Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Moving Forward

8th grade Spanish students have continued their Storytelling unit. We read the short stories "El gato feo" (The Ugly Cat) and "Kevin va a la jungla" (Kevin goes to the Jungle). Students created story maps and organized the sequence of events with these graphic organizers. We also used some Reader's Theatre's to reenact the stories and dialogue. Next week we will use Reader's Theatre exclusively in skits they will perform in class.

7th grade Spanish students read a story about a girl named Sofía and her family tree. They are practicing using possessive adjectives so they can better share information about their own families. Next week they will be introduced to their "Árbol geneológico" project in which they will be making family trees and explaining and speaking about their families in great detail.

6th grade Spanish students have been practicing their days of the week, months of the year, times, classes etc by explaining their schedules and school day. They will continue to utilize familiar vocabulary from elementary school but in new and more complex ways. Students are being asked to talk about themselves, their interests, their favorites, and their families.

Friday, September 19, 2014

In the swing of things

8th grade Spanish students have begun their Story Unit. This week we started with "story sequencing" in which we put the pictures of the familiar tale "El hombrecito de jengibre" (The Gingerbread Man), and matched strips of dialogue/text in Spanish using keywords and context to these picture clues. We then told the story of the gingerbread man in Spanish with the students best translation in English. We also began "story maps" in which we took the story "El número de teléfono" and utilized a graphic organizer and story map to discuss and report the order of events in this tale. We also acted out this story using our reader's theatre background.

7th grade Spanish students have been working on their "La Familia" unit. This week we talked about family during warm-up, and we discussed how the hispanic household is similar and different to families across the globe. We learned some new vocabulary and did a short reading in Spanish about "Los Rodriguez," a Mexican family.


6th graders have been bookmarking Spanish websites to practice and review vocabulary they learned in elementary school as well as doing their first speaking activities (warm-up and introductions). We have discussed Latin and romance languages and learned about how words are similar in romance languages. Students reviewed cognates, the importance of accent marks, and basic expressions like stating their birthday, the date, and the weather outside.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Our first full week

8th grade AND 7th grade Spanish students have been using this first week to refresh and review everything have learned in Spanish in 6th and 7th grade. 8th graders have also engaged in a class activity called "Meet My Friend" where they introduced a friend from their new class in Spanish. They found basic information about this friend, their birthday (el cumpleaños), their favorite sport (el deporte favorito), favorite food (la comida favorita), their favorite class (la clase favorita), where they live (¿dónde vives?), etc. Students shared their findings about their new classmates with the group. This has been a good way to jog their memories from last year, and learn about their new housemates.

6th Grade Spanish students learned the routines and procedures of Spanish class this week. They learned how to conduct themselves during our "Daily Warm Up" which is all oral conversation in Spanish. The received their Spanish folders, and learned what can be expected of me and what I expect from 6th graders. We were able to begin talking about the importance of learning a language and world cultures and we began talking about Cognates (words in Spanish that look/sound like words in English and mean the same thing), and False Cognates (words in Spanish that look/sound like words in English but DO NOT mean the same thing). We also reviewed some "días de la semana" (Days of the Week), and "los meses del año" (Months of the Year), "las estaciones" (Seasons) and "el tiempo" (Weather). I am excited to see everything they have learned/remember from elementary Spanish!

Friday, September 5, 2014

¡Bienvenidos! Welcome Back!

¡Buenos días! I hope all students and parents had a restful and relaxing summer. I am excited to be starting this fresh new year with some fantastic veteran 7th and 8th graders, and I am thrilled to be meeting my incoming 6th graders.

The first week of school we will be reviewing content from last year and we will use that prior knowledge as a springboard for a productive 2014-2015 Spanish year. In my previous post, I have provided links to some Spanish websites that students utilized last year and are also ones that my new 6th graders will find very accessible. I am going to strongly encourage students to take 10-15 minutes for the next week or so, to review colors, days of the week, months of the year, seasons, weather, body parts, family, numbers, animals, and courteous expressions. I am hoping that the games will jog some memories so all students will start this year in the right mindset and in a good place.

I am also providing the standards for foreign language so parents/students can access what curriculum looks like at the national level. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them. Here's to a great year!

The ACTFL (American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages can be found at the following link:

http://www.actfl.org/publications/all/national-standards-foreign-language-education


Tuesday, September 2, 2014

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).

www.spanishdict.com
Our preferred online Spanish/English dictionary.

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)

CatAcademy
Learn Spanish from cats!