The Beginning of T3

8th grade Spanish students finished up their final MovieTalk episodes this week with the theme of "La Amistad" (Friendship). The shorts we worked with were "La caja de monstruos" (MonsterBox) and "Parcialmente Nublado" (Partly Cloudly). They also had their MovieTalk exam by creating a MovieTalk presentation of their own using the silent clip, "Simon's Cat: Fly Guy." Next week we will move on to "La Hora" (Telling Time) which will take us into April break.

7th Grade Spanish students presented their Conjugation Projects this week. We also played "La Lucha" which is an interactive conjugation whole-class game. Next week we will movie into more writing in Spanish featuring clothing. We will describe what people are wearing and how to match gender/plural/singular while writing.

6th grade Spanish students have continued work on their Spanish-speaking country projects. Each day we discuss one thing that is commonplace in  most Spanish-speaking places, and each child finds one thing unique to their country and shares with the class.

Wrapping up T2

8th grade Spanish students worked on two MovieTalks this week, "La Receta del Amor" (Love Recipe) and "Oktapodi" (The Octopi). Movie Talks are divided onto reading/writing comprehension activities, or oral/listening/speaking activities. We aim to work on one of each kind every week during this unit.

7th grade Spanish students have continued working on their Conjugation slideshows as well as various activities in class to help them utilize these skills. These projects will be due next Tuesday and presentations will take place on that day.

6th grade Spanish students will be starting their Spanish-speaking country projects this week. This unit will focus on hispanic cultures and how colloquial Spanish changes from country to country. We will also reflect on how each country observes their own unique practices and that while these countries may share a language, in come cases, they share little else. We will compare different regions and explore WHY these places have some cultural similarities, and why they have some differences, and how an American traveler can successfully interact with these cultural differences.

Spring has sprung!

8th grade Spanish students are in the midst of their "MovieTalk"unit. This consists of watching short clips of silent films and adding language to the storyline. Students have done two MovieTalks orally, and one in writing. We will continue this into next week.

7th grade Spanish students are working on their Conjugation slideshows. They must create 10 slides of AR, ER, and IR verbs for a grand total of 30 slides. Much of the conjugation is embedded in daily oral conversation, but this project aims to keep them in the target language more often and helps them to create more comprehensible writing.

6th grade Spanish students had their test on "Animales" this week. We played several learning games to prepare them for this exam. If your child is unhappy with his/her grade, he/she is invited to make up the exam anytime before March 26th.

Staying on Schedule

8th grade Spanish students have begun their MovieTalk unit. They first animated short that we have given Spanish dialogue is "Paperman" and the second is "Destiny." Both shorts are silent and we ask questions and give answers in Spanish as a whole class in response to what transpires in the cartoon. This unit will include 5 MovieTalk shorts that they will be quizzed on in 2 weeks. There will be an oral and written component to this assessment.

7th grade Spanish students have learned to conjugate ER/IR verbs in Spanish and were given the rubric to start their Conjugation project. This project has a presentational component at the end and the reading and writing components are included in the slideshow they have started to create.

6th grade Spanish students are reading stories that feature many of the animals they are learning in class. Each story's setting is a new place, a farm, the jungle, the arctic, the forest, etc. They are using many of the skills they have learned this year to follow and respond to these stories as well as acquire new vocabulary.

Marching into March

6th grade Spanish students engaged in a ¿Quién es? activity this week (a "Guess Who?" type game in Spanish that centered around Animals). Students are using their knowledge of body parts, colors, numbers, and descriptive words to understand and describe animals they are familiar with. For example:
"Este animal es un tipo de gato. Vive en Africa. Tiene rayas negras y anaranjadas. Es muy feroz." (Answer: El Tigre).

7th grade Spanish students have been learning AR verb conjugation. They have learned the melody "Conjugation Back" to help them recall their endings. They have learned a Spanish game called "La Lucha" that has aided in their comprehension and completed an AR verb conjugation puzzle. Being able to accurately conjugate is essential for being comprehensible in another language. Next week, they will learn ER/IR verb conjugation so they can start speaking in richer sentences.

8th grade Spanish students completed their gallery walk this week. They also watched clips from the film "Sweet 15." We will be begin MovieTalk this coming Monday. Please encourage your children to hand in their projects if they have not done so already. Projects will not be accepted any later thank Monday, March 10th. Thank you and have a great weekend.

A Couple of Changes

8th grade: Due to visits to Portland, Deering, and Casco Bay high schools and a snow day, 8th graders' gallery walk of their Quinceañera projects will be postponed until Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. While this is not ideal, it will act as a review and as a synthesis of what we have been learning. When the gallery walk is complete we will then dive into our next unit: MovieTalk.

7th grade: We are still in the beginnings of our Conjugation Unit, which always starts with "pronombres" (pronouns). Monday, February 24th, there was a quiz featuring Spanish pronouns. It is imperative that students master their pronouns before they learn to conjugate. We will begin a major project for this unit this week.

6th grade: Students got back their "Partes del cuerpo" tests this week. If they are unhappy with their grade they are invited to make up the exam any time after school or during Moore Time. I have encouraged students to do this sooner the better. The next unit requires heavy usage of body parts, colors, adjectives, and numbers as we will be describing animals physically, and using stories to acquire more language.

From now to February Break

8th grade Spanish students have officially started working on their Quinceañera projects. I have handed back their Cloze activities and their Quinceañera WebQuests. They will work on this project into next week and it is my intention that both Sebago and Allagash houses on BOTH Blue AND Red Days will finish their Gallery Walks before February break.

7th grade Spanish students are continuing to familiarize themselves with Spanish pronouns and are learning how to use these pronouns to conjugate in the present tense. They have learned key terms with week such as "conjugation," "infinitive," "stem," and "formal/informal." They have created Pronoun reference sheets that they will glue to the inside of their folders so they will be readily accessible to them for the remainder of the school year.

6th grade Spanish students are finishing up their "Partes del Cuerpo" (Parts of the Body) unit this week. The had their first official written exam Thursday 02/13/14 and Friday 02/14/14. If your child has any concerns with how they did on this exam, they are invited to re-take it. Please schedule a time to do so if you are interested. Our next unit will be "Animales."