Dear Readers,

I worked a lot to plan the activities for our cinco de mayo classes this week, because I was tired of the same old…..muy cansada! I also grabbed some special ideas to do at home, since the date is on Saturday this year!

I am using the book Fiesta, which I have used before, but with a new spin, I take them through the Mexican Village to celebrate it the old way, the way small Villages still celebrate it! Come and join us!

http://astore.amazon.com/easyleacom-20/detail/0060882263

So we travel through small town markets, looking at toys, games, we make anillos and exchange them for the ocho anillos game! We tried 8 instruments which are shown in the book and I purchased to bring to our classes, the children loved it, the challenge was to find Spanish names for some of them, like the rain shaker! We danced around the hat using La Bamba! Last but not least we look at the piñata and I placed candy, which falls at the end of the class, but we also look at the way they are homemade and serpentinas, we review colors, numbers which are added to the social aspect of the party!

I also show this video which reviews vocabulary as they ispy the video, looking for things we talked about before, I divided them in groups, they became so competitive! You will not believe it! Increible!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y5N2hXOKL4

I also used a coloring page made with coloring page from the web, mounted with maracas, Mexico and a sun! Viva Cinco de Mayo as a title!

I hope you enjoyed my ideas and share here if you used some of them!

VIVA CINCO DE MAYO!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages Bilingual Mom , Foreign language Expert and CEO

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,

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.

4)I also use the song Los Pollitos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4y6PEWhGmE&feature=related

5) We make baskets, chicks as crafts

6) We do an animal class with Easter related animals, they will toss them into a basket, saying their names.

Feel free to contact me for more ideas! Above all, let’s help children have fun with a foreign language!

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

Director of EasyLearn Programs