End of a semester

Don't know why I ddin't post this when I wrote it!!!

Hard to believe the year is just about half done.  Here is what we have been up to lately:

Spanish 1:  Students have learned how to talk about various activities that they or their classmates may do at school or at home.  They were very excited to start working on constructing piñatas.  So far, there are many layers of papier mache.  Can you guess what they will end up being?

 

Spanish 2:  Students have been learning about traveling by plane.  They are researching tourist sites in Puerto Rico, a country that could eventually become our 51st state.  They also took time out from work to learn about Christmas customs in Hispanic countries and to sing some seasonal songs. They decorated in Spanish style and are working on putting the finishing touches on their gift requests to the 3 Reyes Magos.

Spanish 3:  Students have been working on how to express their wishes and desires.  We had a great discussion about  Disney princesses and role-played various characters from Cinderella all discussing what they wanted/demanded/suggested that Cinderella do.  We also discussed our ideal Prince Charmings and what we would expect from them.  And with a class of al females, there were no guys to tell us that our expectations were unreasonable.

Spanish 4:  Students have started the unit on immigration.  We are watching the video "Which Way Home", reading the novel (in Spanish) "Enrique's Journey", and listening to a lot of great music that deals with issues surrrounding immigration.  We have had some great discussions based on Gaby Moreno's  "Ave que Emigra" and Ricardo Arjona's "Mojado".  And Spanish 4 students also took a break to do a small Christmas poem project in which they had to write a poem about a seasonal symbol and present it while dressed as the symbol.  Can you guess what these students wrote about?

Another mid-term.....already?

Went to write a new post, and found that I had never published this one!

Wow, the second quarter is already half done.  The school year is definitely flying by.  Here is what has been happening in Spanish classes the past couple of weeks:

Spanish 1:  students have been learning how to describe ourselves and others (only in the most complementary terms, of course).  Students made "Selfie" portraits and described themselves and also made fotobabbles in which they talked about and described some of their friends.  See the examples below:

Spanish 2:  students have learned how to talk about their daily routine, from the time they get up to the time they fall asleep at night.  They did a variety of projects that described the routines of various people.  (See below.) and continue to show their competitive streak in our daily game of Around the World vocabulary review.


Spanish 3:  students finished up a unit in which we reviewed daily routines.  They wrote letters to their (imaginary) host families in which they described their horrible (imaginary) college roommate who is the exact opposite of themselves.  I found the pictures they photoshopped of themselves on vacation and at college to be quite humorous.  (Example below.)

Spanish 4:  students have finished our unit on Monstruos y Miedos (Monsters and Fears).  They compared many monsters of American culture with those of Hispanic culture, as well as talked about things they used to be/are afraid of, and told stories of a time they were afraid.  As we also reviewed the past tenses in this unit, students also told stories from their past, played 2 Truths and 1 Lie with information from their past, and played detective to write the story of a missing person.  (What really happened to mi amiga, Helga?  They had some very interesting theories--I tried embedding one of their presentations, but apparently it is not compatible with blogger.)

All classes have started new units, but we won't forget to leave some time for some activities for Navidad.

Cuarto 2

¡Aprendemos mucho!  Spanish students have been very busy the past couple of weeks.  Not only did we complete our regular units, but we also celebrated el Día de los Muertos.

Spanish 1:  Students completed units on the weather and on their favorite activities.  They auditioned for a job as a meteorologist (see video of the finalists below) and wrote and illustrated a children's book about the seasons (see example below.)  They also decorated paper skulls for Día de los Muertos (pictured below also).  We are now moving on to describing people and objects.

Spanish 2:  Students finished their unit on their favorite activities/sports.  They created posters and wrote a short essay about their favorite activity to accompany the poster (example pictured below).  They did an indepth study of Día de Muertos--it's history and how it is celebrated.  They made some typical Día de Muertos decorations (also pictured below).  Next up, a unit on Peru and its many charms.

Spanish 3:  Spanish 3 students learned about the construction of ofrendas for Día de Muertos and then contributed decorations for the one in our classroom.  They also drew calacas and wrote calaveritas (pictured below). They enjoyed listening/watching the song "Calaverita" by the Santa Cecilia and its depiction of Día de Muertos.   They are now returning to the regular unit reviewing their daily routines.

Spanish 4:  Spanish 4 started a unit on Myths, Monsters, and Fears.  This led into some activities for Día de Muertos and how the Hispanic attitude towards death is somewhat different from the American attitude.  Students researched famous dead Hispanics and constructed miniature altars in their honor (pictured below).  They also watched the movie, "The Book of Life".  They are now looking at famous mythical monsters of the Hispanic culture.  They may not have the Boogeyman, but they certainly do have El Cuco.