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!

http://freebies.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=freebies&cdn=hobbies&tm=9&f=10&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=3&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.activityvillage.co.uk/mardi_gras_masks_to_print.htm

Confetti  

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!

Viva Carnaval!

A lot of the parents which come from families or are Brazilian have asked me to post vocabulary and suggestion of activities on different topics. This is the first of a series.

Spring Vocabulary:

Spring – primavera

Flower – flor

Spring colors- green – verde, purple- roxo pink- rosa, blue- azul, yellow- amarelo

Grass-grama

Garden-jardim

Bee- abelha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y9m_EYWOi0 – video with spring scenes in Rio

Coloring Page: http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/spring/color/bee7.gif

My favorite spring song: O Barquinho – Tom Jobim – This song always reminds me of spring in Brazil, but I don’t have a recording to offer to readers to check it out. Maybe in a Brazilian search engine.

Suggestion on activities:

1)Take your child to a garden or your backyard and show him/her the flowers, grass and bring the vocabulary on this list to life.

2)There is a children’s lullaby- O cravo brigou com a rosa….very nice, will put your child in a spring mood, right before bed: http://www.microvip.com.br/vipkids/ocravoearosa.htm. My son loves this song….the hard part was explain the flower names to him….cravo…..

If you are teaching your child how to read in Portuguese, spring vocabulary is great for asking the child to read the flower names, for example.

For more suggestions, information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I strongly advocate for introducing a second and many foreign language to children at early age, so it will be my pleasure to give any readers, any information to help them introduce or bring foreign languages to children.

Next posting will give some information on colors.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Tell us what you think!

Claudia Krusch

EasyLearnLanguages Director

www.easylearnlanguages.com