Martes, 10 de diciembre: la familia

Today we talked about the family and learned some of the common words to describe relationships: padre, madre, hijo, hija, abuelo, etc. Our students used Playmobils to create their own families and then described them. It was fun to see families, with dragons, camels, bunnies and even Santa :)

When we get back on January 7th, we will meet at the kitchen and we will cook a tortilla de patata, pa amb tomàquet and allioli. We will have a gluten free and a vegan version of those dishes for those of you with dietary restrictions. We will be using extra virgin olive oil for all three recipes. Please take a look at the four short videos below to learn more about these traditional Spanish meals (Don't worry if you don't understand everything you hear).

See you in a few weeks and enjoy the Holidays!

Pa amb tomàquet (in English)




Tortilla de patata (in Spanish)




Tortilla de patata vegana/vegan, version uses garbanzo flour  (in Catalan)




Allioli (in English)

Martes, 3 de diciembre: SER y ESTAR

On Tuesday we studied the verb to be in the present tense.

Next week we will further explore the uses of the ser and estar forms of the verb to be while talking about our families, pets and/or friends.

Please come prepared to class so you can talk about yourself or your family using the verbs ser (e.g. mi hermano es alto,  los abuelos son inteligentes, mi padre es de Argentina, mi familia no es muy grande, mi perro es negro y grande, etc.)

Enjoy the videos below and see you next week!

Usos de SER y ESTAR

About.com ser y estar

La familia

Martes: 19 de noviembre: SER and ESTAR

This week we have learned about likes (me gusta) and wants (quiero). One of the videos below teaches you how to say "I want to be your friend" in Spanish, so I decided to share it with you.

In the next few weeks we are going to practice how ser and estar (both verbs mean "to be" in English) are used differently in Spanish. You already know how to use ser and estar: El gato es blanco, Soy de Guatemala, ¿Qué hora es? Estoy bien, etc. We will get to practice this at Academy once we get back from our break. In preparation for our next few classes, please take a look at the info and the videos below.

Also, if you could, watch the video by Sr. Howard below. You'll learn how to express your feelings by using estoy (I am) and condition by using me duele (it hurst).

See you in a couple of weeks! 

Quiero ser tu amigo (I want to be your friend)




How to use ser in Spanish




How to use estar in Spanish




Sr. Howard: estar y me duele

Martes, 12 de noviembre: quiero y no quiero (I want/I don't want)

I do not want to go to school!
by Sephanie Blake

Today we practiced likes and dislikes in our Spanish class: Me gusta and No me gusta.

Please reinforce what we learned today by watching the lesson in the first video below (about 10 minutes). It will also give you a chance to learn the names for some common fruits in Spanish as well as the word jugo (juice)

In preparation for next class, please watch the short videos below to learn how to say: Yo quiero or I want/would like.

¡Disfruta y hasta pronto! Enjoy and see you soon!



Me gusta y no me gusta




Quiero (I would like/I want)




Yo quiero Taco Bell (Costa Rica)




Yo quiero Taco Bell (United States)

Martes, 5 de noviembre: Ofrenda y Me gusta.

Today we set up our "altar" with some "ofrendas" as a way to display our sugar skulls for Día de los Muertos in their context.

Some of our braver students also had their faces and arms painted and "tattooed" (see video below for a quick tutorial)

Thanks to all who helped make today a fun day in our Spanish class.

In preparation for next week please go over the following videos (even if you have watched them before) so we can start talking about likes and dislikes in class.

Hasta el martes.

Día de Muertos, Calaca Face Painting.



How to make a Mexican paper flower for Day of the dead.



No me gusta/me gusta



Sesame Street: Me Gusta (I like it)



¿Qué deporte te gusta?

Martes 29 de octubre: más decoraciones.

Tres amigos.

I finally got a chance to take more pictures today and I believe this is all the work the students did yesterday.

If your child does not see his or her skull in any of the last two posts let me know and I will update the blog with their work.

Lots of beautiful stuff!

I really love the use of gray in these two skulls.

Wow! Boo or what?

Free and controlled styles.

These two look delicious!

They remind me of jewels.

Beautiful flower?

...and of course, bunny and heart.

Martes, 29 de octubre: decoraciones

Amarillo, rojo, naranja, azul,, rosado, gris....me gustan.

Today we practiced how to tell time in Spanish and we finished decorating our sugar skulls.

Below are some more samples of today's work.

¡Hasta el cinco de noviembre!

Sofisticada y sencilla....dos estilos diferentes.

Colories vibrantes....muy bonitas las dos.

Calaverita pequeña y calavera con sombrero y gafas.

Ojos rojos y profundos.

Martes, 15 de octubre: ¿Qué hora es?

Some of our calaveritas de azúcar.

Today we made our sugar skull bases. Once dry, we will finish decorating them so they can be displayed on November 5th.

Below you will find two videos in Spanish, that highlight the importance of remembrance during the Día de muertos. Don't worry if you don't understand what they are saying as we will go over them in class next week.


Dia de muertos 2010 Versión 01 from Jorge Enriquez on Vimeo.


Día de muertos 2010 Versión 02 from Jorge Enriquez on Vimeo.

Also, next week we will learn how to tell time in Spanish. Please go over the video below in preparation for class.



¡Hasta el martes!

Martes, 8 de octubre: Las flores son bonitas, grandes y rojas.

calaveritas de azúcar

Today we continued working on our gender and number agreement (noun-adjectives) and started working on our first project for our Day of the Dead display: flores de papel (paper flowers).

Next day in class (and if the kitchen is available) we will start building our calaveras de azúcar (sugar skulls) with sugar and egg whites (or for a vegan alternative: sugar and corn starch) so they have time to dry out and be decorated by November. We will also continue working on our paper flowers and papel picado projects.

I really hope our "ofrenda" will look both colorful and beautiful as we set it up on October 29 or November 5 for everyone to admire during lunch time.

Please for next class, watch the three videos below.

Los números



Día de los muertos.





 ¡Gracias y hasta el martes! (Thanks and see you on Tuesday!)

Martes, 1 de octubre: Noun and adjective agreement.

For the past two weeks we have been working on building up our vocabulary, particularly nouns and adjectives.

This week we started addressing number and gender agreement.

For the next few weeks and in preparation for the Día de los muertos (Day of the Dead), we will start working on paper decorations, sugar skulls and other ofrendas

If you could, please go over the two videos below before class.

¡Hasta el martes!


Noun-Adjective Agreement:





Día de los muertos en los Estados Unidos:

Martes, 17 de septiembre: ¡Bienvenidos!

Welcome to a new year of Spanish!

This week we'll cover some basics: greetings, introductions and some numbers.

Please watch the videos below to prepare, practice and reinforce some of these concepts.

Also, if you could, please visit any of the "los números/numbers" interactive links in our resources section.

Don't worry if at first you don't understand everything you hear. We will go over most of these new concepts in class.

¡Hasta el martes! (See you on Tuesday!

Números:






Introductions:

20 de mayo: Papel Picado y Piñatas.

one broken piñata

Yesterday we worked on present tense conjugations and made some papel picado decorations. During lunch we got to whack three piñatas.

If you wish, finish the assignment provided in class: conjugate any three -ar ending verbs of your choosing in the construction paper chart that you built for the verb hablar (to speak). As promised, there will be some extra candy for those of  you who bring their finished assignment to class on June 3

Enjoy the pictures below, have a great Memorial Day weekend and see you in a couple of weeks!

 ¡Hasta junio!

piñata whacking, very junior division

several samples of papel picado

trébol/shamrock

rombos/diamonds

corazones/hearts

14 de mayo: Conjugations

Piñata de culebra

On Monday students were introduced to conjugating verbs in the present tense. 

Below you will find three videos that approach how to conjugate regular (following a pattern) -ar ending verbs such as the ones we learned in class (refer to photocopies handed in class if you need to)

Please, if you can,  take a look at all of them, even when some of them are a little bit longer than what we are used to in this class. You can also click here, here and here.

Thanks and see you next Monday.

Oh, I almost forgot, if  the weather cooperates we will finally get to break the piñatas during lunch.

6 de mayo: Fiesta del Cinco de Mayo

Making guacamole, salsa, and chocolate

Yesterday we spent most of our class period in the kitchen preparing some food for our Cinco de Mayo celebration. We listened to mariachi music, made sangría, chocolate con churros, and delicious salsa and guacamole. We also displayed some of the finished piñatas at our fiesta (see below). Thanks to everybody for your help and for making this possible!

On Monday we will continue learning about likes and dislikes and will learn how to express what kind of activities we enjoy to do: Me gusta cantar y bailar (I like to sing and dance), ¿Te gusta jugar? (Do you like to play?), etc.

During our lunch break, students in our class will get to hit a couple of piñatas: (pirata y mono, below) and share the experience (and candy) with everybody at Academy.

Enjoy the following pictures and see you all on Monday. ¡Hasta el lunes!

estrella, palacio y cara feliz. Nice!

mini piñata (about 2'' long). So cute!

Piñatas para el lunes.

Raspando (shaving) el chocolate.

churros, salsa y totopos (tortilla chips)

Me gusta el chocolate espeso

Me gusta la sangría con fruta

29 de abril: Piñatas y Fiesta

Almost finished!

Today we got to "finish" the basic structure of our piñatas. Some students even started decorating them with tissue paper. For those of you who took them home, have fun finishing them! If you can bring them back next Monday for our fiesta great! If you don't get to finish them, don't worry, we will get a chance to finish them later in the session.

Preparations for our celebration are taking shape and we will have different families bringing ingredients for salsa and guacamole. I will bring ingredients for our tostadas,  churros con chocolate and sangría. Also we may have some raspados or granizados (snow cones).

We will have some green, white and red balloons (Mexican flag) papel picado (please watch embedded video below or click on this link) and lights to decorate our "cantina". If we have enough time we will hit some piñatas filled with candy, if not, some other time.

Enjoy the pictures below and see you next Monday. ¡Hasta el lunes!

Making the body of a snake...

... & covering it with "papel verde"

A  four point star (estrella)?

The Taj Mahal?

A sun (sol)?