Thursday, September 22, 2011

EXCITING, LOOK!!!!

Hey Families of ITAV... so I was browsing around on Instituto Cervantes' website and I found this awesome opportunity... it's for kids ages 6months to 4 years old and it's called Spanish Wiggleworms and it is FREE... the place is located on 31 W. Ohio St. You must register first the dates are:


9/10/2011 (10:00 h)
11/19/2011 (10:00 h)
12/3/2011 (10:00 h)


 Please call to register if interested 312-335-1996 or email chicago@cervantes1.org. Space is limited!!!


Also Check out the 3-4 Wiggle's classes called Cuentos y Canciones only 120$ for 8 weeks!!! A definite steal! 




ALSO!!! Check out the Wiggles Concert it is next Saturday October 1st! FREE!!! 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Old videos I found :)






¿Estrellita dónde estás? 

 ¿Me pregunto qué serás?
en el cielo y en el mar 
un diamante de verdad
¿Estrellita dónde estás?
¿Me pregunto qué serás?




¡Uno, dos, tres elefantes, 

cuatro, cinco, seis elefantes,

siete, ocho, nueve elefantes,
diez elefantes son! 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Happy Second Week!

Just checking in on week two!!!

This week's lessons are going to consist of Colors on Monday and a cultural lesson on Thursday regarding Mexico's Independence Day!

Today, we read "Sali de Paseo" (I Went Walking) in class...
 we first did warm up songs and calendar time in some classes, then reviewed color flashcards that would be reinforced in the book. We also reviewed animal names! So Today's vocab consisted of:

el perro amarillo--- yellow dog
el pato verde--- green duck
el caballo marron--- brown horse
el cerdo rosado--- pink pig
la vaca roja--- red cow

The book asks... "Que fue lo que viste?" and it responds "Vi a un _____" So that is a phrase that you guys could practice at home! Or if some parents are interested in translating the book if they have it home let me know and I will write a translation on here! It's great for its repetition and key vocab!!!

Also another thing worth mentioning, these are the words I use for colors I know that depending on where you are there is a different way to say the same thing but for me here at Itav I use these color words:


Marrón (not cafe)
Verde
Rojo 
Morado (not purpura)
Rosado (not rosa)
Blanco
Negro
Azul 
Amarrillo
Anaranjado (not naranja)


On Thursday, I will give students a small overview of what happened, then in some of the classes we will do a short skit to reenact it! Having the kids pretend go to bed tucking them in practicing goodnight vocab, and then waking them up ringing a bell and practicing wake up vocab and then other vocab associated with the holiday such as: 

Viva la independencia!
Viva Mexico!

I will also show kids a picture of the Mexican Flag... pointing out what colors it is! So we can continue to work on colors! 


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Oh also, Not forgetting that the month of September is Transportation.... I will try to get some fun worksheets/ coloring pages out... and introduce some vocabulary... especially on my Spanish Wall... right now... I have so far a sail boat... ha more to come!!! 


el avión plane
el tren train
el coche (carro) car 
el camión truck
la bicicleta bike 
el barco boat
el velero sailboat
el autobús bus 


Phrases to try out:
Quieres montar en bicicleta? Do you want to ride a bike?
Ves el barco? Do you see the boat? (substitute other words) 
Es un camión. It is a truck. (substitute other words)

I will try to incorporate these words into our circle time! :) Feel free to start and point them out around your house and neighborhood!!!!  

Just wanted to share...

In the new curriculum that I'm using... yes I know... it has a lot to do with my new found organization... pish posh... everybody needs help! Btw it's called Sonrisas (Smiles)...<so me :)!>... and it is wonderful!!!... I chose it because it encompasses everything I believe about foreign language teaching...making it fun first and foremost, and repetition and songs... and allows me to be silly, and modify and explore... it is serving as a great framework of organization and direction for me... I am so excited about it... anywhoo.... this quote at the very beginning is extremely motivating for me as a teacher and especially as I venture over to the VLA side... and if you aren't familiar with the Village Leadership Academy then feel free to check out my tabs and find a link to their school... but they are a school dedicated to social justice and I believe this quote ties together the owners' mission and my goals (well the teacher I strive to be...) 

Here it is:

"Through the inner flexibility of their speech organ, the children find their way to a  flexibility of soul and an openness that has an effect on their entire later life and especially on their social abilities. The foreign language lesson is suited like practically no other lesson to encourage openness and awake interest for what is foreign to oneself-- and in our time of widespread racism and social conflict on both a small and large scale this is a pedagogical mission of the first order."


 -Rudolph Steiner

A new year!

I just wanted to let all of you know what our lesson for today and the rest of the week will be!


As today is the first day of transitions and for some very first day of school or at their new school, there are many of our friends who don't know each other... so appropriately, we worked on names today!!!


OH, first let me explain something. From now on in my lessons I am going to try and stick to a very strict order! It is as follows:


1st--- Greeting (To get everyone ready for Spanish...and for older kids, I'll do roll)


Example:

Profesora: “Vamos a ver quién está aquí.”
Profesora: “¿Está Olivia aquí?”
Olivia: “¡Sí, sí estoy aquí!”

2nd--- Circle Time (Circle time is where we sing our favorite songs... or review past themes... repetition repetition repetition! And where we introduce the new theme!)


3rd--- Art Time (Art time will usually take place as reinforcement with their home teachers... on the days I am not there... so during this time in my lesson... I will show them the art project that they WILL be doing, ((which reinforces that days lesson,)) the next day)


4th--- Story Time (I will pick a story that goes along with that days lesson...)


5th--- Goodbye! (We sing our goodbye songs... to let everyone know Spanish is over!)


Barney song:
Te quiero yo 
Y tú a mí
Somos una familia feliz 
Con un fuerte abrazo (everyone hugs)
Y un beso te diré (we blow kisses)
Mi cariño es para ti

Or we will sing:

Adiós hasta luego adiós
clap clap
Adiós hasta luego adiós
clap clap
Adiós hasta luego
Adiós hasta luego
Adiós hasta luego
clap clap


Alright, so back to what today looked like! Today we worked on "Me llamo" We played a game with a ball  and we sang a little tune that goes "me llamo, me llamo _______ "¿cómo te llamas tú?" "my name is my name is _______ what is yours?" And when they would ask someone their name... they would pass it or throw it to that person... trust me it didn't go perfectly today... but with a little practice... ideally they will be saying their names and asking the question... (ha and in an ideal ideal world... catching the ball... but that's another story.....:)

So PARENTS HOMEWORK: please work on the phrases..."¿Cómo te llamas tú?" and "Me llamo_____."

The art project showed today in class was an autorretrato aka a self portrait... for the little kids... I drew a stick body and wrote the question and me llamo section and the teachers tomorrow will ask them como te llamas... and then will fill in their names... and they will draw a face of themselves... in the little stick person.... the older kids will write "me llamo... and will draw their own pictures! Then they will take it home so that you guys together can practice!!! 

The story we read today was called "Margaret and Margarita" It was a super cute story where one of the other teachers read Margaret's lines in English... and I read Margaritas lines in Spanish... a story about two little girls who respectively speak English and Spanish... but they try to get a long by teaching each other. So a great story to show kids the importance of knowing two languages!!! 

So be on the look out for the art projects... and maybe ask your kids about the book they read... and practice our phrases!!! 

Ps: if you need more phrases to work on (over achievers I know you are out there!)... you could help me with roll... it is new today so... for the 3's and 4's and 5's... we will be working on that dialogue I wrote up above... you can vary it by playing hide and seek and saying....

You can say:

“¿Dónde está Olivia?” o “¿Dónde estás Olivia?”  Where’s Olivia? Or Where are you Olivia?

And your child can say:

“Estoy aquí!” Here I am! 




Have fun!!!!!!! 






First Day of School!!! (Sorta')

Hello y hola mis queridas y beautiful families!!!

I know I have been slacking on my blog over the summer, but there have been so many changes! The largest change as most of you have noticed I'm sure... is that I will only be working on the ITAV side Tuesdays and Thursdays! The reason for this being... I am also working on the VLA side the other days of the week. I know that this is relatively unfortunate because some ITAV students only attend Mondays and Wednesdays or Fridays... but it could also be potentially exciting if you are planning on attending VLA... it will be nice to have the students continue on with their Spanish adventure!!! If some parents are concerned about less Spanish or perhaps no longer have Spanish... I was thinking of offering private lessons (small group 5-10 kids) on maybe Mondays around 5:15. I am not sure who is interested... if anyone but if so please stop me in the hall or reply to this post!

I am really excited to be starting over on the other side! It's so exciting what the toddlers and preschoolers have accomplished I can't wait to see what the K-5ers can do!!! (Yes, I am nervous too... first day is tomorrow...... yikes! :/)

Hopefully, this blog will turn into something more useful again! I plan to update it once per week.. (saying once a week and potentially hoping for more...) This way I hopefully no longer disappoint.. but overachieve... ha we will see.. vamos a verrrr!

Alright so, I am trying my hardest to provide teachers with enough supplemental materials... ie flashcards, books, vocab, cd's and song lyrics... so that they can continue to have some Spanish on M's W's and F's... during their usual time slot... but just without me!

I plan to be much more organized this new year.. (as busy as I will be... I think my only option is to be more organized...) I plan to push your kiddos a lot harder than I did last year because of the beautiful base we've spent the past 6 months building! I plan to get parents a bit more involved! I hope to send home weekly the vocab we are working on... if I don't send it home actually... I will always have it posted up on here... And I will try at least once a month to do some sort of assessment to let you know where your kiddos are at regarding the themes and concepts we've gone over that month... how well they are getting it... their oral proficiency etc.

I also think I am going to put out a new parent letter just reminding parents about the blog... I really want this to be a way for us to communicate... but also feel free to stop my anytime in the hall!!!


Con mucho cariño, 

Ms. Jessie