Semester Update, 23-24 (1)

The Spanish Cave
SEMESTER 1
This semester, students first differentiated between España (Spain- the place) and “¡Espa-ÑOL! (Spanish- the language), and then took an interactive flight to Spain. Why? To hike El Camino de Santiago, of course!

First graders grabbed their mochilas/backpacks, botellas de agua/water bottles, boletos/ plane tickets, and pasaportes/passports; asked for jugo/juice or leche/milk on the plane; hiked around campus with “walking sticks”; stayed at picnic table hotel “bunks”, took a siesta/nap when the temps were too hot (hace mucho calor/ it’s really hot!); went up and down montañas/mountains (staircases); made aviones de papel (paper airplanes) with Spain’s flag, and abanicos (Spanish fans) for the heat; ate tapas or bocadillos at the indoor restaurant when there was a tormenta/ storm; and paid for items with euros they had cut out. Near the end of the unit, a highlight is the “foot pool” day, where students get to take off their zapatos/ shoes and socks, and dip their feet into a pool of water, just like on the real Camino!

As that introductory unit wound down, students began center work. Here, the primary goal is to replace as many of the expressions they regularly say with the Spanish equivalent. They start with “gracias” instead of “thank you”, “por favor” instead of “please”, etc., and add more and more vocab as the year goes on. If I hear a lot of students saying, “Wait!”, they will learn “¡Espera!”, so that they can use the interjection with one another. First graders practice using practical language and expressions, until it becomes spontaneous and natural output. They also wrote said vocabulary and sent it to me “through the post” (noting the differences between American and Spanish post office drop boxes), and started telling a classic first grade story: La cebolla malvada (The Evil Onion). The latter was very successfully presented at Flag!

The second big culture project of the year was to learn about and [literally] build a famous fort/palace in Spain called La Alhambra. The tiles on the interior were originally all hand-painted, so students fingerpainted Moorish tile designs to later cut out and paste on trifolds. They listened to a variety of music as they worked–anything from Rompe Ralph to Feliz Navidad to this–and “charged admission” and entrance fees upon completion of the edifice and gardens.

When first graders finish a culture project as a class, there are some students who invariably want to continue with said project. At this point, the project itself becomes a “new center” so that students can return to it as they wish–while others can add move on to other activities.
SEMESTER 2

**NOTE: First graders began the new year learning about and acting out the famous windmill chapter in Don Quijote (Spain), and then I started writing weekly blurbs about lessons–see below.

Week 1: Students reviewed facts about the Spanish novel Don Quijote; did a map activity; worked on the FunSpanish app on their iPads; and watched cartoons in the target language (when yours truly was out sick).

Week 2: Students listened to the [very] silly song ¿Puedo ir al baño? (Can I go to the bathroom?), and later talked about activities, foods, and sports they love (me encanta/ I love [it]). First graders typically practice writing in the target language one out of every three classes, but because one of their newest sight words is “escribir” (to write), they can either sign up for an activity they want to do (e.g., Quiero jugar/I want to play), or write, “No quiero escribir” (I don’t want to write), which is kind of a class joke.

Week 3: Students moved away from their semester-long study of Spain (España), and traveled to Mexico (México/ “MAY-he-koh”). Here, they learned about how some people there still make a special type of paper their ancestors used, called amate (“ah-MAH-tay”), and saw the fascinating process in a video HERE (from 1:56-4:38). Some first graders extended this a step farther–ripping up paper, dipping it in water, and reapplying the super wet paper aka “moistened bark fibers” to other surfaces. They also continued working on creating more “Me encanta” (I love [a thing or activity]) sentences as well as asking and answering the question, “¿Qué quieres hacer?” (What do you want to do?).

Week 4: Students began CHAPTER TWO of their “Evil Onion” (La cebolla malvada) story from the first semester. Recap: the Evil Onion’s mom demands that he return the slippers to the princess, but the slippers start to dance away… then the wind picks up, and they start flying! The slippers fly all the way to the Tower of Gold in Spain. Suddenly, it starts raining tacos, and since the slippers LOVE tacos, they eat 15 of them and fall asleep. The Evil Onion needs to return the slippers (that he stole) to the castle, but he needs more strength/ fuerza and energy–so he hopes that it rains coffee/ café (instead of tacos), and it does! There is a song in Spanish (with a merengue beat) that is called, “I Hope It Rains Coffee”, and the taco bit is pre-teaching vocabulary so that first graders will understand the fourth graders’ Spanish play in April. Everything is connected and spirals in Spanish class!

Week 5: Students continued adding on to CHAPTER TWO of their “Evil Onion” (La cebolla malvada) story from the first semester. First graders also learned more steps to the Merengue beat of “I Hope It Rains Coffee”, discussed what they would like it to rain–instead of coffee–and some even made miniature tacos out of felt (tortilla, lechuga, carne, queso/ shell, lettuce, meat, cheese).

Week 6: Students hopped on Spanish- speaking countries on the Floor Map #2 (Panamá, Costa Rica, Spain/ España, Mexico/ México), and then applied this knowledge very dramatically during Center Work time: “Ahhh!!! I’m in the agua/ water and can’t get to land! Whoa! Get in the barco/ boat!” (~in the Gulf of Mexico on the map) They listened to their growing list of class songs in the background (humming along all the while), signed up for Center Work without visual aids (i.e., from memory), and tried calculating a few addition [math] problems in the target language. Class song now include: Ojalá que llueva café, It’s Raining Tacos, Don Quijote, ¿Puedo ir al baño?, Me encanta, and Canta y no llores.

Week 7: Students signed up for Center Work again both writing and talking, and worked on more addition problems in the target language. They also practiced giving the weather report in Spanish (hace sol/ it’s sunny; hace mucho calor/ it’s hot; hace frío/ it’s cold; está nublado/ it’s cloudy; está nevando/ it’s snowing; está lloviendo/ it’s raining), and noticed the difference in pronunciation between hace [hace sol/ it’s sunny] and hacer (Quiero hacer todo/ I want to do everything). Class songs now include: Ojalá que llueva café, It’s Raining Tacos, Don Quijote, ¿Puedo ir al baño?, Me encanta, Canta y no llores, Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa, and El baile del perrito.

Week 8: Students had a great discussion before break about what it means to “learn Spanish”. Learning Spanish includes reading, writing, listening, speaking, and understanding words, as well as learning about the sports, art, music, food, and traditions in each of the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. Spanish covers a lot of territory! This week, they learned about the sawdust carpets that people make in Guatemala during Lent (leading up to Easter). They are BEAUTIFUL creations, and first graders are making their own chalk version of a carpet in the courtyard. HERE is a video of the process. The emphasis in class is on taking our time and not rushing the process, for the purpose of creating something beautiful together.

Week 9: Students only had one class due to conferences and the Easter break. They listened to their favorite Spanish songs (esp. Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa) and helped finish the chalk “sawdust” carpet out in the courtyard. It turned out beautifully! HERE is a video again of the process.



Week 10: Students learned that they will be watching the fourth grade SPANISH PLAY soon, and were introduced to some of the characters, including Billy la bufanda (Billy the Scarf). Next, they started rehearsing a skit of their own for International Studies. Because the region chosen this year includes the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), first graders are building a comedic skit in class that is based on actual historical events–and what happens when two languages meet (no comprendo/ I don’t understand).

Week 11: Students learned more about the upcoming fourth grader’s Spanish Play, which they will attend next week. They also continued working on their own comedic International Studies skit (¿Qué?/ What?; Quiero hablar, pero no comprendo nada/ I want to talk, but I don’t understand anything). Click HERE for Semester Updates.

Week 12: This week, students attended the Spanish Play (an annual event put on by fourth graders–and all about Pato). They had reviewed the plot in detail the previous week, so combined with their Spanish vocabulary base, they understood a great deal and thoroughly appreciated the show. When I asked them on Wednesday about their favorite parts, they couldn’t wait to share (compartir/ to share)! Click HERE for Semester Updates.

Week 13: This week, first graders rehearsed for their International Studies presentation (presentation date TBD–I’ll keep you posted!). Based on actual historical events, they are acting out a comical script about what it would have been like for a Spanish-speaker to show up in Iceland, that is, “what happens when two languages meet” (e.g., concepts and loanwords like tortilla are transferred/ borrowed). The skit is about Christopher Columbus (who knew Spanish) showing up in Iceland, after repeatedly asking the Catholic monarchs–Ferdinand and Isabella–for money to fund his overseas voyages. First graders have also learned about the Northern (and Southern) Lights and that the zorro/fox (arctic fox, specifically) lives in Iceland. Click HERE for Semester Updates.

Week 14: This week, first graders recorded the audio of their International Studies presentation in Spanish. They will be creating a video that will be shared in the coming weeks. They spent the remainder of this week revisiting center work with renewed confidence and energy for the task at hand: speak as much Spanish as possible! Many also jammed out to the Spanish version of THIS SONG from the Trolls movie.

Week 15: First graders explored Spanish songs from the entire year on the Spanish Songs Playlist I created for them. This way, they can listen to their favorites all summer long! They also learned one of their first “trick words” in Spanish: “dime” is spelled like dime in English, but it is pronounced, “DEE-may” and actually means, “tell me!”.

Week 16: First graders had fun with the Spanish Teacher of the Day: they colored and had a crazy amount of fun playing Musical Chairs to THIS, which has sort of become their class song. As a review, they also tried to list all of their sight words without any visual cues; each class remembered at least 15 verbs: [Quiero/ I want]… jugar/ to play; colorear/ to color; pintar/ to paint; construir/ to build; caminar/ to walk; hablar/ to talk, speak; bailar/ to dance; cantar/ to sing; trabajar/ to work; escribir/ to write; dormir/ to sleep; limpiar/ to clean; patinar/ to skate; llorar/ to cry; rodar/ to roll; saltar/ to jump. Great work! If students are bored over the summer, please direct them to the Spanish Songs Playlist.

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