Carnival is approaching and I wanted to share some activities we will be sharing in some activities, some suggestion on games and videos! Enjoy!
Carnival is celebrated in some countries in South America, Europe and New Orleans in the US! I usually don’t share it in all the classes, but some of my intermediate and older children classes!
This year Carnival or Mardi Gras will start on the 9th in some countries and end on the Ash Wednesday, Feb 13th. So in two weeks, we will sharing some of the fun activities and bringing the beads and masks to our classes!
So let’s share some options for crafts:
Masks- We will be using templates for masks and I will bring beads and stickers and glitter to make the masks! I cut the masks myself on cardstock and punch holes for the two parts to tie in the back.
Here is a link for a Free printable template, but I design and cut my own and will be sharing some pics of the student’s work later after we do it!
We will make our own confetti, I will bring construction paper and classes of children 6 and older will use templates of shapes, while learning shapes, make their own confetti, review colors and trade them to make a confetti rain at the end!
Beads
We will be making necklaces with beads and other materials, using different colors and ideas, I can’t wait to see their creations!
Some music:
We will be listening to Spanish Music, Rick Martin and doing a Spanish dance, Brazilian Music in the Portuguese class with Yvette San Galo! Here are the videos for the songs we will be singing in class:
We will also teach older children children the history of Carnival which started in Venice and how it survives in countries like Brazil, being a part of the country’s culture as a major component to their identity! I spent most of my life enjoying Carnival in Brazil and spent one in Venice, Italy, so I always look forward to finding a new way to share that with my students!
Teaching a foreign language is a lot more than just vocabulary and grammar, it is about connecting the passion behind the language!
Researching good activities for earth day, April 22nd, I did not find out anything I really liked so I worked on some different ideas and totally outside la caja!
I think the vocabulary list should be:
Tierra – Earth, Sol- sun, Nubes- Clouds, Lluvia-Rain, Planta- Plant, Arbol- Tree, Flor-Flower and Aire- Air.
I showed some of my classes those things in their school playgrounds and they had a first hand experience of how to embrace, take care and appreciate madre tierra.
We played Pasa La Tierra game with blue and green small Plastic Balls, where they would pass the oceano y la tierra (which came from coloring page below, which they colored ocean blue and land green). They also alternated between pasa el ocean ( blue Ball) y vivo en la tierra ( green ball).
I was singing to my son tonight and I sang all the same Brazilian Lullabies I always sing:
Boi da cara preta, Maezinha do céu, Chu chu chu, Sereia, Samba lele ( I will list those songs in another post)
He said Mom, Im kind of tired of the same songs, can you sing something different and I sang this song which reminds us how beautiful life is! It always makes me cry, because reminds me of Brazil! So I wanted to share here on the blog:
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
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!
I have answered this question more than 5 times this week, which motivated me to bring this topic to our blog.
Children who are exposed on a 30min foreign language class a week, will basically forget a lot of what was learned if the stimulus cease.
I highly encourage parents to buy cds, invest on classes, books anything that can keep the foreign language present in their lives!
Amazon offers many options of cds with songs and programs, classes as also offered nationwide and Bookstores like Barnes and Noble offer many offerings for at least 5 different languages, which can be easily downloaded to an ipad with the B&N reader, an app for ipads.
Please e-mail me privately if you wish to receive recommendation for specific materials and to receive a free sample of my spanish summer activity guide!
Enjoy the summer!
Claudia Krusch- Director of EasyLearn Language Programs
A lot of homeschooling parents and teachers e-mailed us, asking for materials to use on Easter. I have couple ideas to share, which can be used in any foreign language class:
1)Plastic egg decoration- children will glue decorations they colored on the eggs and you will review or teach Spanish colors while doing that
2)Hide and seek, children will take turn counting(numbers) and try to find students.
3)Word egg hunt- I hide eggs and words/candy seeing during the month, they will hunt for eggs, but they will only get the candy if they can tell me what that word is.
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