Friday, January 16, 2015

DAC Beginning French 2015 - Clothes and Food

Bonjour parents!

Since coming back into the program from vacation, we have been going over two of the most popular subjects - clothes and food! Below are the lists of words, some videos, cultural information and other resources for this 3 day weekend.

CLOTHES
(Les vêtements) 

Pants     un pantalon                                                           Shoes   des chaussures
Jeans     un jean                                                                  Socks   des chaussettes
Shorts   un short                                                                 Jacket   une veste/un blouson
Skirt     une jupe                                                                Overcoat   un manteau
Dress   une robe                                                                Bathing Suit  un maillot de bain
Men's Shirt    une chemise                                                 Sandals     des sandales
Women's Shirt (Blouse)     un chemisier                           Sweater    un pull
Suit (Male)       un costume                                                Boots     des bottes
Suit (Female)    un tailleur                                                 Gloves    des gants
Earmuffs   un cache-oreilles                                               Scarf  une écharpe/une cache colle
Shirt    un tee-shirt                                                             Makeup   le maquillage

(Cacher - to hide, thus the words for earmuffs and scarf involve "hiding" the respective parts of the body [ears and neck])

These are some really good pages for practicing both recognition of the above vocab (and more) as well as pronunciation!!
Exercises 1 - Men's Clothes
Exercises 2 - Women's Clothing
Exercises 3 - Winter Clothing

Below is a link to a series of videos regarding shopping at a French department store Printemps (Side note: if you are ever in Paris, the view from the top of Printemps is marvelous!There's a café where you can grab lunch and see the city from high up. Plus, you can get some good shopping done!)
Printemps



FOOD - la nourriture

Videos: The Very Hungry Caterpillar in French
Téléfrancais (je suis un ananas!)
Food Vocabulary

There are a lot of vocabulary words for food - so be prepared!

A MEAL = un repas BREAKFAST = le petit-déjeuner LUNCH = le déjeuner DINNER = le dîner
** The word entrée in French refers to an appetizer, not the main dish. Also, the French breakfast is much different than ours. They primarily eat omelettes and crêpes for dinner and have bread with cheese, jam, butter, nutella, etc for breakfast. My personal French breakfast favorite is a pain au chocolat (a croissant with chocolate in it, and the ones at Starbucks don't even begin to compare to those in France!!) French people typically have their favorite Pâtisserie/boulangerie that they visit nearly every day to pick up delicious fresh bread and pastries. Their stores are not like ours where they walk in and can buy everything at one place, though there are supermarchés like that it is more often that you would walk to the pâtisserie (pastries), boulangerie (bakery, bread) la boucherie (meat),  le marché (outdoor market), la crémerie (dairy), la fromagerie (cheese), etc...
All of the above information is stuff I didn't have time to go over in class, but the kids may be interested in.
Rick Steves on Paris Street Shopping


Fruits les fruits
Cherry une cerise               Apple une pomme              Orange une orange
Raspberry une framboise   Banana une banane            Pineapple un ananas
Strawberry une fraise         Blueberries des myrtilles     Pear une poire
Lemon un citron                Lime un citron vert              Pomegranate une grenade
EXERCISES FOR FRUITS - includes new words

Vegetables les légumes
Cucumber le concombre     Broccoli le brocoli              Spinach les épinards
Lettuce la laitue                  Carrots les carottes              Radish le radis
Onion l'oignon                    Celery le céleri                     Potato une pomme de terre
Peas les petits pois          Green Beans les haricots verts    Pumpkin la citrouille
EXERCISES FOR VEGETABLES  - includes new words

Drinks les boissons
Water l'eau   Juice (orange juice, apple juice) le jus (d'orange, de pomme)
Sparkling Water l'eau gazeuse Hot Chocolate le chocolate chaud    Iced Tea le thé glacé
Soda le soda        Smoothie un smoothie                 Tea le thé
Coffee le café       Lemonade la limonade
EXERCISES FOR DRINKS

Bread le pain                 Crepes les crêpes             Croissants les croissants    Fries  les frites
Spices les épices            Salt le sel                          Pepper   le poivre
Meat la viande              Chicken le poulet   Pork le porc   Steak le steak    Ham le jambon
Eggs les oeufs               Butter le beurre                  Milk le lait
Rice le riz                      Spaghetti les spaghetti         Pasta les pâtes
Salad  la salade              Soup la soupe                    Sandwich un sandwich
EXERCISES FOR FOOD

Desserts les desserts
Pie une tarte     Ice Cream la glace 
French Desserts


I'm hungry     J'ai faim
I'm thirsty      J'ai soif
Do you want.....?        Tu veux......?
I would like....            Je voudrais....
A cheesy video about ordering in a café


I encourage you to read about French food from the links below:
Food and Eating - About France
Rick Steves - Eating in France
More details about meals
Top 10 Foods in Paris (This one made my mouth water!)

Here are some more activities:
French Food Activities (Warning: the page is brightly colored, and kind of hurt my eyes - just beware)
Pinterest French Food!










Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Week 7-12 (Intermediate Spanish)

¡Hola, papas! Just wanted to update you all again with the material we have cover in class and give you an update on how the class is going.I will again put all the vocabulary words we have covered, so you can practice with your kids anytime!

For week 7, we mostly did review and fun activities for Halloween and El dia de Los Muertos (Day of the dead)
First, we reviewed the alphabet and play a life size game of snakes and ladders! The kids role a diced and whatever spaces they will land they will have to tell me the letter they landed and a word that began with the letter.


Review of opposite words:
Big/small- Grande/Pequeno
Short/Tall- Bajo/ Alto
In/Out- Adentro/Afuera
Hot/Cold- Caliente/ Frio
Fast/Slow- Rapido/Despacio
Dirty/Clean- Sucio/Limpio
Happy/Sad- Feliz/Triste
Up/Down- Arriba/Abajo
Night/Day- Noche/Dia
Young/Old- Nuevo/viejo
Close/Open- Cerrado/Abierto
Full/Empty- Lleno/vacio

Activity: Memory game- The students had chance to pick a card and try to find the card that matches. 
                                                                                             
Review school supplies words
Silla- Chair 
Puerta- Door
Ventana- Window 
Lapiz- Pencil
Papel- Paper
Escritorio- Desk
Pluma- Pen
Borrador- Eraser 
Cuaderno- Notebook
Libros- Books
Calculadora- Calculator 
Regla- Ruler
Sacapuntas- Sharpener
Crayones- Crayons
Mochila- Backpack
Activity: We played a game of bingo to refresh their memory :)

Dia de los Muertos; We made our own skeletons, papel picado skeleton masks and watch a short fun clip for the Day of the dead! Oh and I can't forget about the delicious hot chocolate we had! :)


                                                                   Skeleton masks!

                                                                    Papel picado
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCQnUuq-TEE   (linked to the dia de los muertos clip)

Week 8: Focus: Seasons/months/days of the week/holidays  (Temporadas, meses, dias, dias de las semana)

Temporadas: 
Primavera- Spring
Verano- Summer
Otono- Fall
Invierno- Winter

Activity: Book of the Four Seasons: We used paper bags to create our own books for this activity. The students drew pictures that represented the season and wrote down a sentence for each page relating again to the specific season. 
ex) Vamos a la playa durante el verano  (15 mins)

                                                    Making their own season books!
 Days of the week: 
Lunes- Monday
Martes- Tuesday
Miercoles- Wednesday
Jueves- Thursday
Viernes- Friday
Sabado- Saturday
Domingo- Sunday
Activity: Hangman using the days of the week words and jeopardy!


                                          Worksheets review on the days of the week!


Week: 9: Focus: I like/I don’t like and My favorite is../ Me gusta/ No me gusta/ Mi Favorito es..
In week 9, we practice writing full sentences using the sentences on top. The kids created a list of the things they like, don't like and wrote about their favorite things!

Activity: 6 sentences flip book- A mi me gusta... / No me gusta. After they were done they got to share their own books with the class in Spanish.
Activity: Me gusta/ No me gusta/ Mi favorito: Using these starting sentences we played a game of telephone, which the kids really enjoyed. It was fun to see how the sentences change after the last person. The kids were really creative with their sentences by the way! 
Activity: (Headband game) In this game, I used all the words they wrote down on their charts of the thing they did and didn't like. I gave each student a word to put on their heads and they had to guess what word it was by asking their classmates questions. 

Week: 10    Focus: Family/Thanksgiving week
Introduce new vocabulary: 
Mama (madre) - Mother
Papa (padre)- Father
Hermano/a- Brother/ Sister
Abuelito/a, - Grandpa/Grandma
el hijo/la hija - Son/ Daughter 
Tio/a,- Uncle/ Aunty
Primo/a- Boy cousin/ Girl cousin
Media hermano/a- Stepbrother/ Stepsister
Bebe- Baby
Gemelas- Identical twins
                     Activity: Worksheet (family ties) Each student had the chance to practice writing down family members in Spanish. I also had them go up to the board and write 2-3 family members. 


                                Activity: The students got to practice the vocabulary words by making their own family trees!
On thanksgiving the kids got made a tree where they got to write things they were thankful for and made their own turkeys!

 Dia de Accion de gracias!
Activity: The kids also review the vocabulary words by playing a game of jenga! Eah block had a family member written and they had to say what it was in English.

Week 11: Focus-Animals 
Introduce new vocabulary words: Animales del bosque- Animales from the forest
Oso- Bear
Mapache- Raccoon
Ciervo- Deer
Zorro- Fox
Ardilla- Squirrel
Buho- Owl
Pajaro carpinternno- Woodpecker
Rana- Frog
Serpiente- Snanke
Hormiga- Ants
Gusano- Worm













The kids made their own animal books!



House pets: Moscotas 
Gato- Cat
Perro- Dog
Pez- Fish
Pajaro- Bird
Conejo- Bunny

Animales safari:
Leon- Lion
Tigere- Tiger
                                                                        Puma- Puma

Review+matching animals in the caregories


Animales de granja- Farm Animals
Vaca- Cow
Gallina- Hen
Puerco- Pig
Caballo- Horse
Pollo- Chicken
Oveja- Sheep
Cabra- Goat 

Activity/game: The kids made their own little farm house using paper bags and flashcards of the words to put inside their bags.
 
        Dominos with farm animals!

Animales de mar- Sea Animales
Tortuga- Turtle
Tiburon- Shark
Pulpo- Octopus 
Ballena- Whale 
Delfin- Dolphin
Rana/sapo)- Frog

Week 12: Focus- Review/Animals/Christmas!
During week 12, we focused on passed material and had the chance to do fun activities for Christmas! The kids made their own Christmas treats out of gram-crackers, frosting, marshmallows, and candy:)


Friday, January 9, 2015

Beginning Spanish - Birch Lane

¡Hola Padres!

These past weeks your children have learned a bunch en español! I am excited to share with you a few pictures of their work, and what they have learning here in Spanish class! :)


(The picture above was meant to be in the last blog I shared with you when they were learning body parts) 


The kids have learned various topics in these past 4 weeks such as: animals, family, thanksgiving, seasons, days of the week, holidays, and this week we are learning the months of the year! I will be sharing with you the vocabulary just like in the last blog, so you practice Spanish with your children at home. I encourage you to ask them to share with you their work and to share what they've learned, remember the more they practice the more they learn :) !

Animals: mascotas - pets: gato (cat), perro (dog), perico (parrot), hámster (hamster) pez (fish), conejillo de indias (guinea pig), gallina (hen), conejito (bunny).
Zoo and sea animals: ballena (whale), delfin (dolphin), pulpo (octopus), oso (bear), serpiente (serpent), cocodrilo (crocodile), panda (panda), koala (koala).

Family and Thanksgiving: Familia, papá, mamá, hermana (sister) hermano (brother) prima (girl cousin) primo (boy cousin) abuelo (grandfather) abuela (grandmother) tío (uncle) tea (aunt) hija (daughter) hijo (son). Día de acción de gracias (thanksgiving) pavo (turkey) cena (dinner) reunión familiar (family reunion).


Days of the week and Holidays: Semana (week) domingo (Sunday) lunes (Monday) martes (Tuesday)   miércoles (Wednesday) jueves (Thursday) viernes (Friday) sábado (Saturday). Año nuevo (New Year's) luces y árbol de navidad (Christmas lights and tree) Janucá (Hanukkah) fiestas festivas (Holidays) esferas (spheres) copo de nieve (snowflake) ayer (yesterday) hoy (today) mañana (tomorrow).



Seasons: Estaciones (seasons) primavera (spring) flores (flowers) árboles (trees) sol (sun) nubes (clouds) arco-iris (rainbow), verano (summer) calor (heat) helados (ice cream) vacaciones (vacation) alberca/piscina (pool), otoño (Autumn/Fall) hojas (leaves) lluvia (rain), invierno (winter) mono de nieve (snowman) frío (cold) días festivos (holidays) 


Months of the year: Enero (January) febrero (febuary) marzo (March) abril (April) mayo (May) junio (June) julio (July) agosto (August) septiembre (September) octubre (October) noviembre (November) diciembre (December). 




 That's all for now, thank you for your time and for allowing me to teach your children. They are always very fun and make the class feel alive even though it's really early, gracias!

-Maestra Elisa