Valentine’s Day in Brazil is in June, so I usually do the regular Valentine’s Celebrations in February and again in the Portuguese classes in June! In Brazil Valentin’s Day, Dia dos namorados is a celebration for lovers, couples only, no friendship, just love.

My favorite Bilingual Books:

Be Mine – Brenda Ponnay

Primer Dia de San Valentin  de Clifford

Dora Quiere Mucho a Boots

El Primer Beso de Froggy

Feliz Dia de La Amistad, Gus

 

We are making Butterflies with candy:

 

• We are teaching love, hugs, kisses, smile as vocabulary and they will see the pic behind a hear and have to say what it is in Spanish or Portuguese.
• The more advanced students will receive a blank cardstock and make pics for the front and write simple sentences inside, I will be posting later pics of what they did!

Wanted to share this link from Mommy Maestra for Valentine’s Cards:

http://www.mommymaestra.com/2012/02/bilingual-valentines-day-cards-for.html

• I will also use a heart shaped basket and they would throw colored hearts in it to review colors!
• We will be making a love tree and placing shapes on the tree which is pink and we call it árbol del amor, Árvore de Amor.

Feliz Dia de San Valentin! Happy Valentine’s Day! Feliz Dia dos Namorados!

Claudia Krusch

Director

We have explored winter words during the past three weeks and clothing is a very difficult topic to explore since there is so much involved. We started by talking about what they were wearing in our Spanish and Portuguese Classes in South Jersey! We cut and glued some pieces into our small dolls!

They named the dolls and we did a short dialogue, depending on the level.

I wanted to share some of the vocabulary learned in Spanish Classes:

anorak – anorak belt – cinturón beret – boina bikini – bikini blouse – blusa boots – botas bowtie – pajarita bra – sujetador braces – tirantes button – botón cap – gorra cardigan – rebeca coat – abrigo dress – vestido laces – cordones cufflinks – gemelos diner jacket – smoking dress – vestido dressing-gown – bata gloves – guantes hat – sombrero high heels- tacones altos jacket – chaqueta jeans – vaqueros jersey – jersey jumper – jersey knickers – bragas nightdress – camisón mini-skirt – mini-falda

overall – mono underpants – calzoncillos pyjamas – pijama raincoat – impermeable sandals – sandalias scarf – bufanda shirt -camisa shoes – zapatos shorts – pantalones cortos skirt – falda slippers – zapatillas socks – calcetines stiletto – tacón de aguja stockings – medias suit – traje suspender – liguero sweater – jersey sweatshirt – sudadera swimming costume – bañador “T” shirt – camiseta tie – corbata tights – panty tracksuit – chandal trousers – pantalones uniform – uniforme waistcoat – chaleco wellingtons – botas de goma zip – cremallera

Also Portuguese:

roupas – clothes

cinto – belt

passante – belt loop

fivela do cinto – buckle

boné , uma toca– baseball hat

chapéu – hat

casaco – coat

vestido – dress

luvas – gloves

lenço – handkerchief, scarf

jaqueta – jacket, windbreaker

calça jeans – jeans

calças – pants

cachecol – scarf (for winter)

camisa – shirt

sapato – shoe

pantufa – slipper

cadarço – shoelace

shorts – shorts

bermuda – shorts, or swim shorts for guys

sunga – a guy’s speedo

maiô, biquini – girls swimsuit or bikini

saia – skirt

meias – socks

terno – suit

gravata – tie

gravata borboleta – bow tie

camiseta – t-shirt, undershirt

uniforme – uniform

botão – button

óculos – glasses

óculos de sol – sunglasses

guarda-chuva – umbrella

camisola – nightgown

pijama – pijamas

bolso – pocket

bolsa – purse

sandália – sandal

chinelo – flip flop (*this is also a slang word for someone who is kind of a loser)

tênis – tennis shoes, sneakers

suéter, pulôver, agasalho – sweater

colete – vest

calcinha(f) / cueca(m) – underwear

carteira – wallet

blusa – blouse, shirt

sutiã – bra

meia-calça – panyihose

salto (do sapato) – a shoe heel

gola – collar

mangas – sleeves

alça – strap

orla – edge, border, hem (clothes)

botões – buttons

bojo – the foam padding sometinmes built into a swimsuit top or shirt

cabide – coat hanger

vasculhar – to rummage through (clothes)

We also placed clothing on frosty, I made an oversized one and they had to built it part by part, saying the name of body parts and clothing.

Second class, we did a show and tell with clothes and shoes they brought from home and winter toys! So much fun!

We used this video, they loved it! Please remember this is a video about a girl talking about her aunt and they both cow girls, so the aunt carries a gun besides describing the vocabulary, I passed that part of the video to my students!

I think bringing it close to the students, what they wear, makes a lot easier to teach such a hard subject with such a large vocabulary!

Please share how you teach your students and children about ropas, roupas, clothing!

Claudia Krusch
EasyLearn Languages Director

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 Members,

I wanted to share some of my experiences in the past week with children in our Spanish and Portuguese classes!

Some interesting things happened when we asked children to make a lista de presentes or lista de regalos (gift list), one of our students told me that he didn’t need anything, he had everything and asked me how you say that in Spanish! Another student had a 20 item list and we spent the whole class, trying to have him say the gifts in Spanish….off course they came up with fuzzoodles, zuzu pets and other wierd names….I used my imagination to help them say those things in Spanish and Portuguese!

We also brought some cookies and had them decorate the cookies and place things on Santa’s plate (prato de papai noel/plato de papá noel). We also did a craft with cookies, chocolate and milk. We placed a plate on a coloring page, children cut the cookies, candy and candy cane and glued and colored it.

I also share with children that candy canes are not a Christmas treat in South America, gifts are placed in shoes on the windows in many countries and no real trees, just plastic ones! Weather is warm in South America, so people eat lighter meals!

I hope that brought more ideas to parents and educators on how to share holidays with children using a foreign language!

Merry Christmas!

Claudia Krusch

Easylearn Languages CEO