| Easy Learn Languages Blog |
| Discussions about children learning a second language. |
I really love jingle bells, so this year, we decided to sing the song in Portuguese and Spanish! This song will be used in our classes this month, we will be using it along with a coloring page where they will color the bell, sino or cascabel and we will bring some bells for them to hunt and count! I will also bring some instruments and they will play along with them!
Hope you enjoy the activities and video!
It’s that time of year and you are thinking, how can I sneak in some bilingual toys and make my child enjoy it and help him/her learn a foreign language at the same time???
Well, I looked around and will share some of my favorites!
Books:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other book stores have a whole section of Spanish, French, Chinese or bilingual versions of classics like Dr. Seuss and others, so if you like adding books to your child’s list, this is a favorite way to share great moments and bring some bilingual fun to your child’s bed time or reading time!
I did not find Christmas Classics in foreign languages available in bookstores, trust me, I looked for it, but I believe you should look at your child’s preferences and classic stories. I wanted to share my activity book, which combines a cd which reads the story in both languages and suggestions on activities in each page!
http://www.easylearnlanguages.com/products.html
Many other options are out there like Dora™, Curious George™, and Other famous characters books!
You can also download them in your tablet or computer and have a paperless version of them or do a surprise dowload to your child’s tablet! My son loves comic books and character books, I have found some of his favorites in Portuguese and will download them into his tablet before Christmas!
Itunes has so many options!
Music
It’s always a great way to connect with children! The holidays bring the magic of showing children favorite tunes in different languages!
I have this cd and we always play it on weekends and when we are decorating the tree!
I have a Brazilian Cd with songs in Portuguese with the character Monica, a famous comic book character in Brazil, but I could not find the link to share, I have found this one, not sure why it so hard to find music in Portuguese when you are here in the US! Sharing the songs and culture like the fact that South American countries don’t have stockings but shoes where Santa brings the toys and other traditions I will be sharing in a later post, will bring your child to a magic new world where America traditions are added to the new ones! Priceless!
http://musicabrasileira.org/brasilianchristmas/
Movies
Basically any movie you purchase nowadays, has the Spanish and French options, so your child can watch the movie in a foreign language. I would recommend showing them the movie in English first, unless they are totally fluent in the second language. You would be surprised how children sit down and watch the elf, Christmas Carol and Mr Magoo in Spanish and love it! Brazil has a different zone for movies, so I purchase my dvds there when I go or in the sendex.net store and load to my laptop as they will not play on my blueray/dvd player!
Toys
Dora, Elmo, Diego, so many toys are now offered with bilingual versions, Dora has a new gymnastics doll which sings in Spanish! So cute!
Clothes
I ordered a shirt on vista print, it is green, long sleeve and it says Feliz Natal! Every year we have a tradicion to wake up in new jammies on Christmas morning and I ordered this shirt for $ 15,00 with the printing in red and will buy the pj bottoms and surprise my son with it! You can also place granparents pics and saying in a foreign language if your in laws or parents are from a foreign country or make the shirt your child/children’s pic in it, place the Merry Christmas in their native language and ship as a Christmas gift! Shipping of a shirt to a country like Brazil is only $ 4,50!
After all, it’s all about bringing the holiday cheer to your children, making the foreign language, a part of it!
Claudia Krusch
CEO of EasyLearn Languages
Feliz dia das Maes! Feliz Dia de las madres!
This post is dedicated to all the moms who read and support our efforts to bring foreign languages into their homes and enable us to do that!
Being a multilingual mom has been a challenge for me and has proven to also be very rewarding at the same time. I have been walking my son through learning two languages while building up his native language and some of my efforts have being successful, others not so….Mother’s day should be celebrated all year , but I try to bring a special meaning at this time of the year! I hope you try and enjoy some of my suggestions!!!
My son loves music, so we always hear music in Spanish and Portuguese….I still laugh when I hear him sing, tomo guarana, such de caju, goiabada para sobremesa!!! He blasts this song out on his iPod
speakers!!http://letras.terra.com.br/jorge-ben-jor/594602/
We also read some books, I try to read some of the books I am using in my classes and some in Portuguese as well!
We play his favorite game: mela mela tin, where we rub our noses agains it each other and then bang heads ( softly) sometimes he prefers not so softly, LOL, boys! I make ovinho ( eggs for breakfast) on Saturday and he and daddy cook on Sunday for me!
He likes rock and fast paced music, so I like showing him some j-lo and Ricky Martin songs and dancing around the house, have not done that this week! And reading is a must!
I read this one last night, Quiero a mi mama porque:
http://astore.amazon.com/easylearn-20/detail/052547248
Dear Readers,
This week, while planning for our first multilingual playdate, I started thinking about how parents feel when they need to chose a foreign language to their children and why chose at all!
I have started a research to develop a program which will give parents some easy tools to teach basics of any languages at home, even without knowing the language and the most important, making it fun!
While thinking about activities for the playdate, I decided to use colorful balls and have children kick them around the room while counting the kicks, parents will coach with a helper sheet. Lot’s of fun!
If you would like to do this activity at home, here is the vocabulary for Spanish, Portuguese and German:
| eins | 1 |
| zwei | 2 |
| drei | 3 |
| vier | 4 |
| fünf | 5 |
| sechs | 6 |
| sieben | 7 |
| acht | 8 |
| neun | 9 |
| zehn | 10 |
| eins | 1 |
| zwei | 2 |
| drei | 3 |
| vier | 4 |
| fünf | 5 |
| sechs | 6 |
| sieben | 7 |
| acht | 8 |
| neun | 9 |
| zehn | 10 |
| um | 1 |
| dois | 2 |
| tres | 3 |
| quatro | 4 |
| cinco | 5 |
| seis | 6 |
| sete | 7 |
| oito | 8 |
| nove | 9 |
| dez | 10 |
| uno | 1 |
| dos | 2 |
| tres | 3 |
| cuatro | 4 |
| cinco | 5 |
| seis | 6 |
| siete | 7 |
| ocho | 8 |
| nueve | 9 |
| diez | 10 |
Going back to our question, I think above all, you need to offer a fun experience to your child, so if one or 10 languages, which they capable of learning at the same time, you must search for a fun way to bring them into their daily playtime and not make it a chore, a duty!!!
If you do the activity at home and send us the video to: claudia@easylearnlanguages.com, we will post your video on the blog.
Have fun!
Claudia Krusch
EasyLearn Languages
Dear Readers,
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:
A vida- Gonzaguinha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwDRty6NT6g&feature=related
I hope you enjoy it!
Abraços,
Claudia Krusch
Children-More CEO
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,
Many parents asked if there is Halloween in Spanish speaking countries and I used to say no, there is a Dia de Los Muertos celebration which is more religious and not child oriented. Well, a parent of one of my students recently shared that in Colombia they do Dulces o Travesuras (trick or treat) and children dress up like in the US. That surprised me!
In Brazil, my native country, Halloween is only celebrated in English Schools, not as a real holiday…..They have dia das crianças, October 12th when little children receive toys.
I will share later this week some linkswith information on dia de los muertos and Spanish Halloween worksheets and songs. Stay tuned!
Saludos,
Claudia Krusch
CEO EasyLearn Languages LLC
Dear Members,
This time of the year brings the best memories of my childhood. When my mom used to stay hours in the kitchen preparing the seafood dishes for Easter! My dad would spend hours stirring Vatapá, Camarão, arroz branco, farofinha…..makes my mouth water. Those sounds and smells still surround me when Easter times come, so I try to make this a special time for my son as well…bringing some of the traditions like purchasing the one pound Easter Egg at the Brazilian store….making sea food on good Friday and working on a two hour sweet bread which allows me to share some of my memories with him.
If you wish to share some traditions with your child or use some interesting materials in the classroom, I would suggest:
Use bunny songs which can be found in YouTube:
De olhos vermelhos or Coelhinho da Páscoa, words for the songs can also be found online
Memory game with Easter vocabulary like, coelho, cesta, ovos, chocolate, colorante, páscoa
Print easter egg from online free coloring pages and cut them in three parts, have the children put pieces of the eggs together, this can also be used to review colors on the eggs.
I hope my ideas help you share Easter traditions!
Feliz Páscoa!
Claudia Krusch
Director of EasyLearn Languages Programs
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
Dear Parent, Grandparent…
Are you home with children, looking for something different to do? I have been thinking about the same thing, so my son inspired me to offer more playtime educational foreign language classes to help parents bring children to an educational activity this winter!
Our two new programs: Spanish and Legos and Las Ninas offer the best in play time, building a foundation for a foreign language, block by block, using toys.
If you far from one of our locations, I have some advice on how to bring a foreign language to your little one:
Set up an indoor picnic, search for food names on the web, some pages have the pronunciation included, to ensure you are giving your little one the right knowledge, play while eating in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian…..
Set up an indoor play time with balls, play soccer, basket ball, pass the ball, using numbers …..
I hope that will keep you busy and your children happy!
For more information on our classes: 856-848-8870 or www.easylearnlanguages.com
Saludos,
Claudia Krusch
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.