Español con Las Lechuzas (Spanish with the Owls)

¡Saludos a todos; familia, amigas, y amigos! Greetings to all! I bet you have been wondering why I wear that gorgeous vest. Well, you see acquisition happens naturally and subconsciously when we are surrounded by another language. My goal is to spend the first few minutes of each class speaking in English to the children as I explain the day’s activity. As the children gain some comprehension of the Spanish language, I will then present the introduction of the day’s activity in Spanish. I have presented to the children my red sequin vest and explained that when I put this vest on, it indicates that I am the Spanish teacher and therefore I will be speaking solely in Spanish. We will volar (fly) to Spain and other Spanish speaking countries at the beginning of each class session and once we land, we all do our very best to speak in the language of that country, Spanish. This transitioning activity also allows for the children to gain an awareness of the various (21) countries where Spanish is the official language.

During our recent clase de Español, Las Lechuzas flew into Chile and settled into this Spanish speaking country. Upon our arrival, we gathered and sat in a círculo and began our traditional greeting. Each Lechuza was encouraged to greet the teacher with a hand shake and the following dialogue:

Alicia: ¡Buenos día _________!

Child: ¡Buenos día Alicia!

Alicia: ¿Cómo estás?

Child: ¡Muy bien, gracias!

 Our greeting is then followed by the following song that is sang to the tune of “Are You Sleeping”

Buenos días, Buenos días

¿Cómo estás?, ¿Cómo estás?

Yo estoy muy bien gracias, yo estoy muy bien gracias.

¿Y tú? ¿Y tú?

After our morning greetings, we read a book that is very familiar to most of us, “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” But, instead of hearing this story in English, we got to hear the words in Spanish, Cinco Monitos Brincando en la Cama. As the story was being read, we were all invited to participate in acting out the scenes such as jumping, falling, hurting our heads, calling the doctor and repeating the phrase, No mas monitos brincando en la cama. What a wonderful opportunity to engage all types of learners, especially kinesthetics.

After the story, we practiced saying the numbers in Spanish. We counted to ten and then learned a new song:

Uno, dos, tres amigos

Cuatro, cinco, seis amigos

Siete, ocho, nueve amigos

Diez amigos son.

Other than the Spanish vocabulary words used for greeting, numbers 1-10, and in the story that was read, Las Luchuzas are learning the following:

Por favor - please

Levantence – stand-up

Avión – airplane

Montence– get on

Vuela – fly

Sientencen – sit

Círculo – circle

Muéstrame – show me

Brinca, Brincando – jump, jumping

Cayó – fell down

Golpe – hurt

Llama - call

Gracias – thank you

De nada – you’re welcome

 ¡Hasta nuestro proximo viaje! (Until our next flight.)

Paz,

Alicia