Posts Tagged ‘Story Time’

Cinco de Mayo Fun!

Sunday, April 28th, 2013

multilingualplaydate5

Every year we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, this year, though, to spice up our past year activities, so we decided to make some piñatas, which look like Jalapeño Peppers! Click Here to see what our craft will look like!

We will dance the Mexican hat dance and play a pin the tail on the donkey, a very Mexican looking one! 🙂 Children love music and games and there is no fiesta without them!

Our video of the week will be this cute video: 

Always finish the party with a good story time, so we will be reading this book talking about all the differences between parties in Latin countries and in the US!

fiesta book

 

Hope you enjoyed our suggestions and share more ways to enjoy Cinco de Mayo at your classes and your home!

Claudia K. – Director

Using Story Time to teach foreign languages- why should the elf not be on a shelf?

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

I am a confessed bookworm, as such, I have always kept books on my desk, after my teenage years they came in different languages and to suit my broad taste. I am trying to pass my legacy to my son, we love going to Barnes and Noble and picking out new books and he has a reading chart where he gets a new toy for every 30 days of reading!
Since books have been my best friend for as long as I can remember, they taught me so much! Made who I am! I owe my books so much! The fact that I am able to read English, German, Spanish and Portuguese classics in its original language is a priceless gift!
When planning my classes, I try to bring the joy to the children, specially the ones who can’t read yet, because I can’t always find Spanish and Portuguese books to match my units, but I can always find an English one and read them my way!
I have been using story time as one of the components for my class planning for as early as I can remember!
The key is to reduce Spanish Classics to meet baby’s short attention spam and one sentence page for toddlers is a must! After all, if you wish to make the experience fun, you must cater to your audience, otherwise the children will associate reading with BORING and my program is called Spanish made fun, not Spanish made boring!

So, I wanted to share some tips on how to make story time a powerful tool in your foreign language classroom, at your home, in your library story time, anywhere!

  • Chose the right book! Depending on what you trying to accomplish, your thematic unit or the age or all the above!!!
  • Reduce the amount of reading to suit your audience, early ages, short one word-3 word sentences, words will increase with age!
  • Pictures will help children understand your story better, so definitely lots of pictures when reading in a foreign language to non native speakers.
  • Bring stories which speak to their lives, to the things they know and love! Authentic shouldn’t always mean foreign, should mean close to their heart! I am against the thought that only authentic literature should be used when teaching a language.

This Holiday I changed my plans made in the summer for my holiday unit and incorporated the elf, el duende! Brought my story time to a whole new level, connected to the children like never before and brought the Spanish closer to their heart, so mission accomplished! I used the book The Elf on a Shelf™ in Spanish

I paired the book, which can only be found at Target online, with hide and seek, tell the elf (since he can’t talk) what you want for Christmas and Elf chat activities! My Spanish elf came in a darker color which creates a conversation about ethnicity I would never be able to bring to the classroom, if I did not have my special friend! Shared, that different is beautiful and we are all beautiful, no matter what language we speak!

I hope you enjoy our ideas and that you make the great decision to bring books when teaching a foreign language, it will inspire children to read, will open the doors to the fact that books speak that language as well, increase vocabulary and bring the fun to a whole new level!

Off course we talked about advent and Los Reyes in our Spanish classes and the shoes in Portuguese ones, but the elf was definitely the highlight and resulted that  I was invited to read the story 1000+ children in December, in the most popular Santa story times in our area, so it is all about sharing bilingual love!

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts on using story time to teach or bring a foreign language to children and get your book, elf, out of your shelf and use it in your next bilingual experience!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages Director

Speaker of 4 languages and teacher since 1998

 

Thanksgiving activities in Spanish

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

Dear Amigos,

I am very happy to share some interesting links to show thanksgiving traditions in Spanish and bring vocabulary to celebrate the season of being grateful in a great way!

A parent asked me: Thanksgiving has such hard words for children to learn and memorize! Her statement inspired me to focus on activities which will capture the child’s attention while teaching Thanksgiving words and concepts in Spanish.

Click on this link and have the child repeat some basic words

http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/spanish_for_kids_18

print those words and make flashcards or memory games, they are great ways to start

Depending on the age group, you can also play with this matching game:

http://123teachme.com/games/drag_n_match/category/thanksgiving

And finish a quiet story time with this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61iqIl8YwuY&feature=related

You can use a turkey coloring page online and ask the child to color the feathers in patterns, amarillo, rojo, verde….the  pattern can be as complicated as the child’s age. If your child is under 3 years old you can help them by coloring using the pattern, repeating colors in Spanish and asking what comes next? Que viene ahora?? Rojo, no!, Amarillo, no, verde, si!!!

I have designed the EasyLearn materials which are coming out of the oven for you! Please keep checking us out for more info on how to share Thanksgiving vocabulary with your child!

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Programs CEO

Technology bringing parents and children together

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Dear Readers,

I absolutely love new gadgets, I must confess I’m a huge fan of apple products, not quite sure if I am a bigger fan of Apple or Steve Jobs, who did to Apple, what I dream to do with my business- bring monetary value to the same level of the quality of our product.
Back to the ipad, I need to share: it is a great gadget! I immediately started experimenting and downloading children’s books in various languages….found out an app for children practicing Spanish called Salta! Now I can sing songs, read bedtime stories and play with my son using a foreign language and everything is done on the ipad! Very interesting….
My son asked tonight, mom, where is the ipad? I answered, it is charging, he said, oh no! No story time tonight???
I know parents complain that technology drive children away from real interaction, family time…I just showed you that is not true!
Whether you have an ipad or not, please consider using technology to bring your little one closer to you, especially bringing a foreign language closer to both of you. Having that in mind, I am creating a series of videos for parents who wish to do something at home related to a foreign language, but don’t feel confident enough to do so. My videos and audio files will help parents use technology to do some cool things at home with the children, as well as follow our activity guide to bring more fun and a foreign language to their summer.

Summer Activity Book and audio files will be available here on the blog, under membership category. I will let all the parents know as soon as we have it up on the site.

Saludos!
Claudia Krusch

Dr. Seuss and Spanish

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Dear Readers,

March is Dr. Seuss month and talking to another teacher, I heard the sentence, Dr.Seuss books were meant to be read in English! I disagree, I honestly believe, children will take a advantage of any opportunity to learn a foreign language, especially if it is connected to their own experiences, something they can relate to….

The collection was published in Spanish and I worked on my own version for Portuguese. The children immediately connect with the book and a subject they are also seeing in school.

So we decided to use Dr. Seuss books translated to Spanish this month in our classes and offer a free event to celebrate the author and his legacy at our office in West Deptford, on March 19rh 5pm. Story time, refreshments and a craft, a free event for Dr. Seuss lovers!

Come and join us or puchase the book and share with your child!

Claudia Krusch

CK Translations and EasyLearn Director

Free Portuguese Story time in South Jersey

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Dear Readers, Moms and Dads,

We are happy to announce, after the amazing success of last week’s reading time that we will feature in this week’s free story time for children, the language Portuguese.

The children 2-6 will enjoy a story, song and craft, a 30min fun time, embracing the wonderful world of foreign languages.

When: Saturday, July 25th, 9:30am

Where: 1007 Mantua Pike S# 1 West Deptford, Nj 08096 ( R45, on the other side of LA Fitness)

I hope to see you there!

Claudia Krusch

CK Translations LLC and Easylearn Programs

Free Spanish Story Time in South Jersey

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Dear Members,

We’re proud to announce that we will be offering a free Spanish story time for children 2-6 years old at our West Deptford location this Saturday, July 18th, 9:30am. Children will hear the story, do a craft and sing a song.  The story time will bring the amazing world of Spanish to children, giving them the exposure to a foreign language in a fun way!

We usually reduce the numbers of classes in the summer due to my schedule, so parents asked for a little more Spanish time for their littles and we listened! The event is free!

We look forward to seeing you there. CK Translations LLC – 1007 Mantua Pike S# 1 West Deptford, NJ 08096 almost in front of the new LA Fitness on R. 45.

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

Easylearn Programs director

Director
Easy Store

Find Products Here

Free Report

Join our Mailing list now to get your free report on the front door to Ivy League Schools!

Click Here Now!

Easy Learn

Easy Learn Languages Summer Camps

JerseyLove
Social Media Moms Travels
Latina Moms Blogger

I'm a Latina Mom Blogger

Philly Social Media Moms

Philly Social Media Moms

Latina Bloggers Connect

New Jersey Digital Moms
Disclosure

The owner of this website, Claudia Krusch, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking Easy Learn Languages Blog to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com.