Monday, June 5, 2017

FELICES VACACIONES!

Felices vacaciones de verano!

Happy summer vacation!


Thanks for working so hard on speaking Spanish all year! Keep up the good work!

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

MI AMIGO/A SE LLAMA ....

¿Como se llama tu amigo/amiga?

Mi amigo/amiga se llama _______.

What is your friend's name?

My friend's name is _________.

We may have reached the end of the school year, but it's never too late to make friends, and using our Spanish is a great way to do it!

In the past few weeks, we've learned how to ask someone their name:

¿Como te llamas?

We've learned how to ask their teacher's name:

¿Como se llama tu maestro/maestra?

We know how to tell friends our teacher's name:

Mi maestro/maestra se llama Senor/Senora _______.

And now, since Claxton kids don't leave others out of conversations, we can invite new people to join in by introducing them:

Mi amigo/amiga se llama _______.

Don't forget, if your friend is a boy, say amigo and if your friend is a girl, say amiga.

Now let's practice!



And, just for fun ...


Monday, May 15, 2017

YO ME LLAMO ...

As we wind down our school year of learning the Spanish words for numbers, days of the week, months of the year, colors, and classroom items, we're already looking forward to next year, when our conversational skills will continue to grow.

To kick off the conversations, last week we learned 
¿Como se llama ...? What is her/his name? 
When talking to a friend, old or new, we can ask: 
¿Como te llama? What is your name?

And this week, we practice saying:

Me llamo _______.

My name is ________.

What a fun and easy way to practice Spanish—by introducing yourself to new people!


Here's a familiar song to practice with. We bet everyone's getting better at keeping up!


And then there's this video. We're not entirely sure what's going on here, but we are sure it'll make a strong me llamo impression.



Monday, May 8, 2017

MI MAESTRO/A SE LLAMA ...

¿Como se llama tu maestro/a?
Mi maestro/a se llama ....

What is your teacher's name?
My teacher's name is ....

After learning that maestro/a is the Spanish word for teacher (ending with an o for a male teacher and an a for a female teacher), last week we learned to ask what your teacher's name is. This week, we get to answer the question.

Let the conversations begin!

Notice tu means your and mi means my. Easy!

We've practiced to this song before, but it's even more fun with these images!


Monday, April 24, 2017

EN LA CLASE HAY UN MAESTRO/UNA MAESTRA

En la clase hay ...

In the classroom there is ...

We're starting to recognize the Spanish words for many classroom items: lápiz, libro, computadora, silla. This week, we learn an important and interesting one:

un maestro  a (male) teacher

una maestra  a (female) teacher



Here's a noun that works like an adjective. Its ending changes depending on whether the teacher is male or female.

We're loving this Canción del Maestro ("Teacher's Song") by Los Tres Tristes Tigres (The Three Sad Tigers);



And here's a song that includes many of the ways in which  agradezco/I appreciate  mi maestro, Tu Corazón Me Maestro ("You Give Me Your Heart, Teacher"):



With Teacher Appreciation Week coming up, this one is worth learning!

Monday, April 17, 2017

EN LA CLASE HAY UNA COMPUTADORA

We're back from Spring Break, and feeling rested and ready to learn more Spanish words to identify items in our classroom! This week, it's




la computadora


En la clase hay una computadora.

In the class, there is a computer.

Check out this traditional band, Orquesta Rumba Kids, singing about a computadora:



Curious about how Easter is celebrated in Mexico? Watch below:


Monday, March 27, 2017

¿DE CUALES COLORES SON LOS LIBROS?

¿De cuáles colores son los libros?

What color are the books?

Now we're getting our Claxton students talking (in Spanish)! Ask them:

¿De cuáles colores son los libros?

And they should be able to tell you:

Los libros son rojos naranjas amarillos verdes azúles morados.




Here's a fun practice song (and as a bonus, it includes counting). Get ready to get a little crazy!:



Now you're ready to test your knowledge:


Monday, March 20, 2017

¿CUANTOS LIBROS HAY EN LA CLASE?

¿Cuantos libros hay en la clase?

How many books are there in the class?


Hay muchos libros.

There are many books.

Our Claxton students who are working on their Spanish are really hitting their stride! This week, we learn a new classroom item: 

libro    book

We've been working on:

¿Cuantos hay?    How many are there?

Putting together these phrases, and using their knowledge of classroom items and colors, allows students to start having conversations. What an empowering feeling!

Use this video to see how much progress we've made ... and to learn the Spanish words for even more classroom objects:





And just for fun, see how much of this trailer for the Spanish language version of Libro de Vida (Book of Life) you can follow!




Monday, March 13, 2017

CUANTOS SILLAS HAY EN LA CLASE?

¿Cuantos sillas hay en la clase?

How many seats are there in the classroom?

Hay muchas sillas en la clase.

There are many seats in the classroom.

Now that we know hay sillas en la clase, we're ready to ask ¿Cuantos? How many?

We've been practicing counting Spanish every morning, so chances are your student can tell you exactly how many seats there are in her or his classroom. But it's also useful to be able to say hay muchas/there are many.

Notice that many is a word that describes a noun: many seats
That means, in Spanish, it can be masculine or feminine, depending on the noun it describes: 

muchas sillas
muchos lápices

And speaking of muchos, this video is worth watching again as we learn the Spanish words for objects in the classroom:



Monday, March 6, 2017

EN LA CLASE HAY SILLAS

En la clase hay sillas.

In the classroom are chairs.

Learning to name objects in the classroom in Spanish continues! Silla, or chair, is a fun one because of the ll, which is pronounced like the letter y in English.



Plus, everyone has a silla en la clase. And some other objects that are fun to say in Spanish with this classroom rap:






Monday, February 27, 2017

EN LA CLASE ...

En la clase hay lápices amarillos y rojos. ¿De cúales otros colores son los lápices?

In the classroom there are yellow and red pencils. What other colors are the pencils?

It's quite a mouthful, but our Claxton language leaders are up to it! We've spent the past several weeks practicing different ways to talk about the pencils we find in our classrooms: in the singular or plural, in different colors, and in statements and questions.

We're loving this short rap about the classroom. Keep watching -- los lápices están allí!


And if you've got 10 minutes, try this video that reinforces the Spanish words for different colors and applies them to all sorts of objects, giving kids a great chance for some mini-immersion:



Wednesday, February 22, 2017

LANGUAGE LEADER LEADERSHIP!

A big shout out to 4th grade Language Leader Camille Ramirez Chavez! She exemplified CLX leadership qualities at Monday morning's Language Leaders meeting!



Camille prepared an excellent and informative presentation on Colombia complete with notes, a detailed map, artifacts, and delicious homemade empanadas to share! 



Let's congratulate this awesome student for going above and beyond and being an example to our school community!


Monday, February 20, 2017

EN LA CLASE HAY LAPICES AMARILLOS

We're starting to put it all together!

En la clase hay lápices amarillos.
In the classroom there are yellow pencils.

Keep practicing those colors ... and see if anyone remembers the Spanish words for some of the other classroom items we've learned.

En la clase hay lápices amarillos.

En la clase hay lápices rojos.

En la clase hay libros verdes.

En la clase hay libros morados.

En la clase hay estudiantes de colóres diferentes.

Notice that when the noun is plural (lápices, libros, estudiantes), the adjective/color that describes it is plural as well (amarillos, rojos, verdes, morados).

Here's a fun, repetitive immersion song to find the rhythm of asking and answering what color different things are:



And, to practice classroom items:



EL LAPIZ ES AMARILLO

El lápiz es amarillo.

The pencil is yellow.

Claxon students are continuing to solidify their knowledge of Spanish words for colors and classroom objects. By using these words in different types of sentences, they are also gaining an instinctive understanding of Spanish grammar, which differs in some ways from English grammar.

This week's statement is particularly simple for students, since the structure of the sentence is exactly the same in both Spanish and English. This lets students play:

El lápiz es rojo
The pencil is red.

El lápiz es naranja.
The pencil is orange.

What other colors does your student remember? Sing along to keep it fresh!


Monday, February 6, 2017

DE QUE COLOR ES EL LAPIZ?

¿De qué colór es el lápiz?

What color is the pencil?

It's time for Claxton students to start pulling together the language skills they've learned this year! Last semester, we learned colors. This semester, we're learning about objects found in classrooms. Most students should understand this question.

For practice, here's a song about asking the question ¿De qué colór es?


And let's not forget how to pronounce lápiz.



We've also been working hard on learning the days of the week and the months of the year. Here's a great song to practice with!


Tuesday, January 31, 2017

LAPIZ

¿Que hay en la clase?

En la clase hay un lápiz.



In the classroom, there is a pencil.

Well, many pencils. Lápices.


Our students are building their vocabulary of items in the classroom:

la clase             the classroom (or the class)
estudiante/s      student/s
libro/s                book/s
lápiz/lápices      pencil/s 

Here's a fun song to learn the Spanish word for many classroom items!


Monday, January 23, 2017

ESTUDIANTES

¿Que hay en la clase?

What is in the classroom?

Claxton students are growing familiar with this question, which they hear every morning on the  morning announcements. They're getting great at answering it! This week:

Hay estudiantes en la clase.

There are students in the classroom.




The new word for this week is estudiantes/students. Put it together with last week's word, libros/books, and you can say:

Hay estudiantes con libros en la clase.

There are students with books in the classroom.

Let's celebrate our students with this song for Día de los Estudiantes/Day of the Students, a celebration of students commemorated on various days in different Spanish-speaking countries:





Monday, January 16, 2017

LIBROS

Last week, we learned how to ask the question:

¿Que hay en la clase? ("Kay eye ehn la KLA-say?")

Now it's time to start answering it with our first classroom item:

libro       book



Hay libros en la clase.

There are books in the classroom.


A fun way to remember that libro means book? Watch this clip from El Libro de Vida, or The Book of LIfe. (The song isn't about books, but sometimes it's fun to learn how to translate the name of a popular kids' movie into Spanish!)


Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Que hay en la clase?

Even though we haven't seen our classes much yet this week (nieve is the Spanish word for snow, by the way), we're ready to start learning how to talk about the things we find in our classrooms in Spanish!

¿Qué hay en la clase?

What is in the classroom?

Get started on saying and understanding the question and enjoy a sneak preview here:


Tuesday, January 3, 2017

El mes es enero. Que tiempo hace hoy?

Welcome back! Now that Claxton students have mastered colors, days of the week, and counting, we're introducing months and weather.

El mes es enero.

The month is January.


¿Que tiempo hace hoy?

What is the weather today?

Hace frío.

It is cold.


And who wouldn't want to sing about the weather with the Muppets? In this song, hace calor. It's hot!