Dear Readers,

Many parents ask me, is there Halloween in Spanish, well the majority of Spanish speaking countries do not  have Halloween as it known in the US. They have Dia de Los Muertos which is a party and celebration to pay respects to the dead and celebrate death!

Spanish and Foreign Language teachers translate materials this time of the year to bring a little bit of Halloween to their classes!

I decided to share some of the words we used this week and let you know we have sets of flashcards and worksheets available for purchase on the website.

Spanish

Bruja – witch

Calabaza – pumpkin

Calavera- Esqueleton

Murcielago – bat

Fantasma – ghost

Bruxa – witch

abobora – pumpkin

Caveira- Esqueleton

Morcego – bat

Fantasma – ghost

Suggestion on activities: bring real pumpkins, place on the floor and tell the children they will go pumpkin picking and they need to count the pumpkins. They can paint pumpkins and tell the colors. You can use our memory cards to play memory game or throw mini pumpkin erasers on cards on the floor and say the word where they fall. We bought large pumpkins and they had to throw balls on pumpkins and say the color before they hit the pumpkins.

Videos on youtube, like Halloween para peques and others.

Happy Halloween – Feliz Dia de Las Brujas, Feliz Dia das bruxas

Dear readers,

Some teachers have asked me in the past years for ideas on Halloween themed classes. We have used many different topics but this year, I believe we really capture the children’s interest with the classes. We divided the Halloween topic in two classes, using the verb poner (Yo pongo), the children were asked:

1. To place Halloween objects in the cauldron – Yo pongo el fantasma en el calderon ( I put the ghost in the caldron)

2. To place eyes, mouth, ears, nose on the ghost’s face- Yo pongo la nariz en la cara….(Used a paper bag, markers for eyes, ribbon to tie the ghost), nice activity and cute craft

3. Book Activity- We read the book 5 little ghosts in Spanish and they had to place each ghost in each part of the book- Yo pongo un fantasma……

4. Song- Original Yo pongo sung by me to be released on my upcoming cd- for sound file email me directly

Vocabulary needed:

Ghost- Fantasma

Witch- Bruja

Monster- monstro

Mummy- mumia

Halloween – Dia de las Brujas or Dia de los muertos

Candy – dulce

trick or treat – dulce o travesura

Halloween, Dia de Las Brujas, is all about making children have fun!!!! Dressing up, having candy…..I hope my ideas will inspire teachers and parents celebrate Halloween at home using a foreign language!

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages LLC – Director

Dear Readers,

Many parents asked if there is Halloween in Spanish speaking countries and I used to say no, there is a Dia de Los Muertos celebration which is more religious and not child oriented. Well, a parent of one of my students recently shared that in Colombia they do Dulces o Travesuras (trick or treat) and children dress up like in the US. That surprised me!

 In Brazil, my native country, Halloween is only celebrated in English Schools, not as a real holiday…..They have dia das crianças, October 12th when little children receive toys.
I will share later this week some linkswith information on dia de los muertos and Spanish Halloween worksheets and songs. Stay tuned!

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch
CEO EasyLearn Languages LLC

Dear Readers,

I would like to share some of the activities we have used during the two weeks prior to Halloween.

I would not recommend talking about dia de los muertos with ages 14m-5 years old……we use some of the traditions without naming cemeteries or showing skeletons.

14m-36m

Toss the pumpkin

materials

10 plastic pumpkins

basket

You will instruct the children to line up and toss the pumpkins inside the basket.

Objective: new vocabulary: calabazas – pumpkins

review numbers.

3-5years old

candy corn bingo

Make bingo sheet with candy corn picture and use candy corn to mark the numbers. Children will love it!

5-7 years old

Black cat on the wall

Cat picture

Velcro

Print a cat’s pic and color it many different colors and ask children to match cats to circles on the wall, saying the color in Spanish.

Objective: Follow up activity for color.

We need to make the Halloween experience fun for the children, those activities listed can be done at home as well.

Authentic materials sometimes don’t reach the children and bring a barrier between young minds and the language itself.

Have fun using the activities, it’s Halloween!

¡Dulces o travesura!

Claudia Krusch

CK Translations and EasyLearn Programs.

For free bingo sheet, e-mail me privately.