El día de los muertos

El día de los muertos is fast approaching (November 1st and 2nd). All 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students will take part in the Day of the Dead learning experience this week and early next week. Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration that remembers loved ones who have died. Students will learn specifically how this holiday is celebrated, and this year we have the good fortune of doing so through our ipads.



Simply Sweet Apps has created an iPhone/iPad app in honor of Day of the Dead, a traditional family oriented holiday.

Many celebrate this holiday of remembrance by dressing up in costumes and makeup inspired by La Calavera Catrina (or ‘The Elegant Skull’); the DAY of the DEAD ME app gives you the opportunity to decorate an image with traditional festive makeup and flowers.

Day of the Dead Me app allows you to place a variety of traditional images, such a painted eyes and facial decorations, onto any photo and digital face paint in the style of sugar skull makeup. You can personalize photos of yourself and loved ones, or even pictures of your favorite celebrities. The app is user-friendly, age-friendly, and is less than a dollar.

Day of the Dead Me app includes resizable image templates: Roses, facial scrolls, skull nose, hats, moustaches, painted eyes & chins, and much more! There are additional face-decorating features and flowers options available for purchase in art packs.

I would also encourage students to download the following game to help them learn about the traditions surround Day of the Dead:

Día de Muertos by WashaWasha Games

 This game is surprisingly simple, and incredibly addicting. Watch the skeletons pop up in different boxes, wait to see the icon for which element of the ofrenda they need – flowers, pan de muerto, prayer, or tequila – and then race to give it to them before they go back underground. Sometimes, two or three of them will pop up at one time! And watch out for the bar at the top that fills as you miss opportunities to feed them; that indicates they are “pulling your feet.”

Find Día de Muertos on iTunes

Available for iPad and iPhone

Lastly, students should download Day of the Dead Experience the Tradition by University of Notre Dame.

Explore the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), a traditional Mexican celebration of the lives of ancestors, through spectacular photographs, audio, interviews, and video footage. Experience this growing cultural tradition, which has, in recent years, become a cross-border cultural movement embraced as a new—and evolving—American tradition. 

Ana Lomba's Spanish for Kids: Learn Spanish through a Classic Stories

Storytelling is a fantastic strategy to advance quickly in Spanish. Why? Because in the process of learning to do lively readings or act out stories, you are intensifying the development of oral and literacy skills. Combining these skills makes a HUGE difference.

However, not all story based materials are created equal. I have designed this selection of classic stories specifically for parents and children to learn Spanish together. I am inviting both parents and students to try this FREE version designed for ipad of "The Little Red Hen," or "La Gallina Roja."

This app features:

* Everyday language a dialogue at a kid's level.
* A "pause" button so you can replay shorter chunks of texts.
* Vibrant, comic-style illustrations, providing strong non-verbal cues to reinforce comprehension.
* Voice over by native actresses for a captivating effect and to model native speech.
* Easy toggle between English and Spanish to check for meaning when stuck.
* Divided into scenes so you can concentrate on one section at a time for easy reenactment.

Strategies to focus on after downloading:

* Personal interaction: Children learn languages best through personal interaction. Even older children and adults benefits from "Learning Buddies."

* Animate your story reading/telling sessions. Make pretend voices, act out some parts, wear wigs; be as animated and lively as possible.

* Use your Spanish! Make a point of using the words that stick with you in daily life. DO NOT worry about speaking with perfect grammar or pronunciation, usage is what is more important at this point.

* Play the story frequently. This is both to train your ear to the flow of real Spanish in action and also to imprint large volumes of Spanish grammar, intonation, and cultural flair, etc., in your brain (a lot of this will take place unconsciously).

* Set personal learning goals. For example: "This week I will learn at least 5 new expressions." Challenge yourself as you become more strategic in your learning. You could even keep a language learning journal and keep track of the progress you have made. It would be gratifying to see how far you have come!

Learn Spanish with Busuu!

I would like all 7th and 8th graders to try Busuu, another free download in the App Store! This is the only language learning app in the world which includes direct interaction with native speakers. You must set up an account (or registration ) to begin. 

Busuu offers courses based on levels A1, A2, B1 and B2. The study material for a language is typically broken down into around 150 units. Units consist of multiple-choice questions, speaking assignments, and writing assignments. Some sections within each unit include multimedia material, such as spoken multiple-choice questions. Users act as both student and tutor, correcting one another's work. They can converse via chat-window, an audio connection, or a webcam connection.

    

A Younger Alternative: "Kids Learn Spanish with Busuu"




There is also a version that was created for a younger audience called "Kids Learn Spanish with Busuu." KLSWB is one of an emerging crop of high-quality apps that help out. Aimed at 4-11 year-olds. Primarily focusing on vocabulary, it teaches them 150 core Spanish words using interactive exercises and mini-games. 30 units are included in the course, with the first three included in the initial (free) app download. You can then pay via in-app purchase for units four, five and six, or for the entire course. There are some nifty features too, such as the ‘language garden’ where a new flower grows every time your child completes an exercise. We can imagine some parents brushing up their Spanish vocab with the app, too, when the kids aren’t using the app!

 

Destinos: A Mystery Telenovela

Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish


Find the link here: http://learner.org/series/destinos/


Travel the world with lawyer Raquel Rodríguez as she solves a mystery for a dying man. Watch the complete Destinos series, practice your Spanish, and find new resources for learning and teaching Spanish.

What Is Destinos?

Destinos teaches speaking, listening, and comprehension skills in Spanish. Thist elenovela, or Spanish soap opera, immerses students in a mysterious and entertaining story while viewing everyday situations with native speakers. It also introduces the cultures, accents, and dialects of Mexico, Spain, Argentina, and Puerto Rico, helping students understand a range of Spanish and appreciate many Hispanic cultures. The programs are closed captioned in Spanish and can be used as a teaching and literacy resource. The series is also appropriate for teacher professional development.

In the Watch section of the Destinos web site, you can view the entire 52-episode 
Destinos series. With each 30-minute episode, you are drawn deeper into the 
mystery of Don Fernando's past, while hearing and learning new and increasingly 
challenging vocabulary and grammar. You can further practice your Spanish with 
supplementary activities in the Practice section. At the end of each Practice activity,
un paso más suggestions will allow you to take your learning further. Tips for Teachers 
and web Resources provide additional support and encourage further learning

Every episode of Destinos covers new grammatical concepts, vocabulary, and cultural practices. The 52 episodes are divided into five destinations: La Gavia, España, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and México. As a learner moves from episode to episode and destination to destination, the content grows more challenging.

The Practice section of Destinos parallels the Watch section, in that the Practice activities are organized by destination. Each activity relates to one or several episodes, and provides opportunities to review the grammar, vocabulary, or cultural practices. In Practice, as in Watch, as you move from destination to destination, the content becomes more rigorous.

Website Reminders

Just a reminder that the following links should be bookmarked by all 6th graders:

www.spanishspanish.com
(This website has the toenail game, number scramble, funny body parts. etc)

www.quia.com/shared/spanish
(Quia has Jeopardy [aka Challenge Board], Battleship, Hangman, Who Wants to be a Millionnairre [aka Rags to Riches], etc).

www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish
(This is "Mi Vida Loca" the Spanish murder mystery that has 24 interactive episodes.)

www.duolingo.com
(This is like a Rosetta Stone for kids. If students have not created an account, please do so. You need an email address to create an account. You may use your student ID # @portlandschools.org if you do not have your own email. Example: 12345@portlandschools.org)

www.learnspanishtoday.com/learning_module
(This is "Build a Burrito," it has not been working lately, but it is a speed game that helps with vocabulary).

Just a reminder that the following apps should be downloaded on iPads by all 7th and 8th graders:

Duolingo Spanish
(This is like a Rosetta Stone for kids. If students have not created an account, please do so. You need an email address to create an account. You may use your student ID # @portlandschools.org if you do not have your own email. Example: 12345@portlandschools.org)

Spanish Mindsnacks
(This a game site that works with Spanish expressions/vocabulary)

iPad App of the Week

Spanish Mindsnacks

 

Best for: Beginners, Visual Learners, Game fans. Primarily an application that enhances vocabulary. I would like all 7th and 8th graders to download. 6th graders cannot download as they have Macbook devices but if they own an ipad/iphone device at home, this is a great (and free) app!

Mindsnacks is perhaps the best foreign language learning app on the market and really takes the “gameization” of foreign language concept and excels at it like no one else has. The graphics are great, gameplay is excellent and fun, and you really end up learning a lot of essential vocabulary. I used both Spanish and French versions and learned colors very quickly. 

The app teaches vocabulary by having the student play different vocabulary games that test your speed,  understanding and spelling. The better you are and the higher the score the more games you end up unlocking. I expect more and more apps will try and do what Mindsnacks does, by putting a lot of time and money into creating fun games that students want to play, and as a result learn the foreign language. 

This app is best for learning vocab and will not teach you much in the way of grammar, and they do have most of the vocabulary in audio form so you can hear the pronunciation, which will help with yours. Mindsnacks is best used to reinforce learning from a textbook or in a class, and is probably not the best for learning travel and common phrases. 

You can try the Mindsnacks app for free or upgrade to the full version with 50 lessons for $4.99. 

Pros: Vocabulary, Audio pronunciation, Games are addicting and fun. 

8th grade Spanish students are expected to do their gallery walks next week. I would like them to all to have downloaded DuoLingo and created an account by Monday of next week. 

7th grade Spanish students received their rubrics for their "Family Tree" project. This project is in lieu of a test. I expect red day students to hand them in by Tuesday (10/15) and Blue day students by Wednesday (10/16). This gives them Columbus day weekend to bring them home if they got slightly behind in their execution of this project.

6th grade Spanish students did more extensive work with weather. They were also introduced to Tú versus Usted in Spanish (a formal and an informal way to say "you"). We talked about how one might address certain people in certain circumstances in a Spanish speaking country.