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.

6) Valentine’s Tic tac toe – regular template with hearts printed on card stock as pieces, white and red.

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

Saludos Amigos,

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

Dear Readers,

I was thinking about good ideas for games to play with my son while we were home during the holidays and new year’s and I came up with some ideas to bring foreign language into our play time, I hope you get a chance to try some of them!!!

1. Año Nuevo – Buena Suerte- make a popcorn string and add a marshmallow after each 10 pieces, they will have to count pieces while placing them on a piece of thin wool or rope, ribbon….

2. Baking together- A very famous holiday baking recipe is for pan dulce, try this recipe and ask children to place dried fruits inside of it, they will have to tell you the colors while placing them. For recipe:

La receta del pan dulce casero es una buena y energética receta que permite elaborar unos sabroso panecillos muy apropiados para almorzar o merendar gracias a su gran aporte energético y nutricional.

Ingredientes para 4 personas:

• Pasas de corinto: 50 gramos
• Azúcar: 6 cucharadas
• Huevos: 2 unidades
• Levadura en polvo: 1 sobre (15 gramos)
• Harina: 280 gramos
• Mantequilla: 100 gramos
• Leche: 100 cl
• Anís: 1 copa
• Fruta confitada: 50 gramos
• Piñones: 30 gramos

Preparación:

Tiempo estimado:

• Se ponen las pasas en remojo para que estén blandas cuando las tengamos de utilizar
• Por otro lado, se separan las claras de las yemas de los huevos. Las claras se reservan y las yemas se ponen en un bol junto con el azúcar y se baten enérgicamente hasta obtener una consistencia espumosa
• A continuación se añade la mantequilla previamente derretida y, sin dejar de remover, se van agregando alternativamente la harina, la levadura el polvo y la leche vertida lentamente
• Cuando está todo bien mezclado se agrega el anís, las pasas previamente pasadas por harina, los piñones, las frutas confitadas cortadas a trocitos
• Por otro lado se baten bien las claras de los huevos a punto de nieve y se añaden a al mezcla anterior
• Se remueve todo bien hasta que quede una mezcla homogénea y esponjosa
• A parte, se unta un molde con mantequilla y se enharina para que no se pegue el pan a las paredes del molde
• Se vierte la mezcla en el bol y se introduce en el horno a 180? durante una hora. Cuando el pan esta cocido se saca del horno y se deja enfriar a temperatura ambiente

3. Counting Beans- In Brazil, people place lentils or beans on the table during new year’s eve to bring prosperity, place a bowl with beans or lentils on your table, explain  the tradition and count the beans together!

4. Print some foreign language words and hide them in cookie dough, bake them, after cooling it off, have children break cookie before eating and they will read the words….make sure you know the meaning and that words are previously explained to children before baking or in another activity! Suggestion on words: Spanish: coche, pelota, libro, agua, jugo, galleta, Portuguese: Carro, bola, livro, água, suco, biscoito.

5. Suggestion on song: Portuguese:

Adeus ano velho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ajbyPaBJqM

Please share your experience with me!!

Happy New Year! Feliz Ano Novo, Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearn Languages CEO