Bring La Feria de Cali to your Spanish class!




At this time of the school year we are looking for fun and quick lessons to use in our classrooms. This is very simple and provides you and your students with a window on a small piece of a very diverse culture.


Many towns and cities in Colombia have their own celebrations during the year. The last celebration of the year happens in Cali, the city where I grew up. Every year from December 25th to 30th the city hosts La Feria de Cali, a big celebration – like a carnival – that attracts people from different parts of the world. It is a celebration where the Caleño culture is on exhibit.  From Salsa singers to horse lovers, there are many types of people and activities to celebrate, and it appeals to people of all ages. The city is decorated with big and beautiful lights, and every neighborhood gets ready to party and celebrate before the year ends. The first day of the Feria opens with a big Cabalgata (horseback parade)When the Cabalgata ends, people fan out to different spots in the city to dance and be with friends.


Bring la feria de Cali to your Spanish class:


1. Use a map to find Colombia and then Cali. If you have access to the internet, use GoogleEarth to make it more fun and show actual pictures of Cali.

2. Show actual pictures of the Feria and the Cabalgata.
3. Invite the children to create their own horses using a coloring page or using paper to create their own.
4. Have your own Cabalgata in your classroom.
5. End the class with a Salsa lesson!

Links with information for teachers



Have fun dancing!
Carolina


El Día del Amor y la Amistad en Colombia (Colombia’s Day of Love and Friendship)

Every third Saturday in September,  Colombia celebrates “El Día del Amor y la Amistad”. It’s a day to let family and friends know how much you love them and appreciate them. People usually give chocolates, cards, and flowers to friends and family members. In other cases, it’s also an excuse to party and get together  to celebrate (Colombians tend to be pretty good at finding reasons to enjoy each other’s company!). 

What a great moment to bring a cultural celebration to your classroom. I have created a coloring page with a heart ready to use in your classroom this week. For this activity,  bring a map to your class, and invite your children to find the country where they live, and then to find Colombia. Introduce the colors of the
Colombian flag and then color in the heart using those colors.

Click on picture to print coloring page

You can take this as an opportunity to introduce simple sentences to express gratitude and love:

Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad
Amigos por siempre
Tú eres mi mejor amigo/a.
Te quiero 
Learn a song in Spanish!



¡Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad!

Carolina

La caja mágica

Magic boxes are always fun to have, and they are an amazing teaching tool and classroom ritual (college professors of education might even classify them as excellent to use as an “anticipatory set.”) My students, from the youngest to the oldest grades, enjoy guessing and imagining what could be inside the box. Magic boxes are great for describing objects and brainstorming with the children using a wide range of vocabulary.
 
This year I decided to create a new magic box which I will customize little by little using some objects that I have collected in different countries, lending a bit of cultural spice. I used fabric with sparkles to let the magic flow, and added the questions marks in Spanish to make it more appropriate for class.  

What do I include in the box?

I include flash cards related to what we are learning in class, stuffed animals and other kind of props I can find in it. Sometimes I just include one thing and give them clues for them to guess what could be inside the box.



I always sing this song when I use the magic box:



¡En la caja mágica encontrarás
Una sorpresa que te encantará! (3 times)
Click here to sample/buy song on Amazon

We also chant:
¿Qué hay, qué hay en la caja mágica?
¿Qué hay, qué hay en la caja mágica?

After singing the song,  I will also give them clues. I usually put something related to what we have been doing in class in the box. For example,

1. Hay un animal.
2. Hay un animal verde.
3. Hay un animal verde que tiene ojos grandes.
4. Hay un animal verde que tiene ojos grandes y salta.

Then I count to three and start taking guesses. Once I reveal the the secret, I ask questions about it again and use a lot of gestures. These are some of the questions I would ask:

1. ¿Es un animal o una persona? ¿Qué es? ¿Qué animal es?

2. ¿De qué color es? ¿Es verde o amarillo?
3. ¿Tiene ojos grandes o pequeños?
4. ¿Nada o salta?
5. ¿Te gustan las ranas?

I really love this teaching strategy because it gets the children engaged.  I now have two cajas mágicas.


Please see the pictures below. In the first picture, you see a shoe box that I open to reveal “el secreto.”
The box in the second picture is “la caja mágica sensorial.” I place objects in them, and children can take a guess by telling me “es grande,” “es pequeño,” “es suave,” “es duro,” and so on. If the children say the words in English, for example by saying “it’s soft,” I would say “sí, es suave,” “¿clase, es suave?” Get ready for some noise and for everyone to expect (or demand!) a turn.

 

 

 

 

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Have fun teaching!
Carolina

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching Spanish to Parents and Tots

I have been teaching parent – child classes for a while and parent involvement is the key to these kinds of programs.


Our sessions run for 8 to 10 weeks depending on the season. At the beginning of each session we provide parents with information about the program, the benefits of exposing their children to a new language at an early age, rules in the class, the importance of their active participation in class and what it means for their child’s learning process. I don’t use posters with lyrics because I observed that some parents were focusing their attention on trying to understand every single word and also more likely to mispronounce them.


I currently create the music and curriculum for the program because I find that many of the traditional songs don’t provide enough space for repetition or have the target vocabulary that I need in context. At the beginning of the session I provide parents with a music CD that contains all the songs and games for the session along with lyrics and translation. You can also look for songs that parents can purchase to support what you do in your classes, extend the learning at home and keep those little ears and mouths listening and singing outside the class.


There are also many online resources you can create such as creating a blog where you can upload small audio files (that can actually be recorded with a small digital camera for pictures) for parents to listen to the songs you sing in class and sentences to use at home. From my experience I advise you to write the sentence in Spanish next to the audio file and to avoid using the phonetic spelling to avoid mispronunciations (especially of vowel sounds and “rr”)


It is also useful to have some props such as a parachute, bubbles (to count) and objects that are colorful and appropriate for little hands to handle, e.g. finger puppets to accompany a song. Movement is also important when teaching toddlers – that’s how they grow and learn. Make sure they have space to run, jump and enjoy the class, but at the same time make sure you have a transition song to bring them back to the circle. I also use ASL with some of the songs; there are many resources on the Internet to find the signs.
At the end of the class I provide a few minutes for parents and children to socialize. Parents take advantage of this time to meet other families and also to ask you how to say phrases and sentences in Spanish.

Sing, sing, sing! Songs for the otoño!

I know many of you are getting ready in advance for your lesson! Here is a group of videos that I have created and hope help you get ready for the fall! Have fun singing in Spanish!

Hojas, hojas (Leaves, leaves)

Cinco Calabazas (Five Pumpkins)


Yo soy un pavo ( I am a turkey)


Have fun singing in Spanish!
Carolina