Dear Readers,

This is an easy recipe which you can make it and bring a foreign language at the same time!

Cook 2 Tbsp  of butter

         1 Tbsp of chocolate powder

          1 can of condensed milk

Cook in low heat until mixture is not stuck to the pot, it falls off. We are looking for a more firm consistency. Spread butter on a plate and spread the cooked mixture and let it cool off until you can take a piece and make a 1 inch ball with it. Roll the ball on jimmys or sugar or nuts. Ask kids to help you make the balls and count them in Portuguese or Spanish as you roll them.

Um, dois, tres, quatro, cinco, seis, sete, oito, nove, dezembro          Portuguese

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez                Spanish

Enjoy! Aproveite!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn languages CEO

Dear Readers,

This past week I shared a special class with some of my students! I used the book Buenas Noches Gorila, a book translated from English.

I showed the video of the story in English and asking questions in Spanish and they were learning animal vocabulary as the story was taking place.

Video:
Buenas Noches Gorila

I cut some squares and animals and they would place animals inside the cages

I had some animal masks and they needed to use them and act like the animals

I also googled Good night Gorilla and found some pages with activities, I printed some finger puppets which we used, they needed some prep work.

I read the actual book at the end as reinforcement of what they had seen at the video.

We sang a song called Veo Animales, I wrote the song but it’s not recorded, soon we will have the song available for purchase.

I hope you enjoyed our suggestions on how to teach animals in a creative way.

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages CEO

Dear Readers,

Today I started my mission to post some of my mom’s favorite recipes and some Spanish and Italian recipes. I promise I will not post things that were incorporated to the American Cuisine! Please try my recipes and tell me what you and your family said about it!

Bolinhos de Carne a Baiana – Brazilian Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef

1 small onion

black pepper and cumin (depends on how much you like, I put a little bit of each)

salt

3  eggs

bread crumbs

1 cup of flour

Mix ground beef, chopped onion, cumin, pepper, salt and 1 egg and place in the fridge for 2 hours. Make small balls and pass in the flour, egg, then bread crumbs and place in a skillet with hot oil, enough to cover the meatballs. Cook until brown. Serve on top of spaghetti or rice. Please no tomato sauce. Brazilians usually eat that on top of white rice, but my family likes it with pasta cooked sauteed on butter.

Enjoy!!!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages CEO

Dear Members,

I thought a lot before offering Valentine’s classes in Portuguese because Brazilian people don’t celebrate it! I decided to bring the theme and incorporate some ideas used in the Spanish class, so they would still learn the vocabulary without meaning less translations.
I created a math worksheet with hearts, they learn the word heart, coração and had to add the hearts on the page, children 3 and under just had to look, count on fingers and give me the answer in Spanish, with them I used hearts I cut out and we did the math on the rug.
I also used the song beijo, Ivete San Galo to talk about Valentine words…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXvcKm6tERQ
We played a tic tac toe with pictures cut where they would have to use thier piece to try to win
I used pictures of hearts- coração, cupid – cupido, chocolate- chocolate, baloons-balão
I explained in Brazil, Valentine’s Day is in June and it’s called the boyfriend/girlfriend’s day, it’s not for friends, but for people
who are inlove, married, in a relationship.
They loved the activities and learned Portuguese!
Até a próxima!
Abraços,
Claudia Krusch
EasyLearn Languages CEO

Dear readers,

This is a topic which I love, but I never find good ideas or nice materials to teach a great Valentine’s class or Spanish Classes in February! So this year, I decided to

innovate and I created Spanish and Portuguese classes with the Valentine Day topic which not only teach the vocabulary of a day which is celebrated in some Spanish speaking countries but also teach children to share and show friendship! Enjoy!

Today I will share my ideas for Spanish:

1) Children ages 3-5 will hold on a portion of a large tablecloth, making a sort of parachute and place a light pink ball in the middle, la pelota de la amistad! When the ball pops up, they will shout amigo, when stays on/around the tablecloth, they will shout pasa…pasa! children love to move the ball around!

2) Children will pass a soft ball,  and say Pasa, pasa, pasa mi amigo! The teacher will stop and say Amigo randomly and the child who has the ball will share it with a friend in the circle….teaches them how to share and how to be nice to friends. Songs are originals composed and written by me. Email me for words and tune.

3) I also show the snoopy San Valentin cartoon which is cute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F4kpl1kuAI

4)  We made a San Valentin card which they colored and cut. I don’t have a template to upload to the blog but you can easily make a card and have them color it.

5) Lucky charms craft- I used the marshmallow hearts on lucky charms box and they glued to a heart shape. They loved doing it! You can use paper heart or stickers as well.

I hope you enjoy my activities! Try some of them with your little ones!

Saludos Amigos,

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages CEO