic introductions students learned were:

Yo me llamo/My name is _______.


Tengo ____ años./I am ____ years old.


Soy un niño o una niña/ I am a boy/girl.

In order to have a great class and major participation, we decided to teach basic commands and sayings, such as:

Sientate/ Sit down

Levantate/ Stand up

Levanta la mano/ Raise your hand

Formen un circulo/ Form a circle

And of course we cannot forget to greet people bright and early in the morning. Some greetings and responses that were taught were:

Buenos días/ Good Morning

Buenas tardes/ Good afternoon

Buenas noches/ Good evening/night

Por Favor/ Please

Gracias/ Thank you

Cómo estas/ How are you

Bien/ Good

Mal/ Bad

Mas o menos/ So-so

Adios/ Goodbye

As some of you may be aware, Fridays are fun days of Pachanga (party), where students not only apply what they were taught that week but also learn about Latino culture through dancing. So watch out, you may have professional dancers by the end of this year!

These two weeks we danced merengue from Santo Domingo and la macarena from Spain. To help us learn how to dance, we taught students directions such as:

Izquierda/ Left

Derecha/ Right

Adelante/ Foward

Atras/ Backwards

Vuelta/ Turn

Keep posted for Week 3 and 4 as we discuss the alphabet, vowels, colors, and shapes! Hasta luego!

Pioneer Beginner Spanish week 4 & 5

Hola padres,

This past week we have been working on the colors and shapes which were; red (rojo), yellow (amarillo), green (verde), blue (azul), white, (blanco), black (negro), circle (círculo), square (cuadrado), traingle (triángulo), star (estrella), and rectangle (rectangulo). The kids have been learning these colors and shapes through the various activies that we had during week four. They have been playing games such as "I spy," "simon says," learning the song "de colores" and playing with play-do incorporating the shapes learned.

At home, you can help your child review the shapes and colors.

 colors: rojo, amarillo, verde, azul, blanco, negro
shapes: triángulo, estrella, cuadrado, círculo, estrella

This coming week (week 5) we are going to learn the school supplies such as paper (papel), ruler (regla), eraser (borador). pencil (lápiz) and scissors (tijeras). You could also try reviewing with them the school supplies that way it will make it easier for them to memorize it by the use of repetition. Some actvites that we are going to do is scavenger hunts with the school supplies being used in spanish.

You can check out the song we've been learning:)

Gracias,
Maestra Daisy:)

Pioneer Beginner Spanish Week 4-5

Hola parents,

Well, we just finished week four and about to enter week five!! Time goes by so fast! I am learning a lot about the kids and even more of those that stayed with me now that we separated classes. What I mean, is that Maestra Daisy and I divided the class into two equal sections and now half of the kids go with her and the other half stays with me. It took a while to get adjusted but it is slowly coming together. We eventually combine classes on some days of the week depending on the lesson plan we have scheduled and the kids like that a lot!

This past week, the kids were introduced to the colors: rojo (red), amarillo (yellow), verde (green), negro (black), azul (blue), and blanco (white). Also, the following shapes: círculo (circle), cuadrado (square), estrella (star), rectángulo (rectangle) , and triángulo (triangle). For them to practice their colors and shapes we taught them the song "De Colores" which talks about the colors, and had them play with different colored play-do. With the play-do their assignment was to demonstrate their understanding of the shapes by molding the shape I announced in Spanish. And they did an amazing job!!! I was so excited to see that they understood most of the shapes in Spanish!!  Maestra Auri is so proud of them all!!

Here is the video to the song "De Colores" in case you all want to practice it at home with the kids.

For week five, we will be learning the school supplies vocabulary like papel ( paper), borrador (eraser), lápiz (pencil), etc. We will have a scavenger hunt for these supplies so they can physically touch and hold these items as they learn the names to them in Spanish and we will also be doing some arts and craft utilizing again some of these school supplies. 

Muchas gracias padres!!! Thank you parents!!! 

Maestra Auri

Korematsu: Beginning Spanish

Hola padres!
Hello parents! 

These past couple of weeks have been a wonderful and exciting journey! Teaching and learning with your kids es muy divertido/is very fun. Each week is based on a theme. The first week was commands and introductions where we learned:
Yo me llamo/My name is _______.
Tengo ____ años./I am ____ years old.
Soy de Davis/I am from Davis.
Soy un niño o una niña/ I am a boy/girl.

Also, some basic commands like:
Sientate/Sit down
Levanta la mano/Raise your hand
Hagan un círculo/Form a circle
Por favor/Please
Gracias/Thank you
Adios/Goodbye

I've also picked one student at the beginning of each class to read the date and as a class we vote on the weather. We haven't learned the days of the week in a lesson but I think it helps them start recognizing the names. For the weather there are three options: soleado/sunny, nublado/cloudy and lluvioso/rainy.
You can practice with them by asking Cómo esta el clima de hoy?

This past week week we have learned the Spanish Alphabet including the extra letters that alphabet has like: CH,ñ,ll, rr. They liked pronouncing the ñ as in niño but some were not too thrilled at not being able to roll their r's for the rr! We'll continue to practice :)

This upcoming week our theme will be shapes and colors. I have some fun activities planned out for them! And I said, feel free to practice some of the material we have learned in the class with your children.

Hasta mañana!
Joanna García

Birch Lane, Beginner Spanish

Bienvenidos Padres!

Welcome parents!

These past few weeks have been a fun learning experience with the kids. The first week we were all gathered in one large group, together we learned commands. Some of the commands we learned were:

Agarrense las manos (hold hands)

Levantensen (stand up)

Sientensen (sit down)

Hagan un circulo (make a circle)

We also introduced phrases and greetings, such as

Hola, mi nombre es... (Hello, my name is…)

Buenos dias (good morning)

Adios amigo (goodbye friend)

After the first week we divided the class in two groups. The older kids that were advanced in their reading and writing went with Carmen. The smaller kids that are learning how to read and write and also the ones that have no yet learned stayed with me.

This past week I introduced the Spanish alphabet. The kids learned new letters such as ll, ch, rr and ñ. They also learned how to say the letters in Spanish and they were able to distinguish the sounds between the English alphabet and the Spanish alphabet. They also learned words in Spanish that had the new letters that were introduced. Some of the words were:

Lluvia (rain)

Lleno (full)

Charco (puddle)

Chocolate

Carretera (road)

Pizarron (board)

Niña, niño (girl, boy)

Piñata

Please if you have time don’t hesitate to practice or quiz your kids at home, it will help the kids keep the material we learned in class fresh in their minds. Also the more we practice the more we learn.

Next week we will be learning about shapes and colors.  Thank you for your time and have a great weekend!

Bienvenidos a Intermediate Spanish!

Welcome Back Parents!

We're so thrilled to be able to teach Spanish to your kids. We'll have a fun & rewarding year!


So far, these past weeks, we have reviewed  el alfabeto (the alphabet), numeros 1-15 (numbers), and introductions.

At home, you can practice introducing yourself with your child.

Hola, Mucho gusto! (Hello, Nice to meet you!)
Me llamo... (My name is...)
Tengo ... años. (I have # years- not that you introduce your name and age to strangers, but it's useful to know how to say how old you are in Spanish)

You can also quiz your children on which are the new Spanish letters that are not in the English alphabet: ñ , ch, ll & rr.

Next week, we'll be working on shapes & colors. Beside our lesson, I found this practical website where children can practice vocabulary on shapes with online games. The more your kids practice Spanish, the more they'll remember. Practice at home will help them to associate the names and remember them. Here's the link: http://www.spanishplayground.net/shapes-spanish-online-games-kids/

Finally, as you've noticed, this year we have a new activity: Viernes de Pachanga! (Party on Friday). We, the teachers, discussed beside language we wanted to introduce the kids to the Latino culture. & What  best way to do it than through our  music? Every Friday, we'll introduce new rhythms from different countries. It's also a great way to start the last day of the week with lots of energy ready for the school day. So far, we've danced: merengue (From: Santo Domingo), la macarena (From: Spain), and Mexican cumbia. Along the dancing time we introduce at lest three new Spanish words such as directions, parts of the body, verbs, and numbers.


Here are the youtube video links for those songs in case you want to ask your children to teach you the dance & have a great time at home dancing together (Viernes de Pachanga can continue at home, why not?)

Merengue: El Gato Garabato: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBDRz_UuJRU

La Macarena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oheDG30cYT8

Mexican Cumbia (Selena) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW4QRkQe110

Todos a bailar!!!