Día de los muertos

Introduction to Spanish:

Today we had six short "presentations" using marionetas or hand puppets. We had some fun introducing our characters and developing some basic conversations.  I was quite impressed at how hard everybody tried and how well it all went.

Next week we are going to change gears and study a little bit of Hispanic Culture by making some traditional sugar skulls for our "celebration" of the Mexican Día de los muertos (Day of the Dead).

Roughly coinciding with All Saints day, Día de los Muertos is a celebration of the memories of those departed.  The celebrations consist, among other things, of elaborate costumes, painted faces, and masks, flower arrangements, foods and sweets, and all kinds of colorful decorations.

Below you will find a couple of videos that your child/ren can watch in preparation for class (we already watched the first one, but I really think they will enjoy watching it again). See you next Tuesday!

VIDEO: Day of the Dead (animation)



VIDEO: Gobierno de México - Día de los muertos



Intermediate Spanish:

Hi, older students! In addition to the videos above, please watch the two videos below that explain in further detail the historical background of this celebration and emphasizes the importance of remembering those who are no longer among us (hence the characters in the songs carrying pictures or the pictures in many of the "altars"). Yes, in the first video they made a mistake by placing Mexico City in the American Southwest, but otherwise it offers very good information.

¡Gracias y hasta el martes próximo!

VIDEO: National Hispanic Cultural Center - Día de los muertos



VIDEO:  El-Haru Kuroi - Día de los muertos

Martes, 21 de enero: Marionetas

Hola

Today we reviewed noun-adjective agreement (number and gender) and I was very pleased to see how well prepared everybody was. For our next couple of classes we will continue practicing that concept.

Next Tuesday we are going to start working on a little play with puppets (las marionetas). We will work in small groups and if we get some good stories, we may even perform during our spring festival!

For starters, I would like for you to create some basic list of sentences (five to seven) that your puppets may say:

Hello, my name is.... and I am a .... (frog, rabbit, dragon, rat, butterfly, dog) Please looks those words up in a dictionary.
I am from....(Guatemala, Syracuse, Nueva York)
I am  (soy)....(big, small, tall, short, green, blue, etc.)
I am (soy) a (un/una)....(teacher, doctor, firefighter, etc.)
I am (estoy)...(happy, sad, tired, sick) Remember Sr. Howard?
I like....(remember the prince who disliked everything?)
I want ... (remember our video with the little Chihuahua dog?)
Good Bye!

And of course, The end (El fin).

PLEASE REMEMBER:

Depending on the gender of your puppet the adjectives will have to agree in gender (masculine or feminine) with the noun:

Hola, me llamo Roberto y soy guapo (handsome)
Hola, me llamo Roberta y soy guapa (beautiful)

Also, depending on the number of puppets described, the adjectives may also need to agree in number (as well as gender) with the nouns they are referring to:

Hola, somos Roberto y Julio y somos mexicanos
Hola, somos Roberta y Julia y somos mexicanas
Hola, somos Roberto y Julia y somos mexicanos (masculine + feminine = masculine)


Thanks and see you on Tuesday/Gracias y hasta el martes.