Thanksgiving

My apologies to Rosario and students……this was supposed to be posted prior to Thanksgiving Break….

Hola a todos,

In the last three days we have been working on the body parts. If you feel like it these days you can play with your kids by touching some parts and name them eyes closed, or just play bingo with this bingo board (if it can be attached in the blog).

We have seen the parts involved in the song previously mentioned in my former post and also:

Brazo-arm

Mano-hand

Pie-foot

Ojo-eye

Rodilla-knee

Pierna-leg

Dientes-teeth

Nariz-nose

Boca-mouth

Cabeza-head

Oreja-ear

Happy Thanksgiving!

November!

Hola a todos,

We have one week ahead without Spanish so it could be a good moment to keep on practising at home whenever you are on the mood :)

last week we learned some instructions and today I noticed that the kids remembered most of them.

These are:

Levántate - stand up / get up

Siéntate - sit down

Silencio - Silence

Lee - read

Escribe - write

Escucha - listen

Abre el libro - open the book

Cierra el libro - close the book

You can practice them any time.

Today we talked about the snow (la nieve) and the kids said if they like it or not. So the question was ¿te gusta la nieve? (do you like the snow?)

And the answers could be:

Me gusta mucho (I like very much)

Me gusta (I like)

No me gusta (I don't like)

Of course, these statements abou like/dislike can be applied to anything.

Also (and last) we sung today "head, shoulders, knees..." in Spanish, which is:

Cabeza, hombro, rodilla y pie (head, shoulder, knee and foot)

cabeza, hombro, rodilla y pie.

Ojos, orejas, boca y nariz (eyes, ears, mouth and nose)
cabeza, hombro, rodilla y pie.

You can sing it with your kids!

Hasta pronto y have fun! 

October

¡Hola a todos!

We are in the second week of the semester already. We have started by learning -for those who had not learned that before- to ask and answer what our name is:
- ¿Cómo te llamas?
-Me llamo Rosario
and to greet in a couple of different forms:
-Hola (hello)
-Buenos días (good morning)
-Buenas tardes (good afternoon)
-Buenas noches (good night)
-Adiós (bye-bye)
-Nos vemos (see you)
-¿Cómo estás? (how are you?)
-Bien ¿y tú? (well, and you?)

I know that some of the kids already knew this from previous classes but others did not, so it was important to devote the first week to it. Anyway, since these are expressions that I say ABSOLUTELY EVERY DAY to them, I have no doubt that they will never forget them. My intention is to move on to other things immediately so the ones who have studied Spanish and started from the basic several times don't get bored soon, but for the new ones the repetition is important, so here's your homework: please, greet and make your child greet you in Spanish sometimes when you think of it.

Tomorrow we will talk about halloween a bit (of course) and play "Simon dice" with basic commands like siéntate (sit down), levántate (stand up), dame el lápiz (give me the pencil) and so on, so we set up the basis of a class communication in Spanish.

Gracias y hasta pronto.

Rosario.

Welcome Our 2013 - 2014 Spanish Instructor, Rosario Merida Prieto!

My name is Rosario Merida Prieto. I am from Spain. I went to university in Madrid and Granada and then started travelling around Europe. I have lived in England, France, Switzerland and Belgium where I worked as a Spanish teacher in a high school and in the Spanish consulate. Back in my country I continued teaching in several institutions such as the Swedish School of Marbella and Marbella Study Centre, to both children and adults. I arrived in Iowa City with my two dogs in 2011 as a graduate student at the UI where I have worked as a Spanish instructor in combination with volunteering Spanish teaching at the Prairie Green School. I graduated in May in the program of Spanish Creative Writing. Currently I teach Spanish at COE College, Cedar Rapids.  I am looking forward to teaching your children.

¡Hasta pronto!

Message from Señor Christian!

Hola a todos!  What a wonderful first half of the school term! I must say that, for a secondary education major, my time in the elementary program has been wonderful. Everyone is willing to learn, and I've never felt more comfortable in front of the classroom. I couldn't have asked for a better group of little Spanish learners. :)

In terms of housekeeping, I would say that sadly our numbers are declining! If you're keeping up with the blog, or would like to contact us personally/privately, I would be more than happy to get some feedback from parents. What are your kids thinking? What is working or not working with the program? Would you all like to be more involved in the processes and information of the program? Hopefully, we can work together to keep students' motivation on track!

We've covered a lot of material in the class, and we're going to continue to successfully progress in the upcoming semester! I would encourage parents and students alike to work at home and bring any questions into class! Thank you for your participation so far, and I look forward to whatever's to come!

I'll be studying in Spain in the month of January, so enjoy break and I'll see everyone upon my return!

Señor Christian

Message from Señor Luis López!

I would like, once again, to thank you for this opportunity. 

During the last month, I've been in charge of the students in 2nd grade. As you can imagine, the teaching of a second language when children are still developing an understanding of their first (that is, English) is quite challenging. Nevertheless, my focus has been to performing communicative activities based on the topics we have discussed. 

The following list, I believe, summarizes the content areas that all three of us (in Spanish) have taught: 

1. Greetings and good byes
2. Numbers (0-30/50)
3. The Spanish alphabet
4. Days of the week
5. Months of the year

As I previously said, I tend to focus more on communicative activities in second language acquisition: I want my students to be able to express themselves in a new language using the vocabulary we have learned in context-based situations. For example, we discussed numbers in small digits (e.g. 1-5-6-4...) by asking "What is your phone number?" (in Spanish, of course) question and then, having them respond to the question with an imaginary phone number they had wrote or were given. This way, children understand that even at their age level they can communicate (involving reading, listening, writing, and speaking) in a new language...and while having some fun as well! 

Of course, having divided the original group (of almost 30 students) into three age-based categories has been very productive. I must say, though, that with individual classrooms our students will benefit more from every lesson we teach them. If each instructor has an individual classroom, students at every level will have less distractions and will enjoy each lesson to the same extent they would benefit from their regular classes. I suggest this is something we could re-arrange for the spring 2013. 


I wish everyone a happy winter break and I'm looking forward to seeing you again in January. 

~Sr. Luis López